1: Connecting with your built in Hardware

If you are trying to connect to one of our locations with your built in wireless or an iphone/ipod touch- forget it!

You simply cannot connect with any reliable speed or quality of service without a high quality/high power wifi device. Buy it from BroadbandXpress and you will get support from our technicians as they are familiar with the utilities. 

2: Long Range Antennas:

The long range antennas will provide you with at least 2 miles of coverage. Greg and I spent a whole day at Shaw Island connecting to the Friday Harbor site and the results were surprisingly good. The long range USB is not ideal for a long range solution due to the lower power of the device. Whichever solution you use - an external antenna will radically improve your quality of service. The cable is especially important. Use only a solid core copper cable and do not splice it. One of our favorite customers from Shilshole was having very different speeds everyday and we could not figure out what was wrong. The customer had spliced the cable himself- 2 years of frustration for him and us.

  3: Connecting with your BBX USB:

Greg and I have been on many boats in the last month and there are a few things that we are seeing:

A: Not disabling your built in wireless adapter - this must be done to prevent the 2 devices from fighting.

B: Not using the WiFi utility that comes with the USB. Shown below is the utility that comes with the USB device. If you do not see this utility then download it from the disk that came with the device or go to our online store and download the utility. Just go to the product and you will see the download link for the utility.

Here is the utility shown below:   

4: BroadbandXpress did not work anywhere I went????

I hear this issue a few times a month and it is very frustrating to us and especially to you. It absolutely puts me in the worst mood possible to hear someone say your network does not work. The issues are usually very simple to solve and usually involve software not being properly installed. Sometimes the software needs to be reloaded. We have all the instruction manuals posted online in our online store. We include them in new sales but you may have thrown them out. Print them and keep them on the boat.

If you have more than one experience in a row with bad service or inconsistent signal- e-mail me at kk@bbxpress.net. I will respond quickly with a solution.

We have the occaisonal issue, but rarely does an issue go on for a long time unless there is a undetectible problem. This is an unlicenced spectrum so there will be issues at times hard to detect. Let me know if there are any issues that are persisting over a long time.

Poulsbo: We have added 2 new antennas to improve service to the boatsheds at the back of the Poulsbo marina.  Both of these new antennas are on the Poulsbo Yacht Club Building - one aims at the rear of the Port of Poulsbo marina (new red zone) to cover the blind spot.   The second antenna (green zone) now points directly at Liberty Bay Marina. These new broadcast antennas are high priced and high quality to improve coverage. We are now working with the isp to increase the speed at this location to 5 mbps versus the 1.5 mbps that now exists.

Pleasant Harbor:We have added an antenna on the dock to improve coverage and get under the boat houses. We are also increasing available speed to 3 mbps from 1.5 mbps.

Coal Harbour: We have added and antenna on "A" dock to triple the coverage. There were a few dead spots so we hope this will once and for all create a bullet proof location.

Blaine: There has been some very valid complaints at Blaine regarding reliability. This location is on a very reliable fiber backbone with the highest bandwidth possible up to 10 mpbs. We have installed a new radio and new broadcast location: May 8, 2009

Semiahmoo Marina: We have installed a new antenna and raised it for much better performance: May 9, 2009

Welcome to our blog. My name is Kevin Keating and I started the company with the goal of building a great network with very high speeds at a reasonable price for boaters like myself. We are now in the 6th year of operating our network and it is almost fully built in Washington and BC. I will be writing this weekly to keep you in touch with breaking news items and things to improve your experience in our network. In addition, as we find new applications, I will be sharing them with you. We will still be sending our quartely newsletter but more updates will be right here on the blog.  I am trying really hard to bring useful information to our customers - from the most advanced to those that struggle with technology. I will try to make all of our resources more clearly understood and provide some details about our network- both good and bad - that will help you. We are a small company and making your BroadbandXpress experience a great one is very important.

We are pleased to announce the following improvements in our company commencing April 20, 2009:

1: New store staff: Our store has formed a joint venture with Fine Edge publications to fullfill our e-commerce store. Shipping of all items will be out of our new fullfillment center in Anacortes. The store will be now handled with dedicated people to help with your needs. You can contact the store at 206-407-3194.

2: Customer Sevice: Our customer service line is 206-407-3818. Staff are located in Texas 24 x 7 to help you. If you have our hardware, we have a newly trained 2nd tier person- David- who is availalbe Monday-Friday 9am- 5 pm central. They can check on your account, change your plan, cancel your plan or help you connect.

I hope this blog offers some useful pointers. If you have any exciting updates about any of our marinas please pass them along.

Have a great boating season,

Kevin