WiFi & 3G network on boats

[mjf]

Another vote for Alfa stuff - the R36 with hi gain aerial is what I have and it works a treat. Mifi hotspot 'sees' all the local signals that are avaialble and you pick say a BT wifi signal and log on. When outside wifi coverage the system supports 3G and now 4 G EE dongles so fully covered at small cost.

Alfa gear was less that £70 delv. and 240v / 12v too.

 

[Hurricane]

For long range WiFi (if you can call it that) I have this

As you all say - Roll on 4G
I did some research a few months ago and as I see it there are 2 WiMAX (4G) services that will becoma available over time.
One is a standard that you should now find in up to date phones and tablets and a more robust "point to point" standard for high bandwidth.
The one I'd really like for our home berth is the long range high bandwidth - in fact our marina is already using this technology for it's main internet connection.
However, in our part of Spain, the "point to point" WiMAX service isn't very good and the service providers dont want to supply it directly onto the boats.
The other "mobile" WiMAX should be rolled out over the next few years but, personally, I have a question mark on whether it will be any better than WiFi
And as others have said above, 3G isn't the long term answer - the coverage, bandwidth and cost just isn't good enough for an everyday internet connection.
When I'm on the boat, I would like an internet connection as good as the ADSL line I have at home.

 

[pan]

Great stuff forum.. I have a lot to look into, like the suggestion from MedMilo, I was being a bit dumb about the power aspect, of course a small inverter is the solution to using mains power equipment & cheaper. In our marina there are a number of free wifi connections, but the signal is poor because of the distance & although we often get connection, it drops out too frequently. So after the article in MBY I thought that would be the solution to both of my issues, wifi connection to the internet & a local intranet for the boat, that would also allow me to stream music into the boat's music system. Of course the 3g (4g) connection was really only for situations where we cannot pick up a wifi connection, as it's v/slow & expensive, in the balearics most marinas have a lot of cafes & bars with free wifi, so it's easy to connect thro these, just need a powerfull connection. I think it would be easier to connect to the boat music system using separate bluethooth connections, especially as we have 2 separate systems, internal/external, the user can just choose which one they want to stream to.

Pan

 

[mjf]

Great stuff forum.. I have a lot to look into, like the suggestion from MedMilo, I was being a bit dumb about the power aspect, of course a small inverter is the solution to using mains power equipment & cheaper. In our marina there are a number of free wifi connections, but the signal is poor because of the distance & although we often get connection, it drops out too frequently. So after the article in MBY I thought that would be the solution to both of my issues, wifi connection to the internet & a local intranet for the boat, that would also allow me to stream music into the boat's music system. Of course the 3g (4g) connection was really only for situations where we cannot pick up a wifi connection, as it's v/slow & expensive, in the balearics most marinas have a lot of cafes & bars with free wifi, so it's easy to connect thro these, just need a powerfull connection. I think it would be easier to connect to the boat music system using separate bluethooth connections, especially as we have 2 separate systems, internal/external, the user can just choose which one they want to stream to.

Pan

My laptop/ipad/iphone etc used to see a couple of close by wifi sites - with the alfa I get 20x the amount - its uncanny how far it sees. Getting a usuable signal is another issue as seems to need 60% on the table of sites for reliable signal for streaming tv etc