Chris H
Well-Known Member
Chaps, what are the options to get TV or internet on a boat in SoF.
TV/Internet
- Thread starter Chris H
- Start date
markc
Well-Known Member
Hi Chris
We have a Free.fr sim only contract - 19.99 euros a month which gives us 100gb a month which we use Google Chromecast on all the TVs on the boat, hooked up with via a mifi unit to give wifi throughout. You can get the sim card from a vending machine, just check the Free site. You do need a French bank account, but can give the marina address. We also have a tracvision - if you have one, a TNT box with free viewing card (about £20 off ebay for the card) will give you 100s European stations and some of them broadcast in English e.g. Nickleodeon for the kids, plus all the usual international news chans. It's also worth mentioning that for about £23 you can get a UK Vodafone sim only that gives you 100gb per month too, with roaming. My wife & I both have that, plus the free.fr sim will give us enough data to work and for the kids TV even if we're there for the whole month. Let me know if you want me to dig out any links for the above. On teh TV front I also have an Amazon Firestick and use a VPN, but it's pretty flaky
We have a Free.fr sim only contract - 19.99 euros a month which gives us 100gb a month which we use Google Chromecast on all the TVs on the boat, hooked up with via a mifi unit to give wifi throughout. You can get the sim card from a vending machine, just check the Free site. You do need a French bank account, but can give the marina address. We also have a tracvision - if you have one, a TNT box with free viewing card (about £20 off ebay for the card) will give you 100s European stations and some of them broadcast in English e.g. Nickleodeon for the kids, plus all the usual international news chans. It's also worth mentioning that for about £23 you can get a UK Vodafone sim only that gives you 100gb per month too, with roaming. My wife & I both have that, plus the free.fr sim will give us enough data to work and for the kids TV even if we're there for the whole month. Let me know if you want me to dig out any links for the above. On teh TV front I also have an Amazon Firestick and use a VPN, but it's pretty flaky
DavidJ
Well-Known Member
In Spain I use my UK EE data allowance of 100GB a month which is shared with my wife’s phone ( not cheap but it’s the simplest solution I’ve found) I use TVMucho for TV channels. It’s a DNS not VPN which has an advantage of not being encrypted so works without buffering in poor 4G areas and there is no fiddling with ever changing ip addresses. I have a AppleTV box on the boat so push the TV program from the phone onto a real TV on the boat (which is not a smart one)
Although TVMucho sounds Spanish it will work in France and even in Iceland over Christmas.
Although TVMucho sounds Spanish it will work in France and even in Iceland over Christmas.
mcanderson
Well-Known Member
Chris,
we use our iPhones to create a hot spot and hang our ipads of that for TV and Netflix’s etc. Having a U.K. contract with lots of data, we use Vodafone, you can roam in the EU with ease. We have never had a problem and happily spend two week periods on board with no limits reached. We don’t have kids, and to tell you the truth enjoy escaping from TV when on board.
If you want to get a free sim then the closest store is in Cap Trois Mille which is a big shopping centre just the other side of Nice airport.
How is new boat ownership going?
we use our iPhones to create a hot spot and hang our ipads of that for TV and Netflix’s etc. Having a U.K. contract with lots of data, we use Vodafone, you can roam in the EU with ease. We have never had a problem and happily spend two week periods on board with no limits reached. We don’t have kids, and to tell you the truth enjoy escaping from TV when on board.
If you want to get a free sim then the closest store is in Cap Trois Mille which is a big shopping centre just the other side of Nice airport.
How is new boat ownership going?
jrudge
Well-Known Member
I also tether. We used to do local sim and mifi but tethering works well and we don’t run out of data
Chris H
Well-Known Member
This all seems fairly simple, I was expecting having to pay thousands for some fancy system fitting to the boat.
Our first visit will be the beginning of March to do our day skipper course and stay on the boat for a week......should be fun !
jrudge
Well-Known Member
We mostly watch Netflix. If you have an hd subscription you can use upto 3gb per hour.
If you go to the website ( not the tv ) you can limit the data rate which will have little or no impact on the image quality.
If you go to the website ( not the tv ) you can limit the data rate which will have little or no impact on the image quality.
markc
Well-Known Member
The mifi / local sim route is useful if you want to have IP cameras on board so you can check on the boat when you're not there.
dpb
Well-Known Member
If you have a modern digital TV that works in France, you can switch the language of most English / US films and series to English with the remote.
Hurricane
Well-Known Member
I installed a fixed 4G router which provides two things.
Good internet connectivity and a ships LAN.
A MiFi or mobile phone tethering does the same thing but a fixed system is slightly faster and IMO, more robust.
And the difference in cost is quite minimal - 4G routers are well under £100.
Internet
Currently, I use a Vodafone Data only deal that I buy in the UK.
Whatever contract you get, it is worth buying the contract in the UK (from a UK shop for example).
That way, wherever you connect to the internet, you will get a UK IP address so the likes of BBCiPlayer will always work.
The Ships LAN
Using a router, this can be either a wired or a WiFi LAN.
For me, the LAN also provides inter connectivity for all my devices on board - Ships PC, several Raspberry Pis for TV, an Audio Air Play network and all my (and friends) mobile devices.
So, the router is an integral part - just "making do" with a MiFi or tethering is an unnecessary complication.
Just my view but my system has been in place for many years - well tried and tested.
Good internet connectivity and a ships LAN.
A MiFi or mobile phone tethering does the same thing but a fixed system is slightly faster and IMO, more robust.
And the difference in cost is quite minimal - 4G routers are well under £100.
Internet
Currently, I use a Vodafone Data only deal that I buy in the UK.
Whatever contract you get, it is worth buying the contract in the UK (from a UK shop for example).
That way, wherever you connect to the internet, you will get a UK IP address so the likes of BBCiPlayer will always work.
The Ships LAN
Using a router, this can be either a wired or a WiFi LAN.
For me, the LAN also provides inter connectivity for all my devices on board - Ships PC, several Raspberry Pis for TV, an Audio Air Play network and all my (and friends) mobile devices.
So, the router is an integral part - just "making do" with a MiFi or tethering is an unnecessary complication.
Just my view but my system has been in place for many years - well tried and tested.
5teve
Well-Known Member
I'm with hurricane.. I have an Asus router running 12v (which took some finding) with 4g USB stick (external antenna capable) and run wired connections where I can via a network switch then to the router and wifi for everything else.. it sits there on 247 with the advantage I can create a VPN tunnel if needs be to home / office directly in the router...
Cheap easy and robust.. media catered for by a fusion ud750 and Chromecast on the tv..
Steve
Cheap easy and robust.. media catered for by a fusion ud750 and Chromecast on the tv..
Steve
markc
Well-Known Member
I did try and find a 24v router with zero luck - that would be ideal. Using a USB powered MiFi and a USB powered access point to increase coverage.
Portofino
Well-Known Member
That’s what have ( had as now in Italy) .
You can also get a digi box to connect to an existing TV as they changed about 2/3 y ago .
Our TV works in Italy too .
For WiFi / Internet we use a Three box on contract .Sort of Internet on the move We find it useful when traveling around as well .
5teve
Well-Known Member
You could complicate it by adding a DC to DC converter.. adjustable type..24v in and 18 or whatever volts out... I do it quite often when i need to boost to weird voltages like 12v to 31v for Xmas lights.. but the converter boosts and reduces.. so gives me the option..
Steve
Hurricane
Well-Known Member
He guys - what wrong with a cheap inverter - could drive loads of other stuff as well.
That way, you use the power adaptor that comes with the 4G router.
I bought a cheap Victron one and it runs my PC and router as well as other stuff.
@steve
Yep - I also run a VPN that is on 24/7 .
It is actually another router downstream of the 4G router.
This extra router runs DD-WRT - open source router firmware which incorporates OpenVPN (a secure SSL connection) giving me a secure tunnel over the internet.
The other end of the OpenVPN tunnel is another DD-WRT router in my house here in the UK.
The result is an "always on" LAN connecting my boat devices to all my home devices.
So, on the boat, I can access and maintain my homeserver etc.
Our home telephones are VOIP so there is also one on the boat thus extending my home telephones to the boat.
I've been doing this for more than 10 years - now the likes of Ring provide similar facilities whilst away from home.
I also keep a cheap (£24) IP camera running on the boat as a security device.
If anyone breaks in, it takes a photo, emails it to me and then records video that I can play back remotely.
Back to the point though - there are lots of benefits of having a permanent internet connection on the boat.
That way, you use the power adaptor that comes with the 4G router.
I bought a cheap Victron one and it runs my PC and router as well as other stuff.
@steve
Yep - I also run a VPN that is on 24/7 .
It is actually another router downstream of the 4G router.
This extra router runs DD-WRT - open source router firmware which incorporates OpenVPN (a secure SSL connection) giving me a secure tunnel over the internet.
The other end of the OpenVPN tunnel is another DD-WRT router in my house here in the UK.
The result is an "always on" LAN connecting my boat devices to all my home devices.
So, on the boat, I can access and maintain my homeserver etc.
Our home telephones are VOIP so there is also one on the boat thus extending my home telephones to the boat.
I've been doing this for more than 10 years - now the likes of Ring provide similar facilities whilst away from home.
I also keep a cheap (£24) IP camera running on the boat as a security device.
If anyone breaks in, it takes a photo, emails it to me and then records video that I can play back remotely.
Back to the point though - there are lots of benefits of having a permanent internet connection on the boat.
Hooligan
Well-Known Member
We use our UK phones and tether like most others. . If you watch Netflix a lot you can buy a package for around 15 pounds or so pm that gives you unlimited access to Netflix. We started with the local sim route but it ended up being a massive pain and frankly doesn’t save you money.
John100156
Well-Known Member
I also use a Vodaphone data SIM which costs me about £29/m with unlimited data, in a TP-Link Archer MR600 AC1200 Mbps 4G+ Cat6 Mobile Wi-Fi Router Dual Band, 4G/3G Network SIM Slot Unlocked, No Configuration required, works really well...! Also have a cheap inverter to drive a standard fridge which powers it and router.
John100156
Well-Known Member
Mike, what do you use for your security camera setup, I have an RPi with MotionEyeOS which is very easy to set up and works really well, uploading images and video as well as storing them locally if required. It can also text too if motion is detected. Great for those not experienced in setting up....
Hurricane
Well-Known Member
John - I did have a play with the RPi as a security camera - I think I used the same camera as well.
I found that the RPi got a bit hot and the failed after a few hours.
But whilst playing with the RPi's camera, I came across these:-
It is a ESCAM G02 - probably better models available now (I've been using then for a couple of years) but a quick search on eBay finds them in China for about 20 quid.
Includes full pan and tilt - if you want a remote camera its a no brainer - no need for a VPN but be careful about security.
This pic taken whilst typing this post - dark out in SC at the moment!!!
Hurricane
Well-Known Member
Thats a good price for unlimited data.
I'm stuck with a contract until the summer.
I've been reading the UK Government website about travelling after Jan 2021.
It seems that they can't guarantee the free roaming that we enjoy within Europe after Jan 2021.
We will have to see if the phone companies remain competitive and keep these deals available.
With technology (5G etc) moving along, I think we will see more deals not less.
