wifi repeater?

Folks,

So I am tied up to my daughters bulkhead using her house wifi. Except at low tide.

At low tide the signal is not visible as it must pass through the bulkhead and the eight+ feet of dirt behind it. I need a receiver with line of sight to router on the dock that is also line of sight to the boat.

This is possible with the current configuration of the router, dock and boat.

What is the product I should use? ( i think the term "repeater" goes back a few decades).

John

You might want to look at Wirie solutions.

Marine WiFi and RV WiFi 3G/4G/LTE solutions – The Wirie

Donsan,

That was my first inclination as the wireless router will accept the router.

But due to the location of the in-house router, and the constructed materials between the house and the dock, it is not possible.

Donsan,

I misread your reply and thought you meant "wired"

I'll look into these. I would like to use the existing house router as a base as it would cause less disruption to my hosts.

John

So I should add that I have something that works well when underway.

I'm looking for an installation just for this particular dock

you can get a gadget that plugs into a USB port that gives wifi to a computer that doesn't have it. They are about 20 bucks. If you used one of these, and a 10 foot USB cable strung up to your bridge you might have the height.

Another option is to use your cell phone as a hot spot. Depending on how much data you need that might work as well.

We use a glomex webboat. Easy to install on our radar arch, works with either your cell provider for data or will do a nice job bringing in wifi signals. Not the cheapest solution though. https://www.glomexstore.com/webboat-4g-plus/523-it1004-webboat-coastal-internet-4g-wi-fi.html

The problem while underway or at your daughters dock is basically the same. You need a wifi antenna that will mount on your mast or the top of you boat. Island Time Computer sells Ubiquiti Bullet wifi antennas for this.
See the following and you will see a picture of the antenna mounted on a mast.:

Marine PC's & WiFi by IslandTime PC

I believe Wirie uses the same antenna but offers a more comprehensive solution.

There are lots of antennas on ebay and Amazon that plug into a usb port. I use indoor one, about $50. Gives very long range. I recommend it, but its support ends with Windows 7. Since I'll never use Windows 10 again, it works for me.
My Mac also has a similar antenna, both came with 25' cords. There are outdoor antennas that literally acquire signals from miles away.

Rogue Wave - Marine Wireless Access Extender Florida
These work pretty good. I don't have one personally but have installed quite a few & the owners are happy with the results.

The Wirie is a nice product. Is the docking situation a temporary one? How far is it physically from the router and/or the modem in the house to the boat? One cheap solution, if possible, is to run an ethernet cable from the router to the boat and buy a cheap wifi router for the boat. But something like the Wirie will serve you well in your general cruising.

Anyone have experience with the Redport Halo system?

Last year we upgraded and added an IslandTime Wifi extender. One of the reasons were we wanted an antenna that also had the 5.8Ghz band. The 5.8GHz band doesn't have the range but is less crowded than the 2.4Ghz band. The marina we're in now, broadcasts on both bands and the speed/connectivity is superior on the 5.8 GHz. We had the "Bullet" before which as ok but only had the 2.4 GHz band.

Here's an article discusiiong the differet bands. It's for routers but is applicable for our system:

http://mobile.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/5-pros-and-cons-to-5-ghz-wi-fi-routers.html

The Island Time system we bought has the Mikrotik Groove 52HPn Dual Band High Gain antenna 2.4/5.8Ghz, 7/8dbi

http://islandtimepc.com/marine_wifi.html

We got one of these so help us in newer marinas.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G8IPLD8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

PMF1984 said:

Anyone have experience with the Redport Halo system?

Click to expand...

We've had one for a couple of years now because I wanted to be able to use the sat phone connection if needed. It works fine although I mounted an external WiFi antenna (for the LAN) to get a better signal throughout the boat (its mounted in a rats nest of wiring and I was afraid that was affecting the wifi). It works fine, and we've never used the sat phone - I can afford to boat or I can afford to pay the sat phone companies for data!

You need what is known as a WiFi Bridge I believe. Its essentially an outside antenna that can boost a weak WiFi signal from the home to the boat. Available on Amazon for about $75

Happy Boating
Noreej

Any router with an antenna that screws on can be attached to an external antenna. I use two ubiquity nano stations, one is configured as a station, and has an external antenna, the other as a router.

You do not need line of sight. Signals at 2.4 GHz bounce off just about everything and scatter like crazy.

We just installed a Wave 2 and 5 unit that Larry mentioned. So far no problems except we find fewer and fewer unlocked networks.

I have used the Coredy 300Mbps WiFi Range Extender (25 bucks on Amazon) with good results. It plugs into any outlet and repeats the wifi signal. It won't be full strength but will extend a signal quite a ways.

Thanks all for your input on this.

At first I was leaning toward a extender/booster as they seem to be the cheapest solution. But started thinking about something more robust that would help in other spots.

(When I came down the ICW this fall, we would stop at marinas that would advertise wifi, but found most of the signals at too many places inadequate)

Settled on an Island Time system for two reasons (which outweighed the cost factor) 1. One stop shopping for the compatible components - I could find the same units cheaper from other sources but matching the router with all the peripherals takes time to figure out what "fits" then shopping for the right price then determining if the vendors on the square.
2. Support -nothing but positive from TF ers.

(And also I am carless here so each time I need something I have to wait on car availability or a UPS delivery. So fiddling around with multiple supply runs won't work.)

I will try to feed this through my new hotspot router which has a Cat5 plug, if it works or not I will report back.

There are remote wi fi boosters (net gear) that will receive the house signal and relay it.

Stick it up in the attic in an extension cord and it should see you at low tide.

PMF1984 said:

Thanks all for your input on this.

At first I was leaning toward a extender/booster as they seem to be the cheapest solution. But started thinking about something more robust that would help in other spots.

(When I came down the ICW this fall, we would stop at marinas that would advertise wifi, but found most of the signals at too many places inadequate)

Settled on an Island Time system for two reasons (which outweighed the cost factor) 1. One stop shopping for the compatible components - I could find the same units cheaper from other sources but matching the router with all the peripherals takes time to figure out what "fits" then shopping for the right price then determining if the vendors on the square.
2. Support -nothing but positive from TF ers.

(And also I am carless here so each time I need something I have to wait on car availability or a UPS delivery. So fiddling around with multiple supply runs won't work.)

I will try to feed this through my new hotspot router which has a Cat5 plug, if it works or not I will report back.

Click to expand...

Island time is good stuff & like LarryM pointed out, dual band could possibly make a big dif with a connection at marinas that offer the higher freq wifi. So far the guy Bob, who I guess builds/sells island time, is readily available for support, which I did need when getting a system up & running for the first time. The only 2 complaints I had was whenever the wifi antenna was on it would KILL the gps signal, even though I had the groove radio transceiver as high as 3 feet above the gps antenna (he does warn of this issue on his website). Admittedly, the GPS & wifi ethernet cables do run together down the 10' mast (along with radar,AIS,VHF & TV antenna cables) so wifi can't be used while underway. Power would have to be turned off to the groove). Complaint #2 is the ethernet cable shipped with the system is the solid wire stuff, which imo doesn't have a place on a boat. So if I were you , I would plan on buying another piece of braded-wire cat-5 or 6 ethernet cable. I doubt it'll make any difference with the GPS interference but at least there will be no worries about a wire breaking.

So I looked into a booster from the house side, or otherwise dealing with my issue from the house end. But as a good guest, I did not suggest moving the location of the current router. Also did not want to start running wires around someone else's place. (Although I will admit if it was possible to run a wire to the boat I might have broached the subject)

A strategically placed booster may have gotten me through here, but then there is the issue of all the other places north of here.

My wifi antenna location is about 15 feet (horizontal) from the GPS antenna. I'll report back as to how that works.

The Cat 5 solid is so cheap and found everywhere, I'll just go with having a spare aboard.

Thanks for the tips.

John