Mobile Data in Lieu of Broadband via BT – Open Reach

It's been a strange afternoon here. :confused:

My XPOL1 arrived this morning and I connected it up to the router and just stuck it out of the window to test it. Before I started a test I had to alter the aerial setting on the Huawei to external 1 + 2. The 'apply' (change) button did not seem to work but I carried on to find no difference in reception. :( As the wires ran out of the Living Room window and it is blowing a gale, I disconnected the XPOL and instead of selecting 'internal aerial' on the Huawei, I set it to auto instead. So here I am, back to square one. So I decided to check a few forums and BINGO, my wifi is working much better. I did a couple of speed checks and my download has more than doubled withouut using the XPOL. I am just wondering if there has been a fault with one of the Huawei settings butthe only change has been setting the aerial to Auto instead of internal.

My download speed is still pretty poor but more than enough for streaming etc. Hopefully with the new aerial properly installed (at height) I should be able to do the things we need.
 
Can you say how much difference it made using the Omni? Would you recommend it?
Most of the time, plugging the Omni increases the signal strength shown by one or maybe two marks. Doesn't really make much difference to the connection or the data speed.
However, in some remote places it makes a significant difference: a bit more than putting the mifi up in a skylight used to make before I had the antenna.
There are a few places where there is no mobile signal without the Omni plugged in. Because it is on a slide-up pole, I can raise the antenna up about four feet.
I don't think the extra height makes much difference, but being four feet higher than the motorhome roof does. It means that I get a useable connection just about everywhere.
Can't remember being somewhere with no signal I could use, but it may have happened.
I would definitely buy it again. Wasn't even very expensive.
 
Any pics of the sliding mount? I am thinking of either off the bike rack is a suction mounting for a pole but not really looked round
 
Any pics of the sliding mount? I am thinking of either off the bike rack is a suction mounting for a pole but not really looked round
I'll have a go, but it's not at all photogenic! It's a round aluminium tube that goes up through the wardrobe shelf, and through a round gland in the roof. There's a clamp that holds it still.
The leads run down the middle and out of the bottom. All you can see is an aluminium tube and the clamp.
There used to be a TV aerial on the top, which was connected to a booster amplifier on the wall. I don't do TV, so I took the aerial off and replaced it with a plastic cap, so the cables come out downwards, then into the antennas (the other is a WiFi one, but I never use it: I'd remove it but the plastic cap is so well glued on that it'd break if I pull it off).
Photo to follow if I manage to take a good enough one.
 
Photo to follow if I manage to take a good enough one.
Not easy! Can't get far enough away to show much of it.
IMG_20200217_195610.jpg
 
Thank you @in h I see how you have done that 👍
I take no credit for doing it: the TV aerial setup was installed long before I bought the van. It cost the best part of £350 twenty years ago. No idea if it worked: I never had a TV.
 
I take no credit for doing it: the TV aerial setup was installed long before I bought the van. It cost the best part of £350 twenty years ago. No idea if it worked: I never had a TV.
Yeah I removed my aerial completely and blanked over the hole in the roof. If I want terrestrial tv if mrs is with me I have an Avtech aerial that works extremely well. I usually stream if I want to watch anything though
 
I am fed up with my broadband from Plusnet and thinking of replacing my BT landline with mobile data.
My line had gradually become noisier and slower over time despite Plusnet assuring me noise on the line did not affect broadband.
In the first week of December 2019 I started to suffer frequent dropouts. I bought a new router following advice from Plusnet and they adjusted their settings several times. Eventually, on 21st January, the second Open Reach engineer sent to fix the problem found water and a poor connection in one of their cabinets. The line is still slow but now much less noisy and does not drop the connection so frequently.

Open Reach can provide a fibre connection (FTC) on the edge of our village with my final connection via the existing copper overhead wire. Plusnet would charge a little less than I currently pay for my slower connection but significantly more than they would charge a new customer which puts me off.
I think that using a data SIM in a mobile would be cheaper, faster than my existing connection and could be used away from home. Coverage maps from the mobile network suppliers and OFCOM suggest that there is a good signal at my location from Three.

I could borrow long term a Samsung Galaxy Ace mobile but am not fond of Google and Android things.
I rather fancy a Nokia Lumia 640 XL Windows phone.

So question 1 is: Any comments and advice on Windows phones?

Question 2 is about using a mobile to download data to update my Garmin maps.

The Garmin Express System Requirements specify:
High speed Internet access (Not for use with dial-up, mobile or satellite connections)

I have asked Garmin to clarify whether this excludes tethering a mobile to my PC and await their reply.

In the meantime has anyone tested this requirement? I will need to be able to update my Garmin periodically.
Windows phones were good, but most apps are Android or Apple, so not many about now., I have not had a Garmin, but I occasionally run updates on my TomTom Camper with no issues, but mainly on my Plusnet at home. I use a Cubit Power phone from Amazon, 6gb of RAM and 128gb of storage, expandable to 256gb, they sell for around £180, compared to expensive brands, had it 2 years now, no issues! I run it on o2 with no issues, £20 for unlimited calls and texts and 100gb of data, which I use to stream Netflix etc through an Amazon Firestick in the motorhome if the t.v. is naff. Cheers
 
We'll be using satellite internet on motorhomes before we ever get to use 5g. That is unless you like wildcamping in towns and cities.
 
We'll be using satellite internet on motorhomes before we ever get to use 5g. That is unless you like wildcamping in towns and cities.
Very rare for me to be in a town let alone a city and it’s also very rare for me not to have internet in the van using data SIM cards
 
Very rare for me to be in a town let alone a city and it’s also very rare for me not to have internet in the van using data SIM cards

There's a big difference between having internet on the 800mhz band in the middle of nowhere to getting a signal on 3ghz+. What you're getting now won't change until satellite internet.
 
There's a big difference between having internet on the 800mhz band in the middle of nowhere to getting a signal on 3ghz+. What you're getting now won't change until satellite internet.
Not following your meaning, I have a home router that takes 4g SIM card and it’s rare for me not to be on the internet? There have been a couple of places in Scotland and Kielder forrest was rubbish but in those places satellite internet would not work either. You need to be able to send a signal out over a landline or SIM card to request what you want over the satellite
 
If you are talking of full blown two eay satellite that is not financially doable for most people
 
I'm talking about something like this: https://www.starlink.com/

It's broadband anywhere in the world, it will be perfect for motorhomes. No roaming fees, full speed all the time, low latency...etc
Ah good old Elon Musk 👍
His system should give everyone fast internet but we will need to wait and see how it all pans out. At the moment a SIM card is the best option
 

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top