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Improving onboard Mobile communications


KJT

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29 minutes ago, Loddon said:

From your link:

When you buy the Huawei 5G CPE Pro on a plan from EE, Three or Vodafone, you’ll receive the version of the product with the model number H112-370. This is the optimum version of the product for use in the UK market. It has support for the n78 frequency band (3500MHz) which is used by all of the 5G networks in the UK. You’ll also get support for Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) with 4×4 MIMO. This supports speeds on wi-fi of up to 5,100Mbit/s.

When you buy the Huawei 5G CPE Pro on an unlocked basis (e.g. from Amazon.co.uk), you’ll get the H112-372 version of the router instead. This supports a couple of extra 5G frequencies (bands n41, n77 and n79). These are not currently used in the UK, but can potentially be useful if you’re travelling abroad with the router and planning to use it in China, Japan, the USA or a few other countries in Asia. On the flip side, you’ll get slower Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) connectivity and you’ll also lose an RJ11 phone port from the device.

 

Says it all really.

Wifi 6 is really quite good 🤭

 

It does have 5G support for n78. It doesn't have 5G support for n28, which is increasingly used by various UK networks, especially in rural areas. It doesn't have 4x4 MIMO for cellular. It's a capable 5G router, but not up with newer (more expensive) ones, it's quite an old design now (the April 2020 review you're quoting from is too), which is one reason it's cheaper. Which is what I said... 😉

 

Wi-Fi 6 is indeed very good if you really need gigabit Wi-Fi, though it's difficult to see how useful that will be on a boat if the bottleneck is the external cellular data rate. Those data rates are really for speedtest bragging rights, even multiple streams of high-res video streaming don't come close to stressing them...

Edited by IanD
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  • 6 months later...

I'm using one of these:
https://ztedevices.com/en-uk/mu5001/
 

It's portable and will run on its own internal batteries for quite a while.
In the Thames valley I have found EE to be the most reliable network. I've not found anywhere that I cannot get at least a 4G connection.
I use 3 on my phone. They are the cheapest, so everyone hammers them for data...

External antenna from Wifionboard works very well.
https://www.wifionboard.co.uk/product/marine-mimo-3-4-5g-antenna/

Not saying that this is necessarily the absolute best, but it works well for me.

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Interesting thing over the last week

My router runs channels 1,3 and 20 as many do.

If left to its own devices I was getting one bar of 4g using ch3 and speeds of 1-3mbs

Disabled ch3 so it defaulted to ch1 and I was getting 3 bars of 3g and speeds of 10mbs

Different masts, i didn't bother to investigate further as C could then stream her programs.

The moral is don't accept what the router serves up if its slow, there may be others available if you have the tools. 

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=manager.lte

 

 

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  • 10 months later...

I am new to narrow boating, however I built a campervan a few years back, and I use a MAXVIEW system, it's the basic one. I travel all over and it has never failed, Oh beg your pardon, when I go to The TT races on The Isle Of Man it sometimes does, but I stay in some odd spots, and I was told by some brain wave, that signals can sometimes not manage to get around objects, I thought it was all from a satellite? But I think the one I have would be good on a boat.

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1 hour ago, Manxcat54 said:

I am new to narrow boating, however I built a campervan a few years back, and I use a MAXVIEW system, it's the basic one. I travel all over and it has never failed, Oh beg your pardon, when I go to The TT races on The Isle Of Man it sometimes does, but I stay in some odd spots, and I was told by some brain wave, that signals can sometimes not manage to get around objects, I thought it was all from a satellite? But I think the one I have would be good on a boat.

 

A MAXVIEW internet setup uses 4G/5G network, no satellites involved! 

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  • 3 weeks later...
9 hours ago, Silent Flight said:

Reviving old thread but it’s a sticky, so anyways. What device is favoured to boost Wi-Fi signal from a 4g router with antenna attached? The router is on the 12v and ideally I want a booster that also works on 12v. TIA 

 

A glance on google reveals very few options. SONOS have a device called a boost that looks like it runs on 5 volts so you could get a small step down transformer to run it from 12v. Other than that wifi boosters seem to all plug direct into 240v sockets.

 

My Huawei b535 has very powerful wifi.....I get a signal outside at the very stern of the boat even though the router is at the front of the boat, inside a steel cabin!

 

 

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1 hour ago, booke23 said:

 

A glance on google reveals very few options. SONOS have a device called a boost that looks like it runs on 5 volts so you could get a small step down transformer to run it from 12v. Other than that wifi boosters seem to all plug direct into 240v sockets.

 

My Huawei b535 has very powerful wifi.....I get a signal outside at the very stern of the boat even though the router is at the front of the boat, inside a steel cabin!

 

 

All devices like this actually run from DC which sometimes comes from a wall wart PSU plugged into the mains, in this case it's perfectly possible to power them from a DC-DC converter with the right voltage (often 12V). That's exactly what I've done with my router on the boat. These might work...

 

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/tplink-tlwa801n-wifi-access-point-n300-single-band-10212693.html

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/netgear-nighthawk-x6-ex7700100uks-wifi-range-extender-ac-2200-triband-10189971.html

 

But if they're physically built into a mains plug together with the PSU -- as many are -- you're screwed... 😞

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On 24/02/2024 at 10:26, booke23 said:

 

My Huawei b535 has very powerful wifi.....I get a signal outside at the very stern of the boat even though the router is at the front of the boat, inside a steel cabin!

This is the same router I have. And in the same position, yet my signal drops out halfway towards the stern. Where is your antenna positioned?

On 24/02/2024 at 12:28, IanD said:

DC-DC converter with the right voltage (often 12V). That's exactly what I've done with my router on the boat

This is how I set my router up I think, basically came with a 240v lead. Then got a new lead and wired into a some lil box that keeps the voltage between 12 -24. Think it was called a step down from memory. Am I right in thinking  could do something similar then with a booster like the ones you have linked ?

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On 24/02/2024 at 12:28, IanD said:

 

All devices like this actually run from DC which sometimes comes from a wall wart PSU plugged into the mains,

 

But if they're physically built into a mains plug together with the PSU -- as many are -- you're screwed... 😞

 

Well yes, obviously. 

 

 

29 minutes ago, Silent Flight said:

This is the same router I have. And in the same position, yet my signal drops out halfway towards the stern. Where is your antenna positioned?

 

The router (and built in wifi antenna) is in a wardrobe at the front of the boat. It is on the top shelf so quite high up.

 

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the obvious thing is can you not simply move the router amid-ships ?  

 

if not I would be tempted to run an ethernet cable from the router to a wireless access point further forward. (like the one Ian linked to above for £23 quid. )

 

I have in the past re-purposed crappy leftover broadband routers from home as an AP - just ignore all the DSL/broadband stuff, but for the cost its not worth messing about.   I had a different version of the TP-link in my garage on ethernet, at home to give extended coverage and it was fine.   I'd run it straight off 12v on the boat. 

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On 06/02/2024 at 17:24, booke23 said:

A MAXVIEW internet setup uses 4G/5G network, no satellites involved! 

Worth noting that Maxview use Teltonika RUT260 routers with a bit of custom coding to work with the app. They're about £150 which, when combined with a Poynting antenna for about £80, is significantly cheaper than a Maxview package. Not as easy to set up as you don't get a nice app, but still straightforwards.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have invested in a Wifionboard setup with an ariel and huwai 535 4g router. I've been told it's a fairly reliable setup.

This will require a sim card. 

I have a phone with an EE contract,   and I can send 100Gb a month to another sim. Does that need to be another EE sim? 

the EE data sim contracts are not the cheapest. 

If I find a cheaper data sim card, from another supplier, will my Iphone on the EE contract be able to recognise the signal?

Or am I best advised to bite the bullet and get another EE contract. 

Apologies if these are technologically illiterate questions! 

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48 minutes ago, Tigerr said:

I have invested in a Wifionboard setup with an ariel and huwai 535 4g router. I've been told it's a fairly reliable setup.

This will require a sim card. 

I have a phone with an EE contract,   and I can send 100Gb a month to another sim. Does that need to be another EE sim? 

the EE data sim contracts are not the cheapest. 

If I find a cheaper data sim card, from another supplier, will my Iphone on the EE contract be able to recognise the signal?

Or am I best advised to bite the bullet and get another EE contract. 

Apologies if these are technologically illiterate questions! 

 

How much data do you want/need, do you want it every month or only when on the boat for shorter periods, and do you want to stay on the EE network?

 

To try things out on the EE network I suggest getting a 1-month SIM from 1pmobile, you can top these up with any amount of data as and when you need it. Mine drops back to £3/month for 1G when I'm not on the boat (for remote access/monitoring), when I'm on it I buy a 1-month data boost -- £6 for 4G, £8 for 10G, £13 for 50G, £18 for 200G.

 

For longer-term if you want data all the time, a prepaid SIM from Scancom is considerably cheaper than an EE contract, and a bit cheaper than 1pmobile.

Edited by IanD
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1 hour ago, Tigerr said:

I have a phone with an EE contract,   and I can send 100Gb a month to another sim. Does that need to be another EE sim? 

 

Assuming you are talking about multi sim or family account then yes it has to be another EE sim. 

 

1 hour ago, Tigerr said:

If I find a cheaper data sim card, from another supplier, will my Iphone on the EE contract be able to recognise the signal?

 

Yes you can put any sim you like in the B535 router, and your phone (or any other device) will connect to the router via WiFi just like WiFi in a house. It is totally separate from any network locks on your phone. 

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Very helpful. 

Thanks. 

I must say this forum has been a real bonus to boating since we joined in 2009! There's always someone who's been there before. 

We didn't have nearly so much internet problem on the old boat, but it had bigger windows, and I think we must have been lucky with where we went, or on reflection I didn't want to watch netflix on the boat. We never had TV on the old boat either - now we have an avtex, and one of those motorhome ariel setups. Cant say there's much on I like though! 

The new boat has portholes - I think that creates a proper faraday shield. 

Edited by Tigerr
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3 minutes ago, Tigerr said:

Very helpful. 

Thanks. 

I must say this forum has been a real bonus to boating since we joined in 2009! There's always someone who's been there before. 

If you can send 100G/month to another EE SIM and this SIM is cheap (has to be directly from EE not an MVNO like 1pmobile or Scancom) that could well be your best bet.

 

If not, you can put any SIM from any supplier in the router, whatever gives you the best deal on the best network -- all routers are unlocked nowadays.

  • Greenie 1
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