Anyone have a wifi repeater on their boat?

timemachine

timemachine

Member
Jul 11, 2009
403
Watch Hill, RI
Boat Info
2005 48 Sundancer
Engines
Cummins 530HO
Found one older thread but looking to boost signals inside the boat. I find most marinas have weak wifi and want to have better access as I do need to stay connected when boating. Anyone have any luck with one brand versus another?
 
I use Island Time PC wifi amp and router. The software is what I like along with the fellow who runs the company. The antenna grabs the week marina signal and logs into the system for me. I feed a 12 volt router which I log into. The router easily covers our boat and the surrounding slips. A lot of the systems available use the ubiquiti amp. It boils down to support and software. This fellow is good and sends everything you need.

The wave wifi uses the ubiquiti amp
 
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I have a Rogue Wave Pro. It's great. The only downside is my friends are always asking if they can squat on my router. ;-)

m
 
HomePort said:
I have a Rogue Wave Pro. It's great. The only downside is my friends are always asking if they can squat on my router. ;-)

m
Click to expand...

Can you please explain how the system works and how it is set up? My marina's WiFi isn't strong enough to make it way out on my dock. I'm looking for something to increase reception. Will this work?
 
TrendNet N300 Easy N Range Wireless Extender.
Has been great.
 
I have been researching this as well. What would you guys say the farthest distance you have relieved a reliable signal?
 
The best distance I have had so far, with a clear line of sight to the source, was about 1.5 - 2 miles while in Long Island sound. I am sure we could go even farther away without an issue and there are many more sources along the coast. We keep the boat in the Connecticut River however and due to the trees and how the river bends we usually can only hit our marinas WiFi for about .5 miles.

Thanks,

Mike
 
mjmason1 said:
Can you please explain how the system works and how it is set up? My marina's WiFi isn't strong enough to make it way out on my dock. I'm looking for something to increase reception. Will this work?
Click to expand...

Sure. It's pretty simple. I have a two foot antennae on my radar arch which allows me to pick up wifi signals that I might not be able to otherwise. The signal is fed into a router on my boat which I interface with via a browser on my computer or mobile device. This web page shows me all the wifi signals I'm picking up and their various signal strengths.

- Michael
 
The frequencies that Wi-Fi works at are line of sight. Therefore the range is influenced by obstructions in the path of the signal. These obstructions include and are not limited to walls, trees, buildings and other boats. The signals are also relatively low power and short range at best.

To increase the distance of the signal you can raise the height of the either the receiving or transmitting antenna, have a clear sight path between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna, or install a stronger receiver and transmitter to capture and return the signal. All of these systems that have been mentioned so far use this last method.

The signal from a network is captured by the external antenna of all of these devices and then fed to a very sensitive receiver (ubiquity for example). The signal is then fed thru a Cat-5 cable to a router or computer port so that the useable data can be processed by the computer. Cat 5 cable has no signal loss in this application. I prefer a router as my access point. This allow me to make my own little network on my boat. The reverse of this process is used to send data back to the internet. Once it is understood that this system is nothing more than an antenna with a preamp and amplifier it becomes very simple. There is a lot of noise out there that complicates a simple subject.

The gain of the antenna is limited by the frequency which it is being used at. At these frequencies a high gain antenna would be too directional for a rocking boat. Most people will be limited to an antenna of about 30 inches. For all of the boat owners with a tall mast you can mount your antenna up high to get more reception. I have a short mast and it works fine. My mast gets the antenna out of the way of all obstructions on my boat.

The problem with this method is that more people are securing their home and business networks. I usually can see lots of networks to log into but in recent years more of them are locked. The marina I keep our boat at is locked. Of course I have the password so what happens is I acquire the signal with the external antenna, feed it thru the preamp, log in to the marina network automatically when my antenna sees the signal. The signal is then fed to my router. I then log into my router with my computer, automatically, and I am in business.

You can spend big bucks or little dollars on this stuff. That is up to you. Hope that helps

Oops forgot one thing. Useable practical range is two miles with NO obstructions. User satisfaction will vary with obstructions.

The answer to MJMason1 is a highly probable yes. If you can see any signal at all with your laptop you should be fine after you install this system. I can not see any signal at my marina with my laptops. Once I installed this system I have had no problems. If you can see the marina's wifi antenna from your boat and it has a relatively clear line of site path I would not worry about it.
 
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I've been using Rouge for few years now. IMO, it's great system. If you go to their home page and scroll down, you'll see an image representing what you see on the computer screen when searching for available networks. The bottom line is that it amplifies the signal to pick up any available network in the area. The distance depends on few variables and obstructions. So, there's no way to guaranty that you can expect 3 or 5 mile range. I don't remember doing a max distance test, but I usually catch anything within 1.5-3 miles range.

The biggest problem now days is that most of the networks are locked, so it's not like the old days where the booster gives you 30 available networks and good 10 are unlocked. Now, if you see half of that open you'll be lucky.

In regards to the model, there are two Rogues, regular and Pro. The difference is about $100. However, in order to mount it using standard VHF (whether adjustable or fixed) you'll have to purchase Pro, b/c its the only one that has standard 1-14 (I think that's what its called) thread. The regular (cheaper) model is meant to be mounted on a rail with supplied u-brackets.

Call them up and talk to Richard. He's very helpful and will answer all of your questions.

Lastly, it take some time to get used to using it. Sometimes it's acting weird when you move from one place to another and to get it working is not a single click procedure. But, it's not a big deal at all.
 
Are you talking about wifi or cellular? Panbo or Active Captain just had an article in the last 2 weeks about 4G cellular boosters that are finally coming available. Until recently, you could only get 3G boosters.

Wasnt sure because the OP said "stay connected when boating". Could be just focused on in-marina... or actually out on the water.
 
JimFromMD said:
Are you talking about wifi or cellular? Panbo or Active Captain just had an article in the last 2 weeks about 4G cellular boosters that are finally coming available. Until recently, you could only get 3G boosters.

I assumed Wifi when I wrote my reply. Homeport and Alex gave the same response in a simplified easier to understand post than I did. Thanks guys. I tend to get carried away about antennas and amps.

Active Captain wrote a great article about 3 and 4 G boosters. Since we still use a dumb phone it is a nonissue for us. Active Captain also wrote a two good articles about wifi. Google island time and Active Captain the articles will come up. Jeff knows more than I ever will about a lot of stuff.
Click to expand...
 
My response was to the question on the title of the thread "Anyone have a wifi repeater on their boat?".

Cell boosters are totally different from WiFi boosters and perhaps should be discussed in different thread, so folks don't get mixed up.
 
I also found the Nauticloud an the wirie which are 2 different unit but offer similar function and features. Want to keep is fairly simple but there are times I need to do some work and it would be nice to stay on the boat versus having to find a coffee shop somewhere.
 
From a couple of years ago, but, it gives you the idea.


FourSunsNetwork[1].jpg
 
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