Can I get Wi-Fi in a caravan without an electric hook-up?

Yes, and this is the deciding factor for most vans. A battery MiFi charges over USB, so it runs from a 12V socket or a power bank with no hook-up and no inverter. Mains-powered 4G routers need either an electric hook-up or an inverter running off your leisure battery, which is a far bigger power draw for the same job.

Why is campsite Wi-Fi so bad?

It is usually one connection shared across the whole site, with access points too far from most pitches. It gets slower every time another van arrives, and many sites block or throttle video streaming to protect the connection. Treat it as a bonus for checking email, not as your internet.

Will my UK data SIM work in Europe?

Not automatically, and not always for free. Since Brexit several UK networks reintroduced roaming charges, and allowances vary a lot between providers and between phone and data-only plans. Check the specific SIM's EU allowance and its fair-use cap before you travel, because a data-only SIM often has different roaming terms to the phone plan from the same brand.

Is Starlink worth it for a motorhome?

Only for genuinely remote touring or if you work on the road and cannot risk poor coverage. It needs a clear view of the sky, so trees and mountains break it, and it draws far more power than a MiFi, which matters a great deal when you are off-grid. For most UK and European sites a 4G MiFi is cheaper, smaller and good enough.

How do I improve mobile signal at a campsite?

Height and position matter more than hardware. Put the device in a window facing the nearest town rather than in a cupboard or low down in the van. If you tour regularly in weak-signal areas, an external aerial mounted on the roof and fed to a 4G router makes a bigger difference than upgrading the router itself.

Buying guide

Getting online in a caravan or motorhome.

Campsite Wi-Fi is usually hopeless, and the advice online mostly ignores the one constraint that actually decides this: how much power the thing draws when you have no hook-up.

In a van, power is the real currency. The cheapest option is also the one that barely touches your battery.

Start here

Do not rely on the campsite Wi-Fi.

Site Wi-Fi is typically one connection shared across every pitch, with a couple of access points that were never going to reach the far corners of the field. It degrades every time another van pulls in, and it is at its worst on exactly the evenings you want it, when the whole site is back from the beach.

Plenty of sites also throttle or block streaming outright to stop three families watching films from flattening the connection. Some charge per device, which is its own kind of irritating when you have two phones, two tablets and a laptop.

Treat it as a bonus for checking email. Bring your own connection for anything you actually care about.

Shared across the whole site, so it slows as the site fills.
Access points rarely reach the outer pitches.
Streaming is often blocked or throttled.
Sometimes charged per device.
Rarely secure. Assume anything on it is public.

The thing that decides it

In a van, power matters more than speed.

At home you plug things in and never think about it. Off-grid, every device competes for the same leisure battery, and a mains-only router means either an electric hook-up or an inverter running all day. That is a lot of battery for a job a USB-powered device does just as well.

This single constraint is why the pocket MiFi wins for most vans, even though on paper a mains 4G router is the better device. The better device is no use on a battery you are trying to make last three days.

Option 1

Tether your phone

Free, instant, and worth trying at every new pitch before you touch anything else. If the signal is decent and you only need a laptop for an hour, this is the whole answer.

The problem in a van is sharper than at home. You are running off limited power, you probably want that phone for maps and photos, and tethering eats battery quickly. It is a fine tool for an hour and a poor plan for a fortnight.

Free and already with you.
Good for short bursts.
Flattens the phone you need for navigation.
Awkward to share across a family.
Check your tethering allowance before you rely on it.

Option 2

A MiFi with its own data SIM

For most caravans and motorhomes this is the right answer. A pocket device with its own battery and SIM, making a small Wi-Fi network the whole van connects to. It charges over USB, so a 12V socket or a power bank keeps it going with no hook-up at all.

Because the SIM is separate from your phone, you can pick a network with better rural coverage, and you keep your phone's battery and allowance for phone things. Most units show signal strength on a screen, which turns out to be genuinely useful when you are deciding which end of a field to park on.

USB or 12V powered. No hook-up needed.
Shares one SIM across the whole van.
Lets you choose a network for rural coverage.
Signal display helps you position it, or the van.
Still limited by whatever mobile coverage exists at the pitch.

Option 3

An external aerial and a 12V router

The upgrade for people who tour regularly, park in the same weak-signal valleys, or work from the van. A roof-mounted aerial gets height and a clear line to the mast, which is worth far more than a faster router sitting inside a metal box.

A metal-bodied van is close to a Faraday cage, so anything you can do to get the aerial outside pays off. Look for a 12V router rather than a mains one, so you are not adding an inverter to the setup purely to power it.

Height and an outside aerial beat a better router indoors.
Choose 12V, not mains, so no inverter is needed.
Ethernet ports for a laptop or a smart TV.
Costs more, and needs fitting.
Worth it for regular touring, overkill for two weekends a year.

Option 4

Starlink Roam

Satellite internet that works where there is no mobile signal at all, which is genuinely transformative for remote touring. If you work on the road and cannot afford to lose a day to bad coverage, it solves a problem nothing else does.

Two honest caveats. It needs a clear view of the sky, so a wooded pitch or a steep valley breaks it. And it draws considerably more power than everything else here, which is fine on hook-up and painful when you are trying to stretch a leisure battery. For most UK and European sites, a MiFi is smaller, cheaper and good enough.

Works where there is no mobile coverage at all.
Genuinely enables working from remote places.
Needs clear sky. Trees and valleys defeat it.
Much heavier power draw, a real issue off-grid.
Highest cost of anything here, hardware and monthly.

Before you tour Europe

Check the roaming terms on that SIM, not the brand's.

Since Brexit several UK networks brought back roaming charges, and the allowances differ wildly between providers. The trap is that data-only SIMs often have completely different roaming terms to the phone plans sold by the same brand, so a network being "good for Europe" on your phone tells you nothing about the SIM in your MiFi.

Check the specific product's EU allowance and its fair-use cap before you travel. If you tour Europe often, that allowance is a bigger deal than any spec on the device itself, and it is worth choosing the SIM first and the hardware second.

Data

How much will you actually use?

Holiday usage skews heavily towards video, which is the expensive kind. A couple of evenings of streaming will outweigh a fortnight of everything else put together.

Maps, messaging, email: barely registers, a GB or two a week.
Streaming video: roughly 1 to 3GB per hour depending on quality.
A fortnight with evening telly: budget 50GB and more if there are teenagers.
Download films and playlists before you leave. Free, and it works with no signal.
Drop streaming quality to standard definition. On a tablet you will not notice, and it can quarter the usage.

Quick answer

What should you take?

Occasional UK sites, mostly hook-up: a MiFi and a decent data SIM.
Off-grid weekends: a MiFi, charged from 12V. Nothing mains.
Touring Europe: pick the SIM's roaming allowance first, then the hardware.
Working from the van: external aerial and a 12V router, or Starlink if you go truly remote.
Remote Scotland, Wales or mountains: Starlink is the only thing that reliably works.
Kids and streaming: download before you go, whatever else you buy.

Recommendations

Disclosure: the product links below are Amazon affiliate links. If you buy through one, LMC Tech earns a small commission at no extra cost to you. A commission never buys a place on this page, and we say plainly which hardware we have used ourselves and which we have not.

Tested by us

What we actually take with us.

We standardise on TP-Link for customer installs because the firmware gets updated, the apps are not hostile and spares are easy to get years later. That is a deliberate preference rather than the result of a brand shootout.

Connectivity on the road: TP-Link M7350 Cat4 portable 4G MiFi — The one that suits a van best, for a reason that has nothing to do with speed: it charges over USB, so it runs happily off a 12V socket or a power bank with no hook-up and no inverter. Ten devices, and the screen shows signal strength, which is exactly what you want when deciding where to park.
Watch out: Cat4 caps near 150Mbps and rural coverage is the real limit, not the hardware. Check your SIM's roaming terms before taking it abroad, and if you tour Europe often, a SIM with genuine EU allowance matters more than the device.

Related guides

Same kit, different problem.

The device that keeps you online in a field is the same one that keeps you working when the broadband at home dies. And if the trouble is patchy Wi-Fi rather than no signal, that is a different fix again.

Broadband backup at home Wi-Fi coverage guide

Working from the road?

We can spec a setup that holds up away from a desk.

If your income depends on being reachable from a field in Northumberland, it is worth getting the combination of SIM, aerial and power right rather than finding out on the Monday morning.

Talk to us about mobile working