Cell Coverage for North Sea

[max59]

Hi to everybody!
There is anybody who have experience about cell phone coverage along Netherlands, Belgium and South England coasts. Which distance from the coast is covered by the service? We will have a G3 cell phone, a G2 cell phone connected to a active antenna on the mast and a modern Interne key for the notebook.
Thanks a loto for help and a beautiful day to all of you.
Max

[idpnd]

Hello not sure what your active antenna will do for you (where did you get it and what type is it please?), I used a huawei usb modem and it usually works up to 10 miles off the coast at sea level.

[max59]

The antenna is a multi RR Electronic Pacific with VHF GSM 900 MHZ, TV DSC/AIS AM/FM Radio SSB Receiver.
Ten miles from the costs are much more than I was aspected for an Internet USB key. According to this parameter the G2 900 MHZ phone with the mast antenna has to work also with bigger distance form the coast I think.
Max

[edsailing]

Ten miles on a good day and depending on location would be about right, could be a bit less in places but always 5 should be available.

[MacG]

Along the Dutch an Belgium coast reception will be a max of 10 kms between the big towns, just opposite the big towns, Nieuwpoort, Oostende, Zeebrugge, (Belgium) and HvH, Den Haag, (Holland) will be better. The stretch between IJmuiden and Den Helder will be very poor reception.
For cellphone reception: this is not so much depending on your antennae but on the provider you use. Reception is provider related and the installation of their antennae along the coastline. See 10 kms generally as a max.

[max59]

Thanks to all of you for your prompt reply.
MacG: in Italy I use TIM (Italian Telecom Mobile), but as I will be abroad, accroding to you, the reception will depend on the provider. So I will manually search for the best provider as I will need to roam the traffic through them.
As we will leave from Ijmuiden, the first part of the trip won't be so critical (we will have enough weather's info). Is more important for me the Belgium coast and south coast of England where I think we will possibly need more contact with the "world".
Thanks to all for help and advices.
Max

[MacG]

For England you better buy a simcard and what I have heard, Vodaphone gives the all over best reception. Same for Holland. I have in my boat a carkit (Nokia) installed with an outside antenna on the mizzen. That is about the max you can do. Reception depends entirely on the placement of the support-antennaes of the providers, generally Vodaphone being the best. from IJmuiden to HvH you will have good reception, hence the gap of Zeeland till Vlissingen, gap, Zeebrugge, gap, Oostende till Middelkerke, gap, Nieuwpoort-De Panne, gap.

Regarding the UK I have no idea. Keep als in mind that the roaming-costs are quite high. Vodaphone has an international network, therefore I use Vodaphone on board.

[max59]

Originally Posted by MacG

...I have in my boat a carkit (Nokia) installed with an outside antenna on the mizzen. That is about the max you can do....

Right MacG! This is exactly what I have on my boat, plus a cable to connect directly the old G2 Nokia 6150 to the ext. antenna without using the craddle. In Italy with the old 900 Mhz phone sometimes it was possible to connect directly from Dalmatia with the italian provider (about 50 nm). They told me that the old G2 land cells had a coverage of about 30 km or more in perfect conditions, this is the reason for which I have bought an old Nokia 6150 dual band.
About provider I will get a look about Vodaphone costs, but at least here in Italy the coverage is sometimes quite poor.

[MacG]

@ Max59

It is entirely provider-dependent. Latin/Med countries are slow in allowing foreign parties enter their grounds with foreign competition. You will see that in France too where Orange has the best network. (Orange = France Telecom) In our area Vodaphone works best but is not the cheapest. There is on my computerforum a guy who is a live-aboarder and he works with an Irish bought sim-card having cheap down-load tariffs, in any case much cheaper than other networks.

My son is owner of a telcom network and he told me that working via Irridium is often cheaper than through a roamer. You have to be an insider in this sneaky telcom business to find out who is doing what.
Sine the start of my hearing problems and the application of a bionic ear, my interests in making phonecalls is almost nil, so I do not suffer from this.
The Irridium will be my next com spendition but that can wait till I can get one 2nd hand. Some US systems do not work that good here, Global Star being the worst.

[max59]

First MacG sorry for your hearing problem, it has to be really bothersome. Anyway I can say that as the number of people saying stupid things is growing constantly, you don't miss too much, but for the rumors of the nature it has to be a problem.
I will have a rented Iridium phone for our safeness, e-mail off shore and because you cannot cut with your life and work. I will check the costs, but at the moment I will have, for the cell phone, a cost of 1 euro for 5 minutes speech and 5 euro for 50 MB per day with Pc, but only if you get connected that day (and this is more expensive), but as I need this only for one month I have not such a convenience in looking for other offers.