Which Mifi?

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Gypsyjoss

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Hi Guys
I'm in the process of buying a Mifi (Mobile local hotspot) for use in Greek waters. A friend has a Huawei model with external aerial which he says works well.

A lot of the models available now have no facility for an external aerial. Is it needed?

Anyone out there got any experience/advice/recommendations? I expect to fit a Wind or Cosmote SIM in it.

Thanks

Pete
 
vyv_cox

vyv_cox

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I have the Cosmote 'Internet on the go' package, which uses a ZTE MF63 device. It was on offer last year at a reasonable price. Only for Greece but there seems to be plenty of info on internet about unlocking. Performance of it has been great, no aerial.
 
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Gypsyjoss

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Many thanks for your replies. I'm minded to buy the Hauwei E5331 that you have Norna, (it has very good reviews) but the spec omits support for Windows 10. In fact none of Hauwei's current models state support for Windows 10. Anyone know?

Out in Greece, I currently have a PAYG cosmote SIM in a mobile which is currently not cheap to use and a Wind SIM in a soon to be redundant dongle. Both had good coverage but is there a particular monthly/PAYG package that you can recommend?

Cheers
Pete
 
Richard10002

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Gypsyjoss said:
Many thanks for your replies. I'm minded to buy the Hauwei E5331 that you have Norna, (it has very good reviews) but the spec omits support for Windows 10. In fact none of Hauwei's current models state support for Windows 10. Anyone know?

Out in Greece, I currently have a PAYG cosmote SIM in a mobile which is currently not cheap to use and a Wind SIM in a soon to be redundant dongle. Both had good coverage but is there a particular monthly/PAYG package that you can recommend?

Cheers
Pete
Click to expand...

A Mifi provides a wifi signal so I cant see that it needs to say that it supports Windows 10... it is more for Windows 10 to support wifi signals, which it does.

I have a Huawei Mifi with one aerial connection... some have them with dual connections to accommodate MIMO when it is offered, (Multiple In Multiple Out). If I am in the depths of Cheshire with no signal without the aerial attached, I get a great signal when I attach it - so there may be times, (particularly in a seagoing situation), that you would wish you had an aerial connection, and an aerial.
 
RobbieW

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Another forum I read, which deals with routers and dongles, has recently come up with the proposition that the facility to attach an antenna has several caveats. Amongst these is that the antenna may only connect to the RX circuit; that the antenna only comes into play below certain signal levels, something like 85dBm; this is clearly device dependant but little info is given by the manufacturers. On my installation, with an external antenna, I saw no discernible difference in the signal level with or without the antenna connected, Huawei E3276; perhaps I was just lucky in being in the right place. In the UK, my observation is that the signal out to sea is generally much less good than our continental neighbours achieve, in the Med it seems to depend far more on which provider (actually that also true for the UK). In Greece, Ionian, I found Cosmote had best coverage in the, more out of the way, places I like to go.
 
Richard10002

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Where I moor in Stretford, close to Manchester City Centre, and the M60 Motorway, there is no difference with aerial connected, or not.

When in Agden, Little Bollington, Dunham, (countryside), there is a mega difference, i.e. from no signal to good signal.

Solwise have some discussions and ask/answer question threads on this subject.
 
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NornaBiron

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Gypsyjoss said:
Many thanks for your replies. I'm minded to buy the Hauwei E5331 that you have Norna, (it has very good reviews) but the spec omits support for Windows 10. In fact none of Hauwei's current models state support for Windows 10. Anyone know?

Out in Greece, I currently have a PAYG cosmote SIM in a mobile which is currently not cheap to use and a Wind SIM in a soon to be redundant dongle. Both had good coverage but is there a particular monthly/PAYG package that you can recommend?

Cheers
Pete
Click to expand...

We have both Wind and Cosmote contracts. Cosmote has, without doubt, the best coverage, even at sea en route from Rhodes to Crete we had a continuous connection. But, to get a contract you need a tax number and address.

If we don't have a great connection we make sure that the mifi is charged and hoist it up the mast - that always improves the signal
 
Richard10002

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Gypsyjoss said:
Also my thinking, but the specs do seem to make a big thing of listing the suitable Operating Systems
Pete
Click to expand...

I'd guess that's more to do with marketing than reality - not necessarily a bad thing when not everybody knows everything about how these things work. I suppose if a device says it works with XP Vista W7 W8 W8.1, but doesnt mention W10, a potential buyer with W10 might have cause to be wary.

However, there are so many devices these days that are able to receive a wifi signal and none of us really know which operating system they are using.

I have TVs, Sonos speaker, android, apple and windows computing type devices - I think fridges, heating control systems, webcams, etc. etc. etc. can all work via wifi these days. I know which operating system the computing type devices use, but have no idea with the TVs and speakers.

What I did know was that the TVs and speaker accept a wifi signal of various types, (b/g/n/ac ??), and I know that my wifi devices provide some, or all, of these wifi signals.
 
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NornaBiron

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Gypsyjoss said:
For PAYG also? Cosmote is what I have in my mobile.

I like the idea of hoisting it up the mast! In a suitable waterproof bag I presume!
Click to expand...

Just a passport required for PAYG I believe, more expensive though.

We have a dedicated box and bag for hoisting, it often gets mislaid as it's only rarely used!
 
noelex

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We have a multitude of MiFi devices.

The better (and unfortunately more expensive models) do seem to be able to maintain reasonable download speeds when the signal is poor.

Our current best model is a ZTE MF 91, but some of the newer models may be better again.
The ZTE MF 91 has the provision for (two !) external aerials. I have not tried this option, but other cruising sailors report significant advantages.

In very marginal areas it is also worth making a waterproof housing to raise the unit to near the top of the mast. An external USB battery pack helps keep the unit working longer.

These options do not make any difference in high signal areas, but they can help enormously if the signal is poor.
 
vyv_cox

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I see there is a review of various sorts of communication devices in the latest YM. What struck me in particular was how expensive the ones tested were. Only scanned through it so far but there seemed to be little under £100. My ZTE 63 was well under half that and works perfectly well in Greece.
 
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