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Mobile WiFi


canalrunna

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8 minutes ago, canalrunna said:

Hi all, 

I am new to narrowboats and I need WiFi on there. 

Any advice on which supplier and how many gig a month would be appreciated.

 

Its really an impossible question to answer - particularly "how many gig" ?

 

Do you game, use for downloading films etc, or, do you just look at ebay and canal forums ?

 

We use "3" which ahs coverage over most of the system, but if you identify which area you will mainly be cruising in you may get different suggestions.

 

Edit to add :

We just hotspot off the phone.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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It depends greatly on where you are mainly located. 3 is usualy the cheapest but I have always found its coverage is crap, others say its good. I pay 19.50 for 40 gigies on o2 and it work everywhere for me in the country up and down.

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There are so many opinions and suggestions - invariably based solely (not unreasonably) on where thy are / cruising range. There are no absolutes and loads of maybe's. Whoops there is one absolute - nearly:-

Unless you have an aerial mast visible from the boat you'll need an aerial / antenna.

Service providers position their equipment / leases where they anticipate lots of customers

There aren't lots of customers on the canals.

Thus boaters are coat-tailing on entres of population / demand.

The above doesn't solve 'your' question, but may give some perspective.

 

I've run out of steam - feedback, please...

 

(Edit for me, Voda used to be terrible, EE unmentionable. recently both have updated their masts and reception is great. OTOH customer service is poor. Three has a good user interface and reasonable coverage, but infdifferent prices).

 

YOU can't win; the suppliers will.

Edited by OldGoat
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3 minutes ago, BWM said:

EE have good coverage and now supply a decent router type dongle with sockets for booster aerials. Plenty of data too, i can't remember how many but we've never run out.

Saved me asking - what do folks really mean by a (mobile) router?

I use various portble devices with different selling terminologies. I have in front of me a Netgear device wch calls itself a mobile hotspot. I can use its local wireless to attach at least two devices (PCs, tablets). Do I need anything hardwired as well? printers come to mind, but they are 'all' wireless capable nowadays?  Some folks on here have 3/4G routers which are 240v powered with Cat5 connections - are these essential - what am I missing

 

Confused, Sussex

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I've got a 3 mobile router and a couple of unused pre paid sims. In reality I use my mobile phone as a hotspot.  I have been known to hang it outside in a plastic bag as the boat's got portholes. Works for me. As for data whaever yoou go for you'll get too much. There was an article in a paper recently that said that most people buy too much and that people taking 'advice' from shops  waste more than others. Personally I'm with GiffGaff on O2 and adjust monthly according to cruising .don' t forget that most pubs have wifi. A great excuse if needed.

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1 hour ago, Rickent said:

I use 3, £20 unlimited.

Not sure if this deal is still available. 

I was in the Three shop yesterday, and £20 a month for unlimited everything SIM only phone package is still available.  Interestingly they also have a data package for £17 unlimited data, which comes with the router (no upfront cost), which looked the real deal with antenna sockets etc.  Obviously comes with mains adapters so you would need to work out the 12V supply but that’s a few quid from eBay and a bit of soldering.

 

Unfortunately they could not really help me with what I wanted, and new phone it is cheaper today buy the phone from Apple than take out a contract.

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1 hour ago, john6767 said:

I was in the Three shop yesterday, and £20 a month for unlimited everything SIM only phone package is still available.  Interestingly they also have a data package for £17 unlimited data, which comes with the router (no upfront cost), which looked the real deal with antenna sockets etc.  Obviously comes with mains adapters so you would need to work out the 12V supply but that’s a few quid from eBay and a bit of soldering.

 

Unfortunately they could not really help me with what I wanted, and new phone it is cheaper today buy the phone from Apple than take out a contract.

I've got the Three HomeFi Huawei Router from a couple of years ago. It came with a 240V supply, but it is actually an adapter which converts 240V to 12V. I just happened to have a 12V cable that fits it, so can run it directly from the boat 12V systems. My guess is that the latest one will be the same.

 

As it happens, I actually have the SIM in a netgear MiFi router that I already had, as it has a screen that tells me what I've used, and it is much smaller.

 

As a matter of interest, I couldnt find a £17 deal online. £22 a month was the best I could find for the Homefi Unlimited deal.

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13 hours ago, john6767 said:

 

 

Unfortunately they could not really help me with what I wanted, and new phone it is cheaper today buy the phone from Apple than take out a contract.

 

Or buy an Android with a much higher spec for half the price.

 

 

I use my phone as my WiFi hotspot and just leave it in the window. It seems to work ok. Is there any advantage to having a dedicated unit (MiFi?) Is the advantage that you can attach an external antenna? I don't want an additional network contract so if a new piece of hardware means another contract I'll pass.

Edited by blackrose
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5 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

Or buy an Android with a much higher spec for half the price.

 

 

I use my phone as my WiFi hotspot and just leave it in the window. It seems to work ok. Is there any advantage to having a dedicated unit (MiFi?) Is the advantage that you can attach an external antenna? I don't want an additional network contract so if a new piece of hardware means another contract I'll pass.

Wife tried Android once, I did not like it, so need to stick with Apple.  When you say higher spec what sort of things do you mean, an iPhone does far more than I need it to do anyway.  Also as you don’t have iMessage I assume on Android then as everyone else in the family uses that it would be an issue, and everyone would have to use WhatsApp, I don’t think I would be popular.

 

I don’t really want the additional contract either, so will stick to using my phone, but there is an attraction of having a dedicated router with external aerial that you do not need to touch.  For example when I got up this morning I had to put the phone if the cratch as there is no signal inside the boat, so it’s a faff, but I can live with that.

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10 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

I've got the Three HomeFi Huawei Router from a couple of years ago. It came with a 240V supply, but it is actually an adapter which converts 240V to 12V. I just happened to have a 12V cable that fits it, so can run it directly from the boat 12V systems. My guess is that the latest one will be the same.

 

As it happens, I actually have the SIM in a netgear MiFi router that I already had, as it has a screen that tells me what I've used, and it is much smaller.

 

As a matter of interest, I couldnt find a £17 deal online. £22 a month was the best I could find for the Homefi Unlimited deal.

The guy in the shop offered me the £17 a month, as we were talking about why I used a lot of data and why tethering was important, surprised it not a standard deal as I had not pushed him on it as I was not really looking for that, but was interested that it seemed like a proper router rather than the MiFi ones. If it is 12V from the mains unit, it would still stabilise the supply with a buck converter rather than just connecting direct to the boat.

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1 minute ago, robtheplod said:

I use a cheap MiFi with a £32 a month unlimited data Vodafone sim. got a cheapy outdoor aerial for it and there are very few places I don't get a good signal - I use Netflix so notice this!

I do similar by tethering to my phone. Works fine with laptop or tablet, and for tv I currently use an Amazon fire stick with this method. If the signal is a bit iffy I put it by the window.  Is there really that much of a benefit to going down the mifi route?

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2 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

I do similar by tethering to my phone. Works fine with laptop or tablet, and for tv I currently use an Amazon fire stick with this method. If the signal is a bit iffy I put it by the window.  Is there really that much of a benefit to going down the mifi route?

The main benefit for me is the signal seemed much better with a mifi with an external aerial... plus the family can access Netflix when I go out (and take my phone)..

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10 minutes ago, robtheplod said:

The main benefit for me is the signal seemed much better with a mifi with an external aerial... plus the family can access Netflix when I go out (and take my phone)..

But - surely with a MiFi you then need to buy a second Simcard / contract.

If you use the phone as a hot-spot it only costs '1 contract'.

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6 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

But - surely with a MiFi you then need to buy a second Simcard / contract.

If you use the phone as a hot-spot it only costs '1 contract'.

True.. I forgot to also mention I have a couple of Blick cameras onboard that use the mifi to connect for when i'm not there so I can check for problems and monitor temperature..  they are quite handy as they alert me of temperature changes....  

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