Improving 4G data (not voice calls) signal on boat.

chockswahay said:
Top man! Thats the way to do it, simple, quick and costs no more than you’ve already spent. I’m gonna try that ?
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Sorry to throw a spanner in the works...... 0930 here and I hoisted said iPhone up the mast an hour ago to get latest Gribs. Absolutely no connectivity with either of the two towers 12 and 16 miles away. Disappointed I brought the phone into the cockpit and leant it against the halyard clutches and bingo I was able to download gribs and read this thread!? Don’t know why that is unless being an aluminium boat it somehow helps.
 
I use a HUAWEI E5885 4G modem in a waterproof tablet case and hoist it where the anchor ball/curtesy flag goes. Also repeats the harbor wifi signal fine. Obviously need a dedicated SIM, because the modem won't see your texts and calls. Decent battery, lasts a full day. A spare phone packed with a powerbank in the dry pouch could do the same.
 
I’m looking at upgrading my mifi device. The Teltoniks Rut240 and Poynting Puck-2 look like a good option. The Puck-2 only comes with a 2 metre cable so I’ll need to buy an extension cable. There seems to be a huge selection of options ranging from cheap and fairly average to ridiculously expensive but excellent.
One area to watch is the antenna, you’ll need a Mimo antenna or if it’s not mimo you’ll need to buy 2 regular Siso antennae’s
 
The Teltonika comes with all the antennas so unless you change for the QuSpot case you don't need them.

Just FYI all of the truly ridiculously expensive options have a Teltonika inside their casing, so don't waste your money thinking they're somehow superior. The RUT240 itself is actually quite cheap if you're happy to buy it off the shelf. The 240 is a class 4 LTE device so won't have the throughput of a phone or a MiFi device. What is does have is much, much better reception, so while you're limited to 15Mbps or so you will get that much more consistently while the various consumer puck type things will hit 50Mbps occasionally (usually on land!) and drop to zero in that nice anchorage you've been eyeing up.
 
Lustyd - have you done much experimentation with different external aerials and in particular the extent to which these improve the signal?
 
None at all, the included ones and the ones in the QuSpot are good enough that it's not been worth looking into. For various reasons the router will live at the top of the mast so external antennas would just be extra clutter and would require a different housing. The QuSpot housing I have is completely sealed including the cable gland so I'd be reluctant to do anything different.
 
I see a lot boat and campervan folk using the Huawei B535. They either run it straight off the 12v or buy a 12v adapter. I’m tempted to go that route
 
Lustyd - thanks, I can see your point if it is at the top of the mast. Presumably it is on an uphaul / downhaul and brought down when sailing? Presumably the router is on a rechargeable battery - I am not familiar with this router - or perhaps you are indicating its in a wired enclosure up the mast, in which case I assume you go up the mast if you wish to change the sim?
 
No the QuSpot will mount permanently on the existing Glomex TV antenna mount, and I'll remove the Glomex frisbee. There will be a single Ethernet cable in the mast for this (replacing the TV cable) and power will be over the Ethernet cable so nice and neat. I'll have a switch at the chart table but it's extremely low power so it'll probably be on all the time. I'll also be connecting it to an Ethernet switch so I'll have wired access as well as WiFi.
 
Lustyd - thanks, sounds like a very good and neat solution. Having tried various alternatives I have twin 4G aerials on the stern arch (and also the WiFi aerial) which is 2.5 metres high. The WiFi aerial connects to the Red Box router via USB and the aerials to the router in the cabin via very low loss co-axial. Possibly the only advantgae is being able to change and reconfigure the sim at the chart table, but it was a big work up. The signals on both are amazingly good and it is very rare to not get something and usually this is because the local mast is temporarily out of action. I originally used a similiar router to yours. The Red Box does have two slight advantages, you can switch between sources ie mobile, to Local WiFi to Sat signal all seamlessly, and you can also control how the data is used, which is really only relevant to the sat connection as the data is astonishingly expensive, but 100% available. I have a spare router so may well try your setup just to see how signals compare with the same provider.
 
Yes the RUT allows you to switch sources automatically too, so you can prioritise based on cost and availability
 
It's configurable. I can set it to always use wifi if there's a connection and pass it through, then use 4G if not. I can also provide other gateways on the LAN which can be given priorities too. In reality I don't have a satelite modem and I have a great unlimited 4G sim so I just leave it on 4G and don't bother trying to connect to Wifi at all. I've yet to see marina wifi better than my 4G connection
 
As someone hoping to achieve much the same as the OP, this has been a really useful thread so thank you all. The options I’m considering include the Mail-a-sail 4G Gateway (works through the RedBox which was on the boat when we bought her), a cheaper ‘non-marine’ 4G router or the TP Link MR600 with external aerial as supplied as a ‘kit’ by wifionboard.co.uk Does anyone have any direct experience of any of the above please? If there’s no difference between what wifionboard supply and the readily available non marine MR600, might sourcing one elsewhere and adding a 12v DC lead and a third part aerial (recommendations?) be a better/cheaper option?

As a self confessed IT numpty, any solution has to be plug and play with minimal or no setting up and so assembling a system from a multitude of components or suppliers is something I probably need to avoid!
 
A very interesting thread - I've ordered the Teltonika kit and look forward to giving it a trial run. However, reading the manual it is unclear as to whether it is possible to connect to the marina Wi-Fi and simultaneously use the RUT240's Wi-Fi to connect a laptop / mobile phone. If I want to use the marina's Wi-Fi for data, can I still connect to the router via the Wi-Fi or can you only connect to it via the ethernet ports? This may influence my choice of SIM deal, as I will not need much data if I can use the marina's Wi-Fi. However, if the router can't talk to the laptop and marina simultaneously via Wi-Fi, I would need a much larger data allowance.
 
Ofcom has a useful tool for identifying the level of voice & data coverage you are likely to receive in any location - Ofcom.

My reading of this, for Fred's berth:
- the 02 network (includes Tesco Mobile & Lycamobile) has the best signal,
- closely followed by Vodaphone network (includes Lebara Mobile and TalkTalk Mobile).
- Three network looks a bit patchy,
- and EE network (includes Virgin Mobile, Asda Mobile and BT Mobile) looks decidedly marginal.

So it may be worth him (or someone else in the same metaphorical boat:)) trying changing mobile provider.
 
Freeloader said:
A very interesting thread - I've ordered the Teltonika kit and look forward to giving it a trial run. However, reading the manual it is unclear as to whether it is possible to connect to the marina Wi-Fi and simultaneously use the RUT240's Wi-Fi to connect a laptop / mobile phone. If I want to use the marina's Wi-Fi for data, can I still connect to the router via the Wi-Fi or can you only connect to it via the ethernet ports? This may influence my choice of SIM deal, as I will not need much data if I can use the marina's Wi-Fi. However, if the router can't talk to the laptop and marina simultaneously via Wi-Fi, I would need a much larger data allowance.
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The short answer is yes, it can share WiFi. That might need some technical skill if your marina WiFi requires some oddball signup page and MAC registration though.
 
LittleSister said:
Ofcom has a useful tool for identifying the level of voice & data coverage you are likely to receive in any location - Ofcom.

My reading of this, for Fred's berth:
- the 02 network (includes Tesco Mobile & Lycamobile) has the best signal,
- closely followed by Vodaphone network (includes Lebara Mobile and TalkTalk Mobile).
- Three network looks a bit patchy,
- and EE network (includes Virgin Mobile, Asda Mobile and BT Mobile) looks decidedly marginal.

So it may be worth him (or someone else in the same metaphorical boat:)) trying changing mobile provider.
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Cheers for that John, interestingly, I was on O2, but the 4G down there was not excellent. I switched to 3 (but only because they had a very cheap deal at the time) and that hasn’t been an improvement really. I think being down in a ditch does not help at all. Next time I’m down there I’ll hoist phone up mast and see how well it provides a hotspot. If that makes a difference I’ll put something more permanent up there.
...and thanks once again to all contributors- a mine of info!
 
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