We’re back at the top of Foxton, which I can prove in two ways by uploading two photos; they were taken today, and I couldn’t have uploaded them in Harborough, the connection was so slow on T-mobile:
Boater's eye view from the top lock. If Columbus had been wrong, this is how he would have felt.
Sanity Again, with drying socks. Most unusual compliment of the day: "Your socks are very neatly hung out".
Talking of mobile internet, John and Jo from Acen came round for a drink last night, and amongst other things, John showed off his Huawei E5830 MiFi (= Mobile WiFi) modem. It’s a dongle and a WiFi router in one package, which he was able to start up, place on the roof of the boat, and then use his netbook to access the internet through it, sitting in the saloon.
Only available from 3 at the moment, so that gets us back into the issue of coverage. I seem to be hearing two different stories about this; several folk have warned about poor coverage, but several current users, including the two Johns, say it’s fine.
Have 3 significantly improved their coverage over the last 12 months, or something? They have some very attractive deals, both PAYG and contract, with the E5830 at the moment.
Apart from that, the main story is of a very pleasant run, starting at 7.30 and ending at half ten, including an hour up the flight, since we got straight in on arrival at the bottom.
It was my turn to work Bridge 4, and it surely is heavy. A discussion with one of the lockies later found out the BW are negotiating with the council to close the road over it, but whether to repair it or to fix it open wasn’t clear.
Tomorrow, onward along the 20 mile pound, until we get fed up and stop for the night.
5 comments:
Sorry we did not wave you off this morning. We did hear your wind in the basin, but were still in bed.
Love the washing line and yes those socks look very neat ;0).
I hope they do sort Bridge 4 out, because it is causing all sorts of problems to people. Maybe they will have left it open in time for us to come through next week, if we decide to leave MH.
Happy cruising.
Jo
Hi Bruce. Have you looked at the Zoom Travel Router? Just search on Amazon. It works like 3's Mifi, but you just plug your dongle into it and it gives you your own wireless hotspot. Then you can have dongles from more than one mobile provider. Hopefully then if there is no coverage on one, the other will work.
3 is greatly improved in the MH Foxton area, We were there in March 09 and had the dongle on the top of the tv areial mast to get an iffy signal while the boat was at Debdale or a repaint. We went that way earlier this year and were getting a signal inside the boat all the way down to MH
Bill: But you'd still have to have the dongles, which means contracts or PAYG deals with more than one provider, which can get expensive, can't it?
Brian: thanks, that supports my theory that 3 has been investing a lot in improving its coverage.
take care all
Bruce
Hi Bruce
We have 2 No. Vodafone dongles and 1 No. Three dongles and would agree with the advice from Bill & Debbie. On the River Nene we rarely had any useful Vodafone coverage but Three was excellent. On the Grand Union we tend to favour the Vodafone dongle as it seems faster with less drop outs, but it does vary - it is very hard to generalise. Having two networks is the way to go!
On the boat we use very little bandwidth so the vodafone dongle is a payg model with no expiry, I am not sure if that contract is still available but I think it is fantastic.
PS New boat looked good at Crick, we though you would not appreciate 2 wet humans and 2 dogs trampling through ...
Richard
nb indigodream (posting almost anonymously as blogger is not accepting wordpress openids at the moment (again).
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