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Which hire company?

robtheplod

By robtheplod
in Holidays Afloat

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robtheplod Influencer

robtheplod

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Hi All

 

Finally about to book for a week next year on the Warwick Ring. A couple of hirers have come up - Kate Boats and Black Prince... like for like there isnt much in it cost wise, but Kate Boats includes Diesel, whereas Black Prince charge extra for this .... Black Prince do however offer WiFi which is needed for my kids (yes i know!!!!)...... any strong thoughts about the boats/service etc, or indeed anyone else come up better than these two??

 

thanks!!!

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ditchcrawler Veteran II

ditchcrawlerDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

Hi All

 

Finally about to book for a week next year on the Warwick Ring. A couple of hirers have come up - Kate Boats and Black Prince... like for like there isnt much in it cost wise, but Kate Boats includes Diesel, whereas Black Prince charge extra for this .... Black Prince do however offer WiFi which is needed for my kids (yes i know!!!!)...... any strong thoughts about the boats/service etc, or indeed anyone else come up better than these two??

 

thanks!!!

Will the WiFi be sufficient for what the kids want, if not its not worth going for. I would guess that in a week you will use 50-60 lts of diesel, that could well cost £50

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robtheplod Influencer

robtheplod

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Will the WiFi be sufficient for what the kids want, if not its not worth going for. I would guess that in a week you will use 50-60 lts of diesel, that could well cost £50

very true!

its probably worth me getting a MiFi device for the week and getting someone who includes Diesel.....

 

having looked at more since first posting, there does not seem to be much competition - all seem around the same price....

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john6767 Veteran II

john6767

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Kate boats are good and if you are doing the Warwickshire ring you can start from either their Stockton or Warwick bases. Nothing wrong with Napton Narrowboats or Calcutt Boats either.

Edited by john6767
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RichM Experienced

RichMDonate to Canal World

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Heard a lot of great things about Black Prince. Their WiFI solution only provides 2GB of inclusive data so this probably isn't going to suffice. Getting MiFI is probably good idea. If the kids use a lot of data (i.e. streaming etc) you could consider buying your own MiFI device which would enable you to get better sim deals. - EE do a sim only deal with 32GB of data for £28 on a 1 month rolling contract which you can cancel after the first month if needed.

 

May be worth checking network coverage in the area you plan to cruise in though. EE currently has the best 4G/LTE coverage across the UK as a whole but that doesn't mean to say they don't have black spots where others can provide better coverage. I find them reliable where I am and frequently get similar speeds to fibre. If you go down this route I'd also recommend buying some velcro so that you can stick it to a window on either side. Sounds primitive but works well for me!

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RichM Experienced

RichMDonate to Canal World

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Dont be fooled by the wifi, if you cant get a decent 4g signal then the wifi is no better than a phone.

 

I presume the kids have phones anyway so will be no different, plus its expensive!

 

That may be the case but not always. Having MiFI device fixed to a window or even one with an external antenna, magnetic or permanently fixed can make a big difference in terms of signal. That's the case for me - I wouldn't have 4G connectivity right now on my boat without my MiFI device.

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Ray T Veteran II

Ray TDonate to Canal World

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It is a bit Heath Robinson but we picked this tip up from Pist'n Broke when they were on the cut. A dongle in a CB aerial, works for us too.

 

Okay for the laptop to look at web pages, don't know if it is good enough to play games with though.

 

The picture and words from Pist'n Brokes now disappeared blog.

 

While we have been here Paul saw an advert about aerials for dongles.(for those of you who are interested the advert is in March’s Tow path page 33 the web site in question is www.gsm-secure.co.uk or phone 0845 4580229). The information he gathered was that the dongle adaptor lead which cost £25 is just a short fly lead with a plastic insert to which the dongle fits. This fly lead is then, through a connector connected to a 5 db gain antenna this also costs £25. Now you know what Paul is like as far as opening his wallet is concerned, he dived into the depths of a cupboard to fine his old 5db gain half wave cb aerial with mag mount and on realising that the dongle is only a touch contact proceeded to waterproof the dongle and inserted it within the bottom coil held in place with a tie wrap. Since we have had this

 

 

 

on the roof the once awful internet signal at Braunston has turned into 3g+. Now we don't know if Vodaphone have upped their signal or if this increase is due to the new aerial. But it is a great improvement on the broom handle which has kept us warm for about 10 minutes. Will be interesting to see what the results are elsewhere in the country. These cb aerials can be found at Maplins for around £15.

Edited by Ray T
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JohnEW2912 Community Regular

JohnEW2912

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We have just travelled from Napton to Fradley via Leicester. We have a 4g router on our boat and we found the signal good nearly everywhere, just one or two spots we did not have anything. The signal (EE) was generally better than the mobile signal (O2).

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Daz555 Explorer

Daz555

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We hired from Anglo Welsh earlier in the summer and although they only offer 1GB per week if they notice you have run out they will add a new data allocation onto your boat free of charge if other boats have finished their trip without using all their data. Nice touch I thought.

 

We did not need this in the end but it was nice to hear them offer it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
john6767 Veteran II

john6767

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Talking of Kate Boats, we passed one if their boats halfway down the Nene this morning, that was a surprise. I bit like when we were in the basin in Llangollen and a Rose Narrowboats boat arrived.

Edited by john6767
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