Winegard 2.0

[happy]

Bob, is the ATT pre=paid sim card for the Winegard, purchased by itself without a phone assigned to it? Locally ATT is not so good but traveling it would work. Our phones are Verizon.

[Bob Nodine]

Originally Posted by happy

Bob, is the ATT pre=paid sim card for the Winegard, purchased by itself without a phone assigned to it? Locally ATT is not so good but traveling it would work. Our phones are Verizon.

Yes, we purchased the SIM card only with 100 GB data at a local AT&T store. It is treated a little different than a cellphone. It is best if you have the (can't remember what they call it) number from your Winegard and they enter that into the SIM card. Ours cost $55 a month which reflects a discount because we have the payment set up as a monthly draft out of our checking account.

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by Bob Nodine

Yes, we purchased the SIM card only with 100 GB data at a local AT&T store. It is treated a little different than a cellphone. It is best if you have the (can't remember what they call it) number from your Winegard and they enter that into the SIM card. Ours cost $55 a month which reflects a discount because we have the payment set up as a monthly draft out of our checking account.

IMEI number. And they discount the $90 dollar 100 GB plan to $55 for Auto-Pay?

[happy]

Thank you! I was very close to being stewped on this subject! Now I am smarter.

[happy]

Could that same sim card be put in a portable hotspot device and used there also?

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by happy

Could that same sim card be put in a portable hotspot device and used there also?

In my experience with ATT SIMs:

We have two prepaid phone plans. We have upgraded both phones a couple of times. We just had to move the SIM from the old phone to the new phone. No interaction with ATT staff/support.

We have a Connected Car plan with a SIM that originally came with the Mobley device. I have moved that SIM into 2 Netgear LTE modems and just recently into an ELSYS AMPLIMAX 4G Outdoor LTE Modem. Moving to the Netgear devices was as easy as moving the SIM. I had more trouble with the Elsys device because it was "smarter" and was supposed to automatically set the APN. I had to contact their Technical support because the automatic APN was being set to the APN for cellphones, not data devices. Once that was resolved it works great. Again - no contact with ATT to complete this move.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B091BL1Q44

[happy]

Thank you!. Our phones accept new sims without any updating. I may have to put some of this to the test. Appreciate it!

[MLP]

We never have had problems with our AT&T phones. We use one of out phones as a hot spot. When needed we turn on the Maximum signal amp and it grabs the nearest cell tower big time. Never a problem with it.

[happy]

This is worth trying. Looking forward to spring travel.

[RonRM]

Originally Posted by Bob Nodine

We also are having good luck with an AT&T Prepaid Sim Card in the Winegard 2.0. The Winegard being on the roof with a larger antenna than a cell phone or a hotspot picks up the cell signal when the cellphone does not. We started with a Verizon sim card in the Winegard and found they were always slowing it down and giving priority to other traffic. We decided to switch to AT&T and have found the coverage to be better than Verizon and so far they have not been throttling back the speed. We connect our laptop and our Roku to the Winegard and stream movies and live TV.

Just curious...what kind of speed (speediest) through the Winegard and direct ATT cell internet connection? I know that the WG2.0 just about half's an extended WIFI signal bandwidth (when you connect it to a wifi source as it's internet gateway), due to amplification. Just wondering if it amplifies cell signals, thereby cutting performance. It's a trade-off, as the WG is a beast at pulling in weak WIFI signals over fairly large distances.

I normally use my FMCA hotspot directly, but might be nice to put it's sim in the WG from time-to-time as long as it doesn't limit performance.

Ron

[Bob Nodine]

Originally Posted by RonRM

Just curious...what kind of speed (speediest) through the Winegard and direct ATT cell internet connection? I know that the WG2.0 just about half's an extended WIFI signal bandwidth (when you connect it to a wifi source as it's internet gateway), due to amplification. Just wondering if it amplifies cell signals, thereby cutting performance. It's a trade-off, as the WG is a beast at pulling in weak WIFI signals over fairly large distances.

I normally use my FMCA hotspot directly, but might be nice to put it's sim in the WG from time-to-time as long as it doesn't limit performance.

Ron

I can't answer your question because we have never attempted to measure the speed. It beats the hell out of what we were experiencing with the Verizon SIM card installed. Some of that may have been attributed to the fact that the Verizon SIM was originally in a hotspot we had purchased. The AT&T SIM was programmed to work with the Winegard when we purchased it. When we were using the Verizon SIM it was very frustrating to watch anything that was streamed because the buffer was always emptying out and you got to watch the hourglass.

[Judge]

Originally Posted by RonRM

Just curious...what kind of speed (speediest) through the Winegard and direct ATT cell internet connection? I know that the WG2.0 just about half's an extended WIFI signal bandwidth (when you connect it to a wifi source as it's internet gateway), due to amplification. Just wondering if it amplifies cell signals, thereby cutting performance. It's a trade-off, as the WG is a beast at pulling in weak WIFI signals over fairly large distances.

I normally use my FMCA hotspot directly, but might be nice to put it's sim in the WG from time-to-time as long as it doesn't limit performance.

Ron

While it doesn't amplify cell signals, it can provide a better signal than what you get on a cell phone or even some hot spots because of the external antennas and roof mounts. In places my cell phone had 0 bar the Winegard had some coverage but not earth shattering.

I had AT&T for the Winegard when they used to offer the Unlimited Plan for $360/year. I had no issues streaming TV, movies, etc. when AT&T coverage was good.

Now I use either Starlink or T-Mobile Home Internet and the Winegard is a router that connects to my smart TV's and other devices so I don't have to keep choosing different SSID's on those devices. We connect our laptops and tablets directly to Starlink or T-Mobile Home, whichever we are using at the time.

When traveling I will use T-Mobile Home and the Winegard lets me connect to a WiFi camera I have mounted on the back of the Jeep so I can keep an eye on our e-Bikes while moving. Works great.

[PreCambrian]

I use the same system however I have a Verizon SIM card which I found had better coverage than the AT&T that Winegard uses. Regarding dropping your WiFi, I never had that problem although I did have to reset the Winegard by cycling power once when I did install the Verizon SIM. In my unit, the Winegard is wired to the same DC circuit as the propane detector so you can cycle that instead of all of the power.

My guess is that there is either something wrong with how your SIM card is seated or there is a problem with your unit because my WiFi never drops whether or not I lose cellular service. Someone else suggested checking for updates, which could help. Especially if something got corrupted on your system.

My Winegard does get better cellular coverage than either my iPhones or iPads by themselves and that is why I use it (along with having a WiFi connection to the RV so I can remote monitor it using my Blink cameras).

[GreySix]

Had an odd issue with my Winegard ConnecT 2.0+. Got it up and running last week, changed the SSID and password, and then changed the router password.

All was going well, had great connectivity even throughout the house, so added the new SSID and password to all local devices. All good!

But today, fired up the Winegard, and the SSID is still visible, but the password changed. I didn't change it, and it was a complex password - not something some kid could quickly crack.

So, tried to reset, but saw no reset button on the unit.



Fine. Tried to power-cycle reset, turning off the Wingard, powering it on for 90 seconds, turning it off again - rinse and repeat twice more. Nope. Still showing the same SSID I set up a week ago, and still no joy on the password.

Any advice?

[16ACE27]

If unable to cause the device to reset, please contact Winegard at 1-800-320-9992 or email help@winegard.com.

[GreySix]

Originally Posted by 16ACE27

Thanks. Sent them an email, figuring there'd be nobody working at the help desk this late in the weekend. Also started a thread elsewhere in the hopes someone's run into this problem but found an easy fix.

[happy]

With a Winegard 2.0 and a cell plan, is it correct that I do not need Hotspot data?
We would use the Winegard as a Wifi and log our devices in using the talk/text/data of the cell plan?

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by happy

With a Winegard 2.0 and a cell plan, is it correct that I do not need Hotspot data?
We would use the Winegard as a Wifi and log our devices in using the talk/text/data of the cell plan?

With a Winegard 2.0 and installed SIM for a cell data plan you use the router/WIFI capabilities of the Winegard device and connect all WIFI devices to it (TVs, Laptops, Tablets, PCs). There is no Talk/Text on a Data SIM plan. Your cell phones are not involved unless you connect them to the Winegard's Access Point.

Without a cell SIM and Data plan you can use your phone as a hotspot and have the WIFI extender in the Winegard connect to it and share your phone's data as above, but why?

[happy]

I think you helpe me understand what i was confusing! thank you.

[macdaddy1111]

you figure out to connect winegard to tmobile home net?

I used a 50 dollar generic router hook to tmobile home and then connect winegard to router.

don't think winegard likes wpa3

Originally Posted by Judge

While it doesn't amplify cell signals, it can provide a better signal than what you get on a cell phone or even some hot spots because of the external antennas and roof mounts. In places my cell phone had 0 bar the Winegard had some coverage but not earth shattering.

I had AT&T for the Winegard when they used to offer the Unlimited Plan for $360/year. I had no issues streaming TV, movies, etc. when AT&T coverage was good.

Now I use either Starlink or T-Mobile Home Internet and the Winegard is a router that connects to my smart TV's and other devices so I don't have to keep choosing different SSID's on those devices. We connect our laptops and tablets directly to Starlink or T-Mobile Home, whichever we are using at the time.

When traveling I will use T-Mobile Home and the Winegard lets me connect to a WiFi camera I have mounted on the back of the Jeep so I can keep an eye on our e-Bikes while moving. Works great.