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Wifi??? What is the best most efficient set up?


James H

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6 minutes ago, James H said:

Wifi??? What is the best most efficient set up?! We are complete newbies so any advice is much appreciated... Thanks ?

 

You're gonna have to give some context to get any meaningful advice.

 

Have you tried the search facility? Its not as though this had not been discussed endlessly here before!

 

 

 

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7 minutes ago, James H said:

Wifi??? What is the best most efficient set up?! We are complete newbies so any advice is much appreciated... Thanks ?

I use 3 and my smartphone they have a sim only deal that is very cheap, it also allows unlimited streaming as well, cheaper than the dongle I used to use

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Surely the first question is do you need wifi? A mobile phone used as a mobile hotspot will do most of what a separate wifi system does at no additional cost. That does assume you have a phone provider that covers your area and a suitable tariff, but you also need that for a mifi.

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3 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Surely the first question is do you need wifi? A mobile phone used as a mobile hotspot will do most of what a separate wifi system does at no additional cost. That does assume you have a phone provider that covers your area and a suitable tariff, but you also need that for a mifi.

Using a phone like that  is WiFi!   All WiFi is is the radio communication between a device and say a router/access point.  In the case of the phone, the phone is operating as a router.

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6 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

So are we really saying the OP already has wifi and perhaps doesn't realise it? 

 

 

 

I think people confuse WiFi, which is a real technology, and MiFi which is just a name coined for a certain type of router/access point.

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1 hour ago, James H said:

What is the best most efficient set up?!

 

If by 'best most efficient' you mean cheapest, then turn on "personal Hotspot' on your iPhone (or the equivalent on your ANDROID) and then you'll have it! 

 

If this is not suitable or good enough, then explain what is not good enough about it and peeps here will come up with suitable suggestions. 

 

 

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10 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

If by 'best most efficient' you mean cheapest, then turn on "personal Hotspot' on your iPhone (or the equivalent on your ANDROID) and then you'll have it! 

 

If this is not suitable or good enough, then explain what is not good enough about it and peeps here will come up with suitable suggestions. 

 

 

I use my phone to give me a 4G hotspot, and my contract gives me 12Gb of data which is normally plenty (we don't use it for streaming films etc.).

 

However I've noticed that some of the newer 'unlimited' tethered data SIMS  are limited to 2Mb/s download speed which is something to watch out for.

 

 

 

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Thanks for your advice. More specifically I am wondering what all these more advanced systems are all about! We could just use our phones for wifi but is there something that'll give us a better connection?! Such as ariels on the roof conmected to some kind of router!! Any advice more advanced systems would be great, as Id like to ensure the fastest connection possible whilst C.Cing. 

I'll be teaching online over skype, and so I'll need a fast connection.

 

Thanks. 

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3 minutes ago, James H said:

Thanks for your advice. More specifically I am wondering what all these more advanced systems are all about! We could just use our phones for wifi but is there something that'll give us a better connection?! Such as ariels on the roof conmected to some kind of router!! Any advice more advanced systems would be great, as Id like to ensure the fastest connection possible whilst C.Cing. 

I'll be teaching online over skype, and so I'll need a fast connection.

 

Thanks. 

We have a proper router with external aerial, but only as we are in a poor signal area. If you are in a strong signal area and are happy with your download/upload speeds, I would stick with what you have, and consider altering your setup should circumstances change.

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16 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

We have a proper router with external aerial, but only as we are in a poor signal area. If you are in a strong signal area and are happy with your download/upload speeds, I would stick with what you have, and consider altering your setup should circumstances change.

Thanks, well we are going to be all over  the place, so I am sure we'll have periods in areas with minimal signal! So I am keen to get a good set up with external ariels, but am not sure which brand to go with. Could you please let us know - what is the make and model of your system?

 

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22 minutes ago, James H said:

Thanks for your advice. More specifically I am wondering what all these more advanced systems are all about! We could just use our phones for wifi but is there something that'll give us a better connection?! Such as ariels on the roof conmected to some kind of router!! Any advice more advanced systems would be great, as Id like to ensure the fastest connection possible whilst C.Cing. 

I'll be teaching online over skype, and so I'll need a fast connection.

 

Thanks. 

That is really it, if you have a proper router with aerial connections you can have a external aerial which will give you a better signal.  So if you live aboard it is probably worth having two contracts and a router permanently setup with external aerial.  If you don’t live aboard, then my aproach is to use my phone as I can’t justify two contracts for the time that we are on the boat.

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12 minutes ago, James H said:

Thanks, well we are going to be all over  the place, so I am sure we'll have periods in areas with minimal signal! So I am keen to get a good set up with external ariels, but am not sure which brand to go with. Could you please let us know - what is the make and model of your system?

 

Yes. I have a Teltonika rut955 router  and a Poynting 4g  Xpol external antenna.It is good, but if buying again I would go for a Huawei  B525 and poynting antenna and utilise the phone capability of the router and inclusive minutes on a contract sim.

 

Keep in mind 5g may be taking off soon, so maybe worth hanging on until then.

51Ktst+R18L._SX522_.jpg

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7 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Yes. I have a Teltonika rut955 router  and a Poynting 4g  Xpol external antenna.It is good, but if buying again I would go for a Huawei  B525 and poynting antenna and utilise the phone capability of the router and inclusive minutes on a contract sim.

 

Keep in mind 5g may be taking off soon, so maybe worth hanging on until then.

51Ktst+R18L._SX522_.jpg

Ah thats great thanks for that. Looks like a serious bit of kit. We have gone for a cheap rolling contract (so we can get out anytime) with three, and a mifi router for 38 quid, and 24 a month. We'll see how we get on with that. If I find I dont have signal and it limits my work Ill go for something like this... Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. 

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Just now, James H said:

Ah thats great thanks for that. Looks like a serious bit of kit. We have gone for a cheap rolling contract (so we can get out anytime) with three, and a mifi router for 38 quid, and 24 a month. We'll see how we get on with that. If I find I dont have signal and it limits my work Ill go for something like this... Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. 

I'm on an EE rolling contract, limited to 32GB/month. Not great, but no Three signal here. I also have a mifi, and it is great, it only receives a poor signal in a porthole though, hence the external aerial. The mifi also used to overheat on hot sunny days if left in the window.

 

The Teltonika also has two sims slots, so you could have two separate providers  for redundancy if you chose to. @Dr Bob has a similar setup.

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Just now, WotEver said:

Define ‘soon’... ;)

I don't need to. I qualified it with 'may':)

1 minute ago, bizzard said:

I use a 3 Weye Fye mobile dongle, £10 per month for 20 gorillabites.

Don't forget to mention the luverly mecanno hanger you have for it!

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55 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

I have a Teltonika rut955 router  and a Poynting 4g  Xpol external antenna.

 

Is it just the Poynting antenna that gives you the good connection? Or does the posh router costing £190 contribute in some way too? 

 

 

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10 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Is it just the Poynting antenna that gives you the good connection? Or does the posh router costing £190 contribute in some way too? 

 

 

I wouldn't say it is a good connection. It is however the difference between getting a stable connection and not getting one.

 

I don't think the router itself does anything to improve the signal. The reason I chose it was for the relatively robust SMA aerial connections, compared to the flimsy affairs you tend to get on mifi units.

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55 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Define ‘soon’... ;)

Considering that Lower Heyford still has no decent signal coverage on EE/BT and SFA Vodafone unless you do a dance on the railway bridge, I wouldn't hold out on 5g being readily available on the inland waterways except cities

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