Thursday, May 22, 2008

The Hotpod Lands



We nipped over to Fernwood as Julia wanted to check the size of our stove and the position of the flue as she hadn't seen it in the flesh yet. I have managed to source a couple of Aerials for the connection of my data card and my mobile phone to improve the signal inside the boat. Many thanks for all the suggestions about hanging my dongle out the window...but feel this must be against the law :) and I feel that the aerial might be better option than having the porthole open in the depths of winter and freezing my dongle.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Internet Update

Well the bad news is that the 1 way satelitte connection I was planning to use for download is not going to be available after November 2008, so my internet connection will have to now be through a USB dongle, to be honest I was so close to going this way as the mobile internet has moved on a fair bit since I was first looking into a broadband speed connection on a boat over the last 3 years.
So now I am looking for advice regarding the best 3G/HSDPA coverage over the canal system. I think it will come down between Vodafone and T Mobile so any comments on any of the providers would be greatly appreciated. I will probally pick one of these and may have a backup of a PAYG 3 dongle. The next thing is to try and source some decent external aerials that I can use with these dongles, so will probally have a chat with Boatersphone at Crick in a couple of weeks.
Onto the boat, The hull was spray foamed on Monday and the engine is due in soon, so things are moving on at the builders, We have picked all the finishes and materials etc.and most of the wood and laminates etc. have been ordered.
The weather we are having at the moment is not making the wait any easier and it is now looking that we will probally take delivery in the depths of winter, although our builder is trying to push on the 4 boats in the workshop as fast as they can. We are due for a vist to the workshop next week and hopefully be able to take some snaps of how the build is progressing.