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WiFi Reception

Triss48

By Triss48
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Triss48 Explorer

Triss48

Posted
Posted

It has always bugged me when in a city that I can't make use of hotspots such as the Cloud or BTOpenzone largely I guess because I can't get a strong enough signal inside the boat.

 

Anybody with experience of booster systems using an external aerial and an internal box to transmit inside the boat?

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john6767 Veteran II

john6767

Posted
Posted

I have got an external wifi adapter for picking up the marina wifi, like one of these.

 

Inside the boat the laptops internal wifi will barely get any signal and certainly not a usable one, with the external adapter on the roof it gets 5 bars.

 

There are repeater solutions, but when I looked I could not find one at a good price so went with the cheap compromise of the external wifi adapter for the laptop as I don't use it that much. If you want to, you can then use a software solution to use the external adapter in conjunction with the laptop's internal wifi as a repeater.

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john6767 Veteran II

john6767

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That is not an external aerial, it is a external adapter, like the one I linked to except that one uses an omni directional antenna rather than a directional one. I would very much doubt that there are any laptops that have an aerial socket on the built in adapter.

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john6767 Veteran II

john6767

Posted
Posted (edited)

Thanks for this. As I use a MacBook I will have to check that I can use a USB socket for the connection rather than the wireless receiver.

You would need one that has drivers for a Mac. Look at what the chipset is of the adapter that you are going to buy. For example the one I have is RaLink 3070 which I think a lot of the cheap Chineese ones use. A Google search does indeed show that there are Mac drivers for that chip set. Disclaimer, I know nothing about Macs!

 

Edited to add, the one I bought does actually come with Mac drivers, it is this one

Edited by john6767
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Tesla Proficient

Tesla

Posted
Posted

It has always bugged me when in a city that I can't make use of hotspots such as the Cloud or BTOpenzone largely I guess because I can't get a strong enough signal inside the boat.

Anybody with experience of booster systems using an external aerial and an internal box to transmit inside the boat?

I posted recently on how I overcame this - http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=62001&hl=wifi

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by'eck Veteran

by'eck

Posted
Posted

It has always bugged me when in a city that I can't make use of hotspots such as the Cloud or BTOpenzone largely I guess because I can't get a strong enough signal inside the boat.

 

Anybody with experience of booster systems using an external aerial and an internal box to transmit inside the boat?

 

 

 

Specifically in above thread look here. There is little to beat a NanoStation feeding an internal WiFi router.

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pelicanafloat Community Regular

pelicanafloat

Posted
Posted

We have this on our boat. It makes you scratch your head remembering how to set it up but once done it works perfectly, and the supplier very helpful...

URL: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=271100297327

 

Alt URL: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Antenna-2-4Ghz-Panel-Wifi-Signal-Receiver-Share-cable-2x-TechnicLan-Boat-/271100297327

 

Not sure which one if any will work till posted, so maybe return and edit.....

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bottle Veteran II

bottle

Posted
Posted

Limited to:

 

"Directional Antenna, a client designed to work in the frequency range of 2.4GHz (IEEE 802.11b / g) working in a horizontal or vertical polarization"

 

So not any good if you are using 802.11 n (unless you have fall back)

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pelicanafloat Community Regular

pelicanafloat

Posted
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Well it does list that under the supported protocols. I contacted the supplier before buying anything, and that arrangement is what he came up with. If you had a particular issue needing to be covered I would imagine he would try to assist. Worked ok for me.

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smileypete Veteran II

smileypete

Posted
Posted (edited)

Also the price of some of these solutions would buy a fair bit of PAYG data on 3G.

 

Budget solution could be a cheap but still decent panel antenna from Asia through Ebay, a router with universal repeater mode and 2 plug in 'stick' antennas, and a DC regulator to run the router off the batts.

 

ETA: Of course there's also the good old USB dongle, plastic box and long lead solution. smile.png Half the battle for getting good range is getting the antenna outside and away from the boat.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Edited by smileypete
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Bettie Boo Experienced

Bettie Boo

Posted
Posted (edited)

Also the price of some of these solutions would buy a fair bit of PAYG data on 3G.

 

Budget solution could be a cheap but still decent panel antenna from Asia through Ebay, a router with universal repeater mode and 2 plug in 'stick' antennas, and a DC regulator to run the router off the batts.

 

ETA: Of course there's also the good old USB dongle, plastic box and long lead solution. smile.png Half the battle for getting good range is getting the antenna outside and away from the boat.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Ok....two really relevant threads I'm currently following.....this one and the one about washing machine's and power supply.

 

Although I love all my gadgets and intend on having most of them with us when we move aboard (in about 30 days!!! smile.png ), I'm not a techie person in understanding how to make them work, so if all reply's could be in non-techie terms I would most graciously appreciate it.....

 

planning to take on board......2 x kindals, 40" flat screen HD tv saloon, 20" flat screen tv main bedroom, 2 IPODS, 1 IPhone & a Sat Nav, lappy & full size pc. I have a USB dongle. What else will we need to ensure they all work as far as antenna's or internet are concerned?

 

We are CC's so no marina hook up for internet or tv reception. How much of the above quote would be pertinent to our situation?

 

All relevant suggestions welcomed detective.gif

 

Edited to add......I still haven't figured out what ETA is???? (other than Estimated Time of Arrival), and I'm pretty sure that doesn't work in the above quote

 

Ta

 

B~

Edited by Bettie Boo
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ditchcrawler Veteran II

ditchcrawlerDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

A

 

Ok....two really relevant threads I'm currently following.....this one and the one about washing machine's and power supply.

 

Although I love all my gadgets and intend on having most of them with us when we move aboard (in about 30 days!!! smile.png ), I'm not a techie person in understanding how to make them work, so if all reply's could be in non-techie terms I would most graciously appreciate it.....

 

planning to take on board......2 x kindals, 40" flat screen HD tv saloon, 20" flat screen tv main bedroom, 2 IPODS, 1 IPhone & a Sat Nav, lappy & full size pc. I have a USB dongle. What else will we need to ensure they all work as far as antenna's or internet are concerned?

 

We are CC's so no marina hook up for internet or tv reception.

 

All relevant suggestions welcomed detective.gif

 

Ta

 

B~

A butty with great big generator in it.

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nb Innisfree Veteran II

nb InnisfreeDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

Ok....two really relevant threads I'm currently following.....this one and the one about washing machine's and power supply.

 

Although I love all my gadgets and intend on having most of them with us when we move aboard (in about 30 days!!! smile.png ), I'm not a techie person in understanding how to make them work, so if all reply's could be in non-techie terms I would most graciously appreciate it.....

 

planning to take on board......2 x kindals, 40" flat screen HD tv saloon, 20" flat screen tv main bedroom, 2 IPODS, 1 IPhone & a Sat Nav, lappy & full size pc. I have a USB dongle. What else will we need to ensure they all work as far as antenna's or internet are concerned?

 

We are CC's so no marina hook up for internet or tv reception. How much of the above quote would be pertinent to our situation?

 

All relevant suggestions welcomed detective.gif

 

Edited to add......I still haven't figured out what ETA is???? (other than Estimated Time of Arrival), and I'm pretty sure that doesn't work in the above quote

 

Ta

 

B~

ETA=Edited to add

  • Greenie 1
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Bettie Boo Experienced

Bettie Boo

Posted
Posted

A

 

A butty with great big generator in it.

LOL

 

Thanks DC, obviously we wouldn't be running all that kit at the same time huh.png

 

Not overly worried about the power draw, it's more the wifi availability and antenna's I'm looking for info on unsure.png

 

But I'll mention to Dave we may need a second boat - he'll be thrilled to bits I'm sure LOL

 

B~

ETA=Edited to add

 

a wee greenie for you - I've been overworking my little brain for way too long now trying to figure it out cheers.gif

B~

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smileypete Veteran II

smileypete

Posted
Posted (edited)

Ok....two really relevant threads I'm currently following.....this one and the one about washing machine's and power supply.

 

Although I love all my gadgets and intend on having most of them with us when we move aboard (in about 30 days!!! smile.png ), I'm not a techie person in understanding how to make them work, so if all reply's could be in non-techie terms I would most graciously appreciate it.....

 

planning to take on board......2 x kindals, 40" flat screen HD tv saloon, 20" flat screen tv main bedroom, 2 IPODS, 1 IPhone & a Sat Nav, lappy & full size pc. I have a USB dongle. What else will we need to ensure they all work as far as antenna's or internet are concerned?

 

We are CC's so no marina hook up for internet or tv reception. How much of the above quote would be pertinent to our situation?

 

All relevant suggestions welcomed detective.gif

 

Most in your situation would go for a 'mifi' and monthly data contract with a provider like '3'.

 

The mifi is like a 3G internet dongle and wifi router rolled into one, and creates a wifi hotspot from the 3G data connection for your wireless devices to use. The mifi might come more cheaply or even free if it's bundled with a data contract, though in that case it's usually locked so it can only be used with that provider.

 

Most smart phones these days can use a feature called 'tethering' to similarly create a wifi hotspot, but not all phone contracts allow tethering so best ask (AND check the small print - if getting one for net use ohmy.png).

 

If you MUST have internet like for freelance work, then a good way to get more availability is with a mifi that has a socket to take an outdoor antenna. Also a mifi that's not locked to a single provider will allow using sims from other providers to be used as a backup if you can't get a signal with your usual one.

 

If going for a contract you need to get one with enough data to meet your usual monthly needs, heavy internet and youtube/iplayer use would need about 5GB-15GB month or even an unlimited contract. Buying a 1GB or 3GB pay as you go sim and seeing how long it lasts will give some idea what your needs are, some contracts might have scope for upgrading downgrading.

 

If your internet use is quite frugal then buying pay as you go data sims might be better than a contract, or there are providers like Samba Mobile, Ovivo that offer 'free' but limited internet.

 

Maybe some of the CCing forum members can chip in with more info (or corrections... blush.png)

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Edited by smileypete
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Bettie Boo Experienced

Bettie Boo

Posted
Posted

hi Pete,

 

Most of that actually made sense to me. Thank you for the clearly written suggestions. I've off to see the lovely ppl at EE tomorrow as I believe my IPhone does somehow act as a kind of dongle as well, just need to find out what the limits of my contract are and if indeed I've got the correct info to begin with.

 

Any other info from CC's would be most appreciated.

 

B~

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