New Member

[MotorBoater]

Hi All,

Just another old fogey trying to relive elements of his youth. A single fortnight on the Broads has stayed with me all my life and I've finally persuaded the wife we need to give it a go, after showing a few YouTube videos. I've been in the area a few times just not on the water unfortunately.

My wife is now looking forward to it but to give you a clue of what I have to put up with I can tell you that she has no qualms about being IN the water but gets quite stressed being ON the water. I might need to pack some form of tranquilizer, a bottle of Bacardi and some coke springs to mind.

We've got Melody 4 from Richardsons for 10 nights in July and I can't wait. It's our first proper holiday in years and we're dragging our son out of the house too. Any tips on the best solution for internet access would be gratefully received and would go a long way towards keeping a 33 yr old Aspergers sufferer happy.

I can't wait but I'll have to hang in there somehow.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Hello and welcome.

Some people buy a preloaded data only sim card(s) on fleabay or Amazon before they come and my understanding is that the 3 network works well on the Northern waters.

[vanessan]

 to the forum and welcome back to the Broads too. With Melody, hopefully your wife will not feel she is too much ON the water as you cruise along as that type of boat is higher than some. I’m sure there will be plenty of suggestions as to internet access, there seem to be no end of possibilities and ideas. July will be here before you know it! 

[ranworthbreeze]

Hello MotorBoater,

Welcome to both your wife and yourself to the forum. Please let us know how your trip on the Broads goes.

Regards

Alan

[Ray]

Welcome! You're going to have a great holiday 👍

I just use data on my phone for WiFi, it is patchy though. I'm with BT

[Minigem]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I use a 3 mobile wi fi hub which usually does the job. If the signal is a bit low I put the hub in a plastic bag and hoist it in the air on my boat pole.

There is supposedly a dead spot around Horning and I cannot get any reception at Ranworth although I have seen Vodafone phones working there.

Enquire with the boatyard as some supply hubs with the boat.

You may find it expensive however if your son is anything like my nephew who streams games like there is no tomorrow.

Have a good holiday.

MG

[WherryNice]

Hello and welcome MotorBoater

I will echo what Minigem has said about using a 3 mifi dongle for web access, I find it's often the fact a device is so low down near the water that prevents it connecting so being able to position the dongle higher up then wifi-ing to it usually works for me. A long usb lead my be useful too as the batteries in both of mine aren't particularly long lived on a charge.

One of my dongles(the older one of the two!) has an external aerial socket which I will be trying out once the boat gets back in the wet stuff.

Anyway, enjoy your holiday when it arrives, it will be just as good as you remember

[johnash]

Welcome! I am a returnee to the Broads too and can't wait for our trip. We've booked a boat from Richardson's (Swan Roamer) but have to wait until May 2021 as it's the earliest we can make it!

Re Wifi. According to this page: 

https://www.richardsonsboatingholidays.co.uk/first-timers/richardsons-cruisers-special-features/

Richardson's boats have onboard WiFi. The page states:

"4G Wi-Fi
All of our cruisers come equipped with 4G Wi-Fi for your convenience***!"
"*** Subject to EE mobile signal. Strength of Wi-Fi may vary in different locations."

What I don't know is whether this is an extra that has to be paid for and how much data is included. Perhaps someone can enlighten us about this Richardson's service, please?

Enjoy your trip and let us know how you get on!

John
PS I also note that Richardson's boats have "Freesat", so presumably, somewhere, there has to be a dish for reception of a satellite signal? I have not noticed this in any of the pictures.

[johnash]

UPDATE:
I messaged Richardson's and within a few minutes, they came back with the following reply. Good news!!

"Hi John, thanks for getting in touch. There is no limit on our WiFi, however signal can be limited in remote parts of the Broads as it does rely on EE mobile signal. We hope this helps. Kind regards, R"

I have to say that, in my recent dealings with this boatyard, they have been exceedingly responsive and friendly!

[MotorBoater]

Many thanks for the comments and suggestions, I have already invested in a Huawei E5785- 4G/ 300Mbps Travel Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot with Long-lasting 3000mAh Battery, from Amazon, plus a small aerial that I may or may not need. I added a 24gb Three Sim card and have been amazed at the trial results down here in Sussex so we'll see what happens.

My bit of breaking news is that we've decided we can't wait for July so we booked an additional week in March !

I persuaded the wife we needed a practice run before our 10 nighter in July so preparations have begun.

I've also got an eye on September or October but I'm keeping quiet about that one.

[SwanR]

March is a great time to be out. Plenty of room for practising your mooring! ;)

[YnysMon]

Lovely and quiet in March, and no problems finding a mooring. We had our first (motor) experience on the Broads in March 2015 and got hooked. What week do you have in July? We are on Lustre (a sailey) the first week.

Helen

 

[MotorBoater]

2 hours ago, YnysMon said:

Lovely and quiet in March, and no problems finding a mooring. We had our first (motor) experience on the Broads in March 2015 and got hooked. What week do you have in July? We are on Lustre (a sailey) the first week.

Helen

 

Not 'till the 10th. I'm glad about the possibility of plenty of room in March as my "crew" have no experience at all apart from the wife as passenger in a motor boat outside St Ives harbour as I practised 90 degree turns. 12" of freeboard become 2" on the side she was sitting. It was about 3 or 4 hours before she spoke to me properly.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

On 15/02/2020 at 03:30, MotorBoater said:

Many thanks for the comments and suggestions, I have already invested in a Huawei E5785- 4G/ 300Mbps Travel Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot with Long-lasting 3000mAh Battery, from Amazon, plus a small aerial that I may or may not need. I added a 24gb Three Sim card and have been amazed at the trial results down here in Sussex so we'll see what happens.

Not sure 24gb will be enough but then I don't know how much it will be used.

I've just tried a mobile router and it did need an antenna  (stuck to inside of window), on the southern broads I got speeds of 6 & 0.7 which sounds low but I've been researching something on the Internet watching lots of videos without any buffering but 3gb only lasted 3 days.

Hope that helps 

[MotorBoater]

Thanks for that.

The Huawei came with a sim that wasn't mentioned in the marketing that will apparently give me 30gb for £10 if I activate it so that may be a useful spare, especially as the three network topups are so ridiculously expensive.

If anyone is interested I tested this particular model of Huawei using my smart phone first on virgin media cable then on the Huawei, using an app called (Funny enough) Speedtest.

Download - Virgin 48.1 mbs, Huawei 36.3 mbs, Huawei + Aerial 52.8 mbs

Upload - Virgin 4.97 mbs, Huawei 7.88 mbs, Huawei + Aerial 3.86 mbs

I have no explanation for the drop in upload using the aerial.

I used my phone instead of a computer because my desktop is in pieces and I have bought a laptop for use in Norfolk next month and haven't got used to it yet.

I hope to be posting to "Holiday Tales & Blogs" next month and I'll update these figures there from the wilds of Norfolk.

[grendel]

I have the huawei mifi unit and got a 20gb o2 payg sim this lasts for 12 months and gets me signal most places, I also use this at work, but rarely stream or download large quantities, their 12gb version lasted me 11 months on the first one and about 6 months on the second, which was why i upgraded to 20gb, I use it every day at work as our guest wifi is time limited

[MotorBoater]

Not heard much about O2 around these parts, not sure if it's because they are so poor or because users are keeping quiet in case the network gets overloaded !

I'll make a note for future reference.

[SwanR]

I use O2 and get a good signal in most places. 

Sometimes, though, based on personal experience, I think the phone itself can have something to do with it. We have had an issue with two phones on the same network in the same place, one with no issues and the other with no signal!

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Agree the phone makes a difference