Winegard GW-1000 Connection issues

[saucedhog]

Hi all, Purchased the GW-1000 for my 376THS which was pre-wired with the Winegard 360+ antenna. No problems on the install. Have 12V DC power (I haven't added the switch yet) and can get to the admin page. The problem I'm having is connecting to local Wi-Fi. When I attempt to connect to an outside Wi-Fi source (attempted campground, local hardware store, and mobile hotspot) the router drops the link with device (phone or computer) in the middle of establishing the link with the Wi-Fi source. It's not losing power, just the link. I'm thinking maybe since it's new it might be behind on software upgrades, but I can't upgrade if I can't connect to the internet. Ugh! I'm just wondering if anyone has had any issues with their GW-1000 dropping from their device for no apparent reason and if so, did you find a fix? It could be my router is just a lemon.
Thank you for any ideas or advice.
Mike

[howson]

Hi all, Purchased the GW-1000 for my 376THS which was pre-wired with the Winegard 360+ antenna. No problems on the install. Have 12V DC power (I haven't added the switch yet) and can get to the admin page. The problem I'm having is connecting to local Wi-Fi. When I attempt to connect to an outside Wi-Fi source (attempted campground, local hardware store, and mobile hotspot) the router drops the link with device (phone or computer) in the middle of establishing the link with the Wi-Fi source. It's not losing power, just the link. I'm thinking maybe since it's new it might be behind on software upgrades, but I can't upgrade if I can't connect to the internet. Ugh! I'm just wondering if anyone has had any issues with their GW-1000 dropping from their device for no apparent reason and if so, did you find a fix? It could be my router is just a lemon.
Thank you for any ideas or advice.
Mike

Mike,
When I connect to a campground's WiFi through the Winegard router I typically use Winegard's Connected app. During the connection process my phone does drop the connection to the Winegard (which has to be established to start the process) but eventually (it usually takes a minute or two) everything starts working. So the initial drop of the Winegard connection when connecting to the campground WiFi is normal.

I haven't used the manual method via a browser for awhile now, but when I did it wasn't always seamless or quick to make the connections.

Two other thoughts--if the WiFi source requires a login (like at a hotel or campground where the user must acknowledge something before the link becomes active) that could be an issue, or if you're attempting to connect to the source via your phone and Auto reconnect is not enabled (to the Winegard) that could be an issue.

Howard

[saucedhog]

Mike,
When I connect to a campground's WiFi through the Winegard router I typically use Winegard's Connected app. During the connection process my phone does drop the connection to the Winegard (which has to be established to start the process) but eventually (it usually takes a minute or two) everything starts working. So the initial drop of the Winegard connection when connecting to the campground WiFi is normal.

I haven't used the manual method via a browser for awhile now, but when I did it wasn't always seamless or quick to make the connections.

Two other thoughts--if the WiFi source requires a login (like at a hotel or campground where the user must acknowledge something before the link becomes active) that could be an issue, or if you're attempting to connect to the source via your phone and Auto reconnect is not enabled (to the Winegard) that could be an issue.

Howard

Thanks for the info! I did find that if you leave it alone it finally connects and holds like you described but it takes several minutes and doesn't give any indication it's working to connect. I very much appreciate the reply and input.
-Mike

[KSC_Travels]

Hi all, Purchased the GW-1000 for my 376THS which was pre-wired with the Winegard 360+ antenna. No problems on the install. Have 12V DC power (I haven't added the switch yet) and can get to the admin page. The problem I'm having is connecting to local Wi-Fi. When I attempt to connect to an outside Wi-Fi source (attempted campground, local hardware store, and mobile hotspot) the router drops the link with device (phone or computer) in the middle of establishing the link with the Wi-Fi source. It's not losing power, just the link. I'm thinking maybe since it's new it might be behind on software upgrades, but I can't upgrade if I can't connect to the internet. Ugh! I'm just wondering if anyone has had any issues with their GW-1000 dropping from their device for no apparent reason and if so, did you find a fix? It could be my router is just a lemon.
Thank you for any ideas or advice.
Mike

Mike - I experience the same thing with the browser connect process. It drops the wifi connection from the computer to the Gateway. Most often, I watch the wifi icon and just manually reconnect when it drops (instead of waiting) while the connection process is running. It is a software issue with the gateway - they even have the pop-up red warning sentence that says "you may lose connection during this process...". It's clunky software for sure, but the thing seems to work okay once established.

Although, we were in one campground recently where the wifi was so spotty that the gateway wouldn't hold the connection at all - but our phones did better. Just better software on the phones I think.