Digital Yacht 4G Connect Pro

danieleither

danieleither

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Does anyone have experience of this product or has one fitted to their boat, and if so could you provide a brief review / opinion? (Please note, I'm asking about the 'pro' version with external antennas, not the standard version).

Also, I'm aware there are 1000 other solutions out there so please let's politely try to keep the thread on topic :)
 
No. I researched things and positively decided not to fit it, and to fit something else instead, but I fear that's off topic :)
 
jfm said:
No. I researched things and positively decided not to fit it, and to fit something else instead, but I fear that's off topic :)
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Apologies if my 'off topic' comment came across rude. If you were considering this product but decided against it, I'd say that's 'on topic' and I'd love to hear what you have to say about it :)
 
off topic I know but why get a special boat thing internet is internet just get a small mobile router and you can also use it elsewhere or leave it at the boat if you wish
 
This kind of Technology moves so fast that a dedicated system would be out of date very quickly. I've changed and upgraded my boat systems several times since I bought the boat. I just stick to cheaper domestic systems/routers etc
 
Hurricane said:
This kind of Technology moves so fast that a dedicated system would be out of date very quickly. I've changed and upgraded my boat systems several times since I bought the boat. I just stick to cheaper domestic systems/routers etc
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By far the best way
 
Bigplumbs said:
off topic I know but why get a special boat thing internet is internet just get a small mobile router and you can also use it elsewhere or leave it at the boat if you wish
Click to expand...

Well - I have a small mobile router, but I'm looking for a better and more permanent solution. I would say the way I use my boat is unusual (at least for a motor boat). I live on the boat most of the summer, cruising the South Coast of UK. Last season alone I clocked up over 350 engine hours. To this day I have never visited a marina (other than my home marina), I always stay at anchor - often in secluded locations. If the weather is bad, I can be trapped somewhere for several days with little to do other than work remotely, or watch TV / netflix etc - both of which require a decent internet connection.

I find in most locations I can get a 4G signal and run a hotspot from my iPhone, however in some locations it is weak and unreliable. In these locations, sometimes just placing the phone 'outside' the boat (e.g. on the bow or on top of the canvas roof) will give a better (usable) connection, however there are obvious drawbacks with this - blazing sun causes phone to overheat, or pouring rain = not a good environment for a phone. Also it's not practical if someone calls, and phone hotspots tend to drop.

For poorer signal locations, I have a Draytek Vigour V2620 LTE 4G router. This is a standard 'office' piece of equipment (not designed for external use). If I place it on the roof of the boat, I can get a signal - but once again problems with hot sunlight, or bad weather means I have to bring it back inside the boat where it doesn't work so well.

If I was an infrequent boater requiring occasional internet access, the Draytek unit would be fine but as I use the boat a lot (and live on it some of the year) - I need a permanent solution.

I was particularly interested in the Digital Yacht 4G Connect Pro, because it 'looks' robust and professional, and 'looks' like it would get a good signal having 2 x large antennas. It's also a readily available system (sold by Force4). As a layperson, in my head I am thinking a system like this with large antennas permanently mounted to the highest point of the boat should get a far superior signal to the tiny antenna built into my iPhone, which is inside the boat and surrounded by several surfaces and dense objects etc.

So to summarise, it doesn't have to be a Digital Yacht 4G Connect Pro, it's just a product that caught my eye and I wanted to know if anyone had experience of using / installing this system. I am totally open to other systems, in fact I have another thread asking about other systems here - Recommendations - 4G LTE internet solutions with external antenna(s)
 
Many normal 4g routers have the ability to connect an external antenna with a long wire so you could place it externally as high as possible.

You will generally find also that any router even the small ones have better ariels than Iphones. In our motor home I have on occassion put our small mobile router in a plastic bag on the roof. It gets a way better signal their than an Iphone. With the use you put your boat to I can understand why you want a better solution. Remember however Bespoke marine solutions to anything are normally 3 times the price they should be
 
Bigplumbs said:
Many normal 4g routers have the ability to connect an external antenna with a long wire so you could place it externally as high as possible.

You will generally find also that any router even the small ones have better ariels than Iphones. In our motor home I have on occassion put our small mobile router in a plastic bag on the roof. It gets a way better signal their than an Iphone. With the use you put your boat to I can understand why you want a better solution. Remember however Bespoke marine solutions to anything are normally 3 times the price they should be
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I agree 100% on the point you make about price and in my experience, the bespoke marine systems are often older technology.

However, be careful about your first point.
Remember that 4G routers have two radio systems - WiFi and the 4G
To potentially extend the 4G coverage, the router's antenna connections should be connected to the 4G radio not the WiFi one.
The Teltonica RUT950 router has 4 antenna connections - 2 WiFi and 2 for 4G.
Using a 4G router like this, you can connect an omnidirectional like this
Omni Directional 4G 3G LTE MIMO External Antenna Huawei B535-235 B535-232 SMA | eBay
 
Thank you for all your replies and useful info. I've not managed to find one positive review on the Digital Yacht system, regardless of how 'good' it looks.

At the moment, I'm swayed towards a Teltonika RUT950 with Poynting Omni 493 (having conducted further research after reading responses).

For those that are familiar with the Teltonika RUT950, does having a dual-sim setup mean you could, for example, have one sim on EE and the other on Vodafone, and therefore if there was a poor signal on one network there may be a chance of a better signal on the other?
 
you can check youtube channel Sailing Aurora, there were few videos on the topic.
check his other videos where he also has also speed tests.

from Teltonika range be aware that 950 is an older model and is only CAT4, so rather slow even if you have good connection. I'd recommend to check the RUTX* range (CAT6).
on 950 dual sim is for fail over, so when there is no connection on sim1, it will fall back to sim2. maybe there is a way to setup some minimum level to trigger failover, rather than no connection at all. you'd need to check the documentation (they have good wikis and community forum).

for Digital Yachts looks like a not bad solution (it's also based on Teltonika router inside :) ), but with that money you can do more. I guess somebody who wants a complete package and support it's still a good choice, but need to also check the specs, as you need to get their most advanced model to get same speeds you get on your phone, so those low tier models are just not up to date (my opinion).

you can also check Glomex, but have no clue if they are any good.
but there again, you go big money for dual-sim, CAT6 as it's also PRO range then:
WEBBOAT LINK PRO EXT - DUAL SIM INDOOR UNIT - EXTENDED RANGE KIT - Glomex Store
 
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