Mobile WiFi

[Eeyore]

56 minutes ago, john6767 said:

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.

The £17 “deal” appears under their “existing customer offers”, but clearly local staff have wriggle room to offer this to anyone and everyone. Still not a bad deal, and currently on the short list to replace my Sky landline broadband!

 

[john6767]

30 minutes ago, Eeyore said:

The £17 “deal” appears under their “existing customer offers”, but clearly local staff have wriggle room to offer this to anyone and everyone. Still not a bad deal, and currently on the short list to replace my Sky landline broadband!

 

Makes sense, although I am an existing customer.

[Onionman]

Smarty uses the 3 network and gives you a ton of data (45Gb is tough to use!) for £15 a month.

 

https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/sim-only-deal/dabca2098ffb17a93c0c0f2ee945e690c25fb8a5/?position=1&impression_id=248edf4d-c412-4c55-98b6-bad0c49f8a41-1&comparison_id=248edf4d-c412-4c55-98b6-bad0c49f8a41&list=%2Fmobiles%2Fcompare%2Fsim_only_deals%2F&page=%2Fmobiles%2Fcompare%2Fsim_only_deals%2F

 

Buy a Samsung Galaxy S5 with a cracked but working screen (about £10 - £20 on Ebay - you're not going to be using the screen much) then factory reset it (google it) and put the new SIM in it. Set it up as a wireless hotspot. Hey presto, 4G network on your boat for £20 outlay plus £15 a month.

 

You can buy external aerials if you need them. They are normally useless as you need the back cover off but if you're not using the phone as a phone, that's not a problem. I have no real expertise in that area so no advice on what to buy - we get plenty of signal most of the time on the 3 network. If necessary, a walk along the length of the boat will get us a 4G signal somewhere or other.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2019 by Onionman

[Up-Side-Down]

On 07/11/2019 at 19:22, cuthound said:

Over the years I have tried O2, Vodaphone, 3 and EE

 

I have found EE gives the best coverage and fastest speeds, followed by 3, however no provider gives the best coverage everywhere. Vodaphone was constantly the worst.

Exactly my experience too.

[bizzard]

Avoidafone.

[Fender151]

Another vote for EE,

I have an unlimited data sim £27 per month

I use the sim on the boat and  at home, for my sole WIFI access.

On the boat I  have external aerial, Huawei B525 router, I can count on on one had the number of times I haven't got coverage on the CUT, on my Marina, which is a notorious black spot, I get around 20 + MB DL, 10 > 20 + UL.

@ home I get 60 + MB DL and 40 + UL.

 

Economically it works for me and Very happy with EE.

 

 

 

 

[blackrose]

On 08/11/2019 at 08:20, john6767 said:

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.

 

Whether it's an Android or an iPhone they all do the same things. But for the same money you can get a much higher spec Android and I'm talking about things like processor speed, ram, internal data storage and battery capacity. WhatsApp seems to be a lot more popular than iMessage. I don't know anyone who isn't on WhatsApp these days so the app creators must have done something right. Why would you want to use an instant messaging system that excludes the majority of people by default simply because they don't have an iPhone?

 

Anyway, whatever operating system one happens to use first will then seem more intuitive compared to another system, and if you're used to Apple then you might not like androids at first, so for me the reverse would be true. However, simply in terms of price, with Apple you're paying a ridiculous premium for inferior hardware so Android wins hands down.

Edited November 9, 2019 by blackrose

[blackrose]

On 08/11/2019 at 08:53, 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'.

 

Yes, those were my thoughts and that's why I just use the phone as the hotspot 

[john6767]

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

 

Whether it's an Android or an iPhone they all do the same things. But for the same money you can get a much higher spec Android and I'm talking about things like processor speed, ram, internal data storage and battery capacity. WhatsApp seems to be a lot more popular than iMessage. I don't know anyone who isn't on WhatsApp these days so the app creators must have done something right. Why would you want to use an instant messaging system that excludes the majority of people by default simply because they don't have an iPhone?

 

Anyway, whatever operating system one happens to use first will then seem more intuitive compared to another system, and if you're used to Apple then you might not like androids at first, so for me the reverse would be true. However, simply in terms of price, with Apple you're paying a ridiculous premium for inferior hardware so Android wins hands down.

I don’t think I know anyone who does not have an iPhone though, so iMessage is just fine.  Remember WhatsApp is now owned by Facebook..

 

The thing I have just leaned it that iPhone 11 does not support 5G, so Android peiople have that to yourself, so if you need that speed I guess thats a good reason to go Android.  As to performance and storage, there is more that I need in any iPhone, I guess with Android you can go for a low end phone where you don’t have that choice with iPhone, but looking at the prices you can spend over a grand on an Android phone so I don’t think dissimilar price wise for comparable phones.

[ditchcrawler]

7 minutes ago, john6767 said:

I don’t think I know anyone who does not have an iPhone though, so iMessage is just fine.  Remember WhatsApp is now owned by Facebook..

 

The thing I have just leaned it that iPhone 11 does not support 5G, so Android peiople have that to yourself, so if you need that speed I guess thats a good reason to go Android.  As to performance and storage, there is more that I need in any iPhone, I guess with Android you can go for a low end phone where you don’t have that choice with iPhone, but looking at the prices you can spend over a grand on an Android phone so I don’t think dissimilar price wise for comparable phones.

I don't Nokia 6301i

[john6767]

3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I don't Nokia 6301i

Can I WhatsApp you

[ditchcrawler]

30 minutes ago, john6767 said:

Can I WhatsApp you

If you want to, I won't know anything about it

[blackrose]

20 hours ago, john6767 said:

I don’t think I know anyone who does not have an iPhone though, so iMessage is just fine.  Remember WhatsApp is now owned by Facebook..

 

The thing I have just leaned it that iPhone 11 does not support 5G, so Android peiople have that to yourself, so if you need that speed I guess thats a good reason to go Android.  As to performance and storage, there is more that I need in any iPhone, I guess with Android you can go for a low end phone where you don’t have that choice with iPhone, but looking at the prices you can spend over a grand on an Android phone so I don’t think dissimilar price wise for comparable phones.

 

Yes I know WhatsApp is owned by Facebook but I'm not sure how that's relevant to what we were talking about?

 

Anyway, yes you can certainly pay £800 - £1000 for the very latest Samsung Android phone if you're rich or stupid enough,, but you can also get a fairly well specified brand new Android for about £170 and you can't say the same for iPhones. You say one has the option of a low end Android, but a low end Android will outperform a mid range iPhone. The bottom line is that whatever you pay for a phone you'll get more for your money if you buy an Android.

 

I know some people like iPhones and that's fine because the consumer decides how to spend their money. But as I said previously, with Apple you're paying a premium for an inferior piece of hardware simply because of the brand.

Edited November 10, 2019 by blackrose

[rusty69]

14 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I don't Nokia 6301i

Ah, those were the days. Nokia 6310i, great phone. The days when the battery lasted nearly a week between charges.Mine is still on the boat for nostalgia. These days it a Moto Gsomething for me. The battery manages two days....still, that's progress for ya

Edited November 10, 2019 by rusty69

[The Welsh Cruiser]

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

 

Yes I know WhatsApp is owned by Facebook but I'm not sure how that's relevant to what we were talking about?

 

Anyway, yes you can certainly pay £800 - £1000 for the very latest Samsung Android phone if you're rich or stupid enough,, but you can also get a fairly well specified brand new Android for about £170 and you can't say the same for iPhones. You say one has the option of a low end Android, but a low end Android will outperform a mid range iPhone. The bottom line is that whatever you pay for a phone you'll get more for your money if you buy an Android.

 

I know some people like iPhones and that's fine because the consumer decides how to spend their money. But as I said previously, with Apple you're paying a premium for an inferior piece of hardware simply because of the brand.

I paid £40 for a new Android phone 4 years ago. Unbranded, presumably Chinese. Still going strong today.

[Dr Bob]

On 07/11/2019 at 18:49, canalrunna said:

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

I wouldnt have a gig on my boat. It would likely sink if over 20 people were on it and I dont think the insurance would cover it.