Jump to content

RoadFi


Ex-Member

Featured Posts

Ok so got the new boat and, touch wood, everything is tickity boo except that damned thing t'nternet.

At the moment we are morred at our chosen marina, Ventor, where connection, though free, is sporadic at best and non existant at worse. I am with Three for my mobile and looking at their mi fi they have a Huwawei Roadfi which is really for your car but plugs into the cigar lighter socket. Has anyone any experience of using this on a boat or should I just stick with a mi fi device?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Remember a narrowboat is a Faraday cage and will stop radio signals so you will need to position your "roadfi" in a window or fit an external aerial.

 

I am in Calcutt that is just across the canal and with a 3 4G Mifi hung in a window the internet is mostly acceptable although usually 3G. It goes a bit slow when everyone is going home at night but I think that is network congestion.

 

Reception at the Blue Lias is far more problematical.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could try a wireless router to amplify the radio signal so that you can get internet at no cost. this is what I do when in our Marina. I use a £25 Hootoo Tripmate located in a window and then I get a strong signal in the saloon / galley.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=hootoo+trip+mate&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=155841971721&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6556686286968885749&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046823&hvtargid=kwd-130445867316&ref=pd_sl_8w2ar6hf4k_e

Edited by mross
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Used the Huawei E5330 on 3 for all of last years trips. Worked fine stuck to the window, although it does have an external aerial socket which I have not used yet.

 

TBH had more trouble trying to buy more time for it than anything else, as 3's website doesn't like topping up Mifi sims for some reason, you have to ring I'm told.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How about a phone package with all you can eat data. Three let you tether 30gb. That will be the cheapest way by far. Depending on how many call minutes you want they start at £24 will 30gb tethered. I use the PC a lot, every day and rarely go above 30gb unless I am downloading stuff. Also Three are giving away 3 months access for Christmas on new contracts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok so got the new boat and, touch wood, everything is tickity boo except that damned thing t'nternet.

At the moment we are morred at our chosen marina, Ventor, where connection, though free, is sporadic at best and non existant at worse. I am with Three for my mobile and looking at their mi fi they have a Huwawei Roadfi which is really for your car but plugs into the cigar lighter socket. Has anyone any experience of using this on a boat or should I just stick with a mi fi device?

My experience of "3" is that while there is a signal in most places at Ventnor (Phase 1) it is variable to say the least, even when not hemmed in by other boats. When both of our neighbour's boats are in I have sometimes had to hang the 3 device in the cratch, or fall back on tethering to a (Vodafone) phone to get useable bandwidth.

Edited by peter n
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Huawei E5330 doesn't have an external socket, but the E5332 does as dles the Vodafone R206 and R216 but they require unlocking and Voda charge £20 for it (they put their own software on it...)

There have been some EE 4G mifi routers on ebay - but there seems to be shortage of them at the moment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok so got the new boat and, touch wood, everything is tickity boo except that damned thing t'nternet.

At the moment we are moored at our chosen marina, Ventor, where connection, though free, is sporadic at best and non existant at worse. I am with Three for my mobile and looking at their mi fi they have a Huwawei Roadfi which is really for your car but plugs into the cigar lighter socket. Has anyone any experience of using this on a boat or should I just stick with a mi fi device?

 

Hi Numpty,

 

I'm also in Ventnor, been there since August 2015. The wi-fi in Sunrise (don't know about Sunset) is considerably better since it was improved during the summer. Before that it was virtually impossible to get it inside the boat but I agree that it can still be slow and often drops out.

 

Just before our first trip of the year, at Easter, I decided to give Three a try. I've just checked and the device, plan and SIM I bought are still available and at the same price. My experience has been overwhelmingly positive. I used white velcro tape to stick it in the window (near a 12v 2 pin socket for convenient charging, useful as battery life is stated at 5 hours which seems a bit optimistic to me) and I have almost never failed to get a fast 4G connection. 100% success in Ventnor marine and almost 100% at dozens of mooring locations between Warwick, Banbury, Market Harborough and Snarestone. Only once or twice have I had no signal and once or twice only got a 3G signal. Quite a few times I received a 4G signal in the boat when my phone was unable to get a signal on the Three network outside the boat.

 

I bought the Huawei E5573 device from Three for £39 upfront on a 1 month 2GB contract at £10 per month. It's cheaper upfront on the 12 month contract but I didn't want to be paying £10 per month when we were away from the boat so I got the 1 month contract which could then be cancelled immediately (30 days notice) in order to buy a "Broadband - Pay As You Go + 12" SIM which costs £30 and gives you 12 months to use the pre-loaded 12GB. When that is finished I will just buy another as this is much cheaper than the rate for topping up. We use it a lot but still have well over 50% of the 12GB left after 8 months, probably as we try to avoid streaming and downloading as much as possible.

 

Links here...

 

Device and plans...

 

http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Devices/Huawei/E5573_4G_Mobile_Wi-Fi?memory=0&colour=White

 

SIM...

 

http://store.three.co.uk/view/searchTariff?deviceType=SIM_ONLY_MBB&priceplan=&greatForServices=&manufacturerName=&payGPriceForTariff=50to99.99&payGPriceForTariff=0to49.99&intid=3store_mbb_payg_sim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am also just across the Canal at Calcutt, and the reception on Three is marginal for me. Inside the boat there is nothing, but with the phone outside it does get a signal and mostly it will work as a 3G router when sat on the plank at top of the cratch. To get a better signal you need to go up the locks!

 

Is Ventnor's wifi no good? I get a strong signal from it with my external wifi adaptor, and can connect to it ok and get to the 3rd party's home page. If you are just using the wifi adaptor in a laptop or iPad etc, then again inside the boat it is not going to work well unless the wifi is really strong. An external USB wifi adaptor for a laptop from ebay is relatively cheap.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am also just across the Canal at Calcutt, and the reception on Three is marginal for me. Inside the boat there is nothing, but with the phone outside it does get a signal and mostly it will work as a 3G router when sat on the plank at top of the cratch. To get a better signal you need to go up the locks!

 

Is Ventnor's wifi no good? I get a strong signal from it with my external wifi adaptor, and can connect to it ok and get to the 3rd party's home page. If you are just using the wifi adaptor in a laptop or iPad etc, then again inside the boat it is not going to work well unless the wifi is really strong. An external USB wifi adaptor for a laptop from ebay is relatively cheap.

I get a Three signal on my phone in Ventnor Marina if I'm outside the boat but inside only if I place the phone by the window and even then it's intermittent. However, the Three signal on the Huawei mi-fi stuck on the window is 4G, strong and consistent.

 

The Ventnor wi-fi signal in Sunrise Basin (aka phase 2) used to be almost non-existent inside the boat and slow outside. Since this summer's improvements it is stronger and usually can be received inside the boat now. It does drop quite frequently though, and isn't very fast, so we still tend to use the mi-fi device even when we're in the marina as the signal is much stronger, much faster and much more reliable. I did not bother to buy an external aerial as it works so well without it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all the answers and advice, I 'll try to cover it all, I really don't use technology that much and living up in the Brecon hills I am used to the electricity and water going off never mind mobile phone reception, which we absolutely don't get from any network. Broadband is Plusnet but is really two cotton reels and a lacky band. I used to have the most basic phone you could buy, £5 from Orange on PAYG, but kept it in the car for emergencies. When EE took them over the charges went to 37pm so I switched to Three PAYG which is only 1pm but I had to get a new 3g phone but again it is very basic and certainly not a smart phone. It actually works fine inside the boat as recently I have had to make more calls than I usually do, or did. The only other device I have is a laptop which I use mainly for email and online shopping (mostly cheaper and saves a 20 mile round trip into town or further to the ubiquitous Retail Parks), don't do Social Networking et al (apart from this forum) so I really am not that bothered. At Ventnor I am in Sunrise and the connection is OK but quite intermittant inside and I ain't sitting outside in this weather. Because we are going to use the boat quite a lot it would be useful to have mobile wi fi just for emailing and things like online banking and that's why I thought this Roadfi device might do the trick, as it would plug into the socket in the stern deck and I could always use it in the car too.

 

As usual with me, too much information and too little intelligence........wacko.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the EE version of the car WIFI stick that plugs into a 12v socket and am really pleased with it. Works on 4G and can even stream video on laptop without any interruption. Not that I would want to as on pay as you go it's not cheap to do! (Web and email fine).

Edited by Jak
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.