How Many Gigabytes Is A Piece Of String?

[Timbo]

With this thread in mind, as I was in Tesco, I asked them when my contract was due to finish. 'Today' was the reply. So, the very knowledgable young lady with the purple hair, nose ring and lip piercings, asked me some questions regarding my phone use and what I wanted the phone to do.

As I gave my requirements the young lady excluded makes and models of phone.
"I'm not interested in fashion accessories, I need a phone that works as it's primary function is for use in an emergency."
"So that's I-Phone out of the equation." said the young lady to whom I was suddenly warming.
 In the meantime, Ben Gunn was pointing out the phone Watson has just switched to (Samsung).
"I spend a lot of time on the Norfolk Broads and the signal can be difficult to obtain." I continued.
"That's I-Phone and Samsung of no use then."
Ben Gunn looked crestfallen.
"I want a very good quality camera and screen 4K capable".
"That's I-Phone, Samsung and cheaper Android phones discounted. Leaving only one choice!" said the young lady.
"Yes, it's another Sony."

Looking at my data and call usage we sorted out a package. I had previously had 500 minutes of talk time, 500 texts and 500 mb data a month in my contract. My new contract as 1000 minutes of talk time, 1000 texts and 3GB of Data per month, plus insurance for my phone for 50% less than my original contract. So...£17 per month and I'm all sorted.

The purple haired siren then went on to transfer all of my contacts, apps and data from my old phone to my new phone while I went shopping for cream cakes with my Tesco points!

My phone is an essential device so it has to work and work well. Contract phones are not for everyone, Ellie uses pay as you go (or my phone) on a Windows Phone (worse than I-Phone and that must have taken some serious Stella Artois during development). She now has my old Sony and was quite amazed at how easy it was to use and how well it worked (signal black spot here too). 

I know phones and computers are like football teams, boats or Marmite, and I know I'm often disparaging about Apple products, if they work for you then great stuff.

 

[MauriceMynah]

That £17 per month included a new phone?, maybe I should go into Tesco's!  What or rather who's service are you with? Tesco's own or EE or what? 

[MauriceMynah]

Good point Jonzo, but with my eyesight, I need a larger screen than the phones seem to have. I was struggling to read the forum on this 10" laptop/tablet thingy

[Timbo]

My Dear MM...the £17 per month includes a Sony telephone with a very clear screen measuring 2.5 inches by 4.25 inches. The phone dimension is 2 5/8" by  5 1/2".

The only problem with my new phone being...It has not transferred your number across from my old one...so please give me a buzz this evening so that I can put you back into the contacts directory?

[VetChugger]

I used around £25 worth over the week. That included daily social media stuff for the offspring!

[MauriceMynah]

Right, I'm back with more questions, and a few observations on what I've learned thus far.

Timbo, Unless I'm very much mistaken, you are on the Tesco mobile system, aka O2. My phone is also on  "O2" and I'll be keeping it that way.  My Dongle/Myfi will either be on "3" or "EE" I would like members views on both networks. My phone and my laptop will be separate units on different networks. That is my preference.

I have decided that I need a new laptop (the old one I bought second hand back in 2004 and is no longer able to do that which it used to do)

Ideally I'd like to run it straight off the boat batteries, so it needs to be able to run from 12v, 240v and from it's own internal battery.

I do not have, nor will I have, an inverter on board. I had one once and as far as I can tell, after 5 minutes use it did £750.05p  of damage to my electrics. Never again. so the "240v" is for home updates.

I'd prefer something with about a 12" screen. Much smaller than that I have trouble reading, much larger than that is just too big to be convenient ... so lets say 10" minimum 15" maximum

It must have a keypad as opposed to, or in addition to a touchscreen one. alternatively I would be happy with a Bluetooth mouse/keyboard combo.

All this and it's got to be done on the cheap. :-)   say less than £200.  Members recommendations requested please.

 

[deebee29]

I have used a 3 mifi unit all over both North and South with very good coverage apart from the usual black spots. 

I have no experience of EE so can't really comment on it other than to say I've heard it can be very patchy but that would really only be hearsay.

 

[Guest ExMemberKingFisher]

I use EEBN. Everything Everywhere But Norfolk!! Says it all really. Fairly good down Sarf, apart from Surlingham Broad and Brundall Church Fen mooring. 

[Islander]

Hi MM, we use a 3mifi and have been very pleased with it. Like all providers there are black holes.

 

When you've bought your new/upgrade laptop why not consider one of these. Beware some of the really cheap ones which may have poor regulation.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Quality-Universal-12V-Car-DC-Battery-Charger-Adapter-80W-Notebook-Laptop-/122478990210?epid=863804651&hash=item1c84511382:g:ofIAAOSw~y9ZCwMk

Colin

p.s. My laptop, an old Acer, runs Vista but we have an iPad2 each which are now considered old. These have a simple car charger but the batteries last a good 8 to 10hrs. We also have a DVB adapter each so no arguments over which channel to watch

[thingamybob]

Hi MM.

I have a 3 mifi on the boat and it works almost all over the Broads. If the signal is a bit low I put the mifi into one of those little mobile phone belt pouches and stick it up on my boat hook which greatly improves the signal.

with regards to charging your laptop there is no need to go down the route of using an invertor as it wastes battery power with losses. Maplins supply a nice universal laptop charger which will do the job admirably. Also, charge your mifi using a usb port in the charger as charging it through the computer will also waste power. It is all about banging the volts up and then bringing them down again which is wasteful.

When using these computer chargers make sure you have at least 11.5 volts in the boat battery otherwise the unit will get hot, pull more current and eventually blow the fuse. Also, never leave the computer on charge unattended as if the boat battery gets low the heat of the unit may cause a fire. It is really best to charge the computer whilst cruising when the voltage in the boat battery is highest.

Hope this helps.

thingy.

[MauriceMynah]

Great info, thank you. quick question though, If using the computer whilst the engine is NOT running but the battery pack is getting power from the 12v boat battery charger,  will it still be charging or will it be discharging (or is that activity  not advised?) ?

[thingamybob]

8 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

Great info, thank you. quick question though, If using the computer whilst the engine is NOT running but the battery pack is getting power from the 12v boat battery charger,  will it still be charging or will it be discharging (or is that activity  not advised?) ?

The computer battery will charge and the computer will run off the boat battery in this situation. It is ok to do that but just keep an eye on the boat battery voltage.

[Bound2Please]

Well about 4 or 5 weeks ago I bought from our local pc shop have used him for about years an hp some thing or other its a lap top ot tablet as the screen parts disconnects from the key board bit small screen in between the sizes you quoted. I have had it connected via a vodaphone wifi pay as you go over a lot of the northern rivers.  cant say horning as never stopped there

Charlie

[Siddy]

On the Mifi & data costs offset against Phone data costs.

My 3 Mifi is on a monthly 15gig/£15 pay monthly. But look at your phone contract and data costs. It works out cheaper for me having 2 gig on my phone this covers day to day and if using extra data i.e. updates these are only done at home or in the van where I use the mifi for the ipad. So it's works out cheaper for me. Plus tomtom downloads map updates etc as I drive 6 gig last week.

 

 

[Siddy]

I also have a 12v to laptop lead if the battery is getting low but my HP can run without the battery so your only running the laptop from 12v not charging the battery when the boats is off. Charge main battery during the day off the invertor.

Replacement battery for the laptop are cheaper now.

[High6]

Siddy, would you consider ditching your home phone/broadband for 3 Mifi (or perhaps you have?)

[LondonRascal]

John first of all the use of an Inverter should never damage electrics so something was clearly not happy in your DC set up.  You can by low wattage (300w) 12vDC to 240vAC Inverters that have crocodile clips - just connect to battery directly (I'd also add a suitable inline fuse) and then you can be safe nothing else 'down stream' will cause a problem with obtaining your 240v. For under £25.00 delivered from Amazon: http://amzn.eu/2m31z3a

Next up network (Vodafone, O2, EE or Three)  and crucially their performance. Like Varnish everyone has a view on what is the best network but it is not just about coverage, it is about actual data throughput (both downloading and uploading) and from real world experiences the Three network is the most stable and fast for data - which all you care about when you want to get online.

At Beccles this weekend gone, I used 6GB (£30.00) of data on Three. This is because I live streamed in HD some of our trip to Beccles on Facebook and that took a big chunk of data, and then also had hours of music being streamed in very high bit rates using Spotify, along with video and photos, Facetime calls and iMessgaes/WhatsApp use - then others on the boat also used their phones connected to my unit.

That is pretty extreme to the average person, but you will note using Three enabled a reliable fast connection to make all this possible.

You seem to want to use a device to basically get on the Forum, get on to other websites, watch maybe some video like on iPlayer, or You Tube, check and send emails - nothing too much, no game playing the latest titles or expecting amazing speed and fidelity of sound . You want something light with a good battery life, a decent screen and a keyboard you also want a good value - so it all has to be a Chromebook.  My Mum has had one for a while, never had a single issue, automatically updates no malware ever and almost instant on here is a decent one, brand new - this claims up to 12 hours of battery life too for just £199.99 delivered from Amazon: http://amzn.eu/1EXq8rt 

 

So to sum up, if you had a MiFi unit (any will do if unlocked) and a Three SIM card in it (or just get the MiFi from Three with the SIM all in) that covers you for your data with good speeds and a reliable network over Broadland.  A Chromebook gets you online in a lightweight, easy to use device with great battery life and keeps things on budget too.

 

[WherryNice]

I use a 4G wifi dongle from 3 currently pay £16 a month for 20gb, generally found it to be more than adequate for general use(Northern Broads) and with the advantage of using it to make calls via the ThreeInTouch App when the normal signal is too weak. I also stick it up on a pole when signal is weaker which does the job nicely too. Only issue I have had is the battery life isnt too hot but thats a minor problem really...

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

[Siddy]

Update, just checked hot deals and it showed Three 20gig and new mifi for £15 so I rang them up to check and it's for a 2nd line so not so good.

But I did leave the call with a upgrade on my sim of 20 gig for £9 giving me a £6 saving. Plus a new mifi dongle I'll have as a spare.