capcloser Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 We fulltime in van and use a hubba,not cheap but we also get a phone with a landline number and wifi,very cheap calls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted October 29, 2013 Author Share Posted October 29, 2013 Hawcara - 2013-10-29 9:46 PM I sort of understand this, but not that much. However, we have Virgin cable, so I could buy one of the Fon things, plug it into my home router (seems to be USB ports in the back of it) get a password and am able to use wifi abroad for free? Somehow this year tapped into someone's house unsecured signal and used that for a day, until they twigged then went onto a campsite wifi, which turned out to be rubbish! This was all without an aerial. :-D Alex, yes you should be able to,do this. I posted a link to the get started bit of the FON site earlier, take a look it mentions cable routers specifically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted October 29, 2013 Author Share Posted October 29, 2013 capcloser - 2013-10-29 9:54 PM We fulltime in van and use a hubba,not cheap but we also get a phone with a landline number and wifi,very cheap calls Wow, you're not kidding, the Rolls-Royce of wireless 3G routers.....you should be writing this thread :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dipsticks Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 We just purchased a Fon Simpl Router here £34 https://shop.fon.com/FonShop/shop/GB/ShopController It took about 2 weeks to arrive and was easy to set up connected to our Talktalk router at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankkia Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 My solution is a mixture of 3G and boosted antenna for wifi. The company mentioned in the 1st post provided a "Europa SIM" ( http://www.motorhomewifi.com/product/europa-sim-roaming-data-sim-card/ )This gives me "unlimited" data for 24 hours (00.01hrs CET to 23.59hrs CET) for €3 anywhere in Europe (Only €2 in Italy). The unlimited bit is actually 500mb and when you have used that the speed is reduced dramatically but it is fairly difficult to use half a gig of data in a day unless you decide to update all your sat nav maps in one go! The SIM is in my smart 'phone which has 2 SIM holders each of which can be switched on/off as necessary so the Europa SIM is only used when needed. I have BT broadband at home and as a BT customer, not only can you use FON but, you can also download an app (BT Smart Talk) to your smart 'phone / tablet etc which allows you to make calls at your BT 'phone plan rates from anywhere you have a data connection. So if the Europa Sim is on or I have found a FON spot or other free wifi I can make calls back to the UK for free (My BT plan is for unlimited calls). The Smart 'phone has a "tethering" facility - so it can become a mifi and broadcasts a wifi signal so that I can use my laptop and any other wifi device wirelessly to take advantage of the 'phones connection to the internet. So far I have found it fast and reliable. I have a faculty X wifi booster and whilst the one I have is a few years old it can still get me on to some very distant signals and again I can make use of FON. Some tablets don't have a very good range for wifi but my smart 'phone is exceptionally good - whilst sitting in a hospital car park the other day waiting to pick someone up I jumped onto a BT Fon connection from a house about 75 yards away and did my emails whilst I was waiting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capcloser Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 bolero boy - 2013-10-29 10:21 PM capcloser - 2013-10-29 9:54 PM We fulltime in van and use a hubba,not cheap but we also get a phone with a landline number and wifi,very cheap calls Wow, you're not kidding, the Rolls-Royce of wireless 3G routers.....you should be writing this thread :-)it is a good bit of kit,i can phone my dad in spain for a penny a minute,billed by the second,havent found anywhere in uk where it wont work,claims to boost 3g by 10,had it 6 months and very impressed,broadband speed internet makes my voda dongle look sh*t >:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barryd999 Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 capcloser - 2013-10-30 12:12 AM bolero boy - 2013-10-29 10:21 PM capcloser - 2013-10-29 9:54 PM We fulltime in van and use a hubba,not cheap but we also get a phone with a landline number and wifi,very cheap calls Wow, you're not kidding, the Rolls-Royce of wireless 3G routers.....you should be writing this thread :-)it is a good bit of kit,i can phone my dad in spain for a penny a minute,billed by the second,havent found anywhere in uk where it wont work,claims to boost 3g by 10,had it 6 months and very impressed,broadband speed internet makes my voda dongle look sh*t >:-) Blooming heck! £600 for the external version. http://www.buzzconnect.co.uk/hubba/ It sounds and looks very good though and when you think what people have been paying for mobile satellite systems like the Alden which I think was about £3K plus a £60 month subscription its not bad and if the roaming fees are levelled then I reckon we will see lots of these at hopefully lower prices. Ideally I should have one for business use but as said earlier I have managed with the antenna. Can be a pain though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted October 30, 2013 Author Share Posted October 30, 2013 dipsticks - 2013-10-29 10:48 PM We just purchased a Fon Simpl Router here £34 https://shop.fon.com/FonShop/shop/GB/ShopController It took about 2 weeks to arrive and was easy to set up connected to our Talktalk router at home. Peter, thanks for the positive input, how are you getting on with using the benefits of 'free' wifi away from home, do you use an external aerial? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted October 30, 2013 Author Share Posted October 30, 2013 Frankkia - 2013-10-30 12:01 AM My solution is a mixture of 3G and boosted antenna for wifi. The company mentioned in the 1st post provided a "Europa SIM" ( http://www.motorhomewifi.com/product/europa-sim-roaming-data-sim-card/ )This gives me "unlimited" data for 24 hours (00.01hrs CET to 23.59hrs CET) for €3 anywhere in Europe (Only €2 in Italy). The unlimited bit is actually 500mb and when you have used that the speed is reduced dramatically but it is fairly difficult to use half a gig of data in a day unless you decide to update all your sat nav maps in one go! The SIM is in my smart 'phone which has 2 SIM holders each of which can be switched on/off as necessary so the Europa SIM is only used when needed. I have BT broadband at home and as a BT customer, not only can you use FON but, you can also download an app (BT Smart Talk) to your smart 'phone / tablet etc which allows you to make calls at your BT 'phone plan rates from anywhere you have a data connection. So if the Europa Sim is on or I have found a FON spot or other free wifi I can make calls back to the UK for free (My BT plan is for unlimited calls). The Smart 'phone has a "tethering" facility - so it can become a mifi and broadcasts a wifi signal so that I can use my laptop and any other wifi device wirelessly to take advantage of the 'phones connection to the internet. So far I have found it fast and reliable. I have a faculty X wifi booster and whilst the one I have is a few years old it can still get me on to some very distant signals and again I can make use of FON. Some tablets don't have a very good range for wifi but my smart 'phone is exceptionally good - whilst sitting in a hospital car park the other day waiting to pick someone up I jumped onto a BT Fon connection from a house about 75 yards away and did my emails whilst I was waiting. Thanks Bernie, this is the sort of idea I was suggesting in the OP, a mix of the best, most cost effective elements of Internet connection in the van. Great post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 But BT broadband is notorious for throttling/restricting download speed. I down load a fair bit of content and even with my 10 quid a month orange broadband not an issue, bit fed up of waiting for the other providers to role out fibre, as it's only virgin so far and I live in London! I have a 1 terabyte pocket hard drive with all my content on. Is the fon system French centric? What about other euro countries? we don't do much in France these days due to the boredom level, weather etc... If we did not have free wifi on site I would buy a local SIM, have one for Italy and India already..hoping the new acer dual sim phablet will be out on my return....so tethering with that should be easy. The faculty X box that I have is great at pulling in open signals, and boosting site signals, model we have not very robust but a real handy bit of kit! Great thread Chris! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted October 30, 2013 Author Share Posted October 30, 2013 Cheers, Eddie thanks for the heads up. Glad you're having a good time, wish we were there as they say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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