External 3g Aerial

[Biggles]

I have been looking for an external 3g aerial but really can't get the bottom of what's what. I've seen some for £5.00 and others for nearly £80, some with high dB gains and other with lowere but price doesent seem to be a factor in the claimed performance

 

So what is the truth on these and can anyone recomend a decent one?

Edited June 22, 2011 by Biggles

[GSer]

I have been looking for an external 3g aerial but really can't get the bottom of what's what. I've seen some for £5.00 and others for nearly £80, some with high dB gains and other with lowere but price doesent seem to be a factor in the claimed performance

 

So what is the truth on these and can anyone recomend a decent one?

 

 

Just started to use a 3 mobile MIFI router on the boat, it appears streets ahead of the vodafone 3g dongle and aerial i was using. Early days yet but it's looking good. It's on contract at £18 for 15gb per month

 

Paul

[Biggles]

Just started to use a 3 mobile MIFI router on the boat, it appears streets ahead of the vodafone 3g dongle and aerial i was using. Early days yet but it's looking good. It's on contract at £18 for 15gb per month

 

Paul

 

 

I hear these are good but I am going a different way which is why I need an external aerial really, also for the security system.

[bottle]

After my experience with an aerial ( £60), forget it, just put the dongle in a waterproof container and put it at the top of a broom handle mounted vertically on the boat roof.

 

My waterproof container is budgie seed feeder mounted upside down.

 

It will depend on where you are on the system and if there is a tranmitter near by, at the moment my dongle is hanging in the cratch and I have 3G. the aerial actully reduceded the number of bars on the meter.

 

I do admit though that the connection to the dongle is via an induction coupler, not the best way.

 

Just moving the dongle a few inches can make a lot of difference.

[Bob Blues]

this is the one I use on my boat

 

Tri-band GSM/utms

 

I get a signal when the dongle doesn't. The 3G router I use has Wireless too so so I use the Iphone on top of the boat looking at the admin page of the router turning the antenna around to get the best signal#

 

If you are interested this is the 3G Router I use. Globesurfer Router

 

Bob B

[alan_fincher]

After my experience with an aerial ( £60), forget it, just put the dongle in a waterproof container and put it at the top of a broom handle mounted vertically on the boat roof.

I agree with Keith about a lot, but have not had the same experiences of adding an antenna to a dongle as he has had.

 

For a while now we have been using a simple mag mount antenna from Solwise.....

 

Something like this......

 

(EDITED TO SAY: Sorry about massive image, it didn't look like that where I pinched it from!)

 

 

These now seem to cost less than we paid, perhaps no more than £10 plus postage.

 

It has given us a massively more consistent connection, and my son often stays inside connected for hours, as we boat around the system, (yes, sad, but true! ).

 

Mind you we have gone out of our way to get a dongle that accepts a plug from the antenna. I've never tried the type of antenna that just has some Velcro to attach something to the dongle, and relies in some way on inductive coupling. I can well imagine they don't work as well as a proper wired connection through a plug.

Edited June 22, 2011 by alan_fincher

[Lady Muck]

Alan : we're having a similar experience to you - much better, no dropped signals, but yes, both of our dongles will accept a plug. (Both k series Huawei dongles from Vodafone)

 

I am really noticing a big improvement on last year, could not get a connection in many places on the Upper Thames (using dongle in plastic box raised about a foot from the roof).

[slammer]

Just started to use a 3 mobile MIFI router on the boat, it appears streets ahead of the vodafone 3g dongle and aerial i was using. Early days yet but it's looking good. It's on contract at £18 for 15gb per month

 

Paul

A great piece of kit , well worth the money and less wires , I should of got one months ago

[Nose Miner]

I tried one of those 3g aerials and never had much success with it. I now have the dongle sealed inside a piece of plastic waste pipe at the top of a 3 metre length of copper pipe, on the roof using an active usb lead. Now I can get a full HSDP signal pretty much anywhere. Having finally got a good signal which is capable of 2mbs I now find that the bloody phone company, "3", throttles the bandwidth in the evening to about 200kbs. After 11pm it goes back to full speed, just in time for me to go to bed.

[Rob99fla]

Hi. I posted this on NB No Problem blog the other day....

 

Hi. I have just bought my first boat, Beatrice and having completed my first journey from Sawley to nr. Oxford, I can now report on how the internet connection was. I work in the security industry so have a little knowledge remote connections for CCTV cameras. I used a professional 3G wireless router in the boat powered off the 12v with no problem and a high gain external (as a temporary solution the cable went out of the window) with a magnetic base. I travelled down the GU Leicester section and across to the Oxford canal. Everywhere I had at least GPRS with enough speed for emails and internet access, albiet a bit slow (best to turn off pictures) but near any built up area, I had good 3G with around 3.5 megabytes (faster than I have at home). I guess the Oxford canal is very rural so can You expect any more as 3G is normally near built up areas and main roads. One of the advantages of the wireless router is you can have your laptop anywhere (I use a Macbook). Also, the router has some professional features such as VPN which might be useful for business users. I hope this helps. By the way, I have a Vodafone 3G SIM with 3GB data. Regards. Rob

 

Perhaps this will help?

 

Regards

 

Rob

[hawkers]

Hi. I posted this on NB No Problem blog the other day....

 

Hi. I have just bought my first boat, Beatrice and having completed my first journey from Sawley to nr. Oxford, I can now report on how the internet connection was. I work in the security industry so have a little knowledge remote connections for CCTV cameras. I used a professional 3G wireless router in the boat powered off the 12v with no problem and a high gain external (as a temporary solution the cable went out of the window) with a magnetic base. I travelled down the GU Leicester section and across to the Oxford canal. Everywhere I had at least GPRS with enough speed for emails and internet access, albiet a bit slow (best to turn off pictures) but near any built up area, I had good 3G with around 3.5 megabytes (faster than I have at home). I guess the Oxford canal is very rural so can You expect any more as 3G is normally near built up areas and main roads. One of the advantages of the wireless router is you can have your laptop anywhere (I use a Macbook). Also, the router has some professional features such as VPN which might be useful for business users. I hope this helps. By the way, I have a Vodafone 3G SIM with 3GB data. Regards. Rob

 

Perhaps this will help?

 

Regards

 

Rob

 

Hi Rob - you may recall you beat me to the draw on the lovely Beatrice.

 

Pleased to read your trip South has worked out. I had been looking forward to your diary recalling your first few days with the new mistress.

 

I'm sure I'm not alone.

[shugie]

I use one of these

directional antenna with my 3G router and find it improves the signal in marginal areas enough to become quite usable. It's not that directional though, so alignment is not too critical.

[Scooby]

I tried one of those 3g aerials and never had much success with it. I now have the dongle sealed inside a piece of plastic waste pipe at the top of a 3 metre length of copper pipe, on the roof using an active usb lead. Now I can get a full HSDP signal pretty much anywhere. Having finally got a good signal which is capable of 2mbs I now find that the bloody phone company, "3", throttles the bandwidth in the evening to about 200kbs. After 11pm it goes back to full speed, just in time for me to go to bed.

 

lol i get hspa now. getting about 4 meg download and 1.5 up...great for online gaming...