Enhancements

[Ischia]

Hi hi!

Can you believe we've been static owners for 21 months already?

Thanks to all the brill hints and tips here we seemed to get the right park/pitch/caravan and kitted it out pretty well to start with so we haven't really needed to keep buying "stuff". As always, it takes a bit of time to suss out what needs to be changed or improved and for us there were a couple of minor niggles. The first is what to do with two dogs when you don't want them in the caravan until they have dried out from their swims and the sand has fallen off them and the second is "communications".

We've ummed and ahh'd about decking and have taken the plunge to get a 30ft x 12ft deck along the sunny side of the van which will effectively double the width of living space we have currently and provide an enclosed area for said dogs to dry off on. It'll make a lovely private sun deck for me to lounge around on too so I'm very excited about this addition.

On the communications challenge, we had very poor wifi and mobile signals so decided to take the advice on here and buy an "iBoost" wifi doodah which was well worth the investment. We can now connect all our iPhones, iPads, my work laptop and even our TV to the park's wifi via the iBoost router which has an antenna powerful enough to pick up a good wifi signal so we were able to use Netflix this week.

Mobile signal remains patchy so I have just ordered a GSM desk phone to see if that makes any difference - will report back on that once I've tested it.

The only other addition we are coveting is a shed but we just can't decide on size/shape/colour so it can't be that much of a necessity and we have managed without one so far....

[mick1950]

the decking always wins in the end.with the scheme of the initial costs of buying the van,and all that goes with it,it,s worth the extra outlay.

[RRRob]

I boost good but a lot more expensive than how I would have done it. By around a hundred quid. I can highly reccomend the GSM desk phone though. We have 2 of them one at home and one at the caravan. We pay £10 a month for a simcard with unlimited calls to landlines so its cheaper than having a wired phone.

[Ischia]

Originally Posted by mick1950

the decking always wins in the end.with the scheme of the initial costs of buying the van,and all that goes with it,it,s worth the extra outlay.

It was definitely the cost that's put us off but also that hubby's normally up with me when the dogs are there so they can go in the back of his van though I don't really like to do that. But he's off on a deployment to Afghanistan on Monday so I won't have the van option and I plan on spending as much time as I can at the caravan whilst he's away so decking's definitely moved up the priorities list!

[Ischia]

Originally Posted by RRRob

I boost good but a lot more expensive than how I would have done it. By around a hundred quid. I can highly reccomend the GSM desk phone though. We have 2 of them one at home and one at the caravan. We pay £10 a month for a simcard with unlimited calls to landlines so its cheaper than having a wired phone.

I did read your tips for boosting wifi signal RRRob but I'm not particularly technical so would probably have spent more than the cost of the iBoost buying the wrong bits and bobs for the job

[mick1950]

Originally Posted by Ischia

I did read your tips for boosting wifi signal RRRob but I'm not particularly technical so would probably have spent more than the cost of the iBoost buying the wrong bits and bobs for the job

so the decking wins.

[The Iron Lady]

After many months of a poor orange signal & using the locals pubs wi fi, have at last got a vodafone mobile wi fi device. Daughter came up previous week with her vodafone mobile & constantly on her social network! Can use up to 5 devices on it & is same cost as park wi fi which only allows 1 device. Very happy with result .
Another brilliant purchase from Lidls a solar powered outside led sensor light £8.99. Gives plenty of light & options for constant light or sensor. Sits perfect on end of caravan

[Ischia]

Originally Posted by The Iron Lady

After many months of a poor orange signal & using the locals pubs wi fi, have at last got a vodafone mobile wi fi device. Daughter came up previous week with her vodafone mobile & constantly on her social network! Can use up to 5 devices on it & is same cost as park wi fi which only allows 1 device. Very happy with result .
Another brilliant purchase from Lidls a solar powered outside led sensor light £8.99. Gives plenty of light & options for constant light or sensor. Sits perfect on end of caravan

Hi Iron Lady I did explore MiFi but phone signal is virtually non-existent on EE or Vodafone so didn't want to risk it. The GSM phone arrived on Saturday afternoon and works well at home where signal is also weak so fingers crossed it does the same at the caravan.

We did buy some solar lights but some thieving toe rags decided to remove them during the summer holidays last year. We won't be replacing them.

[bluemax90]

Like you we have an appalling mobile/mobile internet signal but have USB aerials for the laptops (no use for Ipad etc), so the only enhancement we are seriously considering (like that word means you are not spending money but enhancing your holiday home) is satellite broadband which is being covered in a thread by the well known guinea pig Angela

The aerials are great 100% signal strength although unfortunately it is the distance from the exchange to the park and number of users that dictates our speed. We are probably at the end of the line from the local exchange so no aerial is ever going to speed the internet up only help to connect to the WiFi router.