Mobile Internet and Vodafone USB dongle and Mifi 2352

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mocruising

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At present we have both a Vodofone USB dongle and a Vodafone Mifi 2352 on the boat. We used to have an annual contract with Vodafone but I cancelled this in October as we knew we would be away from the boat until April. I have learned from the recent thread on mobile internet in Greece that all three service providers offer more or less similar coverage, we will be in the Agean this year. My question is I would prefer to go down the PAYG route this year as we will move about a good deal and it appears the others Cosmote and Wind offer better deals for PAYG. If this is the case will their SIMS work in the Vodafone dongle/Mifi 2352 and if not where can I get them unlocked.
 
mocruising said:
... will their SIMS work in the Vodafone dongle/Mifi 2352 and if not where can I get them unlocked.
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To find out whether it's unlocked, stick a non-voda SIM in it and see if it recognises it. If it recognises the SIM then see whether it will actually work with a non-VODA SIM. You need one that will do data, of course: I use a Virgin Mobile PAYG SIM - max 30p per day for data in the UK.

I have used fonefunshop for unlocking and unbranding. They give advice, too; it might need different firmware.
 
Vodafone Mifi

Hi M___
Your boat is OK. Thanks for turning us on to Mifi last fall. We are still enjoying it here in Messolonghi. We have asked Yiannes in the Vodafone office here if our Mifi is unlocked and he says it is definitely unlocked. The Vodafone dongle that we got from him is unlocked as we have used it state side. We have no reason to doubt that the Mifi is unlocked, we hope to use it in Italy this summer and next winter. I remember you may not have got yours from Vodafone here, maybe when you return to Messolonghi Yiannes at Vodafone can unlock yours for you if it is in fact locked. When will you return?
 
Colin, in simple terms, a MiFi uses a 3G data sim (same as a phone sim, but with a data connection, rather than a standard phone sim. Just like the sim that goes into a laptop internet dongle).

The mifi creates a local wifi connection, that you can connect pc's, laptops, wifi enabled phones, etc to. So effectively you have a local wifi zone, but by 3G instead of by phone line or by cable etc. It's very good, but you do need a good 3G connection, same as 3G dongle in a laptop, to be able to use. I have one as I have no wired phone connection at home, so can wifi link everything to it same as a wireless router on a phone line. The big advantage being you can take it everywhere with you, and have the equivalent of a home wireless router on the move. I'll repeat though, you need a 3G data connection, same as you'd get with data (internet) dongle.
 
oldsaltoz said:
Voaphone must have a better network in the UK than the one in Oz.

A class action is being mounted here due to poor service and the high number of 'drop outs'.
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The 3G network in the UK is generally very good. Three (as opposed to Vodafone), probably have the best, as their network was designed as 3G from the beginning, and they have a genuine unlimited bandwidth plan for some devices, such as iPhones (though they can be tethered), but not for dongles or MiFi
 
johnabbott893 said:
Its really hard not having a Google button. http://www.mifi.org.uk/
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This link doesn't actually explain what it is and how it works?????

See BrendanS reply for an explanation.

If you have Windows 7 and a data dongle and you want to turn your computer into a WiFi hotspot you can download FREE software that will do the same job.

http://www.connectify.me/

Your 2nd computer can now access the wifi at the same time.
 
BrendanS said:
Colin, in simple terms, a MiFi uses a 3G data sim (same as a phone sim, but with a data connection, rather than a standard phone sim. Just like the sim that goes into a laptop internet dongle).

The mifi creates a local wifi connection, that you can connect pc's, laptops, wifi enabled phones, etc to. So effectively you have a local wifi zone, but by 3G instead of by phone line or by cable etc. It's very good, but you do need a good 3G connection, same as 3G dongle in a laptop, to be able to use. I have one as I have no wired phone connection at home, so can wifi link everything to it same as a wireless router on a phone line. The big advantage being you can take it everywhere with you, and have the equivalent of a home wireless router on the move. I'll repeat though, you need a 3G data connection, same as you'd get with data (internet) dongle.
Click to expand...

Brendan, thank you! Helpful as ever.
I do already have a vodafone, usb dongle and sim card for 3g in my laptop. only thing I would like to link up, would be the ships computer to allow grib downloads for my chart plotter & maybe online AIS, although I do have AIS already. How would I go about doing this?
 
In Turkey we used a Turkish vodafone dongle, then bought the vodafone docking station (a mifi) so that we can run multiple devices through the one mifi.

Our docking station/mifi is mains powered (use it at home) if we need internet on the boat, just unplug the dongle from the mifi and use dongle directly in a laptop.

Colleague at work has just picked up a rechargable mifi, he gets back over here next week, we will trial his mifi in the office for range etc, if good will consider getting a rechargable one myself.
 
sailinglegend420 said:
This link doesn't actually explain what it is and how it works?????

See BrendanS reply for an explanation.

If you have Windows 7 and a data dongle and you want to turn your computer into a WiFi hotspot you can download FREE software that will do the same job.

http://www.connectify.me/

Your 2nd computer can now access the wifi at the same time.
Click to expand...

Yes! It was a glorious example of a techy writing marketing material! Got an idea what he was talking about but Brendans explanation is obvious to all.
 
ccscott49 said:
Brendan, thank you! Helpful as ever.
I do already have a vodafone, usb dongle and sim card for 3g in my laptop. only thing I would like to link up, would be the ships computer to allow grib downloads for my chart plotter & maybe online AIS, although I do have AIS already. How would I go about doing this?
Click to expand...

The easiest way of all would just be to put the 3g dongle in the ships computer when you want to download grib files. If both computers are wifi enabled, then you could link them with an 'ad hoc' peer to peer connection, so the ships computer can share the laptops 3G connection. This can sometimes be very easy indeed, but if it doesn't work first time, can be quite involved, so you may need some help from a tame geek who can work on the computers hands on - it's just about impossible to do from a distance.
 
BrendanS said:
Three (as opposed to Vodafone), probably have the best, as their network was designed as 3G from the beginning,
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:D Do you reckon VF accidentally connected up their 3G network to the MSCs rather than the SGSNs?!

Without claiming to be a RAN specialist (I'm a technical specialist in other parts of mobile phone networks) I think I have to pull you up on that. At the RAN level 3G & 2G networks are separate. In the early days there were issues with co-locating 2G & 3G cells, which the equipment suppliers didn't recommend but planning regulations forced mobile phone companies to do anyway, but they've pretty much been got around.

There is absolutely no reason why a 3G only company should have a better 3G network than a company that also has a 2G network. They may have thrown more money at their networks at the start because they had to but the larger companies have had the money to overtake them. The latest 3G kit and the early kit are worlds apart.

You're the first person I've ever heard recommend Three.
 
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