Winegard ConnecT 2.0 Fail
If you check the Winegard ConnecT website, you will read the many highlights about this Internet WiFi extender. What you won’t find is that their product is only intended for use in locations where the signal strengths to your location are weak or unstable. For that, you need to raise a ticket.
I came across the issue by accident. We were running into some issues with the Winegard ConnecT and I decided to run a few speed tests.
This was the result when I was connected to the Winegard.
I’m sure that most of us would be more than happy with 23 Mbps at any RV park.
But.
Here is what the same computer, seconds later, reported when I was connected directly to the resort’s WiFi — bypassing the Winegard extender completely.
I switched between the two signal sources multiple times just to make sure it wasn’t some kind of fluke. I ran the tests on my smartphone, tablet and laptop.
All returned roughly the same delta in speed.
I updated the Winegard to the latest firmware just in case. Retested. Same result.
I then contacted Winegard technical support.
When connected to the Winegard, I am getting significantly slower speeds than when I connect directly to the WiFi source. For example, I ran fast.com tests on the same machine this morning. When connected to the Winegard, I was getting 23 Mbps. When bypassing the Winegard and connecting to the same WiFi source, I was getting 260 Mbps. Latency was about the same for both speed tests. Why would the Winegard be so much slower and is there anything I can do about it?
Thank you for your help.
Richard.
This was their reply.
Richard,
Adding our device in line creates an additional jump for the signal which can reduce speeds. If you are able to connect directly to the WiFi source that is always recommended. Our product is only intended for use in locations where the signal strengths to your location are weak or unstable. It will only increase speeds if the speeds are slow due to weak signal.
Thank you,
Winegard Customer Support
If you are considering purchasing this product please note the following:
Our product is only intended for use in locations where the signal strengths to your location are weak or unstable.
Important as you will not find that little data point anywhere in their marketing material or in their manual and that may influence your decision to buy the Winegard ConnecT.
Thanks for that, I’ve been banging my head wondering why such poor performance from this thing. The main reason I purchased it was so that I wouldn’t have to log in to all the devices independently when going to an RV park. On some devices it works well on others hardly at all. It would work great on Google Chromecast except it wouldn’t allow Hulu to work. With today’s technology this is just not acceptable.
I also spent $$$ on the Wineguard 2.0 for my RV expecting better results than connecting directly to my home wifi which is getting me 44Mbps at 60% signal strength from the RV (a slow or weak connection by today’s standards) – on the Winguard connecting to the same Wifi is getting me 1.2Mbps which is unusable. What is this product actually supposed to do?
Same issue here. I get ~20Mbps down connecting directly to a signal that says is 60% but through the winegard it is 0.6Mbps! It’s astonishing how poorly this thing performs. The web UI is not properly designed which leads be to believe the software/hardware on the unit is also not designed properly or with performance in mind. A proxy like this should slow things down, but this level of slowdown is just pure deception. As the OP mentioned it is not mentioned anywhere in the marketing jargon. I wish I did not have this big, bulky, expensive and useless device glued to my roof. Do not buy this piece of junk!
Guys till now the product is excellent for me
We ditched ours. Bought a far superior mobile router and antenna system (Peplink). Sooo much better than the Winegard. Good to hear that it is working for you. Hope it stays that way.