Winegard Gateway/Router

[Patrickdoran]

I have a 2020 Montana High Country. It came pre-wired for a winegard gateway because the camper came with a winegard Air360. Anyone install one? Any experience with winegard gateway or other 3rd party gateway?

[Ren]

Im in the same situation. I'll be doing this soon as well, unless someone comes along and chimes in with a better option.

[GHallof]

I have the Air360. Works well for me. There no doubtedly will be others that have different opinions. What questions do you have?

[Camp CA]

Installed one on our 2020 Montana.............verdict is out on how well it works. I usually use my cell phone hotspot if it cannot pick up wifi on it.

[Budman229]

Thinking about one also. I pulled the ceiling cover off today to see the wiring. There are the 3 small wifi wires and two sets of red/white wires available. I think I can use either one of the red/white wires for power - red-hot and white-ground. Does this sound right?

[Patrickdoran]

yes that is right.

[Patrickdoran]

I purchased the gateway and installed it. Came across something interesting while doing it. I was expecting the power cable to be a pigtail ready for connection. Instead, they just put in a big loop of cable (i.e. slack) that went to the air360. So I had to cut that cable and strip each end for the power connection to the gateway. No biggie, but not expecting that. The gateway works well. Recommend you go to your ATT or Verizon dealer and get an extra SIM card to access your cell phone account. The gateway works well. Only gives 2.4GHz no 5GHz. But it still works well. I used the campsite internet and it works as advertised. I am pleased with it. Since it is DC power, it works while on the road so you have WIFI available for those devices that dont have cell service.

[Budman229]

Thanks! I appreciate it!

Paul

[j&d]

When you cut the 'power cord loop' did you test each end? and did you install the on/off switch?

[Budman229]

I didn't cut the wire. I used Posi-Tap connectors. They allow you to tap into the power source and hook up the WiFi power cord with the same connector. First time I've used them and they work great.

I did not install the switch. I just leave it powered all the time.

[j&d]

just tap into the 'hot' line only?

[Budman229]

No, you need one for the hot and one for the ground. Red for hot, white for ground. Just use a razer knife to carefully separate the two for two or three inches.

[BeagleMan]

We have a Winegard ConnecT 2.0 installed on our Montana. HAve a SIM card from Nomad coming to use in it. Can't wait to fire it up!

[Luckey]

I’m about to tackle this later this morning.

Do I need to flip any breakers or pull
Power before I cut these wires ?

Our internet is awful we need to get this gateway installed

I noticed also on the power ground slack loop there’s arrows? Does that make any difference?

Thank you. Sleepless on the Oregon coast.

[BandBmalin]

Luckey, did the gateway help your internet problem?

I just traded my 3820FK for a 385BR so I'd have a dedicated office on the road and the new unit has the Winegard 360+. I'm wanting to incorporate some Alexa devices into my fiver along with only having to connect TVs and other devices one time and then being able to simply connect the trailer's WiFi each time I enter a new area. Before I dump $300 for the gateway, I am looking for some more feedback.
1. Can you stream using it?
2. When hooking up to RV Park or other public WiFi spots, does it work when you have to use a 'splash' screen. (You click on "connect" and it takes you to another website where you have to enter information. This is a real pain on a TV where you can't simply enter a password.)
3. Are you generally happy with it?

Thanks for the help on this. I don't want to dump another $300 for the Gateway if I'll end up using something different later.

[Luckey]

Essentially it turns the entire RV into a giant antennea
And you are able to pick up wifi signals from farther distances. If you install a SIM card from your provider or just buy a plan from winegard you also have cellular LTE capabilities and yes it becomes a hot spot for all your devices.

It’s essential
For us.

Originally Posted by BandBmalin

Luckey, did the gateway help your internet problem?

I just traded my 3820FK for a 385BR so I'd have a dedicated office on the road and the new unit has the Winegard 360+. I'm wanting to incorporate some Alexa devices into my fiver along with only having to connect TVs and other devices one time and then being able to simply connect the trailer's WiFi each time I enter a new area. Before I dump $300 for the gateway, I am looking for some more feedback.
1. Can you stream using it?
2. When hooking up to RV Park or other public WiFi spots, does it work when you have to use a 'splash' screen. (You click on "connect" and it takes you to another website where you have to enter information. This is a real pain on a TV where you can't simply enter a password.)
3. Are you generally happy with it?

Thanks for the help on this. I don't want to dump another $300 for the Gateway if I'll end up using something different later.

[kowbra]

Originally Posted by Luckey

Essentially it turns the entire RV into a giant antennea
And you are able to pick up wifi signals from farther distances. If you install a SIM card from your provider or just buy a plan from winegard you also have cellular LTE capabilities and yes it becomes a hot spot for all your devices.

It’s essential
For us.

I'm curious on one of the questions from @BandBMalin ... how does it work for camp wifi? Have you had certain parks where it won't connect to their system?

We have had several wifi routers and antennas over the years that overall work well, but starting about 3 years ago it seems that some parks have their wifi systems set so it will not allow our wifi routers to connect. So, we had to go back to connecting individual devices.
If a newer system like this Winegard can overcome that issue, that would be worth it to me.

Thanks in advance for any info you can share!
Brad

[BobStack]

I tried it and it works ok as long as your near a Cell tower as the antenna is omni directional and doesn't reach out very far in the mountains. As far as connecting to Camp WIFI I found the camp WIFI speeds were so slow that Streaming is near impossible. You'll need to invest in a monthly Data plan too and most cap out at 250gig or throttle you down when you exceed a certain amount of data. Streaming uses about 3Gig per hour watching movies so plan accordingly. I use the following: Purchased Unlimited service through UbiFi at $99 per month and bought a MOFI Router with External antenna's. I get no data caps or throttling and can stream three TV's at the same time. The plan is based on ATT service so I get great reception. It works so good I dumped my home Comcast and when I'm not traveling Use it at home for Three TV's and all data. I love it!!!

[GreG L.]

Most of the parks we stay at lately have WiFi that requires you to go to a web page to authenticate, this stops devices that don't have browsers like Roku's and repeaters which is what we are talking about here, try's to stop streaming.

I use my cell phone as a hot spot to connect to WiFi (or cellular) and set my Roku to connect to the phone.

If you use a SIM card (another account to pay the cellular company) in an Air360 then you could connect directly to that, but not WiFi if a login web page is needed.

[FoxFamily91]

We purchased the gateway and followed very easy install instructions - no need to cut any wires, all plug and play. It works great at both our summer and winter seasonal campgrounds (attaching to their wi-fi) - gives me the boost I need to both work virtually as well as streaming - we only do YouTubeTV, Netflix, Prime TV. It has been well worth the $, gives me better service and signal. I was challenged at this park where the wifi (charter) has a "splash screen" - I finally figured it out - did the set up via my computer vs. my cell phone.