Tinterweb

[Heffalump]

I'm sure this MUST have been discussed at length.. or possibly not? Searches have yeilded little to no information, but what Internet solutions are people using? What kind of speeds can be achieved? And is it much more expensive than home broadband? I tend to spend an inordinate amount of time connected to the internet, be it through my laptop or on xbox, and I have a feeling it's something I'd miss dearly! Ta,

 

Jim

[bottle]

I'm sure this MUST have been discussed at length..Yes it has or possibly not? Searches have yeilded little to no information, but what Internet solutions are people using? Dongles unless you are near Wi-Fi (doubtful)What kind of speeds can be achieved? Slower than home broadband but faster than the old dial up but this varies greatly depending on signal strength and location.And is it much more expensive than home broadband?Costs vary greatly have a search on google I tend to spend an inordinate amount of time connected to the internet, be it through my laptop or on xbox,Laptop OK for 'normal' surfing etc but forget the X-Box. and I have a feeling it's something I'd miss dearly! Ta,

 

Jim

[sueb]

I don't bother with a dongle. I either use my mobile or connect mobile to the laptop with a cable or bluetooth. Speed varies from none at all to reasonable. I have a contract with Orange which I am happy with.

Sue

[mrsmelly]

I'm sure this MUST have been discussed at length.. or possibly not? Searches have yeilded little to no information, but what Internet solutions are people using? What kind of speeds can be achieved? And is it much more expensive than home broadband? I tend to spend an inordinate amount of time connected to the internet, be it through my laptop or on xbox, and I have a feeling it's something I'd miss dearly! Ta,

 

Jim

 

Hi

 

I have a T mobile dongle, as a continuous liveaboard I find it the only way, its not much slower than my kids who have landline with broadband and its cheap enough, cant remember exactly how much about five pints of guinness a month I think. I am online at least a couple of hours a day without problem.

[Heffalump]

Thanks for the quick replies I see dongle is really the only option, I've emailed Microsoft to ask how much bandwidth I need for Xbox Live.. so will see if I can keep the Xbox. LOL. I'll have to look up prices & packages as I spend at least 6 hours online a day. (I blame my age!)

 

OT - mrsmelly were you parked at the jolly boatman some point last week? Rather, just down from it where there's a little bit of car parking. I know where I mean LOL.

[mrsmelly]

Thanks for the quick replies I see dongle is really the only option, I've emailed Microsoft to ask how much bandwidth I need for Xbox Live.. so will see if I can keep the Xbox. LOL. I'll have to look up prices & packages as I spend at least 6 hours online a day. (I blame my age!)

 

OT - mrsmelly were you parked at the jolly boatman some point last week? Rather, just down from it where there's a little bit of car parking. I know where I mean LOL.

Hi Heffalump

 

I think you mean gunpowder wharf, thats were young Bones parks her boat. I am right up in Thrupp wide just near the liftbridge so you may have seen me there.........

[Heffalump]

Just had an email back from MS saying I need a min 26KBPS connection speed, and a £15 a month dongle with a 3GB inclusive download is advertised at around 7-8MBPS so it's all good on that front. Just asking how much actual data will be transferred, as that's where I'll get caught out.. an eggstra GB is another £15.

[rgreg]

I'm sure this MUST have been discussed at length.. or possibly not? Searches have yeilded little to no information, but what Internet solutions are people using? What kind of speeds can be achieved? And is it much more expensive than home broadband? I tend to spend an inordinate amount of time connected to the internet, be it through my laptop or on xbox, and I have a feeling it's something I'd miss dearly! Ta,

 

Jim

 

3 dongle £15/ month 15gb download /month 24 month contract. Usually get 3g connection at good speed even if I do occasionally have to sit on the stern to get it.

[matty40s]

I am on PAYG, 3G dongle.usually top up £15 a month, but can get by on £10. Cruising round I find that internet reception can be excellent (5 bar hsdpa) or intermittent(1 bar3g). I can get brilliant reception in one place, and 6 miles away struggle to get any connnection, even with the dongle strapped to the mast<ha ha>. It works well enough for me for e-mails and forums and e-bay, but struggles to give me streaming storm chasing or my daughter online gaming.

[Smelly]

We've got two lines... One via my mobile, T Mobile, 3G/HSDPA unlimited, and the dongle, similar spec 3Gb limit for 22.50 a month. Both signals drop to GPRS as soon as we leave the city limits, as we do quite often however that'd still be quick enough for the Xbox live so long as you can live with the lag. I find it very intermittent, even in Central Worcester.

[matty40s]

a quick hint on this one, every motorway service station has at least on and possibly several phone masts on site(the motorway companies see it as easy money- £20k a year for a small space). And there are lots of service stations within 5 miles of canals in rural areas.

[Heffalump]

Haha good shout! I like

 

I was going to stay away from 3 as they have a bad rep for signal strength & coverage.

[Smelly]

a quick hint on this one, every motorway service station has at least on and possibly several phone masts on site(the motorway companies see it as easy money- £20k a year for a small space). And there are lots of service stations within 5 miles of canals in rural areas.

 

We're evidently travelling the wrong canals... We'll see how it goes when we do the east Mids ring in august.

[matty40s]

south of Crick Tunnel (Watford Gap)is brilliant, north of Crick tunnel is awful or non-existant up to Leicester...even all the way round the South side of Leicester is pretty hit and miss until you turn North near Gees Lock. Kilby Bridge required 5 metre USB extension cable and dongle up on top.

and Braunston you have to stand like Eros on top of your narrowboat just to get a phone signal.......

Edited June 25, 2009 by matty40s

[NB Watersnail]

We've a Vodaphone Dongle, unlimited transfer and upto 7.2mbps. We're in central Banbury and have to hoist it onto a pole to get 3G connection. It's the same within about 10 miles either way. Haven't tried it further afield yet.

Are you on a boat near Banbury Heffalump? Would be happy to meet for a pint...

[Chris Pink]

advertised at around 7-8MBPS

 

ha!

 

the first word is the key: 'advertised at', you probably will get more than 26Kb per second - a assume that's what you mean which is around 200kBits per second but not always everywhere. You'll get that in urban areas though your upload may be less than this - there's a lot of shared bandwidth and throttling going on in busy places - but in rural areas you'll struggle though a good add-on aerial (or wok) will help in marginal areas.

[Soulgirl]

This is a very important aspect for me also Heffalump Virgin have just launched a mobile service at £15 per month for 3GB - I'll also have to run a returner wifi router so I can still be in control of the times my Daughter can log on to the www LOL. It'll be a military excercise setting up my 3 monitor main pc and two laptops in a boat but I will do it

[Odana]

Have a look at www.moneysavingexpert.com for comparisons of mobile broadband and get their email alert which always flags up when deals or loopholes appear - worked for me. If you think you may occasionally go over your limit check how much it costs. Vodafone charge £15/GB I think, Tmobile used to give you a slap on the wrist if you consistently went over, and 3 charge something horrific that works out about £100 per GB

[docus]

I've been using a 3-Mobile internet dongle for a few months now. I've been around the river Lee in north and east London, where you'd expect good coverage. It was OK for a while but it's gone downhill recently. It cuts out all the time and when I do manage to connect it's painfully slow. I really would NOT recommend 3 after this experience.

 

I've heard Vodafone is faster in this area, but I don't have any experience of it myself.

[ditchcrawler]

I've been using a 3-Mobile internet dongle for a few months now. I've been around the river Lee in north and east London, where you'd expect good coverage. It was OK for a while but it's gone downhill recently. It cuts out all the time and when I do manage to connect it's painfully slow. I really would NOT recommend 3 after this experience.

 

I've heard Vodafone is faster in this area, but I don't have any experience of it myself.

I have a vodafone mobile and they rang me last night offering mobile internet for £7 50 a month, 18 month contract, free dongle

I am happy with 3 except that the £10 does not carry over to the next month so I am paying about £10 for 0.5 gb

I think I may try Vodafone PAYG next.

I have been logging my connection to 3 for the past couple of weeks and am quite happy with the conection. See http://tinyurl.com/mobile-internet-3

[Lady Muck]

I've been using a 3-Mobile internet dongle for a few months now. I've been around the river Lee in north and east London, where you'd expect good coverage. It was OK for a while but it's gone downhill recently. It cuts out all the time and when I do manage to connect it's painfully slow. I really would NOT recommend 3 after this experience.

 

I've heard Vodafone is faster in this area, but I don't have any experience of it myself.

 

Vodafone works very well all the way up the Lee to Hertford and also the Stort, very strong 3G signal. On my mooring in Tottenham it is superfast. The only place it is poor in London is in Camden (no 3g mast there, they told me).

 

I've heard 3 isn't good up there - our Alan Fincher had a nightmare getting a connection and my marina neighbour bought a 3 phone and couldn't get a signal on it at all!

 

But as I've found, Vodafone isn't so great in the North. We've had 3g all the way up the Grand Union and through Brum, with only one blackspot at Braunston Puddlebanks.

Since then it's been patchy, 3g in cities as you'd expect but only gprs most places. Having said that, I've only failed to get a connection once or twice.

 

If you are deciding which dongle to get, it might be worth studying the Ofcom 3g coverage maps. 3 and Orange have the best coverage and 02 seems to be the worst (((((3G iphone users)))))) I'm considering ditching one of our Vodafone dongles for a 3 or Orange dongle when the contract runs out in November.

 

Maps clicky

[sueb]

I had orange then changed to vodafone. I couldn't wait to get rid of it and am now happily back with orange.

Sue

[Guest wanted]

On TMobile Dongle, well and truly trapped in a contract and was wondering if anybody is using a broadband antenna? I reckon my signal would be a lot better if my boat didn't act like a Faraday cage! any advice would be great. cheers

 

On TMobile Dongle, well and truly trapped in a contract and was wondering if anybody is using a broadband antenna? I reckon my signal would be a lot better if my boat didn't act like a Faraday cage! any advice would be great. cheers

 

I seem to be repeating myself, weird!

[Phil Ambrose]

Have a look at www.moneysavingexpert.com for comparisons of mobile broadband and get their email alert which always flags up when deals or loopholes appear - worked for me. If you think you may occasionally go over your limit check how much it costs. Vodafone charge £15/GB I think, Tmobile used to give you a slap on the wrist if you consistently went over, and 3 charge something horrific that works out about £100 per GB

 

You have to barter with Vodafone, we have a dongle which only costs us £6-38 per month with 2GB of download. And as for speed, we subscribe to ONSPEED which is software with works by data compression and increases speed by up to 15X depending on traffic of course.

 

Phil

 

On TMobile Dongle, well and truly trapped in a contract and was wondering if anybody is using a broadband antenna? I reckon my signal would be a lot better if my boat didn't act like a Faraday cage! any advice would be great. cheers

 

On TMobile Dongle, well and truly trapped in a contract and was wondering if anybody is using a broadband antenna? I reckon my signal would be a lot better if my boat didn't act like a Faraday cage! any advice would be great. cheers

 

I seem to be repeating myself, weird!

 

Easy, put dongle on a USB extension and hang it out the window/up a pole (in a plastic bag)

[Heffalump]

Easy, put dongle on a USB extension and hang it out the window/up a pole (in a plastic bag)

 

Or under a cocktail umbrella