Internet access in France

denmar

Going to France in the camper later in the year but I need to have internet access. I don't want to rely on Wi-fi hotspots. What would be the best mobile broadband system to use ?

Bessa

Hi you can buy a WIFI card in any campsite in France, some sites will give you the card free for 24 hours.

niloc1951

If you invest in one of this type of long range wifi areal http://www.hawkingtech.com/products/productlist.php?CatID=32&FamID=58&ProdID=267 you should be able to connect to campsite wifi, McDonalds wifi and others without having to leave the comfort of our 'van.
BTW, directional aerials are better than omni-directional ones as the software won't have to deal with so many different sources of signal which can slow things down a bit, so I am told by a person who knows his stuff.

denmar

Thanks for the info. I lke the aerial option. I suppose most sites will have wifi anyway will they?

stapeler

The aerial is a great idea and could be very useful.
The French campsites are hit and miss, most have wifi, many offer it for free but there are some that can charge up to €5 an hour for the pleasure.

martyc5674

But how good is the aerial on its own??
The spec claims up to 1.5 miles when paired with another high gain aerial @ the source...id say realistically on its own youd be lucky top get 500 yards from say a McDonalds.

niloc1951

martyc5674 wrote: »

But how good is the aerial on its own??
The spec claims up to 1.5 miles when paired with another high gain aerial @ the source...id say realistically on its own youd be lucky top get 500 yards from say a McDonalds.

Haven't got one so can't comment.

However parking at a McDonalds or an adjacent shopping center is usually available much closer than 500 yards away.
On a campsite it increases the choice of pitch from which you can connect without leaving the 'van.

bogman

martyc5674 wrote: »

But how good is the aerial on its own??
The spec claims up to 1.5 miles when paired with another high gain aerial @ the source...id say realistically on its own youd be lucky top get 500 yards from say a McDonalds.

Useless for a camper id say, for this aerial to work you will have to know the direction to point it, the signal transmitted and received will be akin to a flash lamp beam, add a 2nd aerial and it will be even more directional and complicated to setup, correct spacing and phasing harness would be required, these aerials are perfect for fixed locations, what you need is an omni directional aerial with gain, something like a stacked dipole system, ive no idea if this type of aerial is available but ill check and report back

The other thing you could do is raise ur existing aerial and make sure your cable is low loss

*Kol*

denmar wrote: »

Going to France in the camper later in the year but I need to have internet access. I don't want to rely on Wi-fi hotspots. What would be the best mobile broadband system to use ?

You should research buying a French pay as you go wi-fi dongle for while you are there if you need to use the internet a lot. You could bring your own from here as a back up. Lots of the sites i have been at did have WI-fi but it wasn't great sometimes and could be expensive if they charge for it.

bogman

Like I mentioned earlier you need to mount an aerial with omnidirectional gain in the clear like this



Aerials like these two would be suitable &

Extend your network range up to 1.5 miles

TEW-AO08O 8dBi Outdoor Omni Directional Antenna

http://www.trendnet.com/products/proddetail.asp?prod=130_TEW-AO08O&cat=92
This has about 5dbd worthwhile gain

The one below a little more
HAWKING HAO9SIP Outdoor Hi-Gain 9dBi Omni-Directional Wireless Antenna Kit


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164135

Dumped the last one, this is far more practical and shows how a good aerial placed outside along with a USB extension cable and a USB WiFi adaptor will double your WIFI range, adaptor and aerial is only 10£ in the UK, not sure abt postage


http://outletghd.tk/HiRO-H50194-802-11n-Wireless-USB-Network-Adaptor-with-High-Gain-Omni-Direction-5dBi-External-Antenna_p8221.html
http://www.trekin.digital-digs.net/WiFi.htm

denmar

This info is great - going to get my son on it. Thanks everyone.

corkbuoy

This unit is mentioned on another site as being very good - http://www.faculty-x.net/NET-WL-usb-cpe2512bg. See discussion here -http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopic-66595-days0-orderasc-220.html

niloc1951

Directional vs omni-directional

As is obvious omni-directional antennae will pick up more wifi signals (most of which will be secured and of no use) and you do not need to worry about which way to point the device. However they are often less effective than their directional brothers.

The down side is that the software which handles your connection will be extra busy sorting out your 'chosen' connection from all the other traffic coming in from the antenna, this extra activity could be detrimental to the effective speed of the connection.

FWIW my preference is for a directional antenna, after all in most situations there is a good idea of where there is a source signal available (the site reception or bar, or the Big Yellow M, etc.) and if not it's just a matter of trying different directions, just like we have to do for TV reception.

paddyp

Connector and cable loss is enormous you need to have cable as short as possible hence the usb adapter idea mentioned earlier. Better still is eliminate the cable altogether.

If you know anyone with an old mmds dish mount a normal usb adapter in place of the dipole and run the usb to the computer. Beam width will be fairly small so an easy method to rotate the dish is essential.

Basically same idea as here: http://www.usbwifi.orconhosting.net.nz/

paddyp

If you did want to go the omni route, my friend had surpisingly good results with this design for a cost of about €3: http://wireless.gumph.org/articles/homemadeomni.html he used 11 elements I think, you have to cut very accurately for high numbers of elements.

bogman

Ive built one for 432mhz and its a lot of hard work, you need to be accurate and at the frequencies we are talking about here its far more critical, 1 or 2mm is too much of an error, too much like hard work in my opinion

unfit2006

*Kol* wrote: »

You should research buying a French pay as you go wi-fi dongle for while you are there if you need to use the internet a lot. You could bring your own from here as a back up. Lots of the sites i have been at did have WI-fi but it wasn't great sometimes and could be expensive if they charge for it.

I have used Ronald's carpark WiFi service myself in the past but would like to come up with an alternative internet access for this years trip. Can anyone advise regarding French pay-as-you-go dongles or other such internet access. Which provider have you used ? What was the quality like ? How much did it cost ?

Thanks.

Mountainsandh

Hi all, I'm French, living in Ireland.
McDo's is one option, and also I want to mention that according to my mum (back in France), all and every townhall in France offers free wi-fi in their reception area (and I guess you might get it outside the door too !).

Last year I bought my own dongle over there. Mine was Orange I think, not cheap, I think it cost me 59 euros or so for the dongle and sim card, then top ups of whatever amount you wish. I guess they might have gone down in price since then.
As regards coverage Orange was just OK. Predictable like. Fine near bigger towns, very very slow or inexistant coverage in more remote areas.
But I was glad I had it, since campsites advertising about wifi is not always accurate (i.e. your pitch may not be within the required radius), and it's usually very expensive. So for me, using the internet quite a bit even on hols, the dongle turned out cheaper.

I'm going to be researching that again in the next while to check out if there are better deals than what I got last year, so will let you know if I find out more.

edit : also, the best place to get the dongle is probably in a supermarket like Auchan, or Carrefour.
And AFAIK Orange is the best network to go for coverage wise. There's also Bouygues Telecoms
You may have a look yourself on Google.fr, but it's very hard to get the actual price of the dongle itself before you look at fees.

dongle = cle usb 3g
prepaye = prepaid
sans abonnement = without engagement

denmar

Mountainsandh - thanks for that info. We look forward to your further research.

UsedToWait

Just looking on the Orange website there - they're advertising a pay as you go 3g dongle at €39 with one days internet access for free (€69 upfront and a refund of €30 on filling in a coupon on the website and posting it off with your receipt - not sure if the refund will work for a non resident though).

Orange claim 93% population coverage on the website
http://boutique.orange.fr/ESHOP_mx_orange/?tp=F&ref=39008&IDCible=1&type=11&donnee_appel=ORESH

Mountainsandh

Yes Usedtowait, that's the one I got before. They do have good coverage, thing is, the speeds are not always the best, and in some campsites that are remote or in a valley for ex, the reception is very poor. But for campsites that are not too far from a big town that's great.

and as I said above, the wi-fi in the campsites are often so expensive that after a week or 2 you'd probably have spent your 50 euros minimum on having internet a few nights for a few hours. So it is a pretty good deal, unless I find something else, which I'll be sure to let you guys know. Heading to France this Sunday, so I'll call into supermarkets and find out, then report back in about 2 weeks time.:)

cashmp

hi
i bought a pay as you go french dongle last year (usb huawei Orange mobile) 50€ with 30 € credit in the package, it work fine in different areas, plan to use it again this year it takes you to a website to topup :P

MICHAELO_4921

Mountainsandh - thanks for that info. Heading to France in June, so im looking for as much info as possable on mobile broadband. Could you get any of these modems before traveling to france or just wait till I get over there?

Thanks,
Michael

Mountainsandh

Hi all, well I've checked, and the Orange dongle deal definitely seems the better one... they have an offer on at the moment allright, but you'd still want to be spending a few weeks there to get the value out of it, because it's still a minimum of 60/80 euros to get yourself started. Was talking to a salesperson who reckoned they also had an offer on atm with free dongle, supposedly without obligation, but you did have to open an account and it was billpay, albeit low deal bills sort of thing. Didn't like the sound of it, I think it's these kinds of deals where you get caught going over quota and paying a fortune, plus you'd want an address in France.

So, Orange dongle ready to go with top-ups, worth it if you're spending a few weeks there or absolutely need internet for work or whatever.

Michaelo I think you just have to wait until you're there. Place where I got mine before was Auchan, but I would guess its probably available in Carrefour too.

MICHAELO_4921

Thanks mountainsandh, do you know if I could get a pay as you go sim only option as I have a unlocked O2 dongle & it could be a way of me cuting the cost of 3G broadband while I'm in France.

Mountainsandh

Hi Michaelo, I was thinking same thing at one stage, but downloading and installing all the French software etc... seemed like too much hassle for me !
I haven't enquired about that, but I've a sneaking suspicion that to get the sim only, you would probably have to have an account with them. Not sure though, the 3 main operators are Orange, Bouygues Telecoms, and SFR, and I find all their sites very confusing. Might give them a ring one of these days, if I do I'll be sure to post results if any on here. They're all mad to trick customers into signing for billpay of course.