TECHNICAL Internet
180 Need technical advice?[email protected] 2019
PLEASE NOTE
Any advice given by consultants and contributors
within MMM is designed to be by way of
suggestion only and does not negate a reader’s
responsibility to obtain professional advice
before acting upon it. Any such advice is nota
recommendation on behalf of the Editor or
publishersand is followed entirely at the
reader’s own risk. Consequently, the Editor,
consultants and publishers shall not be
responsible for any loss or damage incurred bya
reader acting upon such advice.any network like the others.
Vodafonehas been the most
popular network forthose travelling
into Europe as, for the last 18 months,
it has imposed no limits on data
consumed outside of the UK. It offers
30-day rolling contracts with 50GBof
data for £25per month and 12-month
contracts with 100GBof data for
£24 per month, which areoften
discountedby 50% on variousin-
house andthird-party promoti ons.
On 10 July, Vodafone joinedthe
like s of Three with an unlimited tariff
from £24to £30 per month depending
on speeds – butthis is unfo rtunatel y
limited to 24GB inEurope.
We tend not to recommend O2 on
the basis that its consumermobile
broadband tariffs ca n’t be used in
Europe but, if you already havea
relationship with the company and
travel mainly in the UK, or with a
phone in Europe, this may still be
wor th exploring.
Both Vodafone and Three allow
‘phone’ SIMs tobe used in a router,
a fact that isn’t well pub licisedas
sometimes these canrepresent
better value than dedicated mobile
broadband SIMs. While all ope rators
havesome wording intheir fair usage
policy with regards to extended
forei gn use over two months,
Vodafoneis vag ue on this point and,
anecdotally, many r eport no issues
even forextended European tours.
Oneother benefit is that Vodafone
presently issues a UK IP address
(inter net identity) when abroad so
georestricted se rvices such as iPlayer
work as if in the UK, ot herwise you
may need to use a VPN (virtual private
network) to hi de your location.WHAT ABOUT 5G?
If you’ve seen EE’s adv erts about 5G,
the focusis on being able to achieve
a fast connection even in areas
that aredensely populated such as
festiv als and sports groun ds. This is
essentially what 5G offers, a greater
overall thro ughput inareas of high
con gestion. But 4Gis often more than
sufficient foreverything you wantto
do and, in rural areas, 5Gis going to
be a lo ng time coming. 5G pho nes
and routers are ju st about to hi t our
shores, butexpect to pay a premium
for technology that could provideyou
with no immediate benefit, so think
carefully if the extra expense offers
anything in return.WIFI BOOSTERS
A WiFi booster is potentially a useful
gadget to carr y as it can increa se the
range fr om which a WiFi connection
can be obta ine d. It does not provide
an internet connection , so you ca nnever be sure of the outcome in a
give n location until you try it.
Our expectationof what a
reasonable connection is has
increased, while the inf rastructure
that serves campsites remains
unchanged. StreamingTV is the
main reason why ca mpsite WiFi often
no longer meets ourneeds. Even if
you’re not streamingTV, it is like ly
many other people are andthus the
collective speeds will reduce, resulting
in a poor experien ce for everyone with
or without abooster.
It’s still a useful to ol, particularly
for peoplewho overwinter abroad or
who predominatel y visit campsites,
but investing in agood 4G data planis
a more r eliable way toget connected.THANKS TO
motorhomewifi.comA typical MiFi can provide internet
to up to 10 devicesThe solar panel array on thisKon-tiki can be usedto
help maintain power to its WiFi system
Internet via
satellite is
expensive and
not something
generally
recommendedA popularway to get TV services istouse
a £40 AmazonFire TV Stick plugged
into your TV and linked to
the internet via a 4G
connectionThe wiringand connection boxes
for a motorhome WiFi systemA WiFi boostersystem and a 4G antenna fitted to
the roof of this coachbuilt
Internet via
satellite i
expensive and
not something
generally
recommendedinto your TV and linked to
the internet via a 4G
connection