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dave mackie

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Huawei B535 router unless you have a very big wallet then its the B818

Poynting 4g Xpol A0001 antenna.

EE and 3 share many tower locations I use Smarty which is part if 3  as its cheaper ;)

This is all assuming 4g, as 5g is not available over large areas if the country.

 

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I have the B818 and the Poynting 4g Xpol A0001, often I don't bother connecting the antenna as the internal antenna on the B818 are good enough.  I also use Smarty unlimited option as I can just pay for it when we are on the boat.  Spent most of today in Teams video calls with no issues.

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1 hour ago, Loddon said:

Huawei B535 router unless you have a very big wallet then its the B818

Poynting 4g Xpol A0001 antenna.

EE and 3 share many tower locations I use Smarty which is part if 3  as its cheaper ;)

This is all assuming 4g, as 5g is not available over large areas if the country.

 

I have the same as this, except the router is an older version, and I have a Vodafone unlimited SIM, which comes with our Virgin Media TV deal.

 

Where our boat is lifted for blacking, at Hesfords Marine, Agden, Cheshire, the signal for all providers is as poor as it gets. Whilst my phone, (on 3), has difficulty in maintaining a call outdoors, the router + XPOL antenna allows wifi calling from inside the boat, as well as watching streaming video.

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1 minute ago, Hudds Lad said:

@Alway Swilby Maxview Roam is the one i’ve seen for mobile internet, not cheap.

Speaking as someone who has been involved in the design of wi-fi gear, a router/access point with multiple antennae (MIMO) will give higher data rates and more reliable reception in poor signal conditions. The antennae need to be outside the boat, preferably on the roof not on a bulkhead (roof acts as a ground plane/reflector), which either means a router which can go outside, or an internal router with external antennae -- probably the best option if a good antenna system is used. You want an omnidirectional antenna, directional ones are only suitable for houses where you can set them up to point at the nearest basestation.

 

There are plenty of routers with dual antenna connections (2x2 MIMO). If you want to go the whole hog and get the best possible reception, some newer routers (and antennae) support 4x4 MIMO, especially the newer ones with 5G capability -- note that even when receiving 4G or 3G signals these can still have better performance due to better antenna diversity.

 

Probably the best properly-designed antenna systems are those from by Poynting; the highest gain omnidirectional 4x4 MIMO one is this one:

 

https://poynting.tech/antennas/mimo-3-14/?compare=5816,5818,5827,5865

 

Then you'll need a suitable router, like this:

 

https://www.3grouterstore.co.uk/3G/Proroute-H685-WRT-HSPA--M2M-3G-Router---Industrial-Grade-3G-router-with-LAN-and-WAN-Ethernet-and-N-Wireless-H685-5G-Router.html#SID=1336

 

Total cost is around £500 though 😞

 

2x2 MIMO solutions are a lot cheaper (less than half?), but won't give quite such good performance.

 

Single-antenna solutions should definitely be avoided, it's easy for the antenna to be in a small "dead spot" with low signal level.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I installed the Poynting antenna about a month ago -- hooked up to a Huawei 535 router and on the 3 network. We're presently in a fairly challenging signal location. These are the results we've had:

 

With my old 3 dongle plugged into the laptop = 1 bar

 

With just the router high up on the cabin wall = 2-3 bars

 

With the router wired to the Poynting on the roof = 4-5 bars

 

Poynting on Roof

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Jim Batty
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On 01/12/2021 at 21:33, dave mackie said:

whats the best 3g/4g omni directional aerial /Router set up for week signal areas . i think where im moored the best network provider will be EE .

640px-Lovell_Telescope.jpg.7efb22e97f42e095b15beb2313443f4f.jpg

More suited to a wide beam and best to dismantle it before setting off if you don't want to risk damaging it on a low bridge.

 

 

Pic credit: By Mike Peel; Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, University of Manchester., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2171884

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

640px-Lovell_Telescope.jpg.7efb22e97f42e095b15beb2313443f4f.jpg

More suited to a wide beam and best to dismantle it before setting off if you don't want to risk damaging it on a low bridge.

 

 

Pic credit: By Mike Peel; Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, University of Manchester., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2171884

Arecibo is now in kit form, air draft might be a problem though :) 

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On 01/12/2021 at 21:33, dave mackie said:

whats the best 3g/4g omni directional aerial /Router set up for week signal areas . i think where im moored the best network provider will be EE .

The best antennas for a narrowboat are probably the Poynting omnidirectional ones, the one I gave the link to above is 4x4 MIMO but there are 2x2 versions as well. They also do a smaller lower-profile puck antenna (not 4x4) which is less obtrusive but has a little bit lower gain. There are also much taller high-gain antennae targeted at seagoing boats, but these would have the chimney problem on a canal boat.

 

Antenna choice doesn't depend on network provider, they all use similar radio bands and the antennas pick all of them up.

 

I posted some (hopefully useful) background information here...

 

 

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4 hours ago, Jim Batty said:

I installed the Poynting antenna about a month ago -- hooked up to a Huawei 535 router and on the 3 network. We're presently in a fairly challenging signal location. These are the results we've had:

 

With my old 3 dongle plugged into the laptop = 1 bar

 

With just the router high up on the cabin wall = 2-3 bars

 

With the router wired to the Poynting on the roof = 4-5 bars

 

Do you have speed test? Results for the three configurations would be instructive. :) 

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E5785 Huawei has served me well for two years, decent battery which is important on a boat. Price has gone from £120 to £150, Amazon. Others may be better. 

It has twin aerial sockets, I've managed without an aerial so far, but have sent for a compatable aerial, under £20, a magnetic gadget, portable. Signal where I am is not great. 

I'm no expert, but manage to cope. 

 

 

Edited by LadyG
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1 hour ago, LadyG said:

E5785 Huawei has served me well for two years, decent battery which is important on a boat. Price has gone from £120 to £150, Amazon. Others may be better. 

It has twin aerial sockets, I've managed without an aerial so far, but have sent for a compatable aerial, under £20, a magnetic gadget, portable. Signal where I am is not great. 

I'm no expert, but manage to cope. 

 

Amazon seem to sell a number of Huawei E57xx products ranging in price from £50 upwards. Not sure I'll need all to use all 32 devices on the boat. 3 would be enough :) 

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9 minutes ago, Number 9 said:

Nice Netgear one on Amazon for £700. 

Anyone know if it is that much better than the £150 routers?

 

Depends what it is and why it's expensive... 😉

 

Most of the super-expensive Wi-Fi routers (not always cellular) are aimed at getting maximum data rates inside the house for markets such as gamers and home networking, using the latest Wi-Fi standards.

 

What's needed on a boat is a cellular router that's best at getting the highest data rates over the radio network, especially in poor signal conditions -- in good conditions any cellular router will be fine, and internal Wi-Fi speeds will never be a problem, the limit will always be the radio link.

Edited by IanD
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10 minutes ago, robtheplod said:

I use one of these as my Router - (much better UI than Huawei)

Vigor 2620Ln (draytek.co.uk)

 

and this as my External Aerial (seems to be the most common type!):

Poynting 4G-XPOL-A0001 Cross Polarised 4G Omni LTE Antenna: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

This one is newer, cheaper, has slightly more gain, supports 2x2 MIMO, and should give a bit better reception with a router that supports this:

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Poynting-Omni-Directional-Polarised-Outdoor-Antenna-dp-B08F4S4DMN/dp/B08F4S4DMN/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

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5 minutes ago, robtheplod said:

I use one of these as my Router - (much better UI than Huawei)

Vigor 2620Ln (draytek.co.uk)

It's only a cat4 150mbs modem

Quite a bit slower than the Huawei 535 cat7 300mbs.

Only positive I can see is it's dual SIM 😯

 

Before someone says Cat4 is fine, a cat4 modem here at home gives half the speed of a cat7 modem in the same location.

Now running a Huawei B818 cat19 😉

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3 minutes ago, Loddon said:

It's only a cat4 150mbs modem

Quite a bit slower than the Huawei 535 cat7 300mbs.

Only positive I can see is it's dual SIM 😯

 

Before someone says Cat4 is fine, a cat4 modem here at home gives half the speed of a cat7 modem in the same location.

Now running a Huawei B818 cat19 😉

Plenty of better routers than that particular Draytek one (it's quite old now), including newer ones from Draytek...

 

IIRC the wireless router we had at work was a Huawei, and the UI was indeed pretty awful 😞

Edited by IanD
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2 minutes ago, Loddon said:

It's only a cat4 150mbs modem

Quite a bit slower than the Huawei 535 cat7 300mbs.

Only positive I can see is it's dual SIM 😯

 

Before someone says Cat4 is fine, a cat4 modem here at home gives half the speed of a cat7 modem in the same location.

Now running a Huawei B818 cat19 😉

How fast do you need to go to stream stuff?  :)   works fine for me and is rock solid.. just adding another make to the mix!  

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