Does anyone use this wireless internet?

[kayDee]

Hi all...

I was in our local chandlery earlier on and spotted a flyer about marina broadband provided by www.ineedbroadband.co.uk. It seems to cover quite a few BW marinas and a few private ones too. Has anyone had any experience of it or currently uses it? It appears to be £15.99 a month for 1Mb with unlimited downloads and free connection. If anyone does use it - do you need any external antenna or anything special to connect up to it? Is it a reliable service?

Thank you...

Kay

x

[denboy]

Hi all...

I was in our local chandlery earlier on and spotted a flyer about marina broadband provided by www.ineedbroadband.co.uk. It seems to cover quite a few BW marinas and a few private ones too. Has anyone had any experience of it or currently uses it? It appears to be £15.99 a month for 1Mb with unlimited downloads and free connection. If anyone does use it - do you need any external antenna or anything special to connect up to it? Is it a reliable service?

Thank you...

Kay

x

used to be ok i was one of the first costumers(No3)they do(did)come and fit an external amplifier antenna for free but i think they`ve changed that and charge now when i was on the marina it was actually a better service than bt landline broadband at that time mind you this was 3 years ago so things may have changed

[johnjo]

Hi all...

I was in our local chandlery earlier on and spotted a flyer about marina broadband provided by www.ineedbroadband.co.uk. It seems to cover quite a few BW marinas and a few private ones too. Has anyone had any experience of it or currently uses it? It appears to be £15.99 a month for 1Mb with unlimited downloads and free connection. If anyone does use it - do you need any external antenna or anything special to connect up to it? Is it a reliable service?

Thank you...

Kay

x

 

There was another string about mobile broadband, Orange, Vodaphone and a few other companies offer it. If you google 'mobile broadband' you'll find loads. You need to check their coverage and download speeds and what you actually get for your money. Forget the 'free laptops' they're mostly expensive rubbish. I'm sure others will be along who are actually signed up to one or other of the various M/B/B suppliers, they are ones to listen to.

Regards

John

[Robbo]

Hi all...

I was in our local chandlery earlier on and spotted a flyer about marina broadband provided by www.ineedbroadband.co.uk. It seems to cover quite a few BW marinas and a few private ones too. Has anyone had any experience of it or currently uses it? It appears to be £15.99 a month for 1Mb with unlimited downloads and free connection. If anyone does use it - do you need any external antenna or anything special to connect up to it? Is it a reliable service?

 

In theory it should be quicker than 3G solutions, but will depend on how many are using that hotspot and how far you are away from it.

 

You won't need anything special, other than a wifi enabled laptop / PC / Mac. However depending on how far you are from the hotspot will depend on the signal strength. An external aerial will improve your signal, but most if not all laptops don't have the port (You can get a WiFi PCMCIA card with a port for a aerial though).

 

If you already have a laptop with wifi, try checking if you can see the hotspot and see what type of signal you get etc, if you do sign up only do for 1 month to test it out, etc.

 

For info I've never used ineedbroadband.

Edited February 7, 2009 by Robbo

[Lesd]

Hi Kay,

The other thing to bear in mind is you wont be able to use it aay from your marina, when out cruising etc which may be an issue. The service offered my mobile phone providers can be used wherever you go (Ive never not had access while moving around over the last 14 months). Depends on your cruising patter but worth bearing in mind. BTW Im paying £15 per month with vodaphone for 3Gb

Les

[Eeyore]

Hi all...

I was in our local chandlery earlier on and spotted a flyer about marina broadband provided by www.ineedbroadband.co.uk. It seems to cover quite a few BW marinas and a few private ones too. Has anyone had any experience of it or currently uses it? It appears to be £15.99 a month for 1Mb with unlimited downloads and free connection. If anyone does use it - do you need any external antenna or anything special to connect up to it? Is it a reliable service?

Thank you...

Kay

x

As Les says this would be in addition to the service provided by the mobile phone companies.

If this service or something similar was available to retail customers we wouldn't have a problem.

Anyone seen anything similar available to individual customers?

Steve

[Robbo]

As Les says this would be in addition to the service provided by the mobile phone companies.

If this service or something similar was available to retail customers we wouldn't have a problem.

Anyone seen anything similar available to individual customers?

Steve

 

Both O2 and t-mobile do free wifi hotspot access with there mobile broadband. (even on PAYG with O2). Trouble is they are never where you want them!

[Nickhlx]

Both O2 and t-mobile do free wifi hotspot access with there mobile broadband. (even on PAYG with O2). Trouble is they are never where you want them!

 

 

I bought (£50) a 3 dongle - PAYG - £10 per month and you buy and get 1GB which lasts for 30 days or £15 for 3GB and it lasts for up to a month, use it or lose it. If you are needing it every month, may well be cheaper to go on contract when they give you the dongle - was £50 to buy for PAYG, but only used it approx 1 month last season and won't be till April this season so PAYG was appropriate... may convert to contract in April though

 

Nick

[kayDee]

There was another string about mobile broadband, Orange, Vodaphone and a few other companies offer it. If you google 'mobile broadband' you'll find loads. You need to check their coverage and download speeds and what you actually get for your money. Forget the 'free laptops' they're mostly expensive rubbish. I'm sure others will be along who are actually signed up to one or other of the various M/B/B suppliers, they are ones to listen to.

Regards

John

 

Hi John

I've got 'three' mobile broadband at the moment - it was the wireless marina service I was interested in. I have endless problems with 3G so when I saw the flyer in the marina - I just thought I'd ask on here if anyone had ever used the service.

Kay

x

 

 

Hi all...

Thank you to everyone for their input on this. I think I will see what my 'three' signal is like on the marina and if its as bad as it is here - think about trying to get the dongle outside the boat and raised up a bit on a USB extension cable or something. I have plugged the dongle directly into my laptop and stood on the roof with it and the signal strength bars do go up. So, on that finding I think I'd get a better signal if I simply just stood on the roof with my laptop...

It goes through a wireless router at the moment so I can just get an extension cable from the router and lead it outside through a window or something...

Kay

x

[Eeyore]

Hi John

I've got 'three' mobile broadband at the moment - it was the wireless marina service I was interested in. I have endless problems with 3G so when I saw the flyer in the marina - I just thought I'd ask on here if anyone had ever used the service.

Kay

x

 

 

Hi all...

Thank you to everyone for their input on this. I think I will see what my 'three' signal is like on the marina and if its as bad as it is here - think about trying to get the dongle outside the boat and raised up a bit on a USB extension cable or something. I have plugged the dongle directly into my laptop and stood on the roof with it and the signal strength bars do go up. So, on that finding I think I'd get a better signal if I simply just stood on the roof with my laptop...

It goes through a wireless router at the moment so I can just get an extension cable from the router and lead it outside through a window or something...

Kay

x

There is a usb modem available with an external ariel connection, the one I saw also had a memory card in it.

The modem is probably better off in the warm and dry, an external ariel is the way to do this.

There are details of one like this on the "Boaters Phone Co" web site. They also do a range of "serious" external mobile phone ariels for problem locations.

There is also a post somewhere on the forum about a wifi booster ariel?

I have no connection to BPC.

Steve

[kayDee]

There is a usb modem available with an external ariel connection, the one I saw also had a memory card in it.

The modem is probably better off in the warm and dry, an external ariel is the way to do this.

There are details of one like this on the "Boaters Phone Co" web site. They also do a range of "serious" external mobile phone ariels for problem locations.

There is also a post somewhere on the forum about a wifi booster ariel?

I have no connection to BPC.

Steve

 

Hi Steve

I know what you mean but... you have to use a certain type of USB modem to slot into my router. It won't accept any others so I'm told. Can't win! I was hoping it would be okay if I sealed it in something REALLY water/air tight? Would it be okay?

Kay

x

[Gary Peacock]

By strange coincidence my new job is installing wireless access points, for a few boaters to get together and go down the route of setting up their own "unofficial" service it would be relatively cheap and simple. It would probably have to be unofficial or the ISP might get a bit twitchy over the shared access but I operated one with a dozen or so users for three years without any problems.

 

I also set one up on a boat with a 3G Wireless Router that worked very well too.

[Eeyore]

Hi Steve

I know what you mean but... you have to use a certain type of USB modem to slot into my router. It won't accept any others so I'm told. Can't win! I was hoping it would be okay if I sealed it in something REALLY water/air tight? Would it be okay?

Kay

x

I can only imagine that there is some issue with different versions of the usb system?

This is a possible problem for my intended instalation, as I will also be using the usb modem at home instead of a fixed connection, and will need to use a router.(no point paying twice). Anyone else come across this?

How about putting the modem inside one end of a length of plastic waste pipe. Put a blanking cap on the end with the modem and run the usb extention out of the other end. Take a loop of the extention cable and anchor it at the modem end, this will prevent the weight of the cable unpluging its self. Use a 2 metre length of pipe, and with some clips on an upright surface should be good for about 1.5 metres above the roofline.

Steve

[ditchcrawler]

Hi Kay,

The other thing to bear in mind is you wont be able to use it aay from your marina, when out cruising etc which may be an issue. The service offered my mobile phone providers can be used wherever you go (Ive never not had access while moving around over the last 14 months). Depends on your cruising patter but worth bearing in mind. BTW Im paying £15 per month with vodaphone for 3Gb

Les

I just had a text from Vodafone offering this for £10, unfortunatly I am signed up with 3 for a year at £10 for 1Gb

Brian

 

Hi John

I've got 'three' mobile broadband at the moment - it was the wireless marina service I was interested in. I have endless problems with 3G so when I saw the flyer in the marina - I just thought I'd ask on here if anyone had ever used the service.

Kay

x

 

 

Hi all...

Thank you to everyone for their input on this. I think I will see what my 'three' signal is like on the marina and if its as bad as it is here - think about trying to get the dongle outside the boat and raised up a bit on a USB extension cable or something. I have plugged the dongle directly into my laptop and stood on the roof with it and the signal strength bars do go up. So, on that finding I think I'd get a better signal if I simply just stood on the roof with my laptop...

It goes through a wireless router at the moment so I can just get an extension cable from the router and lead it outside through a window or something...

Kay

x

When I was in Debdale I had to put mine up the TV aerial pole with a 3Mt lead.

Brian

[bottle]

This is not in any way a recommendation, just an example of what is available, for those with a USB modem, do not think it is suitable for the 'new' dongle type though owing to size of 'plate'.

 

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