WIFI 3G to Wireless

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PAPILLONOFCARDEN

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GLASGOW,ISLE OF LUING
www.scottishcountrycottage.co.uk
Advice requested please.
Recently bought an Amazon Kindle Fire for downloading emails/getting weather updates on line plus reading/downloading books.
My sailing area is the Scottish West Coast where there are many 3G hotspots.
I thought my reader could connect to 3G mobile signals but have since discovered it is a Wireless device which is great for taking off the boat ashore but useless if you are at anchor.
I have heard of a device which converts 3g to wireless. Does anyone know what this is, where can I buy and do I have to buy into a network?
I hopefully thought I would be able to use the 3g signal for nothing using the Kindle`s browser.
So I want to connect my Wireless Kindle through a 3G router on board preferably for free.
Any help appreciated.
ps I am on a budget!
 
Google 'MiFi' and you will find quite a few. They have to have a SIM card of course, but I suspect you could use a PAYG SIM and not a contract if that suited you.

Neil
 
The options that spring to mind are:-

If you have a suitable mobile phone, you could use Bluetooth to tether your tab to the phone and use 3G from the phone to the internet.
You could get hold of a 3G router/gateway and put a sim in that to give you access.
Another idea could be to use a 3G dongle in a laptop and connect your tab via the laptop to the internet, although I guess you would just use the laptop in that case!

Whatever you do you will need a sim card with 3G data access, whether it's in the phone, in a dongle or in a router/gateway.

I would think the easiest and cheapest option would be to get a pay as you go sim card and the cheapest mobile available that allows tethering via Bluetooth. Also check the Kindle Fire has Bluetooth, which I am sure it will have.

It's also worth checking coverage in your cruising area for data, not just voice.
 
Re-reading your post, you might have got WiFi and 3G confused (apologies if not - not trying to teach you to suck eggs). There is no such thing as a 3G hotspot. 3G is a service provided by mobile phone companies - there are areas you can get it and those you cannot - I guess coverage is patchy in scotland. If you don't have a 3G Kindle then you can't use the service directly (I have an original kindle that has free 3G worldwide coverage - it has a built in SIM card). WiFi hotspots on the other hand are provided by individuals or organisations and your ability to access them is determined by whether you are in range of the hotspot and if you know the name and password of the hotspot - some are open, but most are not. Your Kindle will be able to connect to these in just the same manner as at home.

If you have BTbroadband at home you can access loads of WiFi hotspots (BT-FON) for free, just by using your BT email address and password. Otherwise, as noted you need to either set your phone up as a hot spot (most companies will charge for tethering if not included in your contract), or use a MiFi device, which will not be free.

Neil
 
I'm not adding much but a few obvious things:
Your easiest option and what you were asking about is devices like the one vara linked to. Vara's link was to an unlocked one so you have a choice of sim, but you can get them a bit cheaper locked to a provider, e.g:
http://store.three.co.uk/view/product/ql_catalog/threecatdevice/2567?id=1398
You can either get a contract or pay as you go, but the PAYG stuff tends to "run out" whether you use it not: Shop around the providers for the latest on that.

As others have said (and I'm just repeating with more words) modern mobile phones which also support wireless very often allow you to create a wifi hotspot which will do exactly what you want. Until fairly recently many providers were hobbling the OS on the phones they sold to remove that feature, and apple, pandering to their carrier partners didn't (as I understand) add the feature for a while, so some phones which do wifi won't have this feature. The carriers want you to buy a separate voice and data plans and devices which is why they don't like you doing this, and normally say you can't in your Ts&Cs. 3 used to be one of the few providers which explicitly allowed this on some plans. The word which someone made up a few years for using your phone to bridge a computer to the phone network is, as others have said, "tethering".

If you go this route, obviously make sure that you have a phone plan which includes data. Not all do. Using data not included in your plan could get expensive.
Why do they care whether your data allowance is used from your phone or your laptop/ipad? Because they're trying to make as much money from you as possible and want to make you have two price plans. Life's not fair. Phone company's certainly aren't.
How do they even know? A number of ways. They can be circumvented, but if you posted this question those you probably don't want to bother with that. For limited data plans I don't know if anyone checks: I'd just give it a go and see if anyone calls you to tell you not to.

Obviously DO check data coverage in your cruising area from your chosen provider before parting with any cash. You don't want a rubbish GPRS or EDGE connection if another provider has HSDPA or better. This doesn't matter for voice. It really does for data.

If you have a phone which can create a wireless hotspot, use that.
Otherwise check data coverage from different providers in your cruising area.
If you're upgrading your phone soon, make sure you get a new one which supports "tethering" and you have data included in your plan (add it if not). If your current provider has rubbish data coverage in your cruising area, move provider.
If you are happy with your current phone and it doesn't do "tethering" the next easiest/cheapest option is the mifi thingy (that's a brand name I believe, not a technical term)
There are any number of other ways of doing this and fancy boxes which will create a wifi hotspot connecting to the internet either by a shore wifi access point if available, and if not via the phone network, but these are more expensive/complicated.
 
For information, 3 do a phone tariff of £15 a month with unlimited data and tethering is allowed.

I use it for streaming tv off the internet and films from my home pc to my tv, as well as tethering my laptop for internet and email, as it's easier than trying to get a tv aerial that works and it's faster than the marina wifi.

There are probably cheaper tariffs if you don't need unilimited data, I'm not sure how big book downloads are but most of the cheaper price plans limit data at 1 or 2 gig a month.
 
laika said:
3 used to be one of the few providers which explicitly allowed this on some plans. The word which someone made up a few years for using your phone to bridge a computer to the phone network is, as others have said, "tethering".
Click to expand...

My current tenner-a-month Three contract (SIM only) isn't supposed to allow tethering, but I have no problem connecting my tablet or my Xubuntu Linux netbook. When a crew member tried with his laptop it said "Get stuffed" or words to that effect, so I suspect they check for Internet Explorer.

My experience on the West Coast this summer was that O2 (or Tesco) had by far the most extensive coverage, so if I was setting up from scratch I'd probably go for their Mobile Hotspot

http://www.o2.co.uk/broadband/mobile-broadband/o2-pocket-hotspot

with PAYG data.
 
A few weeks ago I bought a MiFi wireless modem , Huawei E5220 (mobile WiFi) from 3 Mobile for approx. £60 loaded with 3GB of data which is valid for 3 months and form then on is pay as you go normal tariff. Works very well while sailing to places.
 
the old kindle used to have unlimited 3G for free but when they realised people like me were using it for email they limited it to 50 megs a month but you can still use it for unlimited 3g downloads of amazon books
 
You have bought a tablet so you cant be that old, this means you must have a smart phone. A quick cool to your network and you will be able to set your phone up as a mobile hotspot and connect your tablet that way by fR the cheapest way of doing it as you have already paid for the data.

If you want a more permanent solution then check out 'Globesurfer 3' we have one on board and i popped in a SIM (internet) and use 1GB per day for about £1.10 bargain for 'occasional use' but £7.50 cam get you a sim on a rolling tariff with 3GB more than enough for general YBW.com stuff
 
Jamesuk said:
You have bought a tablet so you cant be that old, this means you must have a smart phone. A quick cool to your network and you will be able to set your phone up as a mobile hotspot and connect your tablet that way by fR the cheapest way of doing it as you have already paid for the data.
Click to expand...

It will depend on the phone, network and tariff as some networks/tariffs don't allow tethering and so the functionality gets disabled on some phones.
 
Thanks everyone for the information.Appreciate the response.I will need to read all your comments carefully. I am not electrically literate and my best option may be to set up my phone as a hotspot and try and connect this to my Kindle if my Kindle supports this.Downloading books will not be as important as getting emails and weather so data volume may not be an issue.
 
I know didly squat about the technicalities of all this, but I also sail on the West Coast, and I have a Tablet. It has a Vodsfone Data Sim card, which I can top up, £5 gives 250 Mb, valid for 30 days. No other device is required for it to work, just a reasonable signal.
Vodafone is probably best on the West Coast. We have phones, O2, Vodafone, and Orange, (now EE). Some places one is best. Some places have no signal at all. Good luck.
 
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