Online, on tour?

[LizziePope]

Hi all,

If you are hitting the road this Easter weekend, our latest blog looking at getting online on tour might be a useful read! Please click here. How do you guys keep connected when away in your 'van? Or do you prefer to cut free, turn the smartphones, tablets and laptops off and relax, gadget free? Let us know!

And from everyone here at Practical Motorhome, have a very happy Easter, wherever in the world you are!

 

[TonyJones]

We're off to France again on Easter Monday for a couple of weeks, and this time we're trying out the Europasim (from Motorhome Wifi), in an unlocked "3" Huawei Mifi unit. Same deal Ruth mentions in her article, €3 for each day we actually go online with it.
Since, like her, we have BT Broadband at home, we'll also look out for the "FON" hotspots, but last time we didn't find many of those (but we don't have a booster).
As for the Mifi unit, we had some issues persuading it to "roam" - it kept saying "No network," even though mobile phones on two different networks were getting strong 3G signals in the same room!
I've found a convoluted route through the menu options in its control panel (on the laptop) to get it "roaming" preperly, so if anyone else is struggling with this, ask away and I'll try to explain it!
It's a fine device - we've used it with its original "3" chip in the UK and get speeds around 72! Abroad, though, it cost a fortune to use because it never found its "preferred" French network, so we gave up to it. Looking forward to firing it up with the Europasim.

 

[gjh]

As we only tour in the UK we find that a MiFi is fine for the e-mail and bits and pieces of Internet we use (we don't download massive amounts whilst away).
It came from Three and we normally use a Three SIM in it but have had it unlocked so we can use an alternative SIM if network coverage is inadequate.
A tip I picked up from a friend is to keep a small tie-handle sandwich bag with the MiFi. If the signal is not good put the MiFi in the bag after switching it on and then tie it to your flag pole or place it on the van roof. The higher position usually means more chance of picking up a signal. We've only needed to do that once, at Malvern showground, but it worked. Don't forget to take the MiFi down and switch it off after use

Graham