Internet / WiFi

[Paul C]

On 19/02/2024 at 15:34, GUMPY said:

Scancom are primarily a business supplier who have recently started courting other users such as the charitable sector and mobile home users. 

 

I trust that explanation wasn't for me, I know full well how they operate.

 

 

Maybe not 😱

 

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10559377

 

https://seeek.co/?v=79cba1185463

 

Sure, they're dodgy - look at this thread https://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/threads/seeek-esim-discussion.41261/page-5 on tech issues, but its FREE so may be worth a try for some as a second network (or to allow access to all 4 networks, when their main is patchy).

Edited February 23 by Paul C

[Quattrodave]

Can I ask what external antennas you recommend. Any companies you'd recommend to purchase them from??

[IanD]

18 hours ago, Quattrodave said:

Can I ask what external antennas you recommend. Any companies you'd recommend to purchase them from??

To go with what router -- 4G or 5G, 2x2 MIMO or 4x4 MIMO? What's your budget?

 

As a rule 5G antennae cost more than 4G and 4x4 MIMO cost more than 2x2 MIMO, but in both cases you get either better coverage or higher data rates for the extra money -- assuming there's a 5G signal where you are. However a decent external 4x4 MIMO 5G antenna (e.g. Poynting or Panorama) is likely to cost more than £200... 😞 

 

https://www.3grouterstore.co.uk/product-category/5g-antennas/4x4-mimo-5g-antennas/

Edited March 11 by IanD
availability of 5G

[blackrose]

52 minutes ago, IanD said:

As a rule 5G antennae cost more than 4G and ... ...you get either better coverage or higher data rates for the extra money. 

 

Isn't that only the case if there happens to be a 5G signal in your area? If not would there be any benefit from having a 5G antenna?

 

I'm in a rural area without any 5G data signal and unlikely to be in the foreseeable future, so I just have a Poynting 4G antenna.

Edited March 11 by blackrose

[IanD]

44 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

Isn't that only the case if there happens to be a 5G signal in your area? If not would there be any benefit from having a 5G antenna?

 

I'm in a rural area without any 5G data signal and unlikely to be in the foreseeable future, so I just have a Poynting 4G antenna.

 

Yes, it always depends on the area -- if you can't get 5G where you are then it'll be a waste of money. If you can, then you should be able to get much higher data rates with 5G.

 

(previous post edited to make this clear)

 

However 5G coverage is gradually improving especially in towns and cities, and that's where quite a lot of boaters are... 😉 

Edited March 11 by IanD

[blackrose]

If I ever move back to an urban mooring then perhaps I'll upgrade to a 5G antenna, but I think I'd need a 5G router too. At the moment 4G is fine.

 

Are they switching the 4G signal off at some point as 5G is rolled out? What will happen then, does 4G revert to 3G and will my data speeds reduce?

[IanD]

2 minutes ago, blackrose said:

If I ever move back to an urban mooring then perhaps I'll upgrade to a 5G antenna, but I think I'd need a 5G router too. At the moment 4G is fine.

 

Are they switching the 4G signal off at some point as 5G is rolled out? What will happen then, does 4G revert to 3G and will my data speeds reduce?

Obviously for 5G you need a 5G router and 5G antenna --and a 5G signal... 😉 

 

No, 4G isn't going to disappear in the foreseeable future -- however 3G is already being turned off, depending on the network it's already gone in some areas. 2G remains for low-data-rate applications, but anything that relies on 3G will be toast soon.

[jonathanA]

yes most of the network operators are switching off 3G as quickly as possible largely to reduce their (huge) electricity bills and no doubt reduce other running costs / free up spectrum

 

I've been surprised where I've picked up 5G outside big cities. 

 

[blackrose]

Ok I see, it's 3G that's disappearing, I obviously misunderstood. That makes more sense. Thanks

Edited March 11 by blackrose

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

Ok I see, it's 3G that's disappearing, I obviously misunderstood. That makes more sense. Thanks

vodafone contacted me to say they’re dropping the 3G as 5G becomes more available. 
With my phone naturally upgrading as it all rolls on

[blackrose]

45 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

vodafone contacted me to say they’re dropping the 3G as 5G becomes more available. 
With my phone naturally upgrading as it all rolls on

 

I've got a 5G phone, but I use the Three network at my mooring and when I spoke to them about 9 months ago they admitted that it would take several years to roll out 5G in my area.

45 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

 

 

Edited March 11 by blackrose

[Quattrodave]

9 hours ago, IanD said:

To go with what router -- 4G or 5G, 2x2 MIMO or 4x4 MIMO? What's your budget?

 

As a rule 5G antennae cost more than 4G and 4x4 MIMO cost more than 2x2 MIMO, but in both cases you get either better coverage or higher data rates for the extra money -- assuming there's a 5G signal where you are. However a decent external 4x4 MIMO 5G antenna (e.g. Poynting or Panorama) is likely to cost more than £200... 😞 

 

https://www.3grouterstore.co.uk/product-category/5g-antennas/4x4-mimo-5g-antennas/

 

Thanks for your reply, that's a fair comment, I should have added some detail there...  I'm currently using an Inhand IR302 4G router, some models have 2 cellular SMA connectors but mine only has one. Currently has 1 tiny cellular antenna but wouldn't mind upgrading it if possible, I'd quite happily spend £80 ish but no idea what I'm looking at when it comes to 4g antenna.  Granted it's s not the fastest router in the world (although better than my smart phone) but so far very reliable & stable, natively runs from between 9 and 36 volts with very low power consumption...

[TheBiscuits]

On 19/02/2024 at 08:29, IanD said:

Same data speed, no registration -- just plug the SIM in and go.

 

I've recently switched from Three to iD Mobile - a Three piggyback MVNO - and in the same device in the same location I get considerably higher data speeds on iD than on Three!

 

[dmr]

13 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

I've recently switched from Three to iD Mobile - a Three piggyback MVNO - and in the same device in the same location I get considerably higher data speeds on iD than on Three!

 

I still reckon there is the "new customer bonus" on new contracts. Once youve written a good review and told your mates how good it is then the speed will start to drop off 😀. The experts here tell me this is not true but I have seen it happen several times.  Boat next door has just got a new Lebara sim and was seeing an 80meg download speed.

[Martyn Hicks]

9 minutes ago, dmr said:

I still reckon there is the "new customer bonus" on new contracts. Once youve written a good review and told your mates how good it is then the speed will start to drop off 😀. The experts here tell me this is not true but I have seen it happen several times.  Boat next door has just got a new Lebara sim and was seeing an 80meg download speed.

It’s all down to the Networks and the location it also helps using a decent quality (cat) router.   

[IanD]

12 minutes ago, dmr said:

I still reckon there is the "new customer bonus" on new contracts. Once youve written a good review and told your mates how good it is then the speed will start to drop off 😀. The experts here tell me this is not true but I have seen it happen several times.  Boat next door has just got a new Lebara sim and was seeing an 80meg download speed.

 

And there's your answer -- a new good deal emerges, more people (not just your mates) hear about it and join up, network congestion increases, data rates go down. As any "expert" would know perfectly well... 😉 

 

Don't forget there's more than one place network congestion can happen -- not just the RF link between you and the basestation (exactly the same for the base network and MVNOs) but what happens afterwards where the MVNO has a different APN and possibly a proxy server, so this can be congested (and get worse over time) even if the base network (e.g. Three) isn't.

Edited March 12 by IanD

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

6 hours ago, dmr said:

I still reckon there is the "new customer bonus" on new contracts. Once youve written a good review and told your mates how good it is then the speed will start to drop off 😀. The experts here tell me this is not true but I have seen it happen several times.  Boat next door has just got a new Lebara sim and was seeing an 80meg download speed.

I find there are places where the speed is slow until the evening when the speed picks up. I can only concur there’s less consumption of ‘stuff’ by the local offices/businesses/schools as they clock off for the day. 
 

 

[Paul C]

11 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

I find there are places where the speed is slow until the evening when the speed picks up. I can only concur there’s less consumption of ‘stuff’ by the local offices/businesses/schools as they clock off for the day. 
 

 

I found that too - "time of day" is quite a significant factor in internet speed.

[IanD]

24 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

I find there are places where the speed is slow until the evening when the speed picks up. I can only concur there’s less consumption of ‘stuff’ by the local offices/businesses/schools as they clock off for the day. 
 

 

True -- and in residential areas the reverse often happens as downloaders/streamers come home and sit down in front of their PCs...

 

12 minutes ago, Paul C said:

I found that too - "time of day" is quite a significant factor in internet speed.

 

Also day of the week, holiday periods vs. working ones, whether there's anything particularly exciting on TV...

 

All as expected for a shared resource like the Internet over bandwidth-limited mobile networks... 🙂 

Edited March 12 by IanD

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

11 minutes ago, Paul C said:

I found that too - "time of day" is quite a significant factor in internet speed.

as long as I can watch me Eastenders free of

glitches or buffering,

nowt worse then the screen freezing just as one of the Slater’s are mouthing off. 
 

 

[dmr]

1 hour ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

I find there are places where the speed is slow until the evening when the speed picks up. I can only concur there’s less consumption of ‘stuff’ by the local offices/businesses/schools as they clock off for the day. 
 

 

 

There aresome very obvious patterns to all this. Up here Sunday late morning and afternoon are bad. Our cell is mostly residential rather than work so I wonder if everybody watches films on Sunday afternoon? or maybe its all the eBay bots 😀??. Very late at night is a good time to get really good speeds

I don't know what the capacity of a typical cell is, it would be interesting to know how many people doing huge downloads are needed to slow things down.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

21 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

There aresome very obvious patterns to all this. Up here Sunday late morning and afternoon are bad. Our cell is mostly residential rather than work so I wonder if everybody watches films on Sunday afternoon? or maybe its all the eBay bots 😀??. Very late at night is a good time to get really good speeds

I don't know what the capacity of a typical cell is, it would be interesting to know how many people doing huge downloads are needed to slow things down.

I’d have thought they’d all be in church up your way on a Sunday morning,

what you mean by ‘a typical cell’ ?
do mean they get internet in prison too?

[Martyn Hicks]

Obviously the amount of people that are on your network are reducing that signal quality. 
it may be that your on the cheapest network that’s why everyone else is on it. 
but the cheapest network may not be the best network though.   

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

I can always wait til after church

[dmr]

16 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

I’d have thought they’d all be in church up your way on a Sunday morning,

what you mean by ‘a typical cell’ ?
do mean they get internet in prison too?

 

Cell phones innit? 😀

I reckon you know all this, but the whole country is divided up into little regions or cells, otherwise there would just not be enough bandwidth (radio frequencies) for the number of mobile phones.  Each mast can have several cells going off in different directions (or even overlapping) and they are of variable size, bigger in rural areas. I guess the mast uses clever aerials to control the shape of each cell. So, adjacent cells will use different frequencies but a cell a bit further away can re-use the same frequencies.

My fancy router tells me which cell I am connected to and then I can look on the interweb and find out where te mast is and the shape of the cell. I like "cellmapper". Its interesting that it says I am just outside the cell but I get a very good signal.

My smartarse router also gives me signal strength and various measures of signal quality. I've wasted whole days of my life looking at all these silly numbers.

 

and forgot to say, the Wagon and Horses appears to be the local Sunday venue but its not my cup of tea (oe even pint of beer), did you try it?