Friday 27 March 2009

All this for thirty quid


I have a bit of catching up to do. I have one more day's cruise to write up, where we get Willow to Northolt in five glorious days, but ("But"? Wrong word, surely!) I'm going boating again today. Yes, and it's another boat move: this time our shared boat Shadow, which we're moving to its new base at Tattenhall Marina on the Shroppie between Barbridge Junction and Chester.

So I've splashed out (birthday money) on a mobile broadband dongly thing. Which I have no idea how to work, so I'd better get on and plug it into the laptop and try it out here at home, where there's likely to be a good signal.

I think I need a "top-up", which I have to convert into an "add-on". Why is it so complicated?

If I go silent for a couple of weeks you'll know I couldn't get it to work.

Our route, by the way, will be Stockton Top Marina to Napton Junction, thence to Braunston Turn, Norton Junction, up the Leicester Section to Leicester and the River Soar, to Trent Junction, Trent and Mersey to Middlewich, to Barbridge Junction and to Tattenhall. The section between Foxton Junction and Fradley will all be new waterway for us, yippee! Hope the Soar's not in flood! Nor the Trent, for that matter.

6 comments:

Adam said...

You have far too many holidays! I'm sure you'll enjoy Leicester and the River Soar.

Halfie said...

I can never have too many holidays! I've used up all my accumulated comp leave now,

And I've had no success with the 3 mobile broadband yet: I think where we are near Norwich is in a poor signal area. Will try at Stockton Top this evening (if there's time). Got to drive there first!

Nev Wells said...

Halfie,

That sounds like a fine cruise..... I'll keep a watching brief on your blog to see when you are passing Fradley. We are having our moorings dredged next week so I might be on the boat as it will be on the tow path side for a few days.

Good luck with the 3 modem - mine has been a challenge to keep a signal. I have opted to stick the sim into my 3g phone and connect that way. I think the phone has a better arial build in than the dongle?

Keep us posted


Nev
Nev

Adam said...

We've always managed to get a 3 signal at Stockton Top, and even got one just outside Braunston (which is a bit of a black hole for most things). We find an extension lead so we can hang the dongle in the window works wonders, and if there's not much signal one side of the boat, there's often a better one on the other side.

Halfie said...

Wayhay! Woo hoo! Yippee! I've got it up and running! Thanks for the comments- I'll do a separate post.

Halfie said...

Nev, sorry - forgot to say - yes, I hope to see you at Fradley. Another unusal thing about this cruise: I haven't made a detail schedule. But I hope to keep everyone informed as to our progress aboard Shadow.