Marina wifi feedback please

J

JaVa

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I'm pondering where to place my boat and the quality of marina wifi is one of the bigger considerations. Marinas under consideration are:
Boatfolk - Haslar
Premier - Gosport, Port Solent and Southsea
MDL - Northney and Sparkes

I'll be working from the boat increasingly and any first-hand experience of wifi provision would be much appreciated.
 
I can’t speak for the marinas you mention but I have experience of wifi in many others. Some are very poor, others are excellent, but even the best struggle at times. Think of school holidays and weekends, when a boat could have several people all using the wifi, playing ga mes and uploading videos. I have often had to fall back on 4G.
 
Marina WiFi invariably suffers from high contention rates - in other words, you're sharing a limited bandwidth with (potentially) hundreds of others. I'd agree with @PaulRainbow that using a MiFi dongle with a suitable data bundle will give you a more reliable connection than relying on the marina WiFi. It also works (providing there's a decent 4G signal) anywhere, so your choice of marina is less limited.
 
Haslar certainly has a strong signal at my boat, but I've never connected as I have built in WiFi on board with a Teltonika router wired in to the boat and unlimited SIM. This setup means I can work from anywhere near the coast, including places where a dongle wouldn't work.
 
lustyd said:
Haslar certainly has a strong signal at my boat, but I've never connected as I have built in WiFi on board with a Teltonika router wired in to the boat and unlimited SIM. This setup means I can work from anywhere near the coast, including places where a dongle wouldn't work.
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I am not very tech savvy - which Teltonika router do you have? what do I need beyond the router and an unlimited sim? Do I just insert the sim in the Router, add some volts and plug the laptop into the router or use its wifi? Or is it a lot more complicated than that?
 
It depends how far you want to go. I have the RUT240 which can literally plug into 12V direct and off you go with WiFi and Ethernet connections, it'll sit on the desk just like a home router. Mine is powered over Ethernet by adding a power injector to allow me to place it further away (specifically up the mast!). Finally, I have a QuSpot housing for it which I will be using to install the router somewhere on the mast, probably a little higher than the radar, to get better range on the 4G. On my particular setup I have also wired in an Ethernet switch which connects the two plotters and Radar together and to the Internet for updates.
Needless to say, all of this is more effort than a MiFi device as others suggested. The outcome is more consistent Internet though which is useful for "home" working.
 
Sea Devil said:
I am not very tech savvy - which Teltonika router do you have? what do I need beyond the router and an unlimited sim? Do I just insert the sim in the Router, add some volts and plug the laptop into the router or use its wifi? Or is it a lot more complicated than that?
Click to expand...
The simplest is simply to buy a MiFi dongle (like this: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8892849?clickSR=slp:term:wifi:4:246:1. It sets up a WiFi network for you and you can connect any WiFi device via it. Simple, self-contained and reliable. Most major networks will sell either contract or pay-as-you-go data plans for these devices. Once set up, you just treat it as you would your household WiFi. No separate router needed.
 
lustyd said:
It depends how far you want to go. I have the RUT240 which can literally plug into 12V direct and off you go with WiFi and Ethernet connections, it'll sit on the desk just like a home router. Mine is powered over Ethernet by adding a power injector to allow me to place it further away (specifically up the mast!). Finally, I have a QuSpot housing for it which I will be using to install the router somewhere on the mast, probably a little higher than the radar, to get better range on the 4G. On my particular setup I have also wired in an Ethernet switch which connects the two plotters and Radar together and to the Internet for updates.
Needless to say, all of this is more effort than a MiFi device as others suggested. The outcome is more consistent Internet though which is useful for "home" working.
Click to expand...
Thank you - understand I have copied the info!
 
AntarcticPilot said:
The simplest is simply to buy a MiFi dongle (like this: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8892849?clickSR=slp:term:wifi:4:246:1. It sets up a WiFi network for you and you can connect any WiFi device via it. Simple, self-contained and reliable. Most major networks will sell either contract or pay-as-you-go data plans for these devices. Once set up, you just treat it as you would your household WiFi. No separate router needed.
Click to expand...
It seems that it is only with a Vodaphone sim - I need to use a French Sim..... but I could be wrong. thanks for the suggestion
 
I was in the marina wifi provisioning business some 8 odd years ago. The biggest challenge was always that the marina owners needed to have the 'wifi provided' tick box but wouldn't spend any money on getting a decent service. One of the better companies back then was actually MDL who eventually had some serious bandwidth put in as they were getting so many complaints. My service guys were constantly getting earache when they went onsite, particularly from the big Sunseeker owners way out on the hammerheads whose 4 children were all trying to stream films or play games online when the entire marina service had 2-5Mb of internet pipe.
I'm out of it now but would assume 4G/5G is your friend
 
I have visited the same marina and had different berths on the first visit the WiFi was brilliant on the second, not 50 meters from my first berth, total pants.
 
I have to say that I don't bother trying to connect any more - it's always so poor that the dongle is always better. I wonder if we'll now see marinas starting to let their facilities lapse. The other option might be a small marina lounge / work bar (Hartlepool has one) with great wi fi and not to bother on the pontoons.
 
I think marinas in the south are going the other way. With home working becoming common those paying £6k - £10k per year are demanding good connectivity. With hundreds of boats in a marina the shared cost of gigabit fibre is minimal so it's not unreasonable to expect good wifi as a berth holder
 
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