Vehicle Wi-Fi
One connection,
the whole cab
A cellular router in the vehicle, fed by a high-gain antenna on the outside of it, turns one mobile connection into Wi-Fi for every device your crew carries. Phone, tablet, laptop, monitoring gear — one connection instead of three or four, and better signal than any of them get on their own.
Christchurch & Auckland · 0800 454 756 · sales@signals.co.nz
The problem
Four devices, four connections, four bills
A modern work vehicle is full of things that need data, and they have usually each been solved separately.
The driver's phone has a plan. The tablet running the job system has its own SIM. The laptop tethers off the phone when it can. The tracking or monitoring device has a third SIM that nobody thinks about until it stops reporting. Each one is a separate connection, a separate cost and a separate thing to go wrong.
They also all have the same weakness: a small antenna inside a metal box. A vehicle is close to the worst place you can put a cellular device, which is why coverage in the cab is always worse than coverage standing beside it.
- One connection, not several. Everything in the cab connects to the router instead of carrying its own SIM.
- Better signal than any device gets alone. An external high-gain antenna beats a phone on the seat, every time.
- Works at the fringe. Where a phone drops to nothing, an external antenna often still has a usable connection.
- One thing to manage. A single connection to provision, pay for and troubleshoot.
- Devices just join Wi-Fi. No tethering, no hotspot left switched off, no flat phone battery.
- Usually cheaper. One data connection in place of several tends to cost less than adding another phone plan.
Where this comes from
Proven at the top of the market, priced for the rest of it
None of this is new. It has been running for years in emergency services vehicles, where being out of contact is not an inconvenience.
That end of the market uses high-end hardware and deliberately overbuilt design, because the consequences justify it — redundant carriers, hardened routers, properly engineered antenna systems, and installers who treat a vehicle fit-out as a radio job rather than an accessory fitting.
Almost none of that has to be reinvented for a courier fleet, a contracting business or a rural service vehicle. It just has to be scaled to a price those businesses can actually justify. Not everyone needs to pay for the platinum standard — for most fleets the silver standard is the right answer, and it is built on exactly the same thinking.
- Proven where it matters most. The approach comes from vehicles that genuinely cannot afford to lose contact.
- Overbuilt where it counts, not everywhere. We keep the parts that make the difference and drop the parts that only add cost.
- Tiered on purpose. One carrier or two, and hardware chosen to match the job rather than the worst day imaginable.
- The antenna discipline never changes. That part is done the same way whichever option you take, because it is where the performance comes from.
- Mid-market pricing. Hardware from $350 plus GST, plans from $29 a month plus GST.
- Room to move up. Start on a single carrier and add the second later if the routes change.
What connects to it
Everything in the vehicle, on one link
Anything that can join a Wi-Fi network can use it — which in a work vehicle is most things.
Phones
Calls over Wi-Fi, messaging and apps that keep working where the handset on its own would have dropped out.
Tablets
The job system, run sheets, forms and photos uploaded from the cab rather than when the driver gets back to the yard.
Laptops
A proper working connection for anyone who does real work from the vehicle, without tethering off someone's phone.
Monitoring devices
Tracking, telematics and sensors that would otherwise each need a SIM of their own to report anything.
And one you might not expect
Your PoC radios can run on it too
A push-to-talk over cellular radio normally works off its own SIM and its own small internal antenna. In a vehicle that puts it in exactly the position this page has been describing as the worst one — a little antenna inside a metal cab.
Point it at the vehicle Wi-Fi instead and it is working through the high-gain antenna on the roof. Same radio, same talkgroups, noticeably better coverage — and the improvement is biggest at the fringe, which is exactly where a PoC radio is most likely to drop out.
Options
One network, or both
No carrier covers every road in New Zealand equally. Which option suits you depends on where your vehicles actually go.
Single SIM
One network
A single carrier connection — Spark or One NZ, whichever covers your routes better. The straightforward option, and the cheaper one.
You still get the external antenna and the shared connection, which is where most of the improvement comes from.
SuitsVehicles working a known area where one carrier is reliably the better of the two.
Dual SIM
Both networks
Two carrier connections in the same unit, so the vehicle is not tied to one network's coverage map. Where one is weak, the other often is not.
This is the option for fleets that cross regions, work at the fringe, or cannot afford to be out of contact on a particular stretch of road.
SuitsLong-haul, rural and remote work, and any vehicle whose route leaves one carrier's good coverage.We will talk through where your vehicles run before recommending one. For a lot of fleets a single SIM on the right carrier does the job; for others the second network is the entire point.
Why it actually works
The antenna is the part that makes the difference
Anyone can put a router in a vehicle. The reason ours hold a connection where a phone does not is what we bolt to the outside.
A phone in a cab is a tiny antenna inside a metal shell, often with a body between it and the tower. That is a bad position, and no amount of router does anything about it. Move the antenna outside, make it high-gain, and put it where the vehicle's own bodywork helps rather than hinders, and the same cellular signal becomes a usable connection.
This is radio, and it is the part of the job we have been doing for over twenty years. Choosing the antenna and siting it on the vehicle is the same skill as siting one on a hilltop — it is just a smaller hill.
Placement is not a detail, it is most of the result. The same antenna on the same vehicle will perform very differently depending on where it goes: how much metal is under it acting as a ground plane, what is beside it, how long the cable run back to the router is, and whether it spends its life being hit by a washdown lance or a low branch. Two identical installs done thoughtlessly and carefully are not the same product.
- High-gain, not the stub in the box. The antenna is selected for the job rather than whatever came bundled.
- Mounted outside. Clear of the cab, clear of the metal, and in the open where the signal is.
- Sited on the vehicle, not just attached to it. Position and ground plane decide how well it works, and they differ by vehicle.
- Built to survive the vehicle. Vibration, weather, washdowns and low branches are all part of the specification.
- Real gain at the fringe. The difference matters least in town and most where coverage is marginal — which is where it is needed.
- Ground plane used, not ignored. The vehicle's own roof is part of the antenna system. Where it sits on that roof changes the pattern.
- Clear of the other antennas. Radio, PoC and cellular antennas crowded onto one roof interfere with each other. Spacing is planned, not left to chance.
- Cable run kept short and tidy. Every extra metre of coax is signal you paid for and did not get. The router goes where the run makes sense.
- Placed to survive the vehicle's life. Away from washdown lances, low branches, roller doors and the places people grab when they climb up.
- PoC radios benefit too. A PoC radio working through the vehicle Wi-Fi is using the roof antenna rather than its own.
- Fitted by the same team. Antenna, router, power and cable routing done together, as one install.
Who we build it with
The parts that decide whether it works
Two things determine what you actually get: the antenna on the roof and the router behind the dash. We are particular about both, and we are not tied to one supplier for either.
Antennas
Hi-Tec Aerials
New Zealand antenna specialists. Built for New Zealand conditions and the vehicles that work in them.
hi-tec-aerials.co.nz →
Panorama Antennas
Long-established vehicle and cellular antenna manufacturer, widely used in fleet and emergency services work.
Amphenol Procom
Professional antenna and RF products, at the end of the market where performance is specified rather than assumed.
Routers
Teltonika
Industrial cellular routers built for vehicles and remote sites rather than living rooms. The workhorse of this range.
Cudy
Strong value at the entry end, for vehicles that need a solid connection without the industrial price tag.
Chosen per job
We are not locked to one brand, so the router is picked for the vehicle and the budget rather than for the supplier agreement.
Pricing
Plans from $29 a month
One connection for the whole vehicle. Pick the data allowance that matches how the vehicle is actually used — a service ute and a long-haul truck are not the same problem.
Enough for job systems, forms, messaging and tracking. The right plan for most service vehicles.
Room for photo and document uploads from the cab, and for more than one person working out of the vehicle.
For vehicles that are a mobile office, or where nobody wants to think about data again.
Hardware from $350 plus GST. Installation is quoted separately, because it depends on the vehicle, the antenna and what else is being fitted at the same time — and it is usually cheaper done alongside a radio or GPS install than on its own.
What it replaces
Compare it to what you are already paying
The comparison people make is against nothing. The comparison worth making is against the connections already in the vehicle.
A vehicle with a tablet SIM, a tracker SIM and a driver tethering off their phone plan is running several connections already. Consolidating those into one is usually cheaper than adding another phone plan would be — before counting what better coverage is worth to the people relying on it.
And the hardware is yours. When the vehicle goes, the router and antenna come out and go into the next one.
- Fewer connections to pay for. One data plan in place of two, three or four.
- Cheaper than another phone plan. From $29 a month for the whole vehicle rather than one handset.
- Less time lost. Jobs uploaded from the cab instead of at the end of the run.
- Fewer support calls. One connection to troubleshoot rather than a hotspot somebody switched off.
- Hardware you keep. It moves to the next vehicle when this one is sold.
- No surprises. Plan, hardware and install quoted up front.
Common questions
Before you ask us to quote
Is this just a hotspot?
It does the same job as a hotspot and does it far better. A phone hotspot has a small internal antenna, runs down the phone's battery, stops when the phone leaves the vehicle and gets switched off. A fitted router is permanently powered, always on, and connected to an external high-gain antenna — which is the part that actually changes your coverage.
Will it work where our phones do not?
Often, yes — that is the main reason people fit one. The external antenna is the difference. It will not invent coverage where there is none at all, but at the fringe, where a phone shows one bar and nothing works, a high-gain antenna outside the vehicle frequently still has a usable connection.
What does it cost?
Plans are $29 a month for 5 GB, $40 for 15 GB or $80 for unlimited, per vehicle and plus GST. Hardware starts at $350 plus GST, and installation is quoted on the vehicle — it costs less when it is done alongside a radio or GPS fit-out than as a standalone visit.
Which carrier should we be on?
It depends entirely on where your vehicles go. Tell us the routes and areas and we will give you a view. If the honest answer is that neither carrier covers everything you need, that is what dual SIM is for.
Can our PoC radios use it?
Yes, and it is one of the better reasons to fit one. A PoC radio on the vehicle Wi-Fi is working through the external high-gain antenna instead of its own internal one, which usually means a more reliable connection in exactly the places the radio would otherwise struggle.
Can you fit it at the same time as our radios?
Yes, and it is the sensible way to do it. Vehicle Wi-Fi, mobile radio, GPS and the antennas for all of them are one install by one team, which means one booking and one vehicle off the road.
What happens when we replace the vehicle?
The hardware comes out and goes into the next one. We fit it so it can be removed cleanly, because vehicles get sold and leases end long before a router reaches the end of its life.
How many devices can connect?
More than a work vehicle will realistically have in it. In practice the limit is the connection, not the router, which is why the antenna matters more than the device count.
Fitted with the rest of it
One vehicle, one install
Most vehicles we fit Wi-Fi into are getting something else done at the same time.
Vehicle installation →
Radios, antennas, GPS and Wi-Fi fitted together rather than by three separate contractors.
GPS and fleet tracking →
Tracking and telematics — one of the devices that no longer needs its own SIM.
Push-to-talk over cellular →
Instant voice across the 4G network, for teams that need to talk as well as connect.
Radio service →
Installation, maintenance, monitoring and repairs across everything we fit.
Tell us about the vehicles
What is in them, where they go and what keeps dropping out. We will tell you whether one connection and a better antenna fixes it — and what that would cost.
sales@signals.co.nz · Christchurch & Auckland · fitted nationwide