Wifi for Boat

[Jamesuk]

My brother uses MY3.
He gets 7gb for £25. Ordered online, and uses their roaming almost all over of Europe, strangely not Germany! However no problem with Spain. So 7gb will allow quite a bit of TV or movie streaming. He uses a VPN through expat tv.

Call them up again and ask about the rolling 30 day 20gb tariff for £21 or £22. I only know because I was given the above deal and used it up in 10 days. I was then told about 20gb deal!

 

[Hurricane]

Everyone on here apart from Jimmy seem to be talking about xxGb
Facts like these are useless.

Yes - we do need large data packages but we also need a service that is fast enough to stream.
Only then will we have a perfect connection.

I see on the news today that the EU has ruled that there will be no more roaming within the EU.
Great - but, again, I fear that the services will be throttled down.

The only solution that I've read on this thread is Jimmy's local one in the SoF.
Shame I can't find anything like that here in Spain.

 

[Medskipper]

Everyone on here apart from Jimmy seem to be talking about xxGb
Facts like these are useless.

Yes - we do need large data packages but we also need a service that is fast enough to stream.
Only then will we have a perfect connection.

I see on the news today that the EU has ruled that there will be no more roaming within the EU.
Great - but, again, I fear that the services will be throttled down.

The only solution that I've read on this thread is Jimmy's local one in the SoF.
Shame I can't find anything like that here in Spain.

Well yes I agree, but since at this point in time there is only 3 or 4g, the obvious answer is to get the largest amount of Gbs that you can get!
When there is 5 or 6g or even faster speeds then perhaps the size of package will not be so important?

It it certainly sounds good news that data roaming charges will eventually cease.

 

[itspaul]

What I did find in Mallorca using 3 on my iPad that I didn't always use the same carrier as different areas were better on different carriers non of which incurred any charges

 

[Richard10002]

Well yes I agree, but since at this point in time there is only 3 or 4g, the obvious answer is to get the largest amount of Gbs that you can get!
When there is 5 or 6g or even faster speeds then perhaps the size of package will not be so important?

It it certainly sounds good news that data roaming charges will eventually cease.

3G and 4G is plenty fast enough for streaming provided that the provider allows you to use it at its' full potential. However... many providers limit the speed, (throttle), to often unuseable levels, thus making the service more or less useless. Three used to throttle their All You Can Eat data between 3pm and midnight, which made it not really worth having.

This is what the worry is - roaming will be included at the same price as the home network, (which could be effectively free if included within the package), but will be throttled to uselessly slow speeds, such as to make it not worth using.

 

[Hurricane]

3G and 4G is plenty fast enough for streaming provided that the provider allows you to use it at its' full potential. However... many providers limit the speed, (throttle), to often unuseable levels, thus making the service more or less useless. Three used to throttle their All You Can Eat data between 3pm and midnight, which made it not really worth having.

This is what the worry is - roaming will be included at the same price as the home network, (which could be effectively free if included within the package), but will be throttled to uselessly slow speeds, such as to make it not worth using.

Yep
Exactly the point I was trying to make.

 

[Medskipper]

3G and 4G is plenty fast enough for streaming provided that the provider allows you to use it at its' full potential. However... many providers limit the speed, (throttle), to often unuseable levels, thus making the service more or less useless. Three used to throttle their All You Can Eat data between 3pm and midnight, which made it not really worth having.

This is what the worry is - roaming will be included at the same price as the home network, (which could be effectively free if included within the package), but will be throttled to uselessly slow speeds, such as to make it not worth using.

Ah, I didn't know that was happening! Sorry Hurricane I bow to your greater knowledge!

 

[Steruth1]

How does Tracvision stack up, surley if you want to stream Tv this would be a better solution?

i may be wrong but just a thought.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

How does Tracvision stack up, surley if you want to stream Tv this would be a better solution?

i may be wrong but just a thought.

Your £3k or whatever for a sat tv system, which won't pick up UK sat tv in the Med, buys a *lot* of data.

 

[Richard10002]

Ah, I didn't know that was happening! Sorry Hurricane I bow to your greater knowledge!

It's not necessarily going to happen when roaming is included.... it's merely a worry that it might.

 

[pan]

Everyone on here apart from Jimmy seem to be talking about xxGb
Facts like these are useless.

Yes - we do need large data packages but we also need a service that is fast enough to stream.
Only then will we have a perfect connection.

I see on the news today that the EU has ruled that there will be no more roaming within the EU.
Great - but, again, I fear that the services will be throttled down.

The only solution that I've read on this thread is Jimmy's local one in the SoF.
Shame I can't find anything like that here in Spain.

I agree with this, we have tried several different local data packages including 4g, but every time after a month or 2 find that the speed has slowed down, I have given up watching TV abroad anyway, much prefer to sit on the flybridge with a good bottle of wine & watch the world go by... suppose that's what UK tv is now anyway, 'Reality TV'

 

[Hurricane]

How does Tracvision stack up, surley if you want to stream Tv this would be a better solution?

i may be wrong but just a thought.

For data over satellite there are two systems out there.
One run by SES Astra and one run by Eutalsat.
The Astra one is a constellation of satellites at 23.5 degrees west and is called "Astra Connect".
The Eutalsat one is called Tooway and is at 9 degrees east.

Very different technologies.
The SES/Astra one is a widebeam service across the whole of Europe.
The Eutalsat one uses a number localised beams and it is complicated to move from one beam to another.

You can get deals like 3/4G but both are expensive if you were considering streaming.

VSAT is another option but even more costly.

AFAIK, satellite is not an option for low cost high bandwidth internet connections.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

For data over satellite there are two systems out there.
One run by SES Astra and one run by Eutalsat.
The Astra one is a constellation of satellites at 23.5 degrees west and is called "Astra Connect".
The Eutalsat one is called Tooway and is at 9 degrees east.

Very different technologies.
The SES/Astra one is a widebeam service across the whole of Europe.
The Eutalsat one uses a number localised beams and it is complicated to move from one beam to another.

You can get deals like 3/4G but both are expensive if you were considering streaming.

VSAT is another option but even more costly.

AFAIK, satellite is not an option for low cost high bandwidth internet connections.

Aha, did I misunderstand steruth's question? I thought he meant that if you just want to watch tv, why not use a sat system for this instead.

 

[Steruth1]

That was my point, most of us have data packages for iPhones etc, so for Tv is sat a better option than live streaming?

 

[Hurricane]

That was my point, most of us have data packages for iPhones etc, so for Tv is sat a better option than live streaming?

Ahh - I see

You mean - standard broadcast TV - not streaming.

In the Med these days, UK TV over the Satellite is limited to Sky TV only - via the Astra 2 constellation at 28 degrees west.
For UK TV , essentially, there are two beams transmitted.
One narrow beam pointing at the UK and one very wide beam that covers the whole of Europe.
Since the latest satellites went into service (Astra 2E - Astra 2F - and Astra 2G) they have made the narrow (UK) beam much crisper.
A good analogy is that the satellites shine a focussed "torchlight" at the UK and a "floodlight" over Europe.
BBC. ITV Channel 4 and Channel 5 etc are only transmitted on the narrow (torchlight) beam so we can't receive them outside the UK.
Most of the Sky Channels however are transmitted over the wide (floodlight) beam.
In fact, since the new satellites went into service, the wide beams are themselves much stronger and easier to receive.

So, in answer to your question, Sat TV in the Med is limited to Sky.

Out here in SC, berth holders are actively streaming BBC TV and ITV across the internet - mainly the marina's WiFi.
Even to the extent of organising timings so that the limited bandwidth of the marina's WiFi can cope.
For example, everyone in the marina is asked to not use the WiFi during the Rugby World Cup.
Then a single PC is set up and connected to a big TV in the bar - everyone then meets in the bar to watch the Rugby.
Not the best arrangement for watching UK TV but it works and is much more fun than everyone trying to watch independently.

So, back to the original discussion, a good wide broadband with high usage allowance is what we are all looking for - here in SC anyway.