Which WiFi is Best?

[alias]

Cellmapper.net has crowdsourced coverage maps that can be useful in thinking about where to stop if coverage is needed, e.g. the image below showing 4G coverage on 3 at Braunston. Data on there depends on the sensitivity of the phone aerial of the user providing the data of course. 

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by alias

[GUMPY]

Cellmapper also shows the direction of the antennas as well plus all the details of the cell.

A good app for signal strength is

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wilysis.cellinfolite

 

It gives you the cell ID so using cellmapper you can then work out where the tower you are connected to actually is.

Me a geek no not at all 🤭

Edited February 22, 2022 by Loddon

[doratheexplorer]

15 hours ago, Jim Batty said:

 

A caveat to your caveat. The best network is going to depend on where you're cruising. We gave up on Vodafone after a couple of years -- absolutely hopeless all across NW and W London GUC, great swathes of the Thames and the eastern end of the K&A. Curiously, to this day, the Vodafone signal is terrible in and around Newbury ... home of Vodafone HQ.

 

In all those places I cited above, we've had no problem on the 3 network.

 

Last autumn I 12v hardwired a Huawei B535 router on the boat. Where I used to get 1-2 bars signal with just a dongle plugged into my laptop, I then got 3-4 bars on wifi with the Huawei mounted at head height inside the boat. A few months after that I hooked up the router to a Poynter arial on a 0.5m pole on the roof ... and got 4-5 bars signal in the same spot. (I know 'bars' aren't precise, but they can be a general indicator, especially if you're tied up in the middle of nowhere and not sharing the signal with many other users.)

 

All that said, sometimes the (Three) phone signal is stronger than the (Three) router signal ... but I'd say 80% of the time the router signal is stronger than that of the phone.

 

Our experience, for what it's worth.

 

 

I'm on Vodafone and I cruised all around the GU and in and out of London while getting brilliant signal and some of the fastest speeds I've ever had.  So that's not my experience at all.  I'll see how it is the next time I'm visiting friends in Newbury.

14 hours ago, RS2021 said:

Be very careful if you are lucky enough to have 5G. The way speed tests work, the faster the connection the more data they use. Using speed tests on 5G will gobble up your allowance (unless you are unlimited) in no time.

Good point.  I've known it to use half a gig on 4G!  But I'm unlimited so I don't care.  I would recommend anyone working from home to get unlimited. Anything else just isn't worth the worry.  It's not much more money.

[ditchcrawler]

On 17/02/2022 at 09:47, Loddon said:

Interestingly 3 and EE share a lot of masts under some agreement or other so I find it odd that they differ by so much.

I had this at the Blue Lias, no signal on 3 but Beeky next door on EE was flying, so I borrowed that

[IanD]

1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:

I had this at the Blue Lias, no signal on 3 but Beeky next door on EE was flying, so I borrowed that

Because they share some masts, but in other areas they don't. YMMV... 😉

[DerekB]

To throw in my slightly late tuppence worth. I'm an IT manager and work from (floating) home once a week, plus being a gamer geek have various streaming services inc 4k video.

 

I bought a TCL LinkHub which has 4 & 5G capability, paired this with a sim only vodaphone deal which has unlimited data plus uncapped speed. I'm moored in a 4G only spot at the moment and speed tests are 100-150Mbps on WiFi and 250-350Mbps for hardwired devices.

 

The router is inside the boat, not in a window and doesn't have an external aerial. It is bigger than the little dongles but has a couple of ethernet ports, does 2.4 and 5Ghz wifi bands and will support way more connections than i'll ever need.

[Thisguy_foot]

For the tech inclined there is a new pihat that has 5g modem. Pi works as a great option.  support.https://sixfab.com/product/raspberry-pi-5g-development-kit-5g-hat/

 

My current setup is a 4g modem with two Omni antennas in a WE826-T2 operating in bridge mode. I then use a ubiquiti amplifi alien as the router. This setup has worked for about 5 years. 

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

Well we may not have much choice in which WiFi provider we use in the future

 Three’s network ‘unsustainable’ without Vodafone merger, bosses admit (msn.com)

[IanD]

46 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Well we may not have much choice in which WiFi provider we use in the future

 Three’s network ‘unsustainable’ without Vodafone merger, bosses admit (msn.com)

Why? It reduces the number of providers from four (Vodafone, Three, EE, O2) to three (VodaThree, EE, O2), surely that's still plenty of choice?

In response to the question about network and kit (router and antenna) a good external MIMO antenna will give much better coverage and higher data rates, as usual ones with better performance cost more.

 

To avoid installing a mast and aligning a directional antenna, the best omnidirectional antenna I could find for a narrowboat was a 4x4 MIMO one from Panorama which covers all the 4G/5G bands and is designed for mounting on a metal roof; this gives considerably more gain than a pole-mounted antenna like the Poyntings (which need to be kept well clear of a metal boat roof to avoid reflections reducing the signal) because it makes constructive use of the reflected signal from the roof, the gain is about 5dB higher as a result which should be equivalent to a Poynting on quite a tall pole (signal strength increases with height). In my case it's also right above the router, having only 50cm cables (30cm + 20cm SMA-TSP adaptors) instead of the usual 5m gives another couple of dB signal level -- you can see it here just in front of the roof rail. This was all partly done for futureproofing and wanting the best internet access for WFH and streaming, which helped me justify the cost... (about £200+VAT!!!)

 

There are many options for routers depending what network you want to be on, how much usage you need, and how much you want to pay. If you want 5G and also 4x4 MIMO these are still relatively expensive and the choice is limited, a popular option today is the Zyxel NR5103E either on contract from Three (£20pm unlimited, 3 months free) or buying one (£215 on CEX) and using Smarty or another MNO -- EE is reputed to have better canal coverage but is considerably more expensive, especially if you want unlimited data, which if you're relying on streaming for TV instead of terrestrial broadcasts (like me) is pretty much essential. Some routers are dual-SIM so you can have a fallback network, but obviously you have to pay more for this (both router and SIMs).

 

Both these are at the top end of the market for both price and performance, there are many options which are cheaper but lower performance if that meets your needs... 😉

 

Edited March 17, 2023 by IanD

[Guest]

58 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Well we may not have much choice in which WiFi provider we use in the future

 Three’s network ‘unsustainable’ without Vodafone merger, bosses admit (msn.com)

 

Thats interesting, I hadn't clocked that.

 

Dont forget though that as well as the 'big' four (soon to be three) there are various companies that piggy back on their networks so there is choice in terms of who your money goes to.

 

Assuming of course the likes of Smarty still carry on.

[ditchcrawler]

44 minutes ago, IanD said:

Why? It reduces the number of providers from four (Vodafone, Three, EE, O2) to three (VodaThree, EE, O2), surely that's still plenty of choice?

 

 

If Three and Vodafone are considering do you not think the others have the same idea? 4 soon become 2 bit like CRT or EA

[IanD]

1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:

If Three and Vodafone are considering do you not think the others have the same idea? 4 soon become 2 bit like CRT or EA

It's always possible that there will be a further merger -- assuming the VodaThree one is allowed, which is not certain -- but for competition reasons it would probably have to be EE/O2 merging, either of them joining VodaThree would be too close to a monopoly.

 

Would still give 2 choices though, each with better coverage than a single network today... 😉

[Rob-M]

I read recently that EE are capping the speed on pay as you go customers so that could rule them out for anyone that doesn't want a contract.

[LadyG]

On 17/02/2022 at 08:23, Loddon said:

Router and external antenna every time.

Using a phone is fine In good signal areas but you will need to keep the phone on charge all the time and with some systems if you get a phone call the WiFi drops out.

Plus having a router and a phone on a separate network can give you backup when one network is not available. For example on our mooring our phones don't work so we use WiFi calling over the router.

As for network we use Smarty which is part of 3 no contract and not overly expensive.

 

Yes, i have a Huawei router £125, with twin sockets for the twin ariels (Amazon £19.99). That's wot gives me connectivity.

 

Edited March 17, 2023 by LadyG

[Hudds Lad]

1 minute ago, LadyG said:

Yes, i have a Huawei router £125, with twin sockets for the twin ariels (Amazon £19.99). That's wot gives me connectivity.

 

Did you get those black, magnetic based, whip ones with a spiral in 'em? About 20cms tall?

If so i do not recommend, found they made the signal worse on the shareboat, so kicked 'em to the kerb in favour of a Poynting for our boat

[LadyG]

2 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

Did you get those black, magnetic based, whip ones with a spiral in 'em? About 20cms tall?

If so i do not recommend, found they made the signal worse on the shareboat, so kicked 'em to the kerb in favour of a Poynting for our boat

Yes, since getting them I have had connectivity . I would prefer a Poynting for signal, but it needed a person to fit it. I don't have such a person.

Edited March 17, 2023 by LadyG

[ditchcrawler]

23 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Yes, since getting them I have had connectivity . I would prefer a Poynting for signal, but it needed a person to fit it. I don't have such a person.

 

23 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Yes, since getting them I have had connectivity . I would prefer a Poynting for signal, but it needed a person to fit it. I don't have such a person.

Why do you need a man to fit it, it looks as if it just plugs in like the ones you have 

 https://youtu.be/5M-slFRw5PQ

[Hudds Lad]

25 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Yes, since getting them I have had connectivity . I would prefer a Poynting for signal, but it needed a person to fit it. I don't have such a person.

If you can route a cable for those little 'uns, you can easily do a Poynting.

Get one of those short mag based poles, screw Poynting bracket to pole and route cable indoors. (https://amzn.eu/d/5658HGv other shops are available)

No person required other than your good self  

 

Although if you're happy with what you've got and it works then i guess there's no point in more expense.