General Info: Wifi booster, do you have one?

[Training Wheels]

Originally Posted by Greene

Can someone point me to one thread on any subject that doesn't quickly become a bitch session or pissing match?
Mike

Nope.

[Scottster]

Look what I started,
My booster is great.
I'm from Canada and no we did not lock our doors and yes the keys to my car are in the ignition,Ehh!


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[Hearts Content]

purchased the Alpha $20 off Amazon. Just need to be able to pickup WIFI at my marina from Bright House. My devices just aren't strong enough.

A great forum feature would be to allow the owner of a thread to delete off topic posts. It seems we can't get three posts in before it goes to heck. Nearly all the posts in this thread are off topic noise.

[Pelagic]

Presently looking to buy one for cruising in Asia (less marinas, more anchorages near Resorts and Resteraunt

Dumb question....but if I assume Wi-Fi systems (5G) will improve in speeds over the next few year, should I buy the fastest system and will they still work on the slower system? (3+4G)

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by Hearts Content

purchased the Alpha $20 off Amazon. Just need to be able to pickup WIFI at my marina from Bright House. My devices just aren't strong enough.

A great forum feature would be to allow the owner of a thread to delete off topic posts. It seems we can't get three posts in before it goes to heck. Nearly all the posts in this thread are off topic noise.

There are no off topic posts in this thread. If you have "my marina" you ain't a cruiser so you are a day sailor or liveaboard. Most places where cruisers bump into the choices usually are overwhelmed marina WiFi or easily accessible cafeteria WiFis..

[Jsta_Rebel]

Originally Posted by TeddyDiver

Wonder how stealing bandwidth became acceptable behaviour

I have found many wifi hot spots at beach bars, restaurants and such that give you their passwords willingly at countless different anchorages. I personally don't call this stealing and see using these free hot spots as perfectly acceptable even if it's from your own boat using a booster.

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by Jsta_Rebel

I have found many wifi hot spots at beach bars, restaurants and such that give you their passwords willingly at countless different anchorages. I personally don't call this stealing and see using these free hot spots as perfectly acceptable even if it's from your own boat using a booster.

No problem if asked and permitted, but have seen much of the opposite too. This is more frequent in places with more users and less hotspots..

BR Teddy

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by TeddyDiver

No problem if asked and permitted, but have seen much of the opposite too. This is more frequent in places with more users and less hotspots..

BR Teddy

What Teddy wrote. 100%

[jbinbi]

Has anyone tried to put up a regular wifi usb dongles on a long usb cable, say hoisted up with the flag halyard. I know this isn't a good permanent solution, but for instance I am too far out in the mooring field to get a signal from my marina, and wondering about an easy solution.

Also, this thread would probably get way more responses in the electronics forum than the lagoon forum.

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[darylat8750]

A few years ago we were anchored in the river S. of Ablemarle Sound during the Olympic games. There was a wifi picked up by our Bullet 2 that was labeled "Cruiser Guests". I assumed that meant us and we stayed for a couple of extra days watching some events we had special interest in. I couldn't figure out which house it was coming from but I would have liked to have bought them a couple of beers. We've been happy with our Bullet 2.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by jbinbi

Has anyone tried to put up a regular wifi usb dongles on a long usb cable, say hoisted up with the flag halyard. I know this isn't a good permanent solution, but for instance I am too far out in the mooring field to get a signal from my marina, and wondering about an easy solution.

If you're considering this route, drop $20 and get a higher power USB wifi adaptor (eg Alfa - many on ebay -search on "usb wifi long range"). I see that some of them come with 10 meter USB cables.

So far, I've only used my USB wifi adaptor on the cabintop with a short USB cable, but it grabs wifi signals that my laptops weren't able to get alone.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by jbinbi

Has anyone tried to put up a regular wifi usb dongles on a long usb cable, say hoisted up with the flag halyard. I know this isn't a good permanent solution, but for instance I am too far out in the mooring field to get a signal from my marina, and wondering about an easy solution.

Also, this thread would probably get way more responses in the electronics forum than the lagoon forum.

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Yes. It somewhat works. But this is a poor solution only. Because:

- you lose on the cable run what you gain on the adapter location,
- not all dongles have external antenna, many have only poor ones,
- it is not easy to waterproof,
- you are still wired,
- your mobile devices are either difficult or impossible to connect,
- etc.

So it will work to some extent and may improve on what you already have but is a poor long term solution.

Proper high gain antenna wired into a s/h router with OpenWRT on it is way more practical. You want one of the routers that have a card with dual network (virtual AP) ability. Many range extenders work like this. We use a TP-Link (range extender).

An alternative is two routers back to back on ethernet cable - one becomes your adapter the other becomes your AP.

I pick them up from a s/h shop at less than 5 bucks each. Plenty of adsl people dump them now.

Cheers,
b.

[obelix67]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Dumb question....but if I assume Wi-Fi systems (5G) will improve in speeds over the next few year, should I buy the fastest system and will they still work on the slower system? (3+4G)

Not dumb at all, presently on 4g and lesser you have different frequencies used in different contintents. US v Europe is the easiest known, depending on the equipment you may not be able to pick up the right frequencies.

2 things come to mind, if there isnt a 3g or 4g signal there then there may not be a mast to broadcast a 5g signal on, there is still quite a lot of debate on the interpretation of 5g. 5g will be data but won't be wi-fi per se, hope that makes sense.

[jibstay]

There appears to be some confusion about terms describing WiFi, versus mobile data, or what we used to call cellular.

WiFi uses two different frequency ranges. The earlier WiFi devices used frequencies in the 2.4 Ghz range. Newer WiFi standards us frequencies in the 5 GHz range.

Some folks are using shorthand terms, 2G and 5G to describe these, where the G is short for gigahertz.

In mobile data, or cellular, the G is short for Generation. As in second generation, third generation, etc.






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[nigel1]

On the subject of wifi frequencies, I understand that a different radio is needed for each frequency range, so in the case of the Ubiquiti Bullet, there is the M2 model for the 2.4GHz range, and the M5 for the 5 GHz range.
My question would be, which one to purchase, as I believe that the 2.4Ghz frequency has the greater range.

If I purchased the M2 would I be left with an obsolete set up in a couple of years time?