'WiFi for Boats' System Package

[Burls]

I've scanned through the endless pages in the forum relating to WiFi, and the equipment that I am presently looking at buying is the "Wifi for boats" system. (www.wififorboats.com)
From what I can see it uses a high gain Omni directional antenna, a 'bullet' attached at the base of the antenna, and a nice long Ethernet cable (Interfaced with a PoE - Power over Ethernet - injector) I would also be installing an Ethernet switch, so several computers can connect to the internet the same time.

If anyone has some experience with this particular system I would love to hear your feedback please.

Cheers

Burls

[Ram]

Originally Posted by Burls

I've scanned through the endless pages in the forum relating to WiFi, and the equipment that I am presently looking at buying is the "Wifi for boats" system. (www.wififorboats.com)
From what I can see it uses a high gain Omni directional antenna, a 'bullet' attached at the base of the antenna, and a nice long Ethernet cable (Interfaced with a PoE - Power over Ethernet - injector) I would also be installing an Ethernet switch, so several computers can connect to the internet the same time.

If anyone has some experience with this particular system I would love to hear your feedback please.

Cheers

what does the Power over Ethernet do injector??

Burls

what does the Power over Ethernet do injector??

[Dockhead]

"POE" -- power over Ethernet injector puts power into one of the wire pairs of an Ethernet cable, so that a device connected to that cable, such as a Ubiquiti Bullet, gets its power without having to have a separate power cable. Very handy indeed, for a device which will live up your mast.

[Burls]

Originally Posted by Ram

what does the Power over Ethernet do injector??

I'm certainly no guru on this subject Ram, but my understanding is that a separate power supply provides the power for the 'bullet' via the Ethernet cable which runs between your computer and the bullet (The power supply is connected to the Ethernet cable via an adaptor - see attached sample pics) I believe the power injector in this 'kit' uses a 12VDC input.
If I'm talking rubbish, can someone please jump in and correct me!

[ActiveCaptain]

Everyone is using the same Ubiquiti products today. We recently installed a whole setup on our boat and it has been working famously - I'm very happy. I was just at the mooring field at Vero Beach - left this morning. Everyone was complaining that there was no free WiFi. I was picking up a store a mile or so away and had high speed WiFi for our entire 5 day stay.

Because of this move to direct-attach-to-antenna WiFi modems with high power (Ubiquiti Bullet 2HP) and POE as described above, purchasing a system seems to revolve around price and service. Looking at those two factors, I give my highest recommendation to Island Time PC. Their prices are the best you'll find and Bob is right there with incredible support for those times you need it.

I was trying to use my Island Time system to connect to my iPhone so multiple laptops could share the iPhone's jailbreak tethering. In doing this, I ended up putting the Ubiquiti into a state that needed to be reset with a corresponding config file upload. Bob was right there walking me through the process, sending me the config files, and everything is back to normal now (and I won't ever be trying THAT iPhone trick again!).

Island Time PC is at:
http://islandtimepc.com/marine_wifi.html

I have no affiliation with Island Time except I purchased a system at full price. I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I ever need another.

[Sailabel]

We have the same system and it works great for us. This is the 3rd system that we had installed, and the only one that has had really good results. Our POE injector is powered via 12vdc as was correctly stated in a previous post. I believe the power on the injector says 18vdc, but 12 works fine. The power to our injector goes through a switch mounted at the nav-station, so it's easy to turn the WiFi on and off.

Steve

[Burls]

Awesome feedback guys, thanks!

Cheers

Burls

[sailorgal]

We recently installed one of these:



Keenan Systems Wireless Store Featuring Engenius

So far, we've only used it here in the marina to boost the wifi from the marina, but it works great. Our boat is now effectively a wifi "hotspot" We have wifi to all of our onboard computers.

We'll have to wait and see how it works when we're in an anchorage somewhere.

[idpnd]

I've got the exact same package going, the POE can go on 12 VDC direct, check the manual for tolerance levels. I read on the ubiquiti forums somewhere the range is sufficient. Some people put this combo into a plumbing pipe to protect against elements for permanent installs.

I have also read lots of good reviews of bob's ready to use packages and I've seen him around on these forums also.

By the way the site the OP linked to seems to suggest putting the aerial on top of the mask - that's not really necessary as the 1000 mWs will never get to the horizon anyhow, just put it somewhere convenient.

[teneicm]

Anyone had any experience with Bitstorm? Same concept, although they seem to favor 6db antennas as they have a broader coverage.

Bitstorm - Home

Antenna range/direction:
Bitstorm - Knowledge Base - Antennas

[bstreep]

We also have the Island Time system. I'm a bit technical - but there's no way I'd swap a DIY system for Bob's - his support is worth every penny of the price of the whole system.

[ctsbillc]

Be careful of the very high gain omni antennas. A 12 dBi Omni has a vertical beamwidth of about 6 degrees (like a dinner plate) If your boat is rocking, you will get signal drop-outs.

Best approach is a directional array like a Yagi, but you have to point this at the access point you are trying to use, so not so easy to use. A 15 dB Yagi has about 29 degree beamwidth both vertically and horizontally, so you can affort to have the boat rock about a bit.

Each 6 dB doubles your range, BTW.


Bill

[s/v Jedi]

I would propose to use a UBNT NanoStation M2 whenever you want to use a directional system (same radio as the Bullet but with 2x2 MIMO antenna array and 55 degree horizontal and vertical antenna angles).

cheers,
Nick.

[mikeandrebecca]

Originally Posted by teneicm

Anyone had any experience with Bitstorm? Same concept, although they seem to favor 6db antennas as they have a broader coverage.

Bitstorm - Home

Antenna range/direction:
Bitstorm - Knowledge Base - Antennas

I am curious about this too. Anyone here using their products?

Mike

[ActiveCaptain]

The Bitstorm BadBoy Xtreme (which is what I assume you'd be interested in) is just that same Ubiquiti product with an antenna stuck on the end. My setup uses an 8dB antenna instead of a 6. That's almost double the power output while still keeping a wider radiation.