internet access home and away (1 Viewer)

[Malcolm Bolt]

I have not been able to get on line from my van for a couple of days and this has prompted me to consider once again - how do I improve the situation?

At the Newark show I was taken with the claims for the ZEAD Z 200 wireless USB adapter for use with WiFi spots up to 1km away using a small external antenna and the Z 250 3.5G unlocked dongle to enable use with any SIM.

I was told they have sold thousands - has anyone used either? How do they perform?

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

We stock these
http://www.johnscross.co.uk/products/Alltek-Wi%2dFi-Booster.html

to be honest not tried them as I have another type on the boat which I use with a Vodaphone dongle Link Removed

Peter

 

[darklord]

WOW, up to half a mile range,........thats nearly as good as sellotaping it to a broom handle. I would think, and i,m no expert (no sh*t darklord), that attching a dongle to a flag pole would give a pretty reasonable reception, i believe our glorious leader, put one in a plastic bag and did similar one time.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Malcolm Bolt]

WOW, up to half a mile range,........thats nearly as good as sellotaping it to a broom handle. I would think, and i,m no expert (no sh*t darklord), that attching a dongle to a flag pole would give a pretty reasonable reception, i believe our glorious leader, put one in a plastic bag and did similar one time.

I used the dongle on a stick and there was an improvement but sometimes you end up somwhere with very low signal strength and I'd like to have more strings to my bow.

 

[freelanderuk]

the kit they where selling at newark for £99 was a rip off have a look here at these

Link Removed

or these

Link Removed

i have both and both work well , the first is fitted to my rear bike rack on a pole that i can adjust and the second i just stick to the van window, jock has just bought this

Link Removed

and is having good results with it

 

[JockandRita]

I have not been able to get on line from my van for a couple of days and this has prompted me to consider once again - how do I improve the situation?

Hi Malcolm,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble getting online in the MH.

Like Chris, I too have been using the ALFA with one of these. When tested at home in a residential estate, I picked up over 23 signals, and as a BT customer registered on FON, there were connections available. I also had good results with it at the Stratford show last year, as we weren't far away from blocks of residential flats.

I can't really assess this one properly until we head on down to Spain next week, Link Removed,
But when tested at home, I picked up over 40 signals this time, and between 4 and 6 at the Newark Show, however, none of those at Newark were insecure, nor BT related.

When WiFi connections aren't available, I revert to "old faithful", ie, a T Mobile sim card in an unlocked dongle, for £2.50 per five days, and very rarely fail to get a decent HSDPA signal.

If you are at the Rutland or Stratford meets at all, I'll be more than happy to go through a practical demo with you. :thumb:

Cheers for now,

Jock.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[JockandRita]

I forgot to add..........that I recently learned from a BT engineer, that the BT Residential Hubs are designed to only provide a signal strength of up to about 30 metres, so it won't matter how good the antenna is, if the hubs/routers won't push out a strong signal.

BT Business hubs/routers in city centres and Airports, etc, push out a much stronger signal........apparently.

HTH,

Jock.

 

[DP+JAY]

When WiFi connections aren't available, I revert to "old faithful", ie, a T Mobile sim card in an unlocked dongle, for £2.50 per five days, and very rarely fail to get a decent HSDPA signal.



Jock.

Thats interesting, but what about costs abroad(France)

 

[Wildman]

A decent wifi booster will allow connection to McDoughnuts from a fair distance away. Even in France so a free connection, no charges incurred.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[callumwa]

Thats interesting, but what about costs abroad(France)

France is expensive even using a local sim. I'm still hoping to hear of a relatively cheap PAYG French Sim.
So I just use a UK Vodafone sim tethered to my iPad. £2 per day for 25 mb. It's ok for e-mail, chat and a reasonable amount of surfing.

In Germany I use a Fonic Sim, €2.50 per day, Unlimited data, first 500mb at fast HSDPA speed, remaining data for the day limited to GPRS speed.

In Belgium I use a BASE sim, €10 per month 1 Gb monthly limit.

In Holland I use T-Mobile International, € 10 per month 1 Gb monthly limit.

In UK, I have 3 unlimited "all you can eat data" so I can tether to my iPad or or laptop.

I also have a Wifi antenna like this Broken Link Removed which I also use on the ship. It works at up to about 500 / 600m as long as there is about 38% + signal strength. You can also use it outside Macdonalds in France, or other open wifi hotspots. I also have BT Fon which I have used occasionally abroad for wifi.

Hope this is of some use.

Callum

 

[JockandRita]

Thats interesting, but what about costs abroad(France)

TBH Jay, I've never used it abroad because of the high charges, however, here are the current charges for mobile broadband in Europe, from T Mobile.

HTH,

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[darklord]

I,m still sulking because you wont use my very long pole idea, but seriously, I use an orange Dongle at home and all over the UK. I pay a tenner a month, and have NEVER reached any limits, not been able to connect or had other problems, and I do use it quite a lot. Orange have told me, that if i wanted to use it in Europe, they would do me a "bundle", which would keep the cost;s down to very managable limits........as jock says, dont rule out the major suppliers, most of them are european anyway.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Malcolm Bolt]

Damn this dongle

This 3 dongle is currently bouncing between 1 and 5 bars :Sad::Sad: so this may never see the light of day b-ll-ocks. (The vodaphone one barely registered 1 bar in this location - CL North Yorkshire.)

When using a directional signal booster is it easy to find the best direction to point it. (With the free standing sat dish I had a sat finder which beeped.

 

[Malcolm Bolt]

size matters

I've always liked the idea of a long pole - but we don't always get what we want .