Where’s the internet?

The reason for the lack of posts over the last two days is because there was no coverage from the 3 network at Hungerford.  We had Vodafone coverage, but neither of our Vodafone mobiles have a data plan.  In desperation I took the Samsung S4 phone for a walk through Hungerford and up the small hill on the outskirts of the village.  Halfway up the hill the phone found Vodafone, EE and O2.  At the top of the hill it picked up a very weak signal from 3 however the phone couldn’t hold the signal.

I tried changing the SIM card between phones hoping the problem was the S4 phone.  Unfortunately changing the SIMs didn’t make any difference.  Later on today I remembered we had coverage when we were last in Hungerford back in 2013.  So we should have received a signal!  What was different?  The answer was the mobile phone.  Last time we used the Samsung S1. So I changed the SIM cards between the S4 and S1. After several minutes the original Samsung S1 found the 3 network and we are back to having internet coverage.  It appears the S4 gets confused when it loses the 4G signal and then goes on strike.  We’re not heavy data users (no video or TV streaming) and have therefore decided to stick with the slower, but more reliable, original Samsung S1.

Our youngest son visited us in Hungerford bringing his new Amazon Fire Stick and gave us a demonstration of it’s use.  The Fire Stick is slightly bigger than a usb thumbstick and plugs into a TV HDMI port.  It will wifi connect to the internet and stream film, video and music purchased from Amazon.  It has 8GB of storage and a small remote control.  The stick has BBC iPlayer and ITV iPlayer already installed.  We are not interested in purchasing content from Amazon but when our son showed us he had been able to install Kodi (see last post) onto the Amazon Fire Stick we could immediately see some advantages.

We left Hungerford at 9am this morning. Jan was just about to close the gate on Hungerford Lock when a boat rounded the bend behind us.  Good timing!  We shared the locks with John & Christine on nb Serendipity for the remainder of the day.

Leaving Hungerford

The pound above Cobblers Lock was low by at least 15 inches.  Probably due to both the upper and lower gates at Cobblers Lock leaking badly.  The former lock keepers cottage beside Picketfield Lock is looking very sad.

The upper floor appears to have fire damage and the grounds are now well overgrown.  I suspect it doesn’t have vehicle access.

NB Serendipity

We reached the 48 hour moorings at Great Bedwyn just as a Black Prince hire boat departed.  By sharing rings both boats managed to squeeze onto the vacant mooring space. 

Mid afternoon I was out washing and polishing the port side.  All that is left to wash and polish is the bow and stern.  By working consistently I was able to complete the task by beer o’clock!  Meanwhile Jan was inside preparing the Godalming sausages for dinner.