A Word from the Wise - Ep 4 A discussion on the Solwise Patriot range

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welcome to a word from the  wise podcast from solwise   we come to you the first of each month we will  have a guest talking about current products   news that's going on in our industry  and just our opinion on stuff generally hello welcome to the next in our series of soul  wise podcasts a word from the wise i'm back with   daniel again we're going to talk about the patriot  range today so we're going to talk about why you   would want to take wi-fi kit on holiday with  you the sorts of places where you could use it   and some people might even use these things in  the home so we shall be dealing with that today   i would just say afterwards we have got some  tequila sunrise so anyone who's watching this   on the video we'll see what i'm talking about if  you're watching if you're listening then we do   have a decanter on the table we've got a new table  so we have a slightly different set up here and so   we can have a drink afterwards i mean i know it's  only 10 o'clock in the morning yeah it is friday   so on celebrating the new table i will celebrate  the new table and the fact that it is a bank   holiday on monday yeah so that will be good won't  it so right then the patriots um if anyone's   watching we have got one here on the table um  and i'll describe it for uh for our listeners   essentially it's an access point in a long  thin tube um like a smarty tube and then it   has an antenna on the top uh you can then  mount it on wherever you're gonna mount it   your motor home your shed a caravan your boat  your barge your yacht even if you wanted to   and that comes with lots of different mounting  brackets uh such as uh suction cups suction pads   um wall mount type stuff stuff that  goes on a pearl yeah u-bolts and yes   um so and we do different versions we've got  a usb version with different frequencies and   then there's an ethernet version so do you want to  go through and tell us a bit about each and i'll   leap in with some sensible questions hopefully  yeah so the sort of universal drawback of wi-fi   in all its forms is that it's pretty rubbish  when it comes to penetrating through surfaces   and that's particularly with metal surfaces  like you'd get in a caravan or a boat something   like that um and so the point of these kits  is well you've got this patriot device this   access point sort of type thing with an antenna  to go on the outside and then with our kit that   will go on a cable inside into whatever your  caravan you bur you can prevent your house uh   and that goes into a wi-fi repeater router type  device which will then re-broadcast the wi-fi   so you the whole whole deal of the kit is you get  around this main problem with wi-fi that being the   rubbish penetration through surfaces um we do  a few different versions of it obviously as you   said starting with the usb version because that's  that's typically the one that you're going to get   you've got this usb patriot on the outside  of your caravan so on the standard one is   2.4 gigahertz only that's usually all you  need because if you're at some kind of public   campsite anywhere that does public wi-fi  that you're going to want to be extending   they typically only have a 2.4 gig device using  to broadcast anyway because they're not going   to be getting a very fast signal and they don't  want to go for a massive expensive access point   to broadcast wi-fi faster than they're getting so  that's that's why for a while now we've only had   the 2.4 gig version and it's been completely  fine obviously as things are slowly moving on   more and more places will eventually hopefully  start doing faster wi-fi for their customers   and to do that they'll have probably dual  band devices that do five gigahertz as well   and that's why we've uh recently brought in  a dual band version of the patriot kit so   it can pick up 2.4 gigahertz wi-fi signals  or if there's a 5 gigahertz signal available   it can pick up that instead and hopefully get  faster and is that a concurrence could be could   can it pick both up at the same time or do you  have to choose a you can only do one at a time   it can only be one wi-fi signal at a time yeah  and 2.4 gig and five gig with a different wi-fi  

does it choose or do you have to choose you choose  you choose it's got a really good intuitive setup   interface where basically you'll you'll you'll  get it all physically set up first you'll get the   antenna set up outside you'll connect it to the  router inside then you can connect your device   to the router your phone your laptop whatever  and you go through the setup process you'll   be brought first to a screen where it shows this  good list of all the nearby wi-fi signals just   like you'd see on your phone or whatever if you're  connecting to wi-fi and you'll see the wi-fi names   you'll see if they have passwords and you'll see  the signal strength so you can if it is a site   that has multiple access points broadcasting at  different locations because it's quite a big site   you can see which one has the strongest  signal to you and connect with that one um but   it it you only connect to one signal so if it's  2.4 gigahertz that's the strongest and then five   gigahertz as a separate signal you might you  know you'll have to make a decision there yeah   and are they easy to set up i'm just  mindful that um the people that there are   many people that are not tech wizards and they  just want something that's simple to set up   one of the big advantages of the  usb kits in particular 2.4 gig and   the dual band version even though they have  slightly different interfaces they are very   intuitive interfaces because the the kits are  designed for exactly this one thing which is you   someone on a campsite you want him to quickly and  easily get a wi-fi signal that's strong outside   but weak inside and get it to be strong inside  as well yeah so it's it's very easy to do because   you brought straight through to a wizard that is  designed to make it as easy as possible for you   so even if you're someone that's not particularly  tech-minded to not not not very experienced with   doing anything apart from you know facebook on  your phone or whatever yeah um it makes it a lot   easier to do that straightforward yeah and if you  were somebody that goes to the same campsite each   time would you need to reset it up every time  you go back or would it keep the settings if   it's been switched off say for a month then you  go back to the same site in your motorhome um   would you need to reset it up again that actually  depends uh unless you do a specific reset on your   kit it's not gonna lose its connection it's gonna  it's gonna it's gonna stay with the same settings   that it remembers um if the site itself was  to change anything about its wi-fi system if   they got a new system in or if they just changed  some minor details about their the wi-fi devices   yeah then you would have to update it well that  would make sense yeah and also if obviously   if you go into multiple different sites you'll  have to redo the setup at each site yeah um but   if if they don't change anything and if you don't  change it in the meantime then yeah it can just be   plug and play basically yeah that's working well  i only ask we used to have a motor home and we've   been away and we took the patriot with us um and  we most weekends we'd go up to um north yorkshire   to the same site because we go out on our bikes  and stuff like that so we'll go back to the same   place um and it would be useful if you didn't  have to keep resetting if you're going to the   same place but as you say i suppose if they change  the password then you kind of stuff don't you you   really have even if you weren't using the kit  you'd have to change your stuff there yeah yeah   we we've used it um on a motorhome um works  real well with suction cups obviously it's no   good for traveling is it so you've got to take  it off when you're traveling because it's not   a practical device to leave on there we do have  other kit for roof mounting on caravans moto homes   and the light but uh this is not a permanently  mounted device but we've also used it on a tent   which i think fewer people do but if you've got a  sturdy pole then you can use the u-bolts and it'll   stay on there it's flexible yeah and years ago  we took one of the original ones you might recall   because we had some problems but we took one to  portugal used it on a cabin there um the problem   that came up there if you remember was when  you left the cabin that we stayed in it turned   the electric off which stopped this being oh well  maybe that was the router i can't remember it yeah   it was it was the router itself that's part of  this patriot kit it used to have a problem where   if the if you powered it off it would forget all  its settings that's it yeah but that's been solved   now hasn't it so anyone who's got an older one  may find they have that problem but the newer ones   don't lose their settings when they lose the power  yeah yeah that was very irritating a week of you   know going out during the day and uh coming back  and having to reset it all up but it was quite   useful though and it fits in your hand luggage  if you take it out of the box it does fit in your   normal hand luggage it's it's just even the router  itself is it's small and neat isn't it yes it's a   small small little rectangular box yeah so and for  us that that was quite useful because the cabin   we were in was right at the back of the site so we  could p but the site was on a hill which was quite   useful because it was then tipped into such a way  we picked it up and then we got a great signal   we had a kid with us you know so he wanted to get  on the internet and watch youtube like kids do   um you're a bit young for all that and  then i mean i've got listed here that   we use on campus and so on but marinas as  well people are using this stuff on boats   barges yeah narrow boats and the like they run  into the exact same problems as you get with   caravans and camper vans where because the boats  exterior is metal it's really tricky for wi-fi to yeah um so yes it helps with the exact same exact  same thing which leads us on i suppose to i've   got one on the back of my house and the one i've  got is the patriot db the ethernet version so why   could you want to explain why you'd haven't  the use the ethernet one over the usb   one yeah the ethernet one it's tricky  because it's it's really it's a different   sort of product so we don't do it as part  of a kit for example it's a standalone item   but it can be used in the same way still but it's  still an access point because these usb devices   they are purely wi-fi extenders they all they  can be used for is picking up wi-fi and then   taking it down on a usb cable either directly  into a laptop or into one of the routers as   part of our kits so we then do it as more  wi-fi but the patriot db is just a proper   ethernet access point so its main function is  as an access point to broadcast wi-fi right   it broadcasts its own wi-fi it doesn't need a  reacher on its own to do that part and that's   how we've got it set up so ours is on the back of  our house and then feeds the garden as it were the   wi-fi there yeah but then because it's quite quite  a good access point it's got other functionalities   it's got other operation modes that you can  set it up in one of them being as a repeater   so you can still use it in the same way where  you've got it in a repeater mode where you tell it   to pick up this nearby wi-fi signal yeah and then  you can bring it down on an ethernet cable into   it could be one of the 3000 a routers  that comes with this kit or it can just be   any old ethernet router really like we do the the  tender f300 which is the cheapest chips isn't it   yeah uh you can go straight into that and that  will work with it just fine and it will work   in the same way it's not quite as intuitive to  set up because it's not the main purpose so like   you get one of these usb patriots set up  with the usb routers that it comes with it's   designed just to be set up in that way so it  guides you through it quite easily it's not quite   so simple with this you it's we have instructions  that it comes with and it's still yeah it's not   30 pages long though compared to the  three pages you've got on the usb device   so essentially what he's trying to get around in  a polite manner is saying that he could do with   a bit more networking experience be a bit more  tech savvy with regards setting access points up   yeah and then you might get one because  it's a more complicated product yeah   um and probably beyond what some  people need definitely that that's   well as as i said for the most part in most places  it's still only 2.4 gigahertz wi-fi signals yeah   most places still aren't doing dual bandwidth five  gigahertz so with the the dual bands usb patriot   usually being more than you need the patriot db  definitely is yeah um i mean there are possible   reasons you still want to get it like because  it can be used as an outdoor access point   it's quite flexible in terms of how you  use it so if you wanted to theoretically   at some point maybe stop using it as a repeater  and use it as an access point like in the future   perhaps for a different site or something like  that well there you go it's got lots of different   modes like that but it could be good if somebody  say got a home office in the garden you know a   summer house or a purpose-built thing in the  garden using it that type of thing like i do   you can use it like that and  then if you go on a holiday   you can take it down and take it with you and  use it in its other mode as a repeater yeah so   save a bit there but then you have to put it  back up again so well and there is that yeah i   would have to get a ladder out to do that because  what the way arsenal is is it's uh it comes out of   it's it's on the wall outside the back bedroom um  and then it goes in our back bedroom's got um the   poe switching and it just goes straight into that  switch which then is further connected in from   there so um that works quite well but so you said  about using it with a router could you use it with   the with an access point as well yeah because  we've got a number of different routers and access   points on the site if somebody wanted to use that  as an extent use the patriot db as the extender   um they could use that with something that's  highest spec access point if they wanted to   you're not just have to use it with the  usb ah or the f300 no they can use like a   dual band ethernet router or a proper dedicated  access point and is there anything that it   wouldn't work with can you think of or do you  think it would probably work with most things   not really no not nothing nothing it shouldn't  work with yeah okay so what we've done on the   website uh is daniel has actually written  an article about this which hopefully will   make things a bit clearer for people and  we will link to that in the description   we've also re-jigged the web page so  the patriots now are all on the same   page the page if you're looking in the  menu of the website the page is called   outdoor wi-fi patriot extenders which just rolls  off the tongue doesn't it and we'll put a link   to that page in the uh in the description also and  uh but this is one of those subjects where i think   you either get it straight away or you don't  but people can always ring can't they they can   always give us a chat one of the things we get the  most amount of calls about really i'd say is uh   people inquiring about this kit who are  looking to go on holiday and stuff like that   so especially this this time of year well that's  true yeah so this is the may recording so it's   uh yeah definitely this time of year people  are looking at this type of thing now we used   to do a 4g version which is no longer available  and we do other things for that though don't we   which we have covered in previous podcasts um  but we do quite a wide range so if you wanted   this is obviously just full on wi-fi isn't it  there's no 4g option at all but if you wanted   something else you could look at um so if  you if you had a patriot and for instance   are the one from pointing for 4g could the  patriot work with one of the teltonika routers um i've put you on the spot a bit  there because that's a question   that we seen what's going to depend what you mean  by work with it you couldn't use a patriot to   pick up stronger wi-fi and take it down into  a teltonika router right because it can't   essentially where i was going with that is could  you get away with just having one router that   did 4g and wi-fi but the i'm guessing your  answer is no you'd have to have two routers   so you'd have to have for instance you could you  would have to use a patriot db it would have to be   the ethernet patriot db couldn't be one of the usb  ones yeah it could be done you'd have to set the   basically what you'd alternate between different  primary one inputs for the router depending on if   you're currently using the wi-fi or the 4g um and  if you wanted to use wi-fi you'd change the main   one input to ethernet get the patriot db setup and  run it into the wang port on the router right and   then if you wanted to switch to 4g you would just  switch the one input to uh 4g so it's probably   this that that situation is probably aimed at  your more techy person i was just thinking if   you were going to do a european road trip um it  just and because obviously you're limited on space   when you go away in your motor home your caravan  tents and so on so you you don't want to take a   whole bunch of different routers that that was my  thinking behind that yeah yeah so you could but   obviously probably for the more techie amongst  us and you you could also just get a antenna   a 4g antenna that also supports wi-fi yeah that  that would also work as a way of doing that   oh yes that's a good idea so if it might  the uh the memo or the puck range yeah   excellent oh well i think that's pretty much  covered everything we need to talk about on   this particular subject i think it's  intelligent actually yeah i think   yes well thank you very much for watching uh we  will be back next month the podcasts are available   via video on youtube or wherever you get your  podcast from spotify amazon music apple podcasts   and the like if you have any questions by all  means give us a ring pop us an email across we're   sales at soulwise.com uk uh check out the website  where all these products are listed and um i think   that's about it i think so too drink tea tequila  sunrise i think or Sarah who produces this podcast   said it looked like a sex on the beach i'm not  entirely sure maybe it's because i'm old i thought   it was a tequila sunrise but anyway we'll go for a  drink then sure thank you very much thank you bye

2022-05-05

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