Internet in water

[the Megster]

We are planning a few long excursions (few days up to few weeks- we’re just getting up nerve to travel!) on our 40’ cruiser! We are in East Coast!
I am concerned about not staying connected w iPhone & Internet and we need good service! Any advice on affordable satellite equipment! Thanks

[Zanshin]

The east coast of the USA? In that case, your cellphone should always be connected and many (or most) of the providers offer data plans. Satellite equipment is expensive, the starting price is about 10K$ plus a very high cost per mB of data.

[FlyingScot]

As of now (or last time I looked) it comes in two flavors once you leave cell tower coverage.
1. Very slow and limited but affordable.
2. Not slow and very expensive. Like $10-30k just to get started and could be thousands per month for data.

We deal with text messages from a Garmin Inreach Explorer +. Paid under $400 and we pay $13-20/month for limited usage.

[fxykty]

If you’re beyond cell coverage and want data (rather than just text such as with the InReach) then look at the Iridium Go. Relatively cheap equipment and data plans are 100-200 USD per month. Speed is very slow (like very slow dial up!).

If you want regular speeds then you’re looking at 10’s of thousands for equipment and coverage.

But you’re only planning relatively short passages - is a constant data connection really necessary?

[ohgary]

Originally Posted by fxykty

Speed is very slow (like very slow dial up!).

How many people actually had dialup.... and if so was is 56kb dialup or 100baud dial up...

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by ohgary

How many people actually had dialup.... and if so was is 56kb dialup or 100baud dial up...

I'm almost positive we started at 14.4, then 28.8, 33.6 then 56kb.
It's been a long road.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by ohgary

How many people actually had dialup.... and if so was is 56kb dialup or 100baud dial up...

56k? Lookshoory!


My first connection was at 300 baud in the early 80's with an acooutic coupler. The advent of the 300 baud Hayes Smartmodem at that time was a game changer.


(I' don't think there were any 100 baud dial up modems - the first Bell one in 1962 was 300 baud).

[a64pilot]

My first was 300 baud for my McIntosh, that was 88 I think.
Then later 14.4, 28.8 and 56K

The surprising thing is that other than being able to watch Videos’ you could do everything them just as fast as now, just no ads etc.
And for what I use a computer for the first Pentium chip one I had worked as well as what is out now, word processing, spread sheets etc.
One can only assume as speeds and memory has grown so tremendously that the programming is sloppier and doesn’t use memory and speed as efficiently now?

[ohgary]

Originally Posted by StuM

56k? Lookshoory!

(I' don't think there were any 100
baud dial up modems - the first Bell one in 1962 was 300 baud).

Actually it was 110 baud not 100 baud and there was plenty of modems in the 70s at that speed. For the DIYer who didnt have hundreds of dollars for a modem they were Easy to built with a couple of 555 tone generators and 556 tone decoders. The bell 202 at 1200 baud in the early/mid 70's but were not dialup but were used on leased lines. AT&T used them for switch intercommunication , dial up at 300 came into play in late 70's early 80s.

[Salt to Sea]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

My first was 300 baud for my McIntosh, that was 88 I think.
Then later 14.4, 28.8 and 56K

The surprising thing is that other than being able to watch Videos’ you could do everything them just as fast as now, just no ads etc.
And for what I use a computer for the first Pentium chip one I had worked as well as what is out now, word processing, spread sheets etc.
One can only assume as speeds and memory has grown so tremendously that the programming is sloppier and doesn’t use memory and speed as efficiently now?

Haha, no way was dialup anywhere near today’s speeds. It used to take days to download a movie in the Napster era. Today, we can stream those movies in higher definition in real time.

The problem is as bandwidth increases, so does the content and our demand, so it may not feel like it’s as fast as it should be.

I remember a college professor telling us how in the future you’d be able to see a magazine ad on the internet and if you liked the shirt a model was wearing, you could just click on it and buy it. That blew my mind back in a time when we had to use the home phone line to connect to the internet and paid by the minute, lol.

Today, I can see that shirt on a 3D version of myself and live chat with a fashion advisor from half way around the world before placing an order. Pretty crazy how far we’ve come.

[dfelsent]

I too started at 110 baud. 300 baud was screaming fast!
Now I’m at 50 megbit at home and have worked at places with 10 gigabit. Nosebleed speeds.
Definite progress.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by ohgary

How many people actually had dialup.... and if so was is 56kb dialup or 100baud dial up...

Hey! I remember when I replaced my 300 baud modem with a 1200 baud, "high speed" model! And before that, when I was on-call, I would take a TI Silent-700 home with me. Go ahead, look it up.


Anyway, I think the OPs question has been answered pretty well. Coastal cruising, cell phone tethering is your best bet. When it comes to "affordable" satellite gear, you have to consider 5-figures to be "affordable." Personally, I don't.

[the Megster]

Thanks for info! I’m new to this & love the interaction!

[MV Wanderlust]

On a recent cruise down the west coast of Florida, my wife and I both had LTE connections about 15 miles offshore with Verizon and ATT. If you're not going to be any further than that for extended periods of time, using your phone as a hotspot is probably your most efficient and economical approach.

John

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Hey! I remember when I replaced my 300 baud modem with a 1200 baud, "high speed" model! And before that, when I was on-call, I would take a TI Silent-700 home with me. Go ahead, look it up.


Anyway, I think the OPs question has been answered pretty well. Coastal cruising, cell phone tethering is your best bet. When it comes to "affordable" satellite gear, you have to consider 5-figures to be "affordable." Personally, I don't.

Iridium GO: USD 699
Unlimited data (via PredictWind): USD 140/month

Doesn’t look like 5-figures. But not necessary if you’re going to be within cell phone range (consider a masthead booster like weBoost/Wilson Electronics).