Internet on boats

[viking]

Well ok it's an old chestnut but we all use boats and we all use the Internet so someone had to bring it up again didn't they?

 

I've been looking at this just recently: http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/networ...39163417,00.htm

 

I went into an Orange shop today and had a look at it. It does look reasonably good on 3g and it will automatically switch to gprs when 3g signals aren't available. 3g is fairly limited at the moment but by the time I need it (no boat until the middle of next year) there should be wider coverage, and gprs is supposedly available to most areas. It is obviously the same as mobile phones in that reception will vary with the surrounding environment but is there anything better?

 

Price is a factor definitely but this should reduce with time and at the moment a 65Mb/month contract will cost £20+vat.

 

How much is a Mb? Well, how long is a piece of string? They tell you that 1Mb=approx 20-25 web pages but it depends on the content so it is impossible to accurately define. If you assume the lower figure then 65Mb should give you about 1300 pages/month or conservatively 40/day. Not a lot but better than nothing???

 

If you know of a better solution, post away.

[dor]

The problem with surfing these days is that web designers seem to assume that everyone has broadband (The same goes for emails with huge attachments). As a result they put in lots of pictures and fancy effects that can add hugely to your download capacity. However in your browser there should be a settings option not to show pictures, videos etc. You can always turn it on and referesh the page if there is something that looks interesting.

[Andy Woods]

I recently changed from o2 gprs service that cost £2.00 per meg and was costing a fortune to Voda's G3 service.

Annoyingly the G3 signal is poor and often drops back to gprs but is far cheaper at £50 per month for 300 meg's!

It also means I can switch my mobile to a lower tarriff for voice calls.

G3 connection speed, when it works, is almost broadband speed. However it just makes you realise how slow gprs service is when it drops out of G3!

Regards

Andy.

[Andy Woods]

I recently changed from o2 gprs service that cost £2.00 per meg and was costing a fortune to Voda's G3 service.

Annoyingly the G3 signal is poor and often drops back to gprs but is far cheaper at £50 per month for 300 meg's!

It also means I can switch my mobile to a lower tarriff for voice calls.

G3 connection speed, when it works, is almost broadband speed. However it just makes you realise how slow gprs service is when it drops out of G3!

Regards

Andy.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Whoops......think I meant to say 3G !

[Khayamanzi]

Visit UKCanal.org and see what they can do if you are in a marina or linear with a load of other boats. As I see it, this is the future of internet afloat and certainly if you check out the speeds and bandwidth availoable at Trinity Marina. Personally I can't see why others aren't immediatly jumping on to this one!?

[viking]

Visit UKCanal.org and see what they can do if you are in a marina or linear with a load of other boats. As I see it, this is the future of internet afloat and certainly if you check out the speeds and bandwidth availoable at Trinity Marina. Personally I can't see why others aren't immediatly jumping on to this one!?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Very simple to answer that one. When I do get my own boat next year I propose to spend as little time in marinas as I possibly can. I may possibly moor the boat in a marina, but if it is there then I will be at home (where I have broadband) so, internet in marinas or even online moorings is of absolutely no interest to me. I am only interested in internet on the move where wifi has absolutely nothing to offer.

[Jon]

Hey guys,

 

I have a contract phone from '3', and although I can get 3g signal in most towns and cities, it drops back to standard GPRS / Roaming network once out in the sticks.

 

Re: images and bandwidth, this is something that is becoming more of a problem. For those users who want to view a low res version of these forums you can go to the Lo-Fi Version, which removes images etc.

 

Jon

[brich]

Visit UKCanal.org and see what they can do if you are in a marina or linear with a load of other boats. As I see it, this is the future of internet afloat and certainly if you check out the speeds and bandwidth availoable at Trinity Marina. Personally I can't see why others aren't immediatly jumping on to this one!?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

If you are moored at a marina which is WI-FI enabled, great. If you aren't, then you'll have to wait until there are 'enough' potential subscribers to persuade UK.Canal.org or any other WISP to install the necessary equipment within a few hundred metres of your moorings before you can go online vis their wireless enabled hot-spot. I think you may wait a VERY long time - narrowboaters just aren't on the radar for most ISPs, and small ISPs who might do it are a dying species

 

Even with BT deciding to remove the limits for ADSL so that 99% of subscribers will be able to get broadband by June 2005, they are only interested in subscribers who have copper wire into their homes. Going WI-Fi is for rural communities who are in the hills and valleys - their aerials are static so they can link up to other aerials within the vicinity. If your boat moves around, then this technology is unlikely to help you. Mind you, you might find that BT are amenable to a land-line at your mooring if you speak to them about getting a telephone installed - it depends on how close your mooring is to existing installations.

 

For those who want to or have to move around, chances are that 3G or GPRS mobile services are the only ones that will provide an immediate solution.

[Andy Woods]

3G update!

I'm in dry dock at Mills Dockyard on the Erewash canal at Trent Lock and the signal is superb!

Think Mr Mill's may be a little upset when I tell him I'm not coming out !!!

Boat looks good with the bottom freshly blacked too!

regards

Andy.

[nbtafelberg]

Just to let you know folks I can supply the Vodafone 3g card.

 

You can get it online through my website below.

 

I use it very succesfully as a liveaboard with Tafelberg.

[Martin]

I looked at the 3G cards in my new PC World Business catalogue and they suggest data transmission rates of about 53kbps - less than a 56k dialup modem, given that you get this speed which you never do!

Not quite Broadband then.

 

If you can persuade enough people in your marina or mooring to club together - how about satellite broadband.

This is now quite commonly available as a two-way system and gone are the days when you used to download via satellite but upload by phoneline - it is ALL satellite stuff now.

 

BT have such a solution:

Their Satellite 500 package costs only £59.99 +VAT per month which could be split between a number of users.

The equipment costs are coming down too...

Again for this BT package: £849 for the equipment, plus £300 installation - quite pricey, but if spread across a few boats (and compared to most everything else we spend money on on our boats!) this becomes almost manageable!

[Richard Bustens]

Hi Martin

We have been selling v/fone 3g for months and have sold over 100 now, i dont know where you got the speed from but it is almost as fast as b/band

Quote from v/fone........

 

The Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS Datacard can be used with almost any laptop to provide high-speed internet services and Email access letting you work wherever you are. Simply install the Vodafone Dashboard software, and insert the Datacard into your laptop. There is no need for a separate mobile phone and no complicated setup process.

 

How does it work?

 

Mobile Connect uses Vodafone's new 3G network, enabling connection speeds up to seven times faster than a 56k PSTN modem dial-up connection. If you find yourself in an area without 3G coverage, the card will switch automatically to the well-established GPRS data service. In both cases, you'll be able to:

 

 

access internet-based Email accounts

browse any web page

send and receive text messages

chat using instant messages

monitor your usage

By setting up a link between your corporate network and the Vodafone Mobile network, you can even access your company local area network (LAN).

 

 

 

If 3g is not available it will go back to GPRS 2g but if done properley it is not expensive to run.

[Martin]

I will check my facts again - your quote from Vodafone appears on the PC World website next to the 3G card so I don't know where the catalogue description comes from!

[Richard Bustens]

I Got it from the voderfone partners trade site so they prob did to. lol

[theshowmaster]

I looked at the 3G cards in my new PC World Business catalogue and they suggest data transmission rates of about 53kbps - less than a 56k dialup modem, given that you get this speed which you never do!

Not quite Broadband then.

 

Are you sure it didn't mean 53kBps (kilo bytes) which I could easily believe and is roughly what you'd get from a 512kbps (kilo bits; 8 bits=1 byte) broadband connection?

 

512kbps = 64kBps, but in practice with network overheads and data transmission errors, aroun 53 kBps is realistic. That's about what I get form my home landline b/b connection.

 

Speeds are usually quoted in kbps as they are bigger numbers and sound more impressive, but kB are much more useful in understanding data transmission rates.

 

edited twice for poor spelling

Edited October 27, 2004 by theshowmaster

[Sue]

Well I have an Orange 3g Datacard, and it's the best thing since sliced bread.

 

I just run it on the gprs bit, not bothered about 3g, its really fast, much faster than normal dial up, but of course slower than broadband. I did once get the 3g when we were at Watford locks by the M1 there, and oh boy did that fly!

 

I have had teething problems with it, but Orange customer services have been absolutely brilliant, and its worth getting the new drivers for it which will update the software. I can tell you where to get those if you like.

 

Of course like any internet and phone connection/reception, out on the canals you are not going to get it everywhere, it's really just the same as the phones.

 

At Braunston i can use my datacard near Butchers Bridge, but it won't work just round the corner by the church, so even moving a little bit can make all the difference.

 

I can totally recommend the Orange one, it has a much better coverage than the Vodaphone one at the moment. Also it is much cheaper!

 

Here you will get it at the best price on the internet, I have the 400MB package as I do an awful lot on the net, but for browsing and emails 65MB will give you a lot of fun.

 

Orange 3g Datacard deal

 

They will also deliver to a post office address as long as you can give them proof of a home address with credit card if you are a continuous cruiser.

 

As a guide I use about 2-2and half MB every 4 hours, but I don't have pictures turned on in IE very much, only when I want to.

 

I did manage to buy mine for £20 from carphone warehouse last August, but prices have gone up a bit since then.

 

I think the 65MB package will suit anyone wishing to do this, the 400MB probably too much and the lower one 7MB is it? is just not worth the money.

 

I also put my everyday 50 normal sim card in it sometimes and use my dial up to aol through the datacard. The datacard is unlocked so you can put any sim in it and use the gprs.

 

Edited after seeing Richards link

 

Richard, I just looked at your site, the vodaphone deal is not very good and is quite a long way behind the orange deal

 

Editted 29th Oct - Re the post further down from Richard - editing this to reflect my error.

It was from the link of Tafelberg from clevetts post above I was refering to not to Richard's links

 

Vodafone Datacard

Mobile Connect Medium

 

Datacard just £119 

 

 

GPRS Laptop Internet Access with 25MB download incuded. For moderate users.

 

 

Full price plan details

 

 

Only £20 / month -  

 

Compared to the orange deal for £20 in the link above, look at the amout of download included too

 

Mobile Office 65

 

    

  3G Data Tariff with 65mb/month inclusive cost of card £99.99

 

£20 a month

 

Both packages above do not include Vat so its actually £23.50 I think without a calculator at hand

 

Edited October 29, 2004 by Sue

[viking]

Thanks for the info Sue. As I said in my first post I thought the Orange card was the best deal at the mo.

 

There is one problem though. Since starting to investigate this I realised it would be a good idea to know how much bandwidth I was actually using so I loaded a bandwidth monitor program. It has been running for about 3 weeks now and it is recording a usage of 885Mb!! So the 65Mb/month package I was considering is not going to go very far!

 

I can only hope that the predictions in the article I linked to in my original post come true and before long the £40-£50/month for unlimited access will become a reality. Luckily I am not in a terrible hurry still another 6 months before the boat is a reality and longer than that before retirement.

 

Had a quick look at the Blog btw it looks quite good. I think they are a great idea for recording narrow boat travels. I was intending to do something similar on the free web space that comes with my ISP account but it is only 50Mb and that is very quickly filled up with photos, even web optimised ones. Is there a size limit to your blogging exploits? I assume there must be if so what is it?

[Richard Bustens]

Hi Sue

Where did you get the info that you say is from my web site

as my site is only part working at the minuite i dont think it is there and anyway we give the modem away for free, and also double time ie:- 100mb for 50 etc

[Sue]

Hi Sue

Where did you get the info that you say is from my web site

as my site is only part working at the minuite i dont think it is there and anyway we give the modem away for free, and also double time ie:- 100mb for 50 etc

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Oh I do apologise Richard, it was the link through clevett's post above yours I was refering to not yours which I see is not live at the moment apologies again.

 

Viking I think you would be pleasantly surprised at just how picky you get on the boat with using bandwidth. I used to go through about the same amount when I lived in a house on broadband. It is surprising how much you can turn off to stop data flow, especially the stuff that streams aimlessly from windows to Bill Gates without you knowing. I can now say that absolutely no data gets in or out of this computer unless it's my own doing.

 

Of course you could always try the 65MB, and then upgrade to the 400MB if necessary. Last month I used about 256MB, and did some pretty heavy stuff averaging about 5 hours on the net a day.

 

I run du-meter, and find it works very well. I work with pages a lot 'off line', hardly ever calling a new page if it isnt necessary. Lol it's just a matter of getting used to new habits.

 

Is there a size limit to your blogging exploits? I assume there must be if so what is it?

 

Well I run the blog from my own webspace, and I am not sure what the limit is if you use the blogger space. The webspace costs me about £28 a year, and for that I have 250MB, virtually unlimited bandwidth, no ads and comes with all the trimmings of databases, cgi-bins etc etc

 

Edited October 29, 2004 by Sue