Jump to content

Internet onboard


Antony Perry

Featured Posts

I worked from our boat recently, I used a cheap mifi with a Smarty SIM which worked fine for most of the time. All my work is online and lots of Teams meetings. I had a couple of times when it wouldn't work but I was able to tether off my phone on a different provider so able to carry on working.

One occasion when I lost signal the mifi had been working in the same spot for three days without any problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

If it is essential for you livelihood that you have internet access and you intend to travel around then IMO it is also essential that you have a backup plan. Last night in Lowsonford I had 2 bars  sometimes, the rest of the time was nothing. This forum would load when the 2 bars light up, but I couldn't post my blog. If my living depended on the internet I would also have a Vodafone (that didn't work ether) EE O2 and anything else that is available. Its not difficult is one is in the MiFi , one in your phone and a third in the wife's phone.

I carry a GiffGaff SIM (O2) that I can swap with the Smarty (3)  one if it fails.

 

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, I now have my Poynting A-XPOL-0001 external antenna and my Huawei B535 router but how do the leads from the antenna fit into the router? 

 

Sorry if I'm being a bit thick but I thought this was meant to be simple. There are no instructions about this with the antenna or router. Is there more equipment I need to buy? 

 

IMG_20210625_175130.jpg

Edited by blackrose
Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Im saying nothing ;)

 

 

Haha. I didn't think about removing that panel.

 

I've got it going now. Easy enough. Do I just point the antenna at the nearest mast according to the CellMapper app?

 

How do you know when you've got optimum signal reception - just keep doing speed tests?

 

This is what I've got now.

 

image.png.fc2fc2c2e2e28ece1855351cbda16d03.png

 

Edited by blackrose
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Antenna should be omnidirectional so recieves from all directions, however I put the flat side towards the mast. Havent donevany research as to whether it makes a differance but it makes me feel better.

Those figures above are as good as you get on a landline (except the ping but unless you are gaming it makes no odds) , unless you have gone for superfast.

Edited by Loddon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What improvement did the Poynting give, I have the B818 sat on a shelf nowhere near a window and I'm getting better than my home broadband but can't decide whether to add an external antenna.

 

2036468548_Screenshot_20210625-2143522.png.9caefed8fcbee81622eef0e7661c9c52.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just chucked it on the roof this evening so haven't positioned it yet or put it on a pole but it's at least doubled the best speed I had with the phone in the window as a hotspot. Plus the phone signal was unstable before and kept cutting out. 

 

Looking at your download speeds it doesn't look like you need an antenna. But it depends if you intend to move your boat as you're bound to experience poor signals occasionally.

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

Haha. I didn't think about removing that panel.

 

I've got it going now. Easy enough. Do I just point the antenna at the nearest mast according to the CellMapper app?

 

How do you know when you've got optimum signal reception - just keep doing speed tests?

 

This is what I've got now.

 

image.png.fc2fc2c2e2e28ece1855351cbda16d03.png

 

That is 6 times better than my land line

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

Haha. I didn't think about removing that panel.

 

I've got it going now. Easy enough. Do I just point the antenna at the nearest mast according to the CellMapper app?

 

How do you know when you've got optimum signal reception - just keep doing speed tests?

 

This is what I've got now.

 

image.png.fc2fc2c2e2e28ece1855351cbda16d03.png

 

This is the best I have had with just the MiFi dongle in the pigeon box at Atherston, so your location has a lot to do with it, I normally don't hit 10

 https://www.speedtest.net/result/9763376777

image.png.b0d7d93bbe54f32df90fee8e4ab8bec6.png

 

Edited by ditchcrawler
Found some better ones
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes I've connected my phone to the WiFi just to get it to work inside the boat. (Not sure what data you mean that I should be saving on the phone -speed data?)

 

I've switched on "calling over WiFi" so I can now use the phone as a phone without putting it in the window. Can't seem to find that setting on my crap 5 year old work phone (Samsung J5)

 

Thanks for the link to the app

Edited by blackrose
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, blackrose said:

The speed you get must also have a lot to do with what time off day you're using it and who else is on the network. Look at this speed in getting in the middle of the night!

 

 

Screenshot_2021-06-26-03-23-06-457_com.android.chrome.jpg

Terrible ping time though. What was the jitter?  
 

For me once the download gets above say 20Mbs, you really as not going to see a difference in practice unless you are doing very large downloads, and even in that case the ping is going to have a significant impact on a ACKs.

Edited by john6767
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

I've no idea what a jitter is? What should the ping time be?

 

 

Day to day usage ping/jitter doesn't make much odds unless you are gaming. Just means fractionally longer response times.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

48 minutes ago, blackrose said:

No I'm not gaming. I'll leave that to the kids.

It will impact on anything that in interactive not just gaming.

 

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

 

I've no idea what a jitter is? What should the ping time be?

 

 

Jitter is another factor impacting on latency.  The speed test report shows it along with the ping.  This is what I get for a speed test at the moment, using my iPhone as the router, at the back of beyond at Sharpness.  Rubbish upload speed though.

09841A71-F9B2-4C2B-99E2-4D95BD50D72E.jpeg.f06e82c97dc7bec73bf8968c8e433400.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought about putting the cables from the antenna through cable glands in the bow bulkhead to tidy things up a bit. At the moment they're coming into the boat through a window.

 

The only problem with that is it means you can't bring the antenna inside when you're on the move or if you're moored in a dodgy area and don't want it nicked if you go out.

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, john6767 said:

It will impact on anything that in interactive not just gaming.

 

Jitter is another factor impacting on latency.  The speed test report shows it along with the ping.  This is what I get for a speed test at the moment, using my iPhone as the router, at the back of beyond at Sharpness.  Rubbish upload speed though.

09841A71-F9B2-4C2B-99E2-4D95BD50D72E.jpeg.f06e82c97dc7bec73bf8968c8e433400.jpeg

I had this discussion with a colleague who has a 300mbps fibre connection to his house but his call quality in teams was terrible.  When I looked at the call stats his jitter was very high as was his packet loss.  So the super fast connection was pointless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.