Wi Fi hotspot update

[thedoog1]

After setting up my phone and our tablets for use with the wifi hotspot, we went to sunny Anglesey for 2 weeks. Perfect except i could not get a B******* signal. Emergency calls only from the site, parts of the island had a signal but not great.
Hey ho the dog loved it

 

[otherclive]

After setting up my phone and our tablets for use with the wifi hotspot, we went to sunny Anglesey for 2 weeks. Perfect except i could not get a B******* signal. Emergency calls only from the site, parts of the island had a signal but not great.
Hey ho the dog loved it

Happens to us regularly. A few weeks ago had to use the site managers landline to keep in touch with my fathers care home. I’d settle for A1. 4G and let 5G wait.

 

[Icaru5]

After setting up my phone and our tablets for use with the wifi hotspot, we went to sunny Anglesey for 2 weeks. Perfect except i could not get a B******* signal. Emergency calls only from the site, parts of the island had a signal but not great.
Hey ho the dog loved it

Hello doog, Like many forumites, Anglesey’s a favourite of ours ... Where abouts on the Island were you ?

 

[thedoog1]

Glan gors farm cl about a mile from rhosneigor beach. Nice site right on raf valley flight path most days.

 

[Woodentop]

Would the OP have been on 3 by any chance? That is the only SP that shows any issues in the area of the CL - the other three show full bore 4G.

Google the OfCom coverage checker.

I would suggest to anyone - like otherclive - that needs to keep in contact or whatever to carry an old phone with them containing another SP's SIM - from experience O2 or failing that VF) is a good bet. Order a O2 Classic SIM on line and put a tenner on it. Calls are 3p/min, 2p/text, and 1p/Mb data. If you don't use it for calls just sent a text to your other phone every three months to keep it going. Useful for breakdowns as well.

 

[thedoog1]

No I am on plusnet who use ee. I checked before we went and it should have been ok. The actual cl is in a hollow nobody had a good signal.

 

[otherclive]

Would the OP have been on 3 by any chance? That is the only SP that shows any issues in the area of the CL - the other three show full bore 4G.

Google the OfCom coverage checker.

I would suggest to anyone - like otherclive - that needs to keep in contact or whatever to carry an old phone with them containing another SP's SIM - from experience O2 or failing that VF) is a good bet. Order a O2 Classic SIM on line and put a tenner on it. Calls are 3p/min, 2p/text, and 1p/Mb data. If you don't use it for calls just sent a text to your other phone every three months to keep it going. Useful for breakdowns as well.

Thanks for the advice. Shame that only a couple of months ago I took my fathers old Samsung to the charity shop. It had £15 still on its pay as you go card with Vodaphone. He kept it in his car in case of breakdown. Had thought of keeping it fir when my wife goes to Borneo this autumn but our son ha recently bought one of the old style new Nokia which he uses with local SIM cards. But it might have a problem with signals in Kinabalu.

 

[CustardAvenger]

Would the OP have been on 3 by any chance? That is the only SP that shows any issues in the area of the CL - the other three show full bore 4G.

Google the OfCom coverage checker.

I would suggest to anyone - like otherclive - that needs to keep in contact or whatever to carry an old phone with them containing another SP's SIM - from experience O2 or failing that VF) is a good bet. Order a O2 Classic SIM on line and put a tenner on it. Calls are 3p/min, 2p/text, and 1p/Mb data. If you don't use it for calls just sent a text to your other phone every three months to keep it going. Useful for breakdowns as well.

Thanks for the advice. Shame that only a couple of months ago I took my fathers old Samsung to the charity shop. It had £15 still on its pay as you go card with Vodaphone. He kept it in his car in case of breakdown. Had thought of keeping it fir when my wife goes to Borneo this autumn but our son ha recently bought one of the old style new Nokia which he uses with local SIM cards. But it might have a problem with signals in Kinabalu.

The Ofcom website isn't 100% accurate; it shows good coverage for Voice and Data for a site I was at during the Easter Bank Holiday; both our EE and O2 mobiles had no usable signal; TV was also blocked due to trees.

 

[ProfJohnL]

CA's comment about the coverage checkers I have to echo, where I live, I am supposed to be in a very good coverage area for two of the networks, yet step inside my front door and the signal becomes useless for voice usage, and even texts are temperamental, yet a network which reports me to be in a poor area works better than the two good ones, though I still have to stand leaning over the kitchen sink to get a usable voice signal.

I was talking to a guy who works for one of the large energy suppliers. He was telling me that the roll out of smart meters is being hampered by the availability of mobile phone signals. Their company has had to bring in a second more expensive supplier of meters which have a better signal reception to be fitted in areas with difficult reception. There re still some places where smart meters simply will not work becasue of the lack of signal.

Something else that surprised me was that the smart meter is still presently company specific, if you change providers, many will need your meter changing, though there are moves afoot that should simplify the process to just changing a sim card, though that will still apparently require an home visit.

 

[Hutch]

CA's comment about the coverage checkers I have to echo, where I live, I am supposed to be in a very good coverage area for two of the networks, yet step inside my front door and the signal becomes useless for voice usage, and even texts are temperamental, yet a network which reports me to be in a poor area works better than the two good ones, though I still have to stand leaning over the kitchen sink to get a usable voice signal.

I was talking to a guy who works for one of the large energy suppliers. He was telling me that the roll out of smart meters is being hampered by the availability of mobile phone signals. Their company has had to bring in a second more expensive supplier of meters which have a better signal reception to be fitted in areas with difficult reception. There re still some places where smart meters simply will not work becasue of the lack of signal.

Something else that surprised me was that the smart meter is still presently company specific, if you change providers, many will need your meter changing, though there are moves afoot that should simplify the process to just changing a sim card, though that will still apparently require an home visit.

Looks like your going of thread Prof,

 

[Sparky68]

Hi
I am a complete newbie to this but I am a techie by trade and heavily rely on a solid, fast internet connection for work. As I work from home I have a backup mobile wifi router with an EE data only pay as you go sim for emergencies. However, like the OP I am looking at using it more from my van.

I don't know as I haven't tried it but I suspect the bodywork of a typical van will interfere with reception and I think investing in an aerial to boost signals would be good. Also, I was going to look into a 4G booster.

From a technical perspective, we have demanded smaller and smaller handsets which have very small aerials now built into the handset and the mobile wifi routers. I'd be keen to investigate ways to increase the signal strength using boosters which I've seen advertised,

I don't think all mobile wifi routers are born equal either so it's worth investing in a good one. I think if you had a good wifi router and booster and invested in a couple of sims from different providers (be aware that many now share the same masts and coverage). Then.... I think we should be able to get a good signal in all but the most remote spots. I think if you invested about £300 in a complete set up you should get a really good 4G signal.

Sorry if all this is obvious but I'm new and no idea how much everyone already knows.

Michael

 

[Woodentop]

Don't bother with any form of booster. If you use a mi-fi (or for that matter your phone as a hotspot) just move it around near the windows or in a rooflight until you get the best incoming signal, then leave it there. The wi-fi field they produce will saturate the inside of your MH with no trouble.

Getting a decent mi-fi is a good start. Despite what The Donald may think, Huawei units - for instance the E5776 - are very good and inexpensive if you look around. I have pulled well over 40Mb/s on a weakish signal with one.

In terms of SP IME O2 Classic (PAYG) or GiffGaff (owned by O2) have the best 4G coverage. VF is good but more expensive, EE is good provided you can find a decent signal as the higher frequencies they use can be lossy, and whilst 3 is very good value they have a tendency not to install 4G in some rural areas unless they can see a market/profit for it. O2 Classic is only available on line.

 

[thedoog1]

Well i need to sort this out now we have gone over to the dark side and bought a Static van. So will need wifi now and dont fancy paying £120 a year for it. So now we have the fun job of selling everything to do with our tourer, should be fun. I hope i don't miss touring to much, but am looking forward to a less hectic life. Plus we are only yards from the beach so the dog will be in seventh heaven.

Steve