Marina wifi feedback please

Agree with sorting your own personal provision. I’m currently MDL and frankly it’s not that good, constantly dropping out, meaning you need to log back in. If I’m below in the boat it doesn’t connect, so to gain connection I need to go up into the cockpit. Go below and it weakens then drops out again. Doesn’t cause me too much angst but if you were wanting to work on line, then no good really.
 
A simple alternative to routers and dongles is to just get an unlimited SIM for your phone. Set the phone as a hotspot and connect to it with your wifi devices.
 
Phones can get hot though if used all day and if you need it up the mast you lose your phone so while I agree it's good for some use-cases it's far from ideal for extended use or working all day.
 
PaulRainbow said:
A simple alternative to routers and dongles is to just get an unlimited SIM for your phone. Set the phone as a hotspot and connect to it with your wifi devices.
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I don't disagree with you, but find that the dongle seems to get better reception and can be placed in the best position on the boat for signal strength.

Weirdly, I do have one ancient tablet that I only use as a book reader that will ONLY connect to the phone hotspot and no other wi fi!
 
lustyd said:
Phones can get hot though if used all day and if you need it up the mast you lose your phone so while I agree it's good for some use-cases it's far from ideal for extended use or working all day.
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Mine sits on the chart table, on charge. I can use it all day with no heat issues, even if it's downloading box sets or movies to my laptop. Never needed to haul it up the mast. Obviously won't suit everyone, in every location, but if you're in a location with a decent 4G signal it's cheap and simple. If not, for a simple setup a dongle might work. If the dongle didn't work i wouldn't haul it up the mast, i'd install a router with an antenna up the mast.

As it happens, i already have a router, not needed for the internet, but for having some other devices networked by wifi. The router allows those devices to exchange data without having to go through my phone. The router connects to the phones hotspot and provides internet connectivity to those devices, should they need it. But, regardless, the internet onboard is provided by the phone, sat on the chart table.
 
PaulRainbow said:
Never needed to haul it up the mast
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Many anchorages need this. The Scillies and West coast of Scotland are good examples. The extra bit of height really helps. Even Padstow at low water has a high enough wall to cause reception issues.
I'm certainly not saying everyone needs a full install, but for reliable Internet for working then a router is hard to beat. For casual use a phone is great and would definitely be my first recommendation. I can see the benefits of the MiFi boxes but they're back to battery life issues when up the mast and if they aren't you may as well use a phone.
 
All those pesky yacht masts play havoc with the wifi signal.. not to mention the few hundred people all connected trying to stream and download..
Haslar has fibre optic to its pontoon wifi antennas... berth next to one and you may be ok...
 
I use an £89 router from Amazon and pay £10 a month for 30gb of data through Smarty that IIRC use the EE network, easy to set up and not had a problem, yet!
 
PaulRainbow said:
If the dongle didn't work i wouldn't haul it up the mast, i'd install a router with an antenna up the mast.
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Thing is, at the frequencies involved, running antenna cable any great distance (like up the mast from a radio below deck) quickly becomes impracticably lossy. So many professional data radios are designed to be mounted outside near the antenna, with the less finicky power and data cabling going the longer distance.

Pete
 
We are a Haslar boat -Wi-fi is generally fine but I suspect you need to look at location of berth offered and proximity to Wi-fi unit on pontoon as well as width of the fairway, direction compared to prevailing wind, how close it is to main entrance etc. Depth isn’t such a problem as dredging continues on a rolling basis.
 
Sea Devil said:
Thank you - understand I have copied the info!
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This all seems very complicated. I just have a contract for unlimited data roaming on my basic android tablet. It's not expensive at about £20 per month. I can set it up as a hotspot and use up to 5 devices including a laptop with it. It works well everywhere up to about 10 miles offshore all over Europe.
 
lustyd said:
Many anchorages need this. The Scillies and West coast of Scotland are good examples. The extra bit of height really helps. Even Padstow at low water has a high enough wall to cause reception issues.
I'm certainly not saying everyone needs a full install, but for reliable Internet for working then a router is hard to beat. For casual use a phone is great and would definitely be my first recommendation. I can see the benefits of the MiFi boxes but they're back to battery life issues when up the mast and if they aren't you may as well use a phone.
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+1

Only way to get internet at the Île de Groix anchorages. I think it's pretty slow even then.

I put a power bank in a plastic bag (so its rainproof -I plan to buy a tupperware box the right size) with my phone, so that it remains fully charged.
 
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