Motorhome FullTiming » 3G

Bus Length and 3G aerials

Gromett — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:49:55 +0000

I had some problems with my 3G last week, it kept dropping the connection. Now this is straight after I had installed Windows 7 so I was thinking of blaming the OS.

However I ordered a 3G aerial with magnetic base. I have been running it now for 4 hours without a single drop out and the speed seems to be better. I will keep my fingers crossed.

Today I have both the Van and the Bus parked next to each other. I was told the bus was 9.6Mtr long. Turns out it is closer to 8.6

Tomorrow will the first real days work on the Bus, I have had a relaxing weekend and I am raring to get started now. The plan for tomorrow is to strip out the 2 sets of bunk beds and get the last 3 windows sprayed. Will have to see how I get on as the beds are well bolted in.

Directional aerial for van roof

Gromett — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:16:10 +0000

Following on my my mast locator post, This is the Aerial I will be fitting.

3G external Aerial and mast locations

Gromett — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:34:07 +0000

I am going to be buying an external 3G antennae to mount on my van roof. To get the best possible speed I am choosing a directional one. The problem with this is I will need to know what direction the mast is from my van.

After much googling I found the Ofcom site this seems to be the only place that has a database of Mast locations. Its not easy to use as you have to zoom in as far as possible before clicking on the blue triangle to get the information on the mast. If it isn’t a 3G mast you have to zoom out and then zoom back in on another mast.

However it is better than nothing….

Data usage on 3G

Gromett — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:09:02 +0000

I have had an orange data dongle for 6 months now and not used it in anger. I have been lucky to have had access to WiFi and even an ethernet connection in one place.

Internet access is absolutely critical to me which is why I am saving for the Alden Netmaster before I start my European wandering.

So how much did I use?

I have been absolutely nailing this 3G card. I have just come to Louth for a school Reunion on Saturday and since then I decided to stay in town. I have been doing all my work which involves managing servers, Answering tickets and processing emails. In addition I have been constantly on Facebook talking to friends, looking at Motorhomefacts.com, bbc.co.uk, slashdot.org and theregister.co.uk. I have downloaded a few smallish patches and a couple of songs off iTunes.

My daily usage comes in at under 100Mb a day download and 27Mb Upload. So far since Saturday my usage has been 259Mb down and 73Mb up.

Now if you don’t download stuff and are not on it all day like me then you will use a lot less than this but this should give you some indication of what it will cost.

Please note, I strongly advise you to check for software and windows updates before you set off and install these then turn any automated downloads OFF. Remember to turn these back ON when you get back. You don’t want to find that you forgot to disconnect and it did a massive windows download for you while you slept >.<

Orange 3G dongle on Linux

Gromett — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:05:56 +0000

I have not attempted this before, but I wanted to take my laptop into town. In the van I have a full size desktop which dual boots windows XP and Linux.
I use the Laptop running linux via a wifi router normally and use the Orange 3G on my desktop under windows when not near a WiFi hotspot.

Anyway, my attempt to use an orange 3G Dongle on Linux.
1) Plug it in

Erm. That’s it. It just worked. none of that faffing about waiting for windows to find each device and wanting to install drivers. It just worked. Why am I surprised?

I am surprised because I use Linux mainly for servers and not for desktop use. I remember my last attempts at Linux on the desktop meant loads of work with video and sound card drivers for hardware that was really popular. I expected a brand new 3G USB modem to be tricky. Wow, I am shell shocked and it kind of makes this article a little pointless.

So there you have it. Getting Orange 3G on a linux laptop, plug it in.