Mobile phone coverage Northern Scotland and the Western Isles

I do not sail in the area so cannot comment on the original post. I would like to comment on some general matters.

• It is a long time since I last used 2G. My recollection from our Mediterranean days in the early 2000s, was that it allowed us to use email with Saildocs to get text forecasts and GRIBs
• We have used and still use GPRS if 3G is not available. Again with email you can send/ receive emails so can get texts of forecasts and GRIBs using Saildocs.
• However, with GPRS you can download GRIB directly from zuGrib or Ugrib as these use FTP. Keep costs down by selecting area, grid spacing etc.
• XCWeather, Magic Seaweed, WindGuru, Windfinder etc all are GFS. But to use these requires a browser with the attendant overheads of adverts and html coding. It should be more cost effective to use zyGrib or UGtib with far more information available with more flexibility.
• Any area forecast in an area of complex topography will be hit and miss. I always use CG/CROSS etc plus GRIBs plus commonsense.
• If you want some detail you might like to try http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/wrfnmm.php?ech=3&mode=3&map=330 with a (claimed) 2 km resolution or http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/hirlam.php?ech=3&mode=3&map=430 with a 10 km resolution.

However, even the WRF, despite its 2 km resolution, will probably not meet JumbleDuck’s requirements in the Firth Of Clyde. One reason is that its initial analysis is probably no better than the GFS T=0 at 25 km. Just possibly it could be using the ECMWF at analysis, about 15 km. The HIRLAM forecast although using a 10 km grid might be better since it uses an analysis with a 10 km grid.

I may have muddied the waters but hope this might help.
 
franksingleton said:
• It is a long time since I last used 2G. My recollection from our Mediterranean days in the early 2000s, was that it allowed us to use email with Saildocs to get text forecasts and GRIBs
• We have used and still use GPRS if 3G is not available.
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If 3G is not available then surely you are using GPRS over 2G?
 
JumbleDuck said:
If 3G is not available then surely you are using GPRS over 2G?
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GPRS has sometimes been referred to as 2.5G. My recollection of 2G is that I had to dial up and paid for the time that I WA connected. That could be costly. With GPRS, you dial *99#, you then pay by data volume. You can even make a voice call and still be connected to GPRS. It is slow, to use, . but for text only emails eg text retrieval system of forecasts or GRIB files it is, or cab be, economic. I have a page on my site written when 3 G was not available or difficult to set up. I still use GPRS when abroad and without WiFi.

See http://weather.mailasail.com/Franks-Weather/Connecting-Cell-Phone-To-Laptop-Computer
 
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franksingleton said:
GPRS has sometimes been referred to as 2.5G. My recollection of 2G is that I had to dial up and paid for the time that I WA connected. That could be costly. With GPRS, you dial *99#, you then pay by data volume.
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GPRS runs over 2G - it can run over 3G but in practice it isn't. It can be used like a dial-up modem, as you describe, but it doesn't have to be. I use Three most of the time. If I am out of range of the Three 3G network it will connect to the Orange 2G one, and then data is either EDGE (when the signal is good) or GPRS (when it isn't). The only way I can tell which it is, apart from response times, is the data icon at the top of my Android screen:

H = HSPA+ (3.5G)
3 = HSPA (3G)
E = EDGE (2.5G)
G = GPRS (2G)
 
I am still using a bog standard cell phone and a laptop. It may sound “o;d fashioned” but we are away for months and need more computer facilities than a Smarthone or tablet. In my early Med days, we had to use email over a dial up connection to our computer . Presumably, that is still available? If so, it is a rather tedious way of using on-line services but might be the ultimate fallback. We would dial in, send an email request to Saildocs, disconnect, wait 5 minutes, redial and download the reply plain text emails.

The next step was that some cell phone networks, not all, had GPRS with, in time, its various enhancements such as EDGE. Cost effective with care. Still useful as a dial up system – again with care – but I do not know about your part of the world. When roaming it can be significantly cheaper than using a Smartphone with its bells and whistles. Text messages over email or FTP will be cheaper and, I think, more reliable requiring less bandwidth than using web based services such as XCWeather or Passageweather.
 
franksingleton said:
I am still using a bog standard cell phone and a laptop. It may sound “o;d fashioned” but we are away for months and need more computer facilities than a Smarthone or tablet. In my early Med days, we had to use email over a dial up connection to our computer . Presumably, that is still available?.
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Yup. When I plug my nice new Aldi smartphone into my laptop, one of the options I get is to use it as a modem. I don't bother, though, because if I use it as tethered router it will degrade gracefull all the way from HSDA+ to GPRS depending on the type and strength of the signal it can find. Same with the Mifi I use on the boat.
 
franksingleton said:
Meanwhile back in the real physical rather than the literary world, http://www.theguardian.com/environm...record-for-hottest-year-final-figures-confirm and http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/31/weather-forecast-next-five-years-even-hotter.

Paris COP21 indicates that some people are taking some heed rather than sheltering behind closed minds. Time will tell rather than the hot air generated here.
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Not at all sure what that's to do with mobile phone coverage, but just to be different, Scotland had one of its coldest summers for years!
 
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