Best Marina WI FI

[agurney]

Craobh Haven. Free wifi from marina, encrypted. Didn't work with external aerial as Edimax Access Point we use didn't like the encryption. Good signal from marina for below decks. BtOpenZone from shore or SpeedTouch unencrypted worked fine

SpeedTouch AP is "Lord of the Isles" .. if you bought a beer there you can sleep with a clear conscience

The BT BTFon/OpenZone system is excellent, but bandwidth is restricted and you are reliant on domestic users leaving their connection switched on.

It's worth having an unlocked dongle and a variety of SIMs. There are several places in the area where either Vodafone or T-Mobile have good signals but the other is poor or non-existent.

Also, it's good to have a backup - SSB receiver with SeaTTY (or similar) so you don't have to rely on wi-fi or phone.

Thanks for the update.

 

[markdj]

SSB would be nice and probably required for blue water cruising but looking at the prices on Cactus for ssb transceivers they are hugely expensive??

Having the technical knowledge to operate and receive weather or email via SSB seems to be a bit of a steep learning curve.

 

[capnsensible]

Puerto Calero Lanzarote. Free.

 

[agurney]

SSB would be nice and probably required for blue water cruising but looking at the prices on Cactus for ssb transceivers they are hugely expensive??

Having the technical knowledge to operate and receive weather or email via SSB seems to be a bit of a steep learning curve.

Receiver only - cheap (around £50) and easy (plug it in to laptop) and you have Wefax and Navtex.

 

[Plomong]

WiFi in my marina at Marmaris is a bit patchy, and WiFi outside very variable. This year I bought a WiFi dongle that gets its signal over the Turkcell mobile phone network, which has excellent coverage all round the coast. I am pretty sure that something similar from Vodaphone, Orange etc would solve most problems in the UK.

P.S. Does anyone know if the program is on the dongle or the sim? If its on the sim perhaps I could buy a local one when in France or Italy.

Norman,

Being fed up with the quality of wifi connections in most French marinas I visited on the way up the coast since June 4th, I finally splashed out on an Orange puck, PAYG. On one side it is a mobile phone, 3G. It creates a private and personal wifi on the boat, to which my portable, or any other PC that knows the access code, may connect. I am assured that it is merely necessary to change the sim in Spain or the UK to have the device work in those countries. Not yet tested this, however, even though I am (transiently) in the UK (well, Cornwall really). Will know more when in Ireland next week, as I will check out the sim-swap over there.

The best wifi access found in any marina was that in La Rochelle (Les Minimes). 5 networks covering the marina in a fan-like arrangement. At any time I could connect to at least three of them, with excellent signal strength.

 

[oldvarnish]

What's the point of this thread? Is anyone really going to plan their cruising around the wifi performance of their choice of destination?
It would be as pointless as planning a caravan holiday round the cheapest petrol.