Oh No....Internet onboard, again!

[Loafer]

Basically, utilising an existing roof aperture, albeit I had to increase the diameter of said ole, I fitted one of these.

 

http://www.3grouterstore.co.uk/3G/Fullband-FB4GDOME.html

 

Managed, not without some difficulty I should add, to route the cables and then connected to a wall mounted Huawei E5377T mifi. This has the twin aerial ports to suit the cables, when mated with Ts9 connectors. Managed to source a great deal on an EE data only Sim. Connected it all up and blow me, it works a treat!

 

As the mifi is removable, we can take this away and make use of it when required.

 

Believe me, that this actually works, more than surprised this technophobe. The aerial is not at all obtrusive and because it is domed, should neither be a snag point or be a target for unwanted attention.

 

Thanks John.

[johnmck]

Just in case anyone is interested, an update.

 

Thus far, we have travelled from Crick, up to Nottingham, then south. We are now on the K&A near Crofton. Despite my intense dislike of EE's business practice, the product has been darn good.

 

We have never been without internet and mostly 4G at that. The roof mounted aerial has also been faultless.

 

That I planned, fitted and set up this system, has amazed me. It just works, brilliantly. Much to my utter amazement!!

[RichM]

Out of interest, how well does it perform with the MiFI device secured on to a window/porthole without the antenna?

I am also with EE for MiFI and so far wherever I've been I've been lucky enough to have a 4G signal with them, originally to my surprise when I had accepted the idea of slow internet prior to becoming a liveaboard. My device is simply attached to the porthole with velcrow and I hardly ever need to move it and get up to 40mbit down which is better than I got in a house with FTTC.

 

I did buy a TS9 compatible antenna though I didn't seem to gain anything from it and the TS9 connectors don't make for the most secure connection to my Huawei E5786 device. It started to become a real pain having reconnect them all the time.

[johnmck]

Out of interest, how well does it perform with the MiFI device secured on to a window/porthole without the antenna?

I am also with EE for MiFI and so far wherever I've been I've been lucky enough to have a 4G signal with them, originally to my surprise when I had accepted the idea of slow internet prior to becoming a liveaboard. My device is simply attached to the porthole with velcrow and I hardly ever need to move it and get up to 40mbit down which is better than I got in a house with FTTC.

 

I did buy a TS9 compatible antenna though I didn't seem to gain anything from it and the TS9 connectors don't make for the most secure connection to my Huawei E5786 device. It started to become a real pain having reconnect them all the time.

 

Getting the aerial has negated me having to try it in a porthole. I agree, the connection are not brilliant, but ours is now in a fixed position, permanently connected up to the aerial and a power source. This means that untill I want to take it off the boat, I do not have to touch it.

[johnmck]

Sorry to resurrect a very old post, but it does give context. 

The set up fitted in 2016 has served us very well, even enabling due to a change in circumstances,  Ali to work off the boat over the last few summers. 

At the moment, the boat roof is being repainted and removal of the Fullband dome antenna is required,  so it seems a good time to upgrade our system a little. The Huawei mifi is still working, but becoming some what old technology now. 

As previously stated, I am a technophobe. 

I propose to replace the existing dome antenna with a Fullband FB4X4MINIDOME  and the mifi with a TP-Link MR600 (V3) router. In fact I have these ready to fit once the roof is ready. Already linked the existing antenna to the new router on our trip to the painters and it worked fine. But...

The new antenna has four leads. The router has two sma antenna ports. Do I try using just two of the leads, or could I try using a Tuolink sma splitter cable (sma male to dual sma female), or would this compromise signal quality?

Appreciate your thoughts.

[Tonka]

It sounds to me like it requires a lot of money for something that is not a neccesary.

[IanD]

27 minutes ago, johnmck said:

Sorry to resurrect a very old post, but it does give context. 

The set up fitted in 2016 has served us very well, even enabling due to a change in circumstances,  Ali to work off the boat over the last few summers. 

At the moment, the boat roof is being repainted and removal of the Fullband dome antenna is required,  so it seems a good time to upgrade our system a little. The Huawei mifi is still working, but becoming some what old technology now. 

As previously stated, I am a technophobe. 

I propose to replace the existing dome antenna with a Fullband FB4X4MINIDOME  and the mifi with a TP-Link MR600 (V3) router. In fact I have these ready to fit once the roof is ready. Already linked the existing antenna to the new router on our trip to the painters and it worked fine. But...

The new antenna has four leads. The router has two sma antenna ports. Do I try using just two of the leads, or could I try using a Tuolink sma splitter cable (sma male to dual sma female), or would this compromise signal quality?

Appreciate your thoughts.

Don't use splitter (or in this case, combiner) cables, they'll make things a lot worse not better -- just use two of the antenna cables, it'll work fine. If two are marked as "primary" use these, otherwise pick any two -- you could try different pairs and run speedtests to see if one combination is better than the others.

 

If you want to make better use of the antenna you need a 4x4 MIMO router, and it would make sense to get one which supports 5G. Lots of people (including me) have had success buying secondhand Zyxel NR5103E (ex-Three) routers, these are about £150 on eBay.

[johnmck]

35 minutes ago, IanD said:

Don't use splitter (or in this case, combiner) cables, they'll make things a lot worse not better -- just use two of the antenna cables, it'll work fine. If two are marked as "primary" use these, otherwise pick any two -- you could try different pairs and run speedtests to see if one combination is better than the others.

 

If you want to make better use of the antenna you need a 4x4 MIMO router, and it would make sense to get one which supports 5G. Lots of people (including me) have had success buying secondhand Zyxel NR5103E (ex-Three) routers, these are about £150 on eBay.

Thank you for that. I just thought that whilst the roof was being stripped, it was a good time to upgrade. I have gone for the 4x4 antenna as a bit of future proofing, ready for a 5g router when required. I will have a play with the connections when it all goes back together and forget the splitter. 

[IanD]

51 minutes ago, johnmck said:

Thank you for that. I just thought that whilst the roof was being stripped, it was a good time to upgrade. I have gone for the 4x4 antenna as a bit of future proofing, ready for a 5g router when required. I will have a play with the connections when it all goes back together and forget the splitter. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404865017361?_ul=GB&var=0

 

NR5103E for £120.

 

Don't get the newer V2 version, this only has 2 external antenna sockets.

 

Use some short (right-angle) TS9-SMA adaptor cables to connect the antenna and tape these to the case of the router to keep strain off the (fragile) TS9 connectors. I used these (you'll need 2 pairs):

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BOOBRIE-Coaxial-Antenna-Adapter-Broadband/dp/B09MLLB1FP/

Edited April 9 by IanD

[LadyG]

I have a huawei router, the twin aerials were £19.99 from amazon. Im with Three and it works fine 98% of the time, not good enough for professional use, but OK for me.

The battery is swollen, but its been like that a while. Ill probably replace them this year, technology and all that....