WIFI Antenna need Advice Please

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

I have done several installations with the Ubiquiti Bullet products, and really like them. I currently use a Bullet Titanium M2, hooked up with exterior grade shielded cable per manufacturer's recommendation. The Titanium model includes a combined power supply/POE inserter so no chasing compatible parts. I have been using a TP-Link WR702N travel AP on the local side to connect wirelessly inside the boat and it works a champ. I then tried a Ubiquiti airGateway, which was a disaster, but will be returning it for an airGateway LR. This is an AP which plugs into the Titanium's power supply (no need for a separate one) and is held together as a single package (LR only - do not buy the original version). I use the Titanium as a router for all of the internal connections and thus present a single connection to the marina (although it is also possible to just bridge and have multiple connections to the marina).

Greg

Very cool!!!

I have wanted to do this myself, but couldn't quite figure out how to do it. Could you write up how you did it, step by step? I believe a lot of cruisers -- including me! -- would be very grateful.

[marujo.sortudo]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Now what I really want, and haven't quite found yet, is a hard installed super duper mobile telephone system. There are cases when there is a marginal connection and you really, really need to connect.

We hard installed a Wilson Sleek cell amp to great effect. We found unusable 1-2 bar connections were usually upgraded to 3 bars of usable and often faster protocol connections. We mounted the tiny antenna on our boom gallows. This and carrying both an AT&T device and a Verizon device made our telecommuting work possible in most anchorages we used on the East Coast.

[Hannah on 'Rita T']

And, we have had good luck with the Wirie, same technology as the Bullet, etc. It's wifi in the boat works well.

[tartansail]

You're getting good advice on wifi options, but be sure that a strong wifi antenna is going to solve your communication needs.

Are you mostly at a single location with a secure wifi access point that you can get onto? If so, what is your experience with bandwidth during the times you will use the system? Many shoreside installations tout their wifi, but don't tell you you'll be drinking data through a straw as you share their connection with everyone else in the neighborhood.

What is your cell connection? If it's 4G (sorry, Dockead, 3.5G ) and you'll be mostly coastal in the US, be sure you have a device that can work as a mifi device to connect your laptop. Many current generation smartphones do this or you can buy a dedicated device. If you don't get 3-4 bars on a 4G phone, consider getting a cell booster before or in addition to your wifi antenna.

I work from the boat in season and use my iPhone 5 as a mifi device during the day and evening. If I need to download files, I use the local wifi during off hours. Wifi during the day takes me back to the 1980's and the days of 2400baud modems. The combination works well.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by georgetheleo

OK Sir-thanks! Can you translate the "USB WIFI Transciever" to a make and model number? Thanks.

Mine is a Sitecom N600, but there must be dozens of brands. Just look for a wifi adaptor which looks like a flash drive!

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by tartansail

You're getting good advice on wifi options, but be sure that a strong wifi antenna is going to solve your communication needs.

Are you mostly at a single location with a secure wifi access point that you can get onto? If so, what is your experience with bandwidth during the times you will use the system? Many shoreside installations tout their wifi, but don't tell you you'll be drinking data through a straw as you share their connection with everyone else in the neighborhood.

What is your cell connection? If it's 4G (sorry, Dockead, 3.5G ) and you'll be mostly coastal in the US, be sure you have a device that can work as a mifi device to connect your laptop. Many current generation smartphones do this or you can buy a dedicated device. If you don't get 3-4 bars on a 4G phone, consider getting a cell booster before or in addition to your wifi antenna.

I work from the boat in season and use my iPhone 5 as a mifi device during the day and evening. If I need to download files, I use the local wifi during off hours. Wifi during the day takes me back to the 1980's and the days of 2400baud modems. The combination works well.

You make an important point - most marina wifi is inherently miserable, and no super duper wifi adaptor -- bullet or otherwise - is going to help.

As far as cell phone systems are concerned - don't forget that the antenna is 90% of the question. Ordinary mobile phones are not too good in that department. Another disadvantage of using a mobile phone for Mifi is that the personal hotspot programs usually won't pass through a VPN connection, something many people (like me) need to connect to a corporate network.

I haven't tried any of the last batch of Mifi devices, but I can say that my old Globesurfer has a far superior antenna to any mobile phone, will pass through any VPN connection, and will stay connected to the mobile phone network for weeks - very stable and robust, entirely unlike a personal hotspot on a mobile phone. I would recommend a purpose-built router of some kind, rather than just using a mobile phone as a personal hotspot.

[CarinaPDX]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I have wanted to do this myself, but couldn't quite figure out how to do it. Could you write up how you did it, step by step? I believe a lot of cruisers -- including me! -- would be very grateful.

I'd be happy to do it, but it will have to wait a bit (I just got a surprise bypass surgery, so am not able to reach the boat for awhile). It is just as well, as I would like to document it with the new airGateway LR AP. Also I have connected a Synology DS411slim NAS (Network Attached Storage) to the LAN so I can store movies and such off the laptop. By connecting to the LAN it is also available to anything connected through the AP. I am connecting my Sony Blu-Ray player wirelessly (although I could use an ethernet cable) and serve the movies from the NAS by DLNA to the player and then to the TV. It works very well.

Greg

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

I'd be happy to do it, but it will have to wait a bit (I just got a surprise bypass surgery, so am not able to reach the boat for awhile). It is just as well, as I would like to document it with the new airGateway LR AP. Also I have connected a Synology DS411slim NAS (Network Attached Storage) to the LAN so I can store movies and such off the laptop. By connecting to the LAN it is also available to anything connected through the AP. I am connecting my Sony Blu-Ray player wirelessly (although I could use an ethernet cable) and serve the movies from the NAS by DLNA to the player and then to the TV. It works very well.

Greg

This becomes even more interesting. I will be waiting eagerly for when you feel up to posting about it. I think others besides me will be too.

I store a few hundred movies on an external hard drive, which would be really nice to have connected to the network somehow.

But mainly I am interested in how you are sharing a wifi connection over your network. It would be really great to get all the various networks on board integrated into one smoothly functioning one.