wi-fi antenna

psneeld said:

I thought that by having your router to amplified antenna on the boat WPA, even to a marina open wifi , gives you adequate protection?

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Assuming the outside WiFi modem is connecting to an open WiFi marina router? Nope - you're way exposed.

LAPTOP/WPA ----(encrypted)----BOAT ROUTER
----(open)----OUTSIDE MODEM----(open)----MARINA WIFI

Having WPA on your boat's router just protects others from getting onto your boat's WiFi system.

Wxx3 said:

Any suggestions as to how to proceed??

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Island Time PC - it's the best way to go in terms of price, quality equipment, and support. When I have a tough WiFi problem/question or when a marina contacts us about something they're having a problem with...I go to Bob at Island Time.

Tom.B said:

Yea... and there's that too. As cell coverage improves, it's almost better to leverage that technology with a small MyFi rig. TBH, if I am THAT far away from cell signal, I got there on purpose and really am better off without it for a day or two

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Thats our take as well.

We have a large shared data plan with AT&T

Our boats MIFI costs $10 a month on that plan, and we have a Cradlepoint router on the boat to provide network connectivity.

I have struggled in the past with trying to get a decent wifi signal at various marinas. This thread gave me some food for thought so I ended up ordering the Alfa AWUS036H from amazon. WOW! I had no idea how tuff this little bugger is. Just at my own dock, I was usually getting 2 or 3 signals. Now I'm picking up over 20. Some as far as a 3/4 of a mile away. Best $30 bucks I have spent. Just sharing the intel...

Cheers

jukesy said:

I have struggled in the past with trying to get a decent wifi signal at various marinas. This thread gave me some food for thought so I ended up ordering the Alfa AWUS036H from amazon. WOW! I had no idea how tuff this little bugger is. Just at my own dock, I was usually getting 2 or 3 signals. Now I'm picking up over 20. Some as far as a 3/4 of a mile away. Best $30 bucks I have spent. Just sharing the intel...

Cheers

Click to expand...

jukesy said:

I have struggled in the past with trying to get a decent wifi signal at various marinas. This thread gave me some food for thought so I ended up ordering the Alfa AWUS036H from amazon. WOW! I had no idea how tuff this little bugger is. Just at my own dock, I was usually getting 2 or 3 signals. Now I'm picking up over 20. Some as far as a 3/4 of a mile away. Best $30 bucks I have spent. Just sharing the intel...

Cheers

Click to expand...

I have the same unit and it works great - will at least double or triple your coverage. Not as good as a rogue or other external based antenna, but for the money great investment. Nice thing about the alfa is that you can take it with you shore side. Unit fits in the palm of your hand.

Yeah no kidding. For such a small unit, it really kicks ass! I'm sure there's bigger and better units but like I said, for 30 bucks. It's pretty tuff to beat it.

Cheers

jukesy said:

I have struggled in the past with trying to get a decent wifi signal at various marinas. This thread gave me some food for thought so I ended up ordering the Alfa AWUS036H from amazon. WOW! I had no idea how tuff this little bugger is. Just at my own dock, I was usually getting 2 or 3 signals. Now I'm picking up over 20. Some as far as a 3/4 of a mile away. Best $30 bucks I have spent. Just sharing the intel...

Cheers

Click to expand...

That's the unit I mentioned in my earlier post. The problem is, if you go from 2 or 3 signals to 20 but they are all secured and you don't know the password, it doesn't really improve anything. And even if you can access them, many times they are very, very slow.

Mine is sitting on a shelf somewhere. The Hot Spot works much, much better and it works everywhere I've been including on the water and in remote anchorages.

Boating on the USA/CAN border waters I use both, MiFi hot spot and Bullet wifi radio.

The MiFi hot spot is linked to one particular provider on one side of the border that is not always accessible. The Bullet wifi radio gives me an extended and reliable up to 7 miles, albeit accidental, reach on both sides of the border.

Bullet also saves me the MiFi bandwidth/data use in marinas and urban areas where I can connect to many public hot spots.

psneeld said:

An outside, amplified antenna is certainly not a cure all for instant, strong, fast internet.

But after 2 trips between NJ and Florida...my antenna has saved the day for getting internet in dozens of location. One of the most notable was the Mega Dock in Charleston...sure they have antennas and good signal strength all over that HUGE marina but the speed was so slow we were gonna slit our wrists using it. Because we stream Wifi to Skpe our kids, watch television, and overall entertainment in many forms...we are usually happy to get good internet without paying a fortune in monthly data plans. With my bullet rig I was able to pick up an unsecured wifi that had to be a 1/2 or more miles away (so some range extension is necessary) that worked fine.

I find many marina HAVE Wifi but it is so slow that they might as well not advertise. Can I always get an open signal?...no...but in more than half the marinas and anchorages (picked because of available Wifi) I could because of my setup.

Is it worth $300 up front and possible need replacement in a few years (mine is on 24/7/365)?

To us it is...but I can see maybe not everyone.

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I'll repost my previous just so I don't have to retype...

If you stream stuff and don't or can't via unlimited data from some plan...and my hotspot would be cost prohibitive...an amplified antenna is definitely worth it.

As I have posted...some marinas have weak or slow signals at the dock you are at or even the hole marina..my amplified antenna has picked up libraries, other marina's, coffee shop's, McDonalds, etc..etc that I do occasionally frequent as a customer so it's hardly stealing as they make their signal so strong it booms out way past their establishment..probably like advertising hoping you may have them on your mind for something to buy.

I'll agree if all you do is a few minutes or even an hour a day of browsing/checking email that a hotspot is hard to beat.....but if you are going to enjoy the unbelievably great world wide web full of online movies and streaming music....having a great amplified antenna has been worth every penny if you cruise in areas where you use marinas or anchorages nearby towns.

Just wanted to add a couple of things...
May or may not be helpful, so... use what's useful, ignore what isn't I suppose.



If your wireless router has a PIN based WPS set-up, toss it overboard. Push-button is more secure, with physical security being the main issue. That might be more of a concern on a boat than in a house. Just saying. If your router allows you to, you're better off just disabling it in the set-up screen, although in fairness, a lot of Netgear & Linksys products will still have it running anyway, even AFTER you thought you disabled it. Yeah, I know... big PITA.



You should use WPA2 with AES.
Not WPA and not TKIP.
Go for full WPA2/AES.
And since you aren't going to be implementing a RADIUS server (don't ask), use a nice long pass-phrase, not your dog's birthday or grandson's middle name. Some obscure memory involving a combination of places and dates that nobody except you and your spouse would ever think of is usually a good option.


Now of course...
None of that matters if you're connecting your client to someone else's hotspot. If that's what you do and you need to do stuff like bill paying and banking...
Consider a cellular card instead.