My Reolink solar powered camera has been running without any additional power for 4 months on the boat and it ran for about a year when it was at home.
Maybe - that would explain why mine sometimes doesn't connect first time.
Forgive me for being ignorant with IT but can you put a pay as you go sim in and which sort or best deal , and how long would say 20 qwid last .
Most of us are ignorant about IT. Some, like Hurricane, are not ignorant. The rest of us blag.
But how do you know which is the best deal? Price isn't everything.
Most of us are ignorant about IT. Some, like Hurricane, are not ignorant. The rest of us blag.
Short answers: Yes you can put a PAYG SIM in a camera or a router, and £20 probably won't last a year.... but it depends.
There is no "sort" as such. They will all connect to their provider's network in the cellular system.
But there are only 4 Cell networks in the UK: EE, O2, Three and Vodafone.
There are a few "piggyback" operators who lease frequency usage ("bandwidth") from one of the 4 network providers.
An online search for current offers is the only way to see what is available.
But how do you know which is the best deal? Price isn't everything.
The best advice is to know how to define what you need and what questions to have in your mind when evaluating offers.
Here are my suggestions:
On our boat we have two SIMs. They are both EE for the reason I gave above. The router handles a lot of data traffic when we are on board, and our cameras also connect over the router. I have a 24 month contract with EE which covers the router and 2 phones. Basically it was a £10 per month standing charge for each device and we get 100Gb of data per month (plus a load of voice minutes and SMSs) which I can "gift" to whichever device needs the allowance most. The price has gone up since we signed and it's not cheap but it works for us. But for the shore power loss detector I have a SIM from 1p mobile (introduced to me by someone on the Practical Boat owner forum) because it's on the EE network and for the use we make of it the cost is £30 p.a.
- Network: the cheapest deal in the world is no good if there is no signal where you need it. You need to know whether you will be static or moving. For example, our boat is based in Plymouth at the moment and we do coastal cruising in UK, Irish, and Channel Island waters. Based on our experience EE has the best coverage and signal strength at the moment. But there are places near our home where Vodafone has the best signal, and others where another operator would be better. For many users the signal determines which network to choose and it's a case of finding the best deal for that network. Another example is our shore power loss detector which had an ASDA SIM in it until recently. ASDA used to piggyback on EE. This year they changed to Vodafone. So we cancelled the deal because Vodafone coverage is not as good as EE in West Country coastal areas.
- If the SIM is on a boat and you will be going abroad the roaming charges will be very important, and as mentioned above the situation is fluid.
- When you have chosen your network you need to determine what deal you need and for that you need to know what the connection will be used for. There are 3 possible uses: voice calls, SMS (Short Message Service, ie: texts), and data. Data is anything which isn't voice or SMS, eg: browsing, streaming video, email, Whatsapp, and so on. With the growth of VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) and apps like Whatsapp you couldn't rule out data being the only thing eventually. For a camera or a router with a SIM slot you will be consuming data, and possibly SMS if alerts are sent by texts, but no voice, so you need to find out what the camera manufacturer says about data consumption (and possibly SMSs). A deal which offers unlimited voice calls but charges a fortune for data is no good for a camera or router. And a deal which offers cheap data but charges 30p for an SMS would be useless for our shore power loss detector which communicates only by sending and receiving texts. You do need to be able to guesstimate your usage before you go looking for a deal.
- When you have chosen a network (or two, or three) and estimated your usage there are a few gotchas to be aware of. Some PAYG services insist you use your pre-paid allowances within a time limit. When the time is up your money's gone even if you haven't used the SIM at all. Others charge a fortune if you go over your limits. And some "PAYG" deals are actually fixed term contracts - mutton dressed as lamb. Read the small print.
- Finally, there is your interface with the provider. The cheapest deal is no good if you get apoplexy trying to deal with the provider when something goes wrong. Sadly, you won't know about that until it's too late.
Sorry if this post is a bit long.
If it is just for the camera and no other use, then 12GB should cover you for the year, I have several cameras and I don't use more than 8Gb per annum, hence the 12GB Three "Data" Sim on Amazon for 12months which costs between £25 to £35 depending on when you look on Amazon.
But if he uses a router he'll need more than that....if he gets an unlimited package then it can be used for navigation, laptops, ipads, netflix etc etc
All done , even an idiot could do it , actually an idiot has.Take the SIM out of your phone and put the other SIM in and then follow the instructions if there are any.
Once activated take the SIM out and put it in the camera and put your SIM back in your phone
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I've never drilled a hole in the bottom of my boat to know how thick it is but these photo's make that Lagoon hull look very thin!Well Mike - you could have taken a shot from the STB Quarter, that way my P45 would have looked a lot bigger.....!
Some shots below of the Lagoon 410 that run aground last week in Sant Carles, recovered to the Town boatyard
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