how to improve my wifi/ internet on board for free

[souladventurer]

Hi everyone

 

I have a mobile contract for which I can tether to my laptop to surf the net I am wondering how I can boost the signal whilst on board without having to pay some fee to 3 ie the hauwei thingy. I am paying a contract for unlimited internet etc and would like to boost the signal.

 

I don't mind purchasing equipment just don't want to be tied to contract or pay as you go as phone comes with all I need I just want to boost the signal.

 

Please feel free to share problem areas for signal and any hints and tips will be gratefully appreciated.

 

I did see some weird thing on ebay for some aerial style booster up to 5 miles for 35 pounds but cannot find it now I wish id saved it now !!! Ive no idea if it was the right thing but sounded interesting.

 

Regards

 

 

[KJT]

Zead do items related to improving mobile and Wi-Fi reception. You could check out their website, maybe they have something you're looking for.

 

www.zead.co.uk

[souladventurer]

hi

 

I just want to improve the internet I get with the phone as it has its own internet access I just want to improve it. I hope I make sense

 

Thanks

[Ex- Member]

hi

 

I just want to improve the internet I get with the phone as it has its own internet access I just want to improve it. I hope I make sense

 

Thanks

 

I was told by a 3 operative that you wont get anywhere near the download speed from a tethered phone as you would from a dedicated MIFI or dongle. This is not to do with signal I believe just the different way a mobile does the job than a dedicated mobile device.

 

Could well have been sales blurb but it seems to make sense. Lynn's daughter tethers a 3 mobile and says it's a lot slower than ours.

 

Speed wasn't an issue for us as we simply wanted a wireless option rather than a wired dongle to operate 2 laptops anywhere in the boat. The MIFI works really well and generally gets a full signal, the connection regularly drops out though once some twice early evening and requires a reboot. I'm guessing it's just due to too many users.

[junior]

Put it outside on the roof. If it's raining put it in a bag.

[koukouvagia]

I bought a 3 mifi and put my phone sim card in it. When we hit a dead spot, like we did recently at Stoke Bruerne, I just bung it on the end of my cabin shaft with a couple of elastic bands and Bob's your uncle.

[Paul C]

Put it in a plastic bag and hang it outside on your TV aerial.

[twbm]

Taking the signal from one bar to three of four bars may improve speed, but getting it from no bars to one bar would suggest you are on the edge of a cell, where speeds are lower anyway. Persevere 'til 4G rolls out more and prepare to be impressed.

 

Suggestions re putting the device on the end of a pole are valid, as long as the wifi part of the route can hit your laptop, but best for a dedicated data device - it would make answering you phone inconvenient unless you have a stepladder on board.

[Paul C]

I have a Mi-Fi unit, on a few occasions there's been no signal and no internet connectivity within the boat, but once hung up on the aerial, quite fast internet.

[bottle]

Signal does not always affect speed, we regularly get 'bad' signal and high download speeds and 'good' signal and bad download speeds.

 

Happened this week, good, bad moved six miles now bad, good.

 

We have wi-fi with aerial on the roof.

[bizzard]

But will your wifey mind being bagged up and tethered to the top of a pole .

[Clifford]

Aren't some of the replies missing the point? As soon as someone says "internet" , they get replies about mifi dongles, whatever they were actually asking.

 

True, the thread title mentions wifi, but unless I am mistaken (I have been before on tyhis subject) I think the OP means that they can broadcast wifi from their PHONE provided they can get a strong enough phone signal. And they specifically say they don't want the expense of a dongle (in other words, I think they are using data included in their phone contract, not data paid for separately on a mobile data contract with a mifi dongle).

 

Can I ask SoulAdventurer what your priority is?

 

Is the mention of wifi incidental, and you really just want to get a good phone/data signal inside the boat to access the internet on your phone screen. Or is the wifi bit important, and you really would like to access the internet on a tablet or laptop using the wifi hotspot produced from your phone?

 

The second is easier! (if your phone can produce a wifi hotspot).

[hilaryb]

Bought a Netgear amplifier from PC world. Plugs into socket and works well. Around £50.

[john6767]

Not really certain what the OP is asking for here, is it that the actual phone signal is poor, ie number of "bars", or the wifi from the phone to laptop?

 

On the comment about not getting as faster speed from a phone with tethering compared to a dedicated device (dongle or mifi), I am nor so sure about that. This is a speedtest from my laptop using my iPhone 5 as a wifi router

 

 

It is on 3G and I don't think you will get much faster on 3G, I believe with 3's "3.5G" that 14Mb/s it the theoretical max. This is at home btw, where I have a good phone signal, 4 bars, typically on the boat it will be 1 or 2 bars (with the phone in the cratch), and the speed will be less. The iPhone 5 is very poor at getting a signal, so the actual phone model I believe will have a big impact here, perhaps the iPhone 6 will be an improvement.

 

The caveat to the above it that it is a spot speed test, if you are putting load on the network, I can believe the 3 would throttle the connection due to it being phone based. Also and a big also really, I find that my dongle will most often get a good signal when the phone gets none, it don't know if that is just down to poor iPhone reception, or that the data network is better than the phone one.

[Cloudinspector]

Put it outside on the roof. If it's raining put it in a bag.

 

Ditto, works for us :-))

[NigelMoore]

This is what I have – you can put the outside aerial where you need, as high as you can, run the cable through a deck gland, and the internal transmitter increases the signal strength dramatically, even in very poor signal areas. As it runs on 12v, you can either run directly off the boat battery, or use a voltage regulator [even a cheapo from Maplins].

 

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-phonetone-For-Telstra-3G-850MHz-Cell-phone-Signal-booster-GSM-Repeater-Amplifier-Enhancer/1048960781.html?af=ppc&isdl=y&src=Google&albch=Google&albcp=Search_Search-ALL-PLA&albkw=None_Shopping-Search-Product-AliExpress_none_none&albag=home_none_Search-Search-All-PLA-UK_1013999999988&albmt=broad&albst=search-text&albom=OTHERS_None_20130807_Aliexpress&creative=45157588921&ptsid=1013999999988&gclid=COuequa3mb4CFbMftAodWHYAqw

 

I can’t remember off-hand where I got mine from – I didn’t do the direct import thing; I paid about 50% more to have it shipped direct from within the UK. It works well for phone, tethering and dongles.

 

As I have a wind generator mount consisting of a large enough steel tube welded to the cabin top, I can clamp the aerial to a boat pole and insert that into the cabin top mount, getting 10’ extra height if needed. Using a waterproof deck connector gives more flexibility for doing this, instead of running the cable plus connector through a deck gland.

 

That said, I had previously always managed to get a useable signal everywhere between Lincoln and London [except for Braunston] - however I wanted way more reliability and speed. I can’t claim that the increased signal provides more reliable broadband though; as others have said, there seems to be no correlation between signal strength and broadband availability.

[john6767]

This is what I have – you can put the outside aerial where you need, as high as you can, run the cable through a deck gland, and the internal transmitter increases the signal strength dramatically, even in very poor signal areas. As it runs on 12v, you can either run directly off the boat battery, or use a voltage regulator [even a cheapo from Maplins].

 

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-phonetone-For-Telstra-3G-850MHz-Cell-phone-Signal-booster-GSM-Repeater-Amplifier-Enhancer/1048960781.html?af=ppc&isdl=y&src=Google&albch=Google&albcp=Search_Search-ALL-PLA&albkw=None_Shopping-Search-Product-AliExpress_none_none&albag=home_none_Search-Search-All-PLA-UK_1013999999988&albmt=broad&albst=search-text&albom=OTHERS_None_20130807_Aliexpress&creative=45157588921&ptsid=1013999999988&gclid=COuequa3mb4CFbMftAodWHYAqw

 

I can’t remember off-hand where I got mine from – I didn’t do the direct import thing; I paid about 50% more to have it shipped direct from within the UK. It works well for phone, tethering and dongles.

 

As I have a wind generator mount consisting of a large enough steel tube welded to the cabin top, I can clamp the aerial to a boat pole and insert that into the cabin top mount, getting 10’ extra height if needed. Using a waterproof deck connector gives more flexibility for doing this, instead of running the cable plus connector through a deck gland.

 

That said, I had previously always managed to get a useable signal everywhere between Lincoln and London [except for Braunston] - however I wanted way more reliability and speed. I can’t claim that the increased signal provides more reliable broadband though; as others have said, there seems to be no correlation between signal strength and broadband availability.

Illegal to use in the UK though. That specific one is on US frequencies, there are other on that site on the frequencies used by UK operators.

[Jambo]

Hi everyone

 

I have a mobile contract for which I can tether to my laptop to surf the net I am wondering how I can boost the signal whilst on board without having to pay some fee to 3 ie the hauwei thingy. I am paying a contract for unlimited internet etc and would like to boost the signal.

 

I don't mind purchasing equipment just don't want to be tied to contract or pay as you go as phone comes with all I need I just want to boost the signal.

 

Please feel free to share problem areas for signal and any hints and tips will be gratefully appreciated.

 

I did see some weird thing on ebay for some aerial style booster up to 5 miles for 35 pounds but cannot find it now I wish id saved it now !!! Ive no idea if it was the right thing but sounded interesting.

 

Regards

 

 

What kind of phone do you use? Some have ports which you can plug an antenna into using a patch lead e.g:

 

http://telcoantennas.com.au/site/catalog/patch-leads/mobile-phone

 

I haven't used them but I would suggest avoiding the passive patch leads they sell as I'm skeptical it would do much but the ones that connect directly with a phone socket work well (at least on my Samsung Galaxy S2).

 

As mentioned above, better reception won't necessarily confer fast download speeds though.

[NigelMoore]

Illegal to use in the UK though. That specific one is on US frequencies, there are other on that site on the frequencies used by UK operators.

 

That's good to know - as I say, that link was to a distributor I did not use, I used the link as the one that illustrated the kit [mine presumably must be a model with the correct frequency or else it wouldn't work?]

[Clifford]

The only legitimate solution to using the phone itself inside the boat appears to be to get a phone that takes an external aerial.

 

Not many do this. The S2 has been mentioned. Does anyone have another phone with an external aerial socket. I'd like to know myself, because I'm looking for a secondhand phone now.

 

But if, as I suspect, the priority is using a laptop tethered by wifi to the phone, then the simple solution is as people have said, to put the phone outside the shell of the boat. But it has to be dry and safe and somewhere where the wifi signal can get into the boat. We have a cratch cover, so the answer for us (while we are in the saloon) is "just outside the open front doors, in the well deck". If the doors are not metal, they don't even have to be open.

[Paul C]

There's 3 solutions, its up to the individual to choose the one that suits their needs best:

 

1. Use a tethered mobile phone. Phone will (probably) be low down, potentially poor reception, but least cost if you already have a suitable mobile and contract, or are able to change to a suitable one.

 

2. Use a Mi-Fi unit (basic/standard one, no external aerial) in the boat. Better signal because it can be more/less permanently placed in the best reception spot within the boat. Costs more because you need to buy the device and a data SIM (contract) etc.

 

3. Use a Mi-Fi with an external aerial socket, together with an aerial. Greatest cost (I've not seen any standard mobile broadband packages which include this kind of Mi-Fi device) but best reception theoretically possible.

 

There's also the dongle (USB device) but this would require a wire connection to the laptop, or the dongle poking out the side of it during use - which is far from optimal, in my experience. Your setup might be different though. Also the dongle will be lower down than eg a Mi-Fi could be placed, which is significant. And you'd need to pay for a separate data contract/SIM.

[john6767]

There's 3 solutions, its up to the individual to choose the one that suits their needs best:

 

1. Use a tethered mobile phone. Phone will (probably) be low down, potentially poor reception, but least cost if you already have a suitable mobile and contract, or are able to change to a suitable one.

 

2. Use a Mi-Fi unit (basic/standard one, no external aerial) in the boat. Better signal because it can be more/less permanently placed in the best reception spot within the boat. Costs more because you need to buy the device and a data SIM (contract) etc.

 

3. Use a Mi-Fi with an external aerial socket, together with an aerial. Greatest cost (I've not seen any standard mobile broadband packages which include this kind of Mi-Fi device) but best reception theoretically possible.

 

There's also the dongle (USB device) but this would require a wire connection to the laptop, or the dongle poking out the side of it during use - which is far from optimal, in my experience. Your setup might be different though. Also the dongle will be lower down than eg a Mi-Fi could be placed, which is significant. And you'd need to pay for a separate data contract/SIM.

All valid options, but you miss one important one, and that is a dongle with a wifi router. The dongle can be put on a long USB lead and high up a pole etc as needed, with the router inside the boat. I would say that is possibly better than the aerial route as you do not have the losses associated with a long aerial cable.

[Jambo]

The only legitimate solution to using the phone itself inside the boat appears to be to get a phone that takes an external aerial.

 

Not many do this. The S2 has been mentioned. Does anyone have another phone with an external aerial socket. I'd like to know myself, because I'm looking for a secondhand phone now.

 

But if, as I suspect, the priority is using a laptop tethered by wifi to the phone, then the simple solution is as people have said, to put the phone outside the shell of the boat. But it has to be dry and safe and somewhere where the wifi signal can get into the boat. We have a cratch cover, so the answer for us (while we are in the saloon) is "just outside the open front doors, in the well deck". If the doors are not metal, they don't even have to be open.

 

The telcoantennas link above suggests that only LG and Samsung have external antenna ports. Or at least they're the only brands that they have patch leads for.

[KJT]

 

Also and a big also really, I find that my dongle will most often get a good signal when the phone gets none, it don't know if that is just down to poor iPhone reception, or that the data network is better than the phone one.

That's what I find. At the moment my '3' phone is showing 1 bar and my '3' Mi-Fi is showing 4 bars. It often seems to be that way.

The only legitimate solution to using the phone itself inside the boat appears to be to get a phone that takes an external aerial.

Not many do this. The S2 has been mentioned. Does anyone have another phone with an external aerial socket. I'd like to know myself, because I'm looking for a secondhand phone now.

The S3 and S4 also have external aerial sockets but they are hidden behind a small round cover under the battery cover. One is marked R1 ( on the S4 IIRC and the other is marked W1 on the S3 (or the other way around). You can get a patch lead with the correct plug. There are several U-tube videos regarding these. Or Google Samsung external aerial socket for more info.

 

I believe Samsung technicians use these sockets for test purposes.

[Paul C]

Slight side issue but remember that the number of bars which appear as signal strength on a Mi-Fi unit or a phone is meaningless in that its not a defined scale. And being digital connections, so long as one is there stuff can get through. Its a guide, but just a vague one.