Email access while offshore

[meshugah]

Many thanks guys, for all the valued input. I do have a HF radio onboard, and am very seriously considering investing in a Pactor modem so that I can access email.

I am also checking costs of getting longer distance access to the land based cell phone network by installing external antennas and a WIFI router. This should be really useful for coastal cruising and getting network access much further out to sea than is possible simply using a standard cell phone.

The satellite options appear to be the most complicated, given the range of options and costs involved. I need to check these options out very carefully.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by meshugah

The satellite options appear to be the most complicated, given the range of options and costs involved. I need to check these options out very carefully.

Actually, the satellite option is fairly simple and easy to use. I have a good SSB and Pactor modem, but for email on the high seas I prefer the Iridium satphone. You can make the cost comparison go any way you want, all perfectly valid, based on your assumptions.

[hellosailor]

Coastal WiFi or cellular: Once in a while someone with cellco systems experience speaks up, which apparently violates an Official Secrets Act and can lead to life imprisonment in the Tower of London. One i spoke to said the range limit on cell towers is 16 miles, the system looks at call latency and rejects any signal beyond that range, no matter how strong it is. Another more recently said the range might be double that now, it may have changed. Somewhere in between I suspect you'll find "truth", and if the towers are oriented mainly toward paying customers on the land...less than that.
WiFi systems also have latency limits but they are much more generous. The problem is that you can buy power (subject to the laws in each country!) but if you are working unencrypted connections, you really need to have a VPN and pay attention to security issues.
PACTOR is about as good as HF email can get. Just check with real users as to the baud rates they have gotten, generally they are slow enough that you want to make sure you are sending plain text files, not HTML, not whole novels.(G)

[meshugah]

Thanks guys once again for all the input.

Paul, I have downloaded the 3 day demo for XGate from Global Marine Networks but am having trouble from time to time opening the demo. I am now waiting for GMN to get back to me with assistance.

I do however like being able to use my default email program via XGate.

Would you please explain to me exactly how you use the Iridium phone and XGate?

Do you connect the sat phone to your PC with a USB cable and then open XGate? Do you use your default email program or iScribe which is packaged with XGate? I get lots of spam in my junk folder and I guess that will dramatically increase the data used. Have you had the same issue? How did you deal with it in order to avoid paying for spam?

Cheers
Gary on Meshugah

[hellosailor]

Gary-
Every email address eventually gets poisoned. Even if you do everything right, some 25% of all home systems (and presumably business systems) are infected with malware, which harvests email addresses and adds them to spambots.

So...

The answer is that you create a new email address JUST for critical email, JUST shared to important contacts, and you use that one with the satcomms. You can usually set the older addresses to forward JUST the header information (topic and sender) and not the full content, if you want even that much.

It is a question of being selective. And when it has to happen, you change the email address.

garypaysforeverybyte@whatever.com could be a good start, it is long enough to prevent most dictionary attacks.(G)

[robert sailor]

I'm a zero tech guy but I was told that you can't get viruses on sailmail as it's text only and viruses can't be installed in text only systems.

[Paul Elliott]

Airmail can deliver attached files which could potentially be used to send viruses, but not the typical "click here" sort.

[hellosailor]

As Paul said. An "attachment" can carry executable code, but plain text cannot carry anything in the text. Many email clients also offer you the choice of downloading attachments, or NOT downloading them by default, just letting you know they are there. If you're not expecting one, you can either ignore it or trash it.

[Seafarer7]

Originally Posted by mathiasben

here's what you'll need - MCD-4800 BGAN - A Global Internet Hotspot Case

I don’t think you need the $12k gyro version above. A regular BGAN terminal (for less than $2k) works just fine - mine worked very well in all sea conditions across the Pacific and back (California to Hawaii, and back) with barely any need to adjust pointing angle.

Of all the solutions I’ve used, the BGAN provided the fastest, quickest (but not the cheapest) internet access.

Iridium Go, with its low priced ($125/month) unlimited data plan, is also a great solution, however its low bandwidth limit its data usage to mainly email.

If data access is a MUST, I would recommend getting both the BGAN and the Go: use the Go to scan your emails, and sparingly use the BGAN for serious work.

You can get low BGAN monthly access fees ($60/month), with variable (expensive) data.

One more available option (perhaps the least expensive) if you can tinker with code:
- Get a Delorme (Garmin) inreach, with unlimited messaging (for less than $35)
- Write a small cloud-based tasklet to send you email header messages when important email arrives
That way, get notified via (almost free) Delorme of incoming email, and then use the Go or BGAN to respond if needed

[davil]

trying to use this thread's knowledge of experienced contributors without interfering with original poster.
Most references are to Iridium ,why not GarminInReach?.
I have the same needs as the original poster without the business part,just to keep in touch with family and friends.
also have an Icom 720 system.
thank you
David

[ka4wja]

David,
The InReach is a SMS/text messenger...which uses the Iridium satellite network.
If you have the same needs as Gary on Meshugah, then all the recommendations given to him would apply to you too.
(To be clear, an Iridium phone, or GO, would give you e-mail connectivity, rather than just SMS/texts...but, remember, they all need a clear view of the sky to work, so figure that into your plan / budget....and also, as such, they do not lend well to emergency comms, as you need to hang onto them, above decks, and that's not so easy in emergency situations..)


If I knew more about the cellular and Wi-Fi networks down-under, I could possibly recommend a cellular "booster" (they do work!) and a good external Wi-Fi system, both very useful in populated / coastal areas, but of course useless offshore.


The good news is that for most heading offshore, we are only out on passage for a few weeks at a time, and many find not having e-mail (not being "connected" all-the-time) to be a great respite from the rest of the world!
So, for a the few days to few weeks we're offshore, not having e-mail is a good thing, not a problem to spend money solving.


And, to keep in touch with friends / family, I assume you've got a ham license to go with the IC-720?? So, there's your easy-peasy way to stay in touch, from anywhere in the world (in port or at sea)
{if you require e-mail to stay in touch, I'd look at Winmor (a sound-card generated "PACTOR-II-like" mode)...and connect with some Winkink stations when at sea / away from cellular and Wi-Fi...}

FYI...
That IC-720 is getting kinda' old....be sure it's serviceable / reliable, before heading off...

Originally Posted by davil

trying to use this thread's knowledge of experienced contributors without interfering with original poster.
Most references are to Iridium ,why not GarminInReach?.
I have the same needs as the original poster without the business part,just to keep in touch with family and friends.
also have an Icom 720 system.
thank you
David

I hop this helps?

Fair winds.

John

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Neptune's Gear

You cannot use sailmail, it it specifically prohibited in their terms and conditions to use it for commercial mail. If business is so important, get a sat terminal and pay the bill, or use the sat phone.

For the record, commercial mail is fine with the Sailmail system, which uses the marine SSB bands, and it is fine with any Iridium based system. The restriction applies only to amateur radio bands.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by ka4wja

David,
The InReach is a SMS/text messenger...which uses the Iridium satellite network.
If you have the same needs as Gary on Meshugah, then all the recommendations given to him would apply to you too.
(To be clear, an Iridium phone, or GO, would give you e-mail connectivity, rather than just SMS/texts...but, remember, they all need a clear view of the sky to work, so figure that into your plan / budget....and also, as such, they do not lend well to emergency comms, as you need to hang onto them, above decks, and that's not so easy in emergency situations..)


If I knew more about the cellular and Wi-Fi networks down-under, I could possibly recommend a cellular "booster" (they do work!) and a good external Wi-Fi system, both very useful in populated / coastal areas, but of course useless offshore.


The good news is that for most heading offshore, we are only out on passage for a few weeks at a time, and many find not having e-mail (not being "connected" all-the-time) to be a great respite from the rest of the world!
So, for a the few days to few weeks we're offshore, not having e-mail is a good thing, not a problem to spend money solving.


And, to keep in touch with friends / family, I assume you've got a ham license to go with the IC-720?? So, there's your easy-peasy way to stay in touch, from anywhere in the world (in port or at sea)
{if you require e-mail to stay in touch, I'd look at Winmor (a sound-card generated "PACTOR-II-like" mode)...and connect with some Winkink stations when at sea / away from cellular and Wi-Fi...}

FYI...
That IC-720 is getting kinda' old....be sure it's serviceable / reliable, before heading off...



I hop this helps?

Fair winds.

John

Just to add to what John said -- there's a new sound card mode which is supposed to rival Pactor III. It's called VARA, and we discussed it here: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-a-199812.html


I have the same problem as other posters on here -- being offshore for a week or more at a time and with a business to run back in civilization, which does not allow me to be out of touch.

I will be in the Arctic Ocean this summer away from cell phone towers most of the summer. I choose SailMail for business correspondence and WinLink for personal correspondence, over HF radio, but I have also acquired an Iridium Go! with the eminently reasonable $139/month unlimited internet unlimited SMS plus 150 minutes of voice calling.

[billknny]

Originally Posted by ka4wja

Of course, you can rig an external sat comm antenna to a handheld unit or "GO", below decks (or rig a IridiumGO outside), this becomes costly and can still suffer reliability issues...

We have used an Iridium Go for 3 years across the Atlantic and pacific. If there are “reliability issues” with a Go mounted in the cabin using an external antennae, we haven’t seen them. Never once has an email failed to go through. Nor have we had any trouble getting our weather data downloaded.

And condemning that setup as ”costly” compared to the other options you promote is... very strange.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by billknny

We have used an Iridium Go for 3 years across the Atlantic and pacific. If there are “reliability issues” with a Go mounted in the cabin using an external antennae, we haven’t seen them. Never once has an email failed to go through. Nor have we had any trouble getting our weather data downloaded.

And condemning that setup as ”costly” compared to the other options you promote is... very strange.

I bought the Go! fixed mount antenna (playing it safe) at $169. I have LMR400 cabling already in place for an old satellite installation. Some connectors and soldering. $139 per month plus $35 activation fee, and month to month so you only buy as many months as you need. I bought the Go! unit itself for $690.

I would say that it's quite inexpensive compared to HF radio. SailMail alone is $275 per annum or almost two months of unlimited Go!, and even used and self-installed HF equipment is fairly costly.

So I don't think cost is an argument against Go!