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6. January 2010 by admin.
I thought this was funny enough to share, on:
In the document it has an Executive Summary - Wireless Analysis Tools - sidebar, which says, and I quote:
Q: Users complain that your WLAN misbehaves every day around 1 p.m. Do you:
a. Blame it on employees surfing the Web at lunchtime;
b. Assume it’s just the nature of WLANs to be
erratic; or
c. Tell the whiners to be thankful they have a
WLAN at all?
The right answer is “none of the above.”
* I know there have been *some* times when Yacht Captains or Engineers want to tell the whiners to be thankful they have a Wireless Network, and Internet at all…
But we all know that’s not the answer. Crew these days for yachts are expecting Internet Access - at least *most* of the time. And we might even be at the tipping point where potential crew will walk because of lack of Internet connectivity onboard a yacht.
Anyway, I thought that would be a funny way, or a fun way, to talk about the subject. I am now in my 6th year working for Marine Customers, mostly Sail and Motor Yacht Customers, assisting with and providing Onboard Networks and Internet Systems - as well as Assisting With and Cleaning Up / Improving existing such Systems.
Well there yah go…! Happy New Year!
—
Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net
+1 954-683-3426
communications (at) marinetelecom.net
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6. January 2010 by admin.
As a 2010 recommendation (carried over from 2009)…
802.11n WiFi Standard recommend at least for the “inside” of yachts for now…
802.11 “N” the new standard for wireless access points and client networking devices (such as laptops, pda’s, and smart phones), is an addition to the older 802.11 “B” and 802.11 “G” that we’ve been using for a few years now. I have been recommending 802.11 N capable wireless access points for “WLAN” - Wireless Local Area Network - to yachts throughout 2009. When you get 802.11N you get backward compatibility for 802.11B and G client networking devices as well. WLAN basically is the wireless equivalent of Catagory 5 / 5e / or 6 wired networking within (inside) a premises. So for Yachts and other Marine Vessels this means your “inside the boat” method of accessing the “Boats Onboard Network” which usually also (through router or routers) gives you access to the Internet (the “WAN” - Wide Area Network, which these days is just a “techy” way of saying “The Internet Connection”.) If you can get both 2.4 Gigaherts (Ghz) along with 5.0 Gigaherts Wireless Access Points in the process that would be even better. 5.0 Ghz (Dual Band Access Points) is used by some Apple Notebooks and may be available in newer Windows Laptops or as an add-on Network Card. 5.0 Ghz will be less used than 2.4 Ghz since the majority of the zillions of WiFi Users are still on that band. So 5.0 Ghz may be less prone to interference and may give you a dedicated “radio” to talk to in such and access point. If the captain, for example, had a 5.0 Ghz WiFi Card in a laptop and everyone else used 2.4 Ghz, he basically gets a seperate band/channel to himself.
For the outside connection, the WAN or WWAN - Wireless WAN connection to WiFi Hotspots I still do NOT recommend 802.11 “N” because Hotspots will not be using it, and the benefits of it may be lost in an outdoor longer range environment. WiFi Hotspots won’t have 802.11 “N” because it’s MIMO (Multi Input, Multi Output) Multi-Antenna design. WiFi Hotspots will not at this point have Multiple-Radio, Mimo, Multi-Antenna installations - and might not have this for quite some time, if ever. 802.11 N takes advantage, rather than suffering from, close in, lots of obstacles (multipath radio signals) in the way, and uses it to your advantage. Outdoors this just might not work out that way. There just won’t be that many bounces on obstacles or need for multiple antennas. This may change in the future. If anyone knows of an Outdoor WiFi System that uses 802.11 N please let me know.
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11n
—
Alan Spicer (KA4UDX)
Alan Spicer Telecom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net
+1 954-683-3426
communications (at) marinetelecom.net
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5. March 2009 by admin.
A lot of owners/users of the Ericsson W25 are not aware that it can do some special things - besides the magic of providing Analog Telephone usage of Cellular Voice plans and 3G High Speed Internet. The E W25 can also be used to share USB memory sticks and external USB hard disk drives to the on board network (ethernet wired ports and wifi if you’ve got wifi on board connected.) This can be helpful if you have normally done that via a desktop computer or such and don’t want to leave that computer on 24/7.
Configure USB Services
The Ericsson W25 may function as a network storage device or printer server
for LAN/WLAN hosts using Windows File and Printer sharing (also known as
SMB or CIFS).
It is possible to have two USB storage devices or one storage device and a
USB printer connected to the Ericsson W25 at the same time.
When an external hub is connected, the Ericsson W25 supports connection of
up to two storage devices and one printer at the same time.
File Sharing
USB disk drives or memory sticks that are connected to the Ericsson W25 are
automatically mounted and shared over the LAN (and WLAN, if enabled).
The included files are shared with all devices belonging to the same
workgroup on the LAN/WLAN and all users have full read/write (including
delete) access to the shared files.
Note: Only the first partition of the storage device will be automatically
mounted and shared through the smb service.
Printer Sharing
When a printer is connected to the USB port, the Ericsson W25 automatically
creates a local UNIX printer that is shared over the LAN (and WLAN, if
enabled) using SMB/CIFS protocol.
The smb service only performs protocol conversion between SMB/CIFS and
the local printer.
* Note: For my direct customers with E W25 units - If you need any help using the sharing services of the unit … please contact me. I have just done a printer on a S/Y sharing it via the built-in wifi of an E W25 - so I know that is a little tricky. You only need to do that if your printer isn’t already network aware (is not wireless or wired LAN capable) e.g. USB only printers.
Sharing hard drives and USB memory sticks is pretty easy, but you may still need a little help if you are not familiar with Windows Sharing. So my customers feel free to contact me if you need assistance with this stuff.
—
Alan Spicer Telecom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net
+1 954 683 3426
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