Easy RV Mod -> The weBoost Drive 4G-X OTR Cellular Booster
We’ve done quite a few upgrades to our tech this past year. In May we installed a WiFi Ranger thus upgrading our WiFi & routing set-up (and we’re still very happy with that), but we’ve also been wanting to upgrade our cellular booster for a while too.
As chance would have it, a few months ago we were offered the chance to try out a weBoost Drive 4G-X plus 4G Trucker Antenna (Wilson Link HERE and Amazon link HERE) in return for a review of the product on the blog. It was actually the exact booster we’d been looking at for a while and met all the requirements we wanted in our upgrade, so we jumped at the chance to try it. We’ve now been using the booster for a few months and can finally update our readers on the progress.
For those who’d like to see the whole thing on video feel free to enjoy our ~18 min overview. Otherwise for those who prefer the written word, read on below….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCBL-I4vV_I
Why Would You Need A Cell Booster?
Cell boosters have actually been an essential part of our road gear pretty much since we originally stared on the road in 2010.
As many seasoned RVers know, campground WiFi is often overloaded or poor and free WiFi hotspots (e.g. library, coffee shops) are not always easily accessible. So if you want to be able to reliably get online in the comfort of your own home, some kind of cellular data plan is really the best/easiest way to go. We’ve had a Verizon-based MiFi (mobile hotspot) since we started in 2010 and although the equipment & plans have changed a few times over the years, it’s still our primary carrier today. These days we also carry ATT on our cellphones (our secondary backup) and we even have T-mobile on my iPad too (our third backup). Being able to get online is pretty essential to us, both for Paul’s investing and my work, so having multiple carriers gives us the most flexibility.
But sometimes this isn’t enough.
Cell phone coverage has gotten better and better over the years (the carriers are always improving & expanding their networks), but there are still many spots we like to go, especially when we boondock or get into more remote areas where cell signal is weak or poor**. In those situations a cell booster can make the difference between being able to work online or not being able to work at all. We’ve always carried a booster of some kind or another since we started on the road. Back in 2010 it was an old 3G wired booster, then we switched to a cradle booster and now we’re switching again. We consider it a pretty essential piece of gear for folks who rely on their internet like us.
**Note/ For a booster to work there has to be *some* kind of signal present to begin with. If you’re in a spot with truly zero signal, then your booster won’t magically make one appear. However if you’re in a spot with weak or iffy signal, then your booster may well help to make it usable.
How Do You Choose Which Booster To Buy?
So this is the point where I get lazy and tell you to go to the experts. Mobile booster technology is constantly changing and the RV Mobile Internet Resource Center together with it’s premium membership component Mobile Internet Aficionados*** keeps constant track of both that and literally everything else that has to do with mobile internet. The site was created and is run by our good buddies Chris & Cherie who are both fellow RVers and avid technology geeks. They really know their stuff!
So, whenever I look at upgrading gear I simply log into MIA and read their latest comparison reviews (which are updated all the time), and decide based on that. We got all our data plans based on their tips, we bought our last booster based on their reviews and we decided on our current upgrade based on their reviews too. Easy Peasy.
*** Note/ We have no affiliation. We just like to recommend good RV resource sites run by good folks 🙂
POST-POST EDIT – Chris and Cherie were kind enough to create a $5 MIA membership coupon code for any Wheelingit readers looking to join their premium membership site. You get tons of great pre-release and “insider” tips thro’ the membership so I definitely recommend it. Use “MIAWheelingIt” to get your discount!
Our Old Gear -> The Wilson Sleek & Why We Upgraded It
For the past several years we’ve been traveling with a Wilson Sleek (current version is the weBoost Drive 4GS, ~$180) which has actually served us just fine. It’s an inexpensive cradle booster that comes with a teeny little 2″ “stubby” antenna that you can mount just about anywhere. We have our antenna attached to a stainless steel plate (which acts as a ground plane = very important for the antenna to work properly) on our roof. The cable then runs through the roof into our “tech cabinet” (inside the RV) where we keep the cradle itself. We place our Verizon MiFi inside the cradle and voila…we have boosting.
We’ve also traveled for several years with a Wilson Paddle Antenna (current version is weBoost Wide-Band Directional ~$50) which has worked well to increase the range of the Sleek in marginal areas. It’s a directional antenna which means it needs to be aimed towards the cell tower to work. We had to buy a longer cable and some adapters to get this to work with our cradle, but it’s definitely gotten us usable signal in a few places where the “stubby” antenna just didn’t do the job. When we use it we simply clamp it to our TV antenna. That way we can rotate it around from inside the RV to get it properly aimed.
Our old gear has worked fine for years and honestly if you are looking for an inexpensive booster today I’d still recommend the weBoost cradle. It does a very decent job for the price.
In our case however, we’ve been wanting something beefier for a while. The two big negatives we’ve encountered with the cradle are:
- It Gets Hot – Out MiFi often overheats when it’s in the cradle for longer periods. We usually have to angle it inside the cradle (to leave an air space) or shut it down periodically to cool down. The booster just gets too hot and there’s no real way around it. It’s a known problem.
- It Can Only Boost 1 Thing At A Time – You can only ever have 1 thing in the cradle at a time. There’s no way to boost a MiFi and a phone at the same time, for example.
So, we were looking for something that improved both those things, plus we wanted a booster that could give us a little more oooomph so-to-speak (the Cradle is only spec’d to provide a max of around 23dB gain). A “nice to have” was a booster that was compatible with our old antennas (just to make things more flexible). At the time we were searching there were two boosters from Wilson that fit the bill -> the 4G-M and the 4G-X They’re actually very similar except that the 4G-X has a more powerful transmitter (once again, a little secret I know because I read the RV Mobile Internet Resource Center). We were offered to review a kit with the 4G-X so that’s what we ended up with.
Our New Gear -> The Wilson 4G-X plus 4G Trucker Antenna
Setting up the booster is incredibly easy. We got the “weBoost Drive 4G-X OTR kit” (regular price $549.99) which comes with the 4G-X Amplifier, a hefty 24″ external 4G Trucker Antenna (+ cable), an Internal antenna, power adaptor and mount.
The external antenna is omni-directional which means it does not need to be aimed. So you simply install the antenna vertically somewhere “high” (the higher the better -> you can install it on a RV ladder, a flag pole or the TV antenna like we did), then you run the cable inside your RV and connect it to the input side of your 4G-X Amplifier.
The other side of the Amplifier connects to the Internal Antenna. It’s a small, flat rectangular thing that needs to be far enough away from the external antenna to prevent oscillation (specs say at least 6′ away), but very close (within 1-2 feet) of the objects (MiFi, phone etc.) you are trying to boost. If the spacing is off, your booster either won’t work or won’t work optimally. Then you just turn on the booster, look for the “green” light and you are good to go.
How Well Did The New Booster It Work?
Over the past few months we’ve been traveling on the developed East Coast so we’ve only been in a few places where the signal was marginal enough to require a booster, but the few places we’ve used it we’ve been very impressed indeed. The OTR kit is spec’d to provide up to 50dB gain and although we didn’t see the “max” we did see some very good numbers.
We took readings in 2 different spots, plus we played with antenna placement (bungee’d onto our RV side-mirror and bungee’d onto our TV antenna) and compared the boost to our old Cradle too. Here are the results:
| Carrier | No Boost | Old Cradle Booster | 4G-X plus “stubby” antenna on roof | 4G-X plus 4G antenna on side-mirror | 4G-X plus 4G antenna on roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATT Site 1 | -118 db | -112 db | -104 db | -106 db | -78 db |
| ATT Site 2 | -113 db | -92 db | |||
| Verizon Site 1 | -112 db | -100 db | -84db | -90db | -77 db |
| Verizon Site 2 | -107 db | -82 db |
We also saw some serious speed improvements with the booster, (from 9Mbps down/8 Mbps up unboosted to 59 Mbps down/30 Mbps up boosted!!). Speed can depend on many variables other than pure cell strength (e.g. cell tower loading etc.) but it was still nice to see.
That was nowhere near a complete test obviously, but based on this and what we’ve seen on the RV Mobile Internet Resource Center site (they do very in-depth testing, so we don’t have to!) we’re confident we’ll see similar results everywhere.
Plus we learned a few things (mostly what we expected, but it’s still nice to get confirmation) about how we should best use our various antennas. The first lesson we learned is that we get pretty darn good boosting with our 4G-X plus our old “stubby” antenna, even though that’s not the strongest pairing for the system. Since our stubby is permanently mounted on a metal ground plane our roof (and thus a no-brainier to use) this is probably the set-up we’ll use most of the time.
Also we discovered that it’s not really worth the trouble to strap the 4G antenna to our RV side-mirror (especially as long as we’ve got the stubby). If we’re going to break out the big antenna we need to get up on the roof and place it there. Getting “high” is where you see the biggest improvement, as is always the case with antennas.
Lastly we didn’t test the Paddle Antenna with this set-up, but we know it will work (yet again, thanks to the RV Mobile Internet Resource Center) so we have that as an extra, extra backup in case we need a little more reach than either the stubby or 4G trucker antenna can get us.
The Positives?
- GREAT boosting power (MUCH improved over our cradle)
- No heating problems with the internal antenna (MUCH improved over our cradle)
- Super easy to use = just connect, go
- Compatible with ALL our old antennas (our old “stubby” and our Paddle), plus boosting power with the old antenna is even better than we expected
- It’s multi-use and can boost both our phones and MiFi at the same time (nice advantage over our cradle)
The Negatives?
- The external 4G trucker antenna is a “beastly” thing and not super easy to mount anywhere in a way that’s permanent. Our test results with the “stubby” were pretty good, so we’re probably going to use that most of the time (even though the antenna is not as strong) and just break out the trucker or paddle when we feel we need extra reach.
POST-POST EDIT – Thanks to tips in the comments below, a nifty alternative to the rigid “beastly” 24″ 4G trucker antenna is to purchase the 4G-X with the stubby (or the 4G-M with the stubby) and then buy the shorter (and more manageable) 19″ spring-mounted antenna separately. Not only does this give you two antenna options (e.g. one for RV, one for car…or just an extra back-up…), but the flexible and smaller 19″ is much easier to install permanently on an RV. I LIKE this option! - The internal antenna doesn’t have much reach. You really get BEST boosting if you place your cellular devices (phone, MiFi etc.) right ON TOP of the internal antenna. You’ll get *some* boosting around 1 foot away, but almost nothing past 2 feet.
- Spacing can be a bit tricky. As I mentioned above the internal antenna needs to be placed at least 6-feet from the external antenna, but must be very close to your cellular devices. Keep this in mind when you decide where to create your “tech cabinet”.
Overall this was exactly the upgrade we were looking for. I’m not sure how much we’ll end up using the big trucker antenna (especially given we have 2 other options that work) but the 4G-X is now a permanent and very pleasing part of our set-up.
Just an FYI – I have a 12″ magnetic antenna that I use with a Suction cup window mount (an L shaped mount that can be put on the inside of the front window) or sometimes on a metal plate outside. It seems to work better than the little stubby antenna that came with me booster.
Nice tip! Thanks for adding that.
Nina
The weBoost 12″ mag mount indeed will outperform the 4″ stubby on most of Verizon’s frequency bands. However, on Band 4 (their upload band for AWS/XLTE) it actually has a negative gain. May not be important for everyone, but it is a consideration.
This is a good opportunity to ask if you have any experience or views about Millenicom – whose mifi you, and we, used in the past; they ‘died’, but recently announced they’re back (sending out pleading emails to their past users). We haven’t needed them (not being on the road) but wondered if you’d heard of them being back and have any recommendations to use them (over other sources)?
Hi Guys.. Millenicom is indeed back. However, all of their current plan offerings are T-Mobile based, not Verizon. They’re also don’t offer much advantage over getting a plan direct with the carrier.
Here’s our write-up of the new plans if you’d like to learn more:
https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/millenicom-update-discounted-t-mobile-powered-plans-now-official/
Oh thanks Cherie! Great sum-up! The whole thing is pretty complicated, but that simple “Not Verizon” settles it for us, since we only use Verizon being best for the ‘west coast’!
Cheers for chiming in Cherie! I was about to go research the answer on your site, so this was perfect!
Nina
Excellent write-up of the 4G-X and boosters in general – our experience indeed concurs with yours. The 4G-X is our default booster as well (although we direct wire antennas quite often too).
One thing I’d add, is that weBoost also offers the 4G-OTR antenna in a second form factor – a 19″ version on a spring mounted base. This one is a bit more RV-friendly for those wanting a permanent install, in that it’s a few inches shorter and the spring mount will flex better should you hit a tree or some such (ahem, not that RVers ever do such things, right?).
Unfortunately, they don’t sell it in a kit. One tip we pass along is to purchase the 4G-X kit with the stubby antenna, and then add on the 19″ spring mount antenna. Usually about the same price overall, and you end up with a spare antenna. Some like to mount that on their toad/tow and swap the amplifier back and forth as needed.
But honestly, the little ole stubby antenna performs well across the board in our testing.
(And blush, thanks so much for the shout-outs to RV Mobile Internet!).
Excellent tips, as usual!
Nina
Awesome suggestion about using the spring-mount antenna, Cherie, and exactly what we’re doing! We actually just got back from the hardware store with a few parts we need to install the system tomorrow. What great timing! We’ve come up with what we think (hope) will be a really simple, inexpensive way to mount the spring-loaded truck antenna to the flat roof of an RV. If it works as planned, we’ll look forward to sharing that soon. Thanks to all four of you for all the info. Beside the obvious link to RV Mobile Internet, we can now link here as well. 🙂
Can’t wait to see that! The ability to easily mount on the flat of the RV roof is exactly what we need (and wish we had known how to do) when we installed this. It’s great that you’re using the more nifty 19″ spring-mounted antenna too. I’ll be sure to link as soon as you’ve completed it, since that’s something I’m sure everyone will want to see. You guys always create the very best “how to” hacks!
Nina
Howdy guys! Although I have no doubt that your new setup is technologically better, it’s always a cost/benefit question, isn’t it? We have the Wilson sleek, but never used the “stubby” antenna. Instead, we bought the 16 inch (I think) black magnetic spiral vertical antenna, which we mount to our home-built groundplane on the roof. An example of how it works is, we are currently in Moab in the sheer – walled Colorado River canyon just a couple miles out of town. With no boost, we had a half to one bar. With our boost setup, we have 4 bars, internet, etc
Yup the Sleek has worked well for us over the years, and we’ve paired it with the Paddle whenever we’ve needed extra reach. We travelled with that combo for years. Pairing it with an in-between antenna is a good idea too.
I still consider the Sleek a great little booster and would certainly recommend it as an inexpensive entry-level option. By pairing it with different antennas you have lots of usable configurations for reasonable $$. All good stuff.
Nina
Great review. I’ve had the 4G-M for about a year and used it extensively in the mountains of Vermont, New Hampshire and New York.
A few observations. The device loses speed rapidly the farther it is from the “Hershey Bar” inside antenna. It really needs to be right on top of it. I mounted the Hershey to the wall with velcro and use more velcro to hold the MiFi or phone to it.
In very weak cellular areas where the WeBoost is really cranking it up to send and receive, oscillation can become a real issue. In one instance where I was getting zero signal. I’d turn on the WeBoost, it would find signal and then go into oscillation. In a 20′ Travel Trailer I could not get the two antennas far enough apart to stop it. Next time this happens I’m going to put the Hershey Bar and the MiFi under an aluminum cooking pot to see if it helps. Best way to get around an oscillation issue is indoor antenna real low and outdoor antenna real high. Get them as far as possible out of the horizontal plane.
The WeBoost amplifier gets hot. Give it lots of ventilation.
Otherwise, a great device that I couldn’t work from my trailer without.
Here is an article I wrote about my install that you are free to use.
http://rvbprecision.com/rv-projects
THANKS!
Nice extra tips! We haven’t tested the booster in a really weak area, so the info on oscillation is useful for when/if we hit that problem. And totally agree about the internal antenna. It really doesn’t have much reach at all. We keep our MiFi and phones right on top of it.
Cheers for sharing.
Nina
This is just fantastic NIna, between you and your commenters who know way more than I do, it’s really great information and very timely for us. thank you, thank you AGAIN.
I’m sold on WeBoost after installing a home version at the North Rim but I still use my old Wilson Sleek on the road. Nice review.
Totally agree they’re both great boosters. I do like the portability of the Sleek. So easy to set-up just about anywhere (including a car, truck, RV etc.)
Nina
Very timely topic, thank you for posting. I learned a lot more here, than I have so far scouring Wilson websites and other forums. I have been shopping this weekend, looking for a good holiday discount. Not much discount other than Wilson offering 5 – 10% on certain kits.
Best tidbit I learned is that the indoor antenna needs to be in a spot where the phone can be “stacked”. I saw this comment elsewhere, and again here. Makes sense now, a unit with wide indoor coverage in an RV would be likely have oscillation problems.
You got it exactly. Glad the post was timely (and helpful).
By the way for deals you might want to look out for refurbished units. Wilson will sometimes offer these for a nice discount over the new units. I haven’t seen much movement in the new unit price over the past year.
Nina
Thanks for your review. We have been getting by with the Wilson 4G-V cradle booster but as you point out it does have its limits and we have experienced them. This upgrade would serve us better. One question though about the amp connection to the internal antenna. It looks like they include a short cable with threaded ends for that, but how long is the cable, and if you want a longer one, how long a wire can you use? My antenna mount is on the back (on the RV ladder), but we use our devices that need boosting up front in the dinette. That will require a longer a wired connect limited to some number of cable than pictured in the kit.
Thanks very much for your detailed review!
David
We hadn’t uncoiled the cable on the internal antenna for our pics/video, but I think it’s actually 14 feet long (at least that’s what it says on the website specs). The external antenna comes with 14 feet too. So between the two cable lengths maybe you can get close to what you need?
It may also be possible to upgrade the external antenna cable to a beefier/longer version, but I’m not sure of the exact details. Our particular trucker antenna came with the cable already attached (and no way to take it off), but our old Paddle had the possibility to do this. Do be aware that the longer your cable runs, the more degradation of the signal you’re likely to see. I’d call and ask Wilson about this one to see if they can give you more pointers.
Nina
Thanks for these very helpful details! The 14′ cable attached to the trucker antenna will be mostly used up just coming down my antenna mast (10′ extending painters pole attached to the RV ladder) and into the coach cabinet inside where I would put the booster. Then I estimate 24′ from there to the dinette in the slideout. Call to Wilson will be best way to address. Thanks again!
David
We have this same booster but John got the RV version. We place the booster on the floor by the driver’s seat next to the wall and we can use the phone (our hotspot)/computers anywhere in the MH within 15 feet of the unit. It’s great because we don’t see the booster unit. Definitely better than the cradle.
I’m kind of surprised that you can get so much coverage inside the RV with that kit. I assume that’s from the large internal wide-band panel antenna (white, flat panel) that comes with the kit? From what I understand the internal boosting distance is limited to 6 feet and gets even worse depending on the external signal.
From the Wilson website:
http://www.wilsonsignalbooster.com/wilson-signal-booster-4g-extreme-rv-kit.html
“The inside coverage area that you receive from the Wilson Signal Booster 4G Extreme RV Kit will depend on the existing outside signal strength in the location where you’re traveling or parked. In areas where you get a moderate existing outside signal, the 4G Extreme will provide a boosted signal up to 6 ft from the inside antenna. As the outside signal gets weaker, the coverage area will shrink, until the point where you may have to keep your phone within about 18 inches from the inside antenna to take advantage of the boosted signal.”
Nina
John tried the antenna that came with it but it was so clumsy. He just uses our Wilson truck antenna we used with the old booster. Works fine.
The Wilson truck antenna would be the outside (external) antenna. What antenna do you use inside the RV? According to the Wilson website there are no internal antennas that will reach that far (?), so I’m just curious if John managed to rig something special, or is using some other gear for it. Could be a hack we’re interested in 🙂
Nina
Great post and video… and amazingly coincidental timing for us, since we’re installing our WeBoost system tomorrow. 🙂
Can’t believe we came out with a video on something before The RV Geeks (I feel a little giddy), but I can’t wait to see yours. I know it’s going to be fabulous, as usual!
Nina
Your fantastic information allows us to focus on the “How” since you, and of course Cherie & Chris, have covered the “What” and the “Why” so well. Thanks for your awesome and timely lead-in. 🙂
So I went out to amazon to search for weboost, and their are all sorts of home boosters than have different indoor ranges of anywhere from 7500 sq ft to 1500 sq ft. I’m sincerely confused…..Why then would you spend nearly the same amount to have to leave your mifi and phone directly on an indoor antenna? It seems a weboost with some range would give you the freedom to use your phone while sitting in the RV and then you wouldn’t have to be a foot or less from the inside antenna and it wouldn’t matter where the mifi was placed. Is there a reason to get the one made for a truck/rv over a small home version?
There is a difference between the boosters that are for certified mobile vehicle use and boosters that are certified for house use. Plus you generally run into oscillation issues with the “home” type boosters due to the limited space you have to work with in an RV (in most cases you simply can’t separate the internal & external antennas enough to prevent it, even in the biggest/longest RVs).
From the RV Mobile Internet Resource Site: Should I get a Mobile or Home/Office Booster?
https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/resources/mobile-cellular-boosters/
“The maximum legal gain for a mobile cellular booster is 50dB, and for a home stationary booster the maximum gain is 70dB. RVs cross the line between being a home and being mobile. While stopped, RVs are stationary, and while in motion they are, well, mobile. But generally speaking, the size of most RVs make the additional power of a 70db home booster difficult to work with, often causing problems with oscillation (when the exterior roof antenna picks up the signal transmitted from the interior antenna, instead of the tower.)”
So for RV use there are really only a select few internal antennas that work, and they’ll typically have limited range because of the oscillation issue.
Wilson *does* make a Panel-type internal antenna (you can see the panel in THIS KIT from their website) that can extend internal boosting range up to 6 feet (per the website), but only when external signal is moderate. If external signal is weak, the range decreases to only ~18 inches. Since we only really use boosters in weak areas, this means we’ll always have limited internal range even if we upgraded our internal antenna to the larger version.
Now if you happen to own a fully metal RV (say, an old Wanderlodge) I’m thinking *maybe* you can use one of those bigger internal antennas since your RV basically acts as a faraday cage and (perhaps) prevents the oscillation from happening? I’m totally speculating here! In most regular RV’s this wouldn’t be possible and our fiberglass “beast” definitely wouldn’t be able to handle it.
So, a long explanation to say that those “home” type boosters don’t really work in an RV. At least that’s my understanding of it all 🙂
Nina
Got it, thanks!
I installed a WeBoost 4G M with the 19 inch outside antenna mounted to the drivers side of the coach. Three lights are green and the last one is red. The inside bar antenna is above the door of my tech cabinet. Anyone know how I can get three solid green lights?
Is your tech cabinet within 6 feet of the outdoor antenna? If so you may be getting oscillation and need to further separate the interior and exterior antennas. Try that and see if it solves the problem.
Nina
I have tried moving it but still get the same thing.
Then I suggest a call to weBoost technical support. They should be able to troubleshoot further.
Nina
So are these boosters good so one could run the laptop computers from the sofa and dinette? Based on what I reading it seems to be good only for the cell phone internet. Correct me if I am wrong. I want the setup so I can use the laptop computer at those spots and potentially the bedroom. I am not a computer geek and just know how to do basic computer things. Even all my searches don’t turn out how I want it to be.
Thanks,
Ralph
Yes…If you are using your cell phone as a “HotSpot” or an actual “HotSpot”. You place your cell phone or hotspot on the “Hershey Bar” antenna and then connect to this device using WiFi on your laptop.
As long as your wifi from your laptop can communicate with the cell phone / hot spot, you will be connected no matter where you are in the RV.
Exactly what Roy said. If you have a data plan with your cell phone company either on your phone or on a MiFi (portable hotspot device) then what you do is place your phone or MiFi on that little internal antenna and just connect to that with your laptop. You can be sitting anywhere in the RV and connect to the MiFi or phone (which is sitting up front on the antenna) with no problem at all. Make sense?
You DO need a data plan for this to work. If you want to connect to campground WiFi you need a different set of equipment.
Nina
Instead of attaching the weboost antenna to the tv antenna why not just use the tv antenna, which is already on the roof and has a nice coax conn exiting back inside the coach?
The TV antenna is the wrong size to pickup WiFi frequencies (Boosting antennas are sized in inverse proportion to frequency). So if you do that you basically negate the entire boosting capability of the system.
Nina