The WirieAP Failed, can not take the heat - 2014

April 2014 - La Cruz Anchorage Banderas Bay Mexico

We have been having problems with “The Wirie AP” so we emailed The Wirie for support.

After the usual several email that support seems to need it was decided that a phone call was needed...again not easy being in Mexico. We have a Mexican Cell phone which is quite inexpensive. We had three appointments which the first one they forgot and then the second one they could not figure out how to call a country outside the US...really? The third time was a charm, they called. So this all took about a month. Not that we ever used this product much but we were finally in a position to use it. We are at anchor in La Cruz and can see some WiFi points that we can connect to, one without a password.

Note:
 We would recommend not purchasing this product.

 So all jacked to finally use this product we tried it several times but it would drop the access point after a few hours. The speeds were not good but it was usable for email and you could get a movie but it was about a 10 hour download. That is fine if the connection is good for continued use.

 Anyway The Wirie kept failing. So The Wirie support said right off on the phone it was the wireless router. It was over heating. Of course it is past its warranty so they will not replace it. Now getting one in Mexico is not an easy thing. So this purchase was a bust I must say.

 The box that The Wirie is housed in seems air tight and water proof. Both the network card and the router give off heat. The box sits outside in the sun. Gee, do you think that inside the box it could get hot? The Wirie support said they have units in the Caribbean that never have problems. Hmmm… maybe the trade winds cool the box? I do not know but The Wirie support knew right off what the problem was and so that seems to say they know there is a problem. And why could they just say this over an email, possibly they need info that we were not supplying? Also the router has cooling vents in the back of the router. Some were covered by the velcro the The Wirie uses to attach the router to the inside of the box. Anyway we left the box open a crack to keep the router cool and this worked for a week or two and then the router failed completely. It is the dry season so we did not worry too much about it getting wet except for the morning dew.

 Because the Alfa router and Alfa WiFi card work together we will replace the router with the same Alfa router. We will drill a couple few holes in the bottom of the water proof box and then add some screening to help keep the router and card cool.

 At this time we are just using the Alfa card connected to the PC with a 10’ USB extension and we have it sitting on top of the dodger. This works for now at anchor and I am using it to do this blogging. We are connected to a WiFi hot spot we got a password for. This setup will not stand up to any weather this way and we cannot use the Kindle Fire or the Kindle White Paper as there is not any wireless through the boat as the router would have provided. This we liked even though we used it rarely because it is hard to find WIFi anywhere close to the anchorages. There are a few places where you can find WiFi but usually you need to go anchor off the place which is not close to any dinghy landing. Also most times you need to go to the place and have a lunch and get the WiFi pass code. This is what we have found so far.  This is a subject that could have a post of its own - the WiFi access.

 As we will be summering over at Paradise Village Marina and they have changed their WiFi policy we will need to use the Alfa card and router so they will need to be in the box for weather protection and this means replacing the router with the same router. The box is already set up and the system did wor k- it does in our case at least need some modifications for cooling.