Newbie

[Ben Wood]

Hi guys,

I guess this forum is pretty new? Thought I'd register and say hello! I don't have a boat but have a master plan to buy a small narrowboat to begin with. Based Midlands.

[Mike]

Welcome aboard mate..

I live on a narrowboat with my wife and daughter.

Mike

[Ben Wood]

Hi Mike, that's great. I'd be interested in getting some info on owning a narrowboat, I'll post over in the narrowboat forum!

[Admin (Chris)]

Welcome,

Yes it's all pretty new here, but hopefully one day.........

I'm reduced to connecting via GSM at the mo' so don't get on here as much as I'd like, 14400bps is a bit of a struggle.

I hope your master plan pans out 

[Ben Wood]

Thnks Chris. Did you create the site then, it looks really smart? I'm lucky as I come on here from work where we have a super-fast connection, 14k connection must be pretty slow!

[Admin (Chris)]

Hello Ben,

Yes, I created this site and the Iron Dutchess site, but it's not that hard, you can download all the required software for this type of site free (see the SMF link below), and as long as you have an ISP that offers php and MySQL support you are home and dry.  Mind you you do need some knowledge of php and html to customise things to your own requirements, but I picked it up by trial and error, so I guess anyone could.

[graders]

HI

Im new to this also, im looking to sell up and buy a narrowboat, the main problem I am facing is secure moorings and when can you moor against private land and for how long.

Another mike, prob interest u, is the internet connection, im a freelance designer and need the connection, 2 wat sat is VERY expensive, any other options.

Any info on moorings are the Tameside Area, Ashton canal would be great!

Regards

[Admin (Chris)]

Hi graders,

Welcome?

I don't know about moorings, I just went to the office in as many marinas in the area I wanted and put my name on their list and took the first one that came up, on the basis that if a better one came up I could just move, as it turned out the first one to come up was Shardlow and it was ideal.  I don't think you can moor on private land (except possibly in an emergency) for any length of time without the landowners permission.

I connect to the internet with a Nokia D211 wireless card, I just put my Orange mobile SIM card in it and use my Orange Everyday 50 off peak minutes to connect via GSM.? With Orange I can only get 14400 with a 1+1 connection, but with a 2+2 (more expensive) I can get 28800 and with a 3+1 (more expensive still) 43200, not exactly screaming but fast enough for email and the odd bit of surfing and web site updating, it's not much good for large file transfer though.? It works out quite cheap for me as I stick to 1+1 which gives me 50 min's a day free.

Hope this helps

[Mike]

On the subject of moorings, I did the same, just put your name around the local marinas. Some will let you "visit" your boat with, in their words, "the length of the visit being none of their business".
I use Netvigator (www.netvigator.co.uk) to connect to the net, should be 512k but in reality uploads at 114k and downloads at 411k, still faster than a single ISDN line at uploads and much faster down. Although only a Thames Valley service at the moment, I was told by an engineer last week that they intend to go national in 3-6 months.
I have been looking into the 3G data cards from the mobile providers but I download alot of data and for 1000mb limit, you have to pay ?79.99 per month. I currently pay ?18 pcm.? These are supposed to give "near" Broadband speeds when connected through 3G and 56k when on GPRS. They are PCMIA cards for laptops.

Hope this helps
Many Thanks
Mike

[TonyJover]

Hi Mike,

A bit late on this thread, but I've only just found this site, so I'm excused ;-)

I use a Vodaphone 3G card which gives near-broadband speed when it can find a 3G signal, and GPRS when it can't, as you described.

I pay ?23.50 per month, and this includes up to 75Mb of transfers (either direction).  Extra costs are a whopping ?1.75/Mb, so I ensure that I stay within the limit!

If you shop around you can find suppliers that'll give you the card for free if you sign up for this service plan.  Expansys www.expansys.com is where I got mine.

Regards,
Tone