What do you use marina wifi for ?

[Amulet]

I use it for almost everything you could think of, and sometimes it isn't as good as I'd hope.

Surely it will become ubiquitous and improve to the point that we regard it as a standard way of communicating.

I do email, log on to work, pick up weather forecasts and synoptic charts, look at the met office rainfall radar, check notices to mariners, check tides....... settle Scrabble arguments on rainy evenings... download the day's crossword ... check the sports results. I can't believe anyone thinks it's not useful.

I have alternative ways of doing all the "mission critical" things, but I would claim it is good seamanship to exploit all the information sources you can.

 

[BlueSkyNick]

moodyNick,

I can only sympathise, you asked a sensible and professional question seeking to improve service and fairness, and got jumped on from all sides as to why you weren't providing Jodrell Bank direct to every boat for free, or better, pay them to take it !

Nice try though.

No worries, I spent 30 years in telecomms, initially keeping small island countries connected to the rest of the world, then 18 years looking after the requirements of large companies.

When it comes to fighting off sharks, this lot are a bunch of sprats !!!

 

[BlueSkyNick]

I use it for almost everything you could think of, and sometimes it isn't as good as I'd hope.

Surely it will become ubiquitous and improve to the point that we regard it as a standard way of communicating.

I do email, log on to work, pick up weather forecasts and synoptic charts, look at the met office rainfall radar, check notices to mariners, check tides....... settle Scrabble arguments on rainy evenings... download the day's crossword ... check the sports results. I can't believe anyone thinks it's not useful.

I have alternative ways of doing all the "mission critical" things, but I would claim it is good seamanship to exploit all the information sources you can.

Totally agree with your last point, the information sources you mention are very low capacity and not a problem. It is entertainment services and bandwidth hungry apps which are nothing to do with boating which cause the problem !

 

[deuc02]

Use Spectrum at Nicks place and it works fine. Slows down a bit when its busy (just like any providers network). Usage wise anything from a forecast to downloading large files ie films .

 

[BlueSkyNick]

Use Spectrum at Nicks place and it works fine. Slows down a bit when its busy (just like any providers network). Usage wise anything from a forecast to downloading large files ie films .

Given the nature of films you probably watch, being low quality cinematography and very simple story lines, if any, you're not a problem !!!

 

[RobbieW]

Agree with what you say about 4G, havent heard of 5G yet.

On loading, I am surprised you say it is at all levels, but I have been out of telecomms for 6 years now. Is your information in the public domain, or is it anecdotal?

Mostly anecdotal + common sense + a mate at Ericcson. Having been a user for 20+ years and employed in IT, we've seen huge changes in the services provided - most of which increase data throughput; voice, now video and online everything compounded by exponential user growth around the world. 10+ years ago there was a noticeable drop in throughput as USA came online. Common sense says that if the backbone doesnt stay ahead of throughput, performance suffers. That takes investment which isnt always there.

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

My line at home runs at about 10 meg and we sometimes have several people streaming different video streams with no problems.

Consequently, the Internet has become a core part of our lives, whether it is working, reading, researching, planning a trip, communicating or playing.

When in a marina I sometimes want to switch off from all of that, but I am quite capable of turning off my devices when needed. When I do want access to the Internet I am always disappointed at the speeds that are delivered.

I am also frustrated with the amount of fuss it can take to get connected, and the ridiculously bad value that some providers seem to offer. Marinas that I have been to have wanted more money from me for 48 hours than I pay for a month of my dedicated service a home. And, if I am stupid enough to give them my money I can find myself with an almost unusable service because the chav on the boat across the way cannot get through the evening without watching 'I am a Celebrity, get me out of here', 'eastenders' or some other complete drivel.

It would be nice to think that 4G is going to solve all of this. It may do so in major cities (most of which are not on the sea), but I am always presently surprised if I get even a 3G signal. Mostly of the time on the coast it's way slower than that.

My preference would be a marina wifi service that was included in the mooring fee. Happy for there to be some sort of technical barrier to restrict video streaming or massive file downloading which could incur an additional charge.

Oh yes, one last thing. Anyone not using a Mac, iPhone or iPad should not be allowed access as they clearly have no sense at all.

 

[deuc02]

Given the nature of films you probably watch, being low quality cinematography and very simple story lines, if any, you're not a problem !!!

welcome to E pontoon

 

[jakeroyd]

I'm at Mayflower , where WIFI is now included free of charge from Wifispark (that company that infamously also provides wifi in Fowey where 3g is pretty much absent)
I do use it.
Speed is a bit indifferent , manages Sype without video most of the time.

It's a compensation from the heaving pontoons and constant stream of Princess workers

 

[SimbaDog]

Where are you based ?

PYH

 

[Blue5]

I like the idea of free Wi-Fi as offered by a lot of marinas in France and Spain.
If you only provide a basic service that allow e-mail and downloading pages for weather (and of course the forum) it makes life so much easier.

I would be happy to pay extra for streaming video or i-player but paying a sum equal to a months home internet rental for 2 days on the boat is frankly taking the p**s.

 

[agurney]

I use it occasionally for work; connected by VPN to a corporate network for a considerable length of time, but for relatively low bandwidth stuff like Skype, and command line on Linux servers. When I'm not working the wifi is used to catch up with emails, news and GRIB.

It's a good service, which is just as well as there's no 3G in the area and GPRS/EDGE is a bit flakey.

 

[lustyd]

I can't agree with this - we provide great showers for free, and people expect them to fully serviced. Ditto water and electricity. If we provide it, we want to do so to a high standard.



Why do you say that? What do you know that I don't?!

Hehe just that at your marina people will be busy showering

Seriously though, I'd have thought you'll have more people socialising rather than browsing so the use would be more casual and therefore less likely to pay.
On the flip side you probably have quite a few people doing business aboard so I guess your idea of a split service may work well. The trouble is, will that cost more to implement than you'll make.

You also need to know why the internet runs slowly. If the backhaul is saturated then fair enough, but with a wifi service that's not usually the problem. The problem is usually that the access points are not managed properly - these days the intelligence should be in the building and the AP on the pontoon should do what the central box says, changing channels and forcing clients to different APs as necessary to keep service levels up.

As someone mentioned 4G it's worth pointing out that although there will be a small increase in available bandwidth, this won't change much in terms of speed because the main issue with 3G is coverage and saturation. It's also worth pointing out that the frequency EE just rolled out 4G on has been owned and unused by them for many years!

 

[Koeketiene]

As wifi technology has developed, and due to a massive increase in portable devices, there is a much greater demand. Tariffs also vary from place to place, and nearby pubs and cafes often provide a service usually for free.

I would be interested to know the main reasons for using wifi, whether on board at your home marina or as a visitor elsewhere.

If a marina service is 'free to all' there is risk of contention on the bandwidth on busy days. To prevent this, it is possible to allow a certain amount of free usage for basic internet access, and apply a charge for higher bandwidth services such as video downloads.

What type of applications would you wish to use at no cost, and what would you will be willing to pay for, at a reasonable charge ?

For example....
Simple web browsing for information, such as weather
Access to emails
Skype?

through to

Online gaming?
Live TV?
recorded TV on IPlayer?

Business applications, such as software development requiring high upload capacity, good quality Video conferencing;

What ever you would like to add ... !

The last 3 marinas where we have kept/keep the boat all offered free wifi.
And, without fail, it has been completely unusable for ANYTHING.
Use 3G for all our internet needs (weather/email).

Your place may be different, but most marinas should focus on getting the basics functioning reliably before they start thinking about offering all singing/all dancing wifi at a fee.

 

[Nostrodamus]

The marinas in Spain as a whole all seem to have wi fi.
It is usually either free or if it is a paid service there will also be a free access but you usually have to go to the office and sit there to use it.
What does get me sometimes are the sign up screens. They seem to load in a fraction of a second and show a strong fast signal. When you do sign up then the signal quality and speed often drop.It will also only allow you to connect one item at a time which could be expensive if more than one of you wanted to use it at once as you then have to sign up twice or share access times.
We have found in Spain that the 3G+ dongle we have is far cheaper,..very fast and has unlimited download. Now some kind forumite has put our sim into a mi fi we can have as many things connected at once as we like with no apparent drop in speed. It also works well offshore and we have not lost the signal yet.

 

[Blue5]

Now some kind forumite has put our sim into a mi fi we can have as many things connected at once as we like with no apparent drop in speed. It also works well offshore and we have not lost the signal yet.

How far offshore are you talking?

 

[RobbieW]

How far offshore are you talking?

In my recent experience around Spain up to about 10 miles depending on coverage along the shore. Very few blackspots along the mainland Med coast but the islands have several.

 

[DaveS]

Craobh has free wifi which I find very good, but I don't try to stream video or other high usage stuff. I use it for email, weather, forums and Funding Circle. The lay up boat yard is out of sight of the aerial, unfortunately, so a winter overnight requires a visit to the pub, which does see the aerial.

 

[Moonshining]

I've tried to work from boat at Chichester, but never really been able to get a decent enough WIFI signal for it to be anything but frustrating. All I really need to be able to do with that is to get my emails reliably.

3G's not an option around Chichester marina. It's GPRS at best and too slow to be usable.

 

[fireball]

3G's not an option around Chichester marina. It's GPRS at best and too slow to be usable.

yes it is - if you're on the right network ...
Three has 3g coverage there ... it's not lightning fast, but enough for low bandwidth stuff ...

But don't go south from there - they removed their mast a couple of years ago ... and it can be patchy to the north too!