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As a possible alternative to the traditional 'mifi' unit, have just purchased a Huawei e8372 wingle. Previously we had a mifi unit but wanted to replace it because i) it was only 3G, ii) the battery was well past its best, only giving about 1 hour use, iii) no external antenna input, so the usual issues of where to site it. Looked around at various options, and ultmitately bought the 'wingle' (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Huawei-Unlocked-E8372h-153-Wi-Fi-Dongle-White/dp/B014WMEJ2Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1504268884&sr=1-1&keywords=E8372) - supports 4G - 2 antenna terminals - while it can act as a traditional USB dongle, you only need to give it a power supply - we in effect use it as a mifi with an external battery. So far, using it as a mifi unit have been pleased with performance and use it powered from a USB battery - (though you need to be careful because some (many?) wont stay on as the current draw is too little.) So far, I am therefore able to leave it on virtually all day and (and having a spare battery - just swap when convenient. Not yet used in anger on-board - but in preparation have now filted an external antenna (http://www.connextech.co.uk/lmo7270-wb-smsm---4g3ggsm-mimo-outdoor-omni-antenna-1153-p.asp) and early tests look very promising. When on board will just leave it plugged into a 12v/USB socket, and have tried it in a cupboard at the rear of the boat - wifi signal is fine at the front (57' cruiser-stern) all this to keep a teenage daughter happy! One word of caution though - dont trust Huawei manual - it said a 'micro SIM - in reality it is full size, and also quoted crc9/TS5 connection, when they turned out to be TS-9 (or at least on my model)

Do you mean 4G speeds (as opposed to wifi)? If 28.76 mG is 28Mbits/s, then I'd say that's pretty good.

In case anyone's interested... I've been analysing our wifi speeds since March while cruising the Coventry, T&M, Shroppie, Llangollen, Middlewich, Macclesfield, Peak Forest, and now Huddersfield Narrows using EE. On average, of more than 70 results (using http://beta.speedtest.net,) download is 28.76 mG, upload is 21.46, and the ping is 43.68 We use the EE dongle http://shop.ee.co.uk/dongles/pay-monthly-mobile-broadband/4gee-wifi-mini/details On the back of the dongle we've stuck one of those velcro stickers for hanging pictures, with a velcro sticker on side windows, and front door (haven't got a glass window on the stern). We move the dongle around (using the velcro stickers) when we moor up, so the dongle is facing, as near as possible, the signal mast. Must admit, while passing a wifi mast we get excited, wondering if the spot was a good place to moor up. Hope I can upload our results using .csv formt speedtests-2017-05-21-113611.csv

Tried it in a 3-locked dongle. Detected and shut down within a minute. I usb tether the phone (a cheap 4g model) to a unlocked nano wifi/router and it does the trick - no tethering detected in a couple of years.

after Lurking for a while I thought I would make my first post on a subject close to my heart. I have been reading with interest the threads on mobile internet connection on Narrowboats, I have to declare an interest here as I work in the mobile industry so I probably have some bias here and there regarding networks ;-) . The problem I needed to solve was to be able to set up a reliable system that would allow me to work from “home” from our narrowboat, this means I needed to put a reliable system in place that has the best chance of working and not necessary the cheapest solution. After a lot of research and speaking to some of our technical design engineers who design mobile data solutions for emergency services they came up with a spec that seemed to me to be worth trying. My other requirement was that I would like to connect to static wifi services if available and then if that connection is not present to replace it with a 4g LTE connection and only is that is not available to switch to 3G . I then wanted the WAN connection to be repeated via a separate single wifi access point inside the boat to which our devices could then connect. The solution I settled on was an external mounted antenna on the roof which contains 5 separate internal antenna’s 2 MIMO for 4G/LTE/3G, two MIMO for WIFI and a single GPS aerial. This was then connected to a 12v router in the boat. And the router also had a separate 12v powered access point connected to it ( I needed 2 AP’s so I can separate the WAN connection from the Lan connection and therefore improve performance) The router had the capability for 2 separate SIMS so I went for a three sim as my main sim ( as the data plan is much cheaper) followed by an EE sim which I think gives the best overall coverage on the network ( but I am biased here, see disclaimer above). I then have 2-3 public and marina WIFI services that I subscribe to. For the roof mounted antenna its really important to make sure your aerial supports the frequency bands for the mobile operator you chose, make sure you check as a lot of the antenna don’t support all the UK 4G LTE frequency’s, and will not work so well if its not supported. Also try and find a router that will restart and set up when power is connected and is happy to switch off by having the power removed or switched off, again home 4G routers don’t like this behavior. Now I know that there have been discussions on using directional aerials and not omni directional ones, now whilst this works better for a TV and radio signal it is not necessary better for a wifi or Mobile data solution, trust me on this one but a good omni directional aerial will almost always work better than a directional aerial unless you can see the mobile mast , and if you can see it an omni will be fine J. Now the equipment I installed was as follows:- Antenna was a “MOBILE MARK LTM502 AERIAL WITH 4.5M LEADS” . Router was a “Pepwave max BR1 LTE” Internal access point was a “Pepwave AP One AC mini” My choice was based on the antenna being the best low profile multi antenna I could find in the UK that supports all UK 3G & 4G LTE frequencies, the router I chose because it is used by a lot of police forces to provide exactly this solution, it is also water and vibration resistant and will accept a wide range of supply voltages which removes the need for a separate 12v regulator, the AP choice was simply because the router can configure it so it made the setup and operation easier. You probably haven't heard of Pepwave much in the UK but in the US they are one of the market leaders in mobile Routers. Now I guess the feedback on how it works, well so far I have been running it for 4 months and it is working really well, I have rarely not had a working connection and it happy running all our laptops, tablets and phones etc. an added bonus is that the router also has a built in GPS which it can broadcast on the LAN which means that my laptop running WaterNAV also has a functional GPS inside the boat. So am I happy... yes I’m happy with the solution I have installed, as I said earlier its not the cheapest solution but if you must have a reliable connection then I would recommend you consider this type of setup.

I understand very little of this but after giving up on getting a constant TV signal, on advice from a passing Open Reach chap, I took my iPad into the EE shop and asked if I can put a sim card in it because I had found success in the house by plugging it into the TV and using the various Apps to watch whatever programme I fancied. I explained that I lived mostly on a canal boat and the two young staff members were very enthusiastic. The contract they offered included a "dongle" into which they put the sim card which meant I could have effective WiFi in the boat almost anywhere on the system and so not only connect my iPad, but all other Wifi type devices. As soon as I got it back to the boat, I plugged it in and watched TV all evening without a single breakup of picture. So I can not only watch TV but also use my telephone, use my laptop, search the internet etc etc. I have thrown the TV areal in the skip and the dongle is quite happy sitting on a low shelf beside the TV and does not need to be outside or in a window. B..... Luxury. The EE staff were great apart from then trying to sell me BT Broadband for the house - I let them off though because it was the first day they were allowed to sell BT to prospective customers. Edited just to add that it is 4G - which apparently is important!

Try this one. http://aa.net.uk/telecoms-mobile-data.html cost is 2p per megabyte, plus VAT. ie about £24 a gigabyte, depending on definition of a gigagbyte (1000 or 1024 MB) I thing getting a land-line may be your only solution. Marina WiFi is universally bad, in my experience. If you can't find a mooring with a land-line to the boat, you'd have to agree with them to have a broadband line installed in the office or other building, just for your use, and connect to that via WiFi. Depending on distance, that may need slightly specialist WiFi kit: aerials and routers to get a good link. MP. ETA. Look at coverage maps to get an idea where you might be able to work from using mobile, but be aware that you'll need 4G coverage. We're increasingly finding that 3G is only usable in country areas: in a town without 4G you'll get a strong 3G signal but the data rate is useless because it's massively overloaded by all the cellphones being carried around. It does work OK at three in the morning though

Wanted to hijack a little rather than start a new thread. Currently in marina with free wifi which has never worked. They've just installed some new I guess repeater masts which I think are cabled and the nearest one is not more than about 50feet from me. Unless I am stood at the window with my laptop signal is rubbish. I know about farady cage etc so what is the option for a ? repeater? to pick up the signal and then distribute into the boat? Ive got a personal Relish router (in London) however in teh evenings the performance is poor due to various volumes of users and so having an extra option to split with the wife would be handy. Failing that Hyperoptic are keen to install Fibre to the marina, I just need to get the marina on side.

I think this may be a big ask, for a couple of reasons. You can certainly get unlimited data, (eg http://aa.net.uk/telecoms-mobile-data.html)but you probably won't like the cost. The other problem is reliability. We use EE, which is one of, if not the best for coverage, and it's got to the stage now that you can pretty much assume a net connection anywhere you go. I think there have been one or two moorings this year with no internet. What you can't assume is that you'll get bandwidth good enough for video streaming. What will you do if you regularly have lessons booked but no signal good enough to deliver them? Of course, if you're planning to live on a home mooring, you can pick one with good coverage, or much better, get one with a fixed phone line connection and use standard broadband. Such moorings do exist, but they're rare since there was a fairly short time window between when people started to use boats like houses on a large scale and when mobile telephony made such land-lines mostly redundant. Another option would be a home mooring where they'll let you have a land-line installed in, eg the office, and connect to that via wifi. Cheers, MP.

You need to be careful what you are checking the speed on as well as there could be a limit between the device you running the speed check on and the router. My phone only does 2.4Ghz WiFi so reports slower speeds than my tablet which does 5Ghz and that is slower than my laptop on Ethernet.

In a perfect world I would go for a waterproof 5g router which has an ethernet connection out to a separate WiFi inside the boat removing any cable losses.

Oops it's down to 4😁 A lot depends on which of my WiFi I am logged on to.

Well, 5G phones are also quite expensive, and don't support plugging in an external antenna (nor ethernet cables which I need for some equipment) which has been in my experience the biggest impact on getting a good signal. I used to put my 4G phone in an ice cream tub on the roof, but this is not really a workable solution and certainly inferior to the mast. I get where you are coming from, but if I could get full WiFi speed from my cellular connection I would be quite happy. And yes I am prepared to spend a grand or more on this as it is my bread and butter. I'm very frugal in other aspects! I know not everyone is in my situation but I'm prepared to spend whatever it takes and suffer considerable inconvenience to get the best connection speeds available.

5ghz wifi is fast but not many phones support it on tethering mode. I know this is not your situation but just for information http://support.heartv.com/miscellaneous/5ghz-devices Is a list of phones that transmit 5ghz tethering. 5gz wifi is as fast as 5g cellular data. A 5g phone with 5ghz internet tethering is a lot cheaper than that router.

But that's irrelevant as even if I was limited by WiFi speed, it is still faster than LTE. Besides, I am not above connecting an Ethernet cable to my laptop if it will improve my speed. No my phone doesn't receive 5G. It doesn't receive much of anything inside a 6mm thick steel box! I have a Teltonika RUT950 4G router with a Poynting omnidirectional 4G antenna on a 3m tall mast. The limiting factor is currently my 4G. It is often fine but video calls are sometimes just not quite up to scratch, which is a frustrating experience for both me and my clients. So yeah, 700 quid for a router is a lot, and I'd rather spend less, but I'm prepared to pay as much as it will cost to get the absolute best possible experience.

5g is faster than wifi. The router will recieve the data quickly but it cannot send it by wifi to your devices as fast as it recieves it. Does your phone recieve 5g. 5g is transmitted at different frequencies that utilise much higher radio frequencies 28 ghz compared to 700 mhz - 2500 mhz for 4G so your antenna will not work.

Why on earth would you want to buy a router that receives 5g which is faster than it can transmit WiFi. 5g is about 900Mbps but standard WiFi is only about 300Mbps so whats the point.

I've seen there are now a few (expensive) 5G routers now on the market and my provider (EE) has pretty good 5G coverage at this point. One in particular I like the look of is the Robustel R5020 for £595 ex VAT (so, £715). Has anyone upgraded to a 5G router and noticed any difference? I have a Poynting 4G antenna. Will this work with 5G or should I upgrade the antenna as well? This particular company (3grouterstore) say they don't sell to residential customers because "Our Industrial 3G and 4G and 5G M2M IOT Routers ... usually have slower WiFi than a home router". This sounds like nonsense, surely the protocol is the protocol - if not, would I be correct in saying this Robustel R5020 is specced appropriately for high speed?

Yes that is with "3" it does vary but we are < 250yds from the local mast. Wasn't going to a get BT FTTC as everyone else on the estate is getting a third of that at best, no matter who the supplier is. Its run through a Huawei B818 which was not cheap, changed because the free "3" B525 before that only gave 25-35mbs Most of the variance comes from Wifi interferance from neighbours so I monitor what frequencies they are on and move mine accordingly, all the high bandwidth stuff is on ethernet, not that I wear an anorack