Posted: 28th Feb, 2011 By: MarkJ


The
Wightlink ferry service, which typically runs between the
Isle of Wight and several mainland UK towns (e.g.
Portsmouth), has reportedly replaced its old
Moovera Networks based in-ship broadband wireless Internet connectivity (
original 2008 news) with a significantly faster setup from the little know ISP
Click4Internet.
The old system claimed to deliver on-board internet access speeds of up to 3.6Mbps by creating a bridge between the ship and T-Mobile UK's Mobile Broadband ( HSPA ) network. Sadly this service
suffered from some extremely patchy coverage and the real-world performance turned out to be somewhat disappointing.
A Click4Internet Spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk exclusively:
We replaced the Moovera Networks equipment with our wireless megaband service as the mobile network based product was not able to perform sufficiently or provide full coverage of the ferry route. It never was able to provide usable internet access to supply the ship as far as we were told by staff.
We now have a reliable full route coverage running at 30mbps symmetrical via our "Wiber" network. We cover the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth with the areas fastest broadband service available. We call it megaband as it outperforms almost all other broadband products.
It's understood that the Click4internet solutions uses WiMAX wireless technology, which is supported by a strong
fibre optic cable based backbone, to deliver its superfast broadband service. As stated above the product is also available in Portsmouth and on the Isle of Wight itself for both home and business use.
Prices for a domestic (home) 10Mbps (3Mbps upload) connection start at just £10 inc. VAT per month with a £249 installation fee. However the minimum contract term of 2 years (24 months) seems a bit excessive. Faster options are available, rising to 50Mbps on business links.