Internet

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by conachair

UK / atlantic Europe marinas are getting so much than even just a year or two ago, many marinas I've popped into the past year or so have reliable fast wifi with antennas dotted around the pontoons.

Indeed. The situation has changed dramatically in the last two or three years. The situation described by the OP existed 10 years ago, but not now.

These days MOST UK marinas now have serious wifi installations, with AP's out on the pontoons. You typically get a slower connection (256kbs or so) for free and for a modest amount of money (20 pounds a month in Cowes), you can have a really good connection with at least several gbs. The slower connection is generally acceptable for anything except streaming video.

Atlantic and Baltic Europe is not quite as far advanced in this process as the UK, but it gets better and better.

One important tip is that the 2.4ghz wifi channels may be so overloaded that you may have difficulty getting a connection. By all means, try to use 5ghz.

As a result I am using wifi more and more. I had a Ubiquity Bullet which I replaced a couple of years ago with a MicroTik Groove dual band -- in order to be able to use it for 5ghz. Unfortunately I caught the antenna with a halyard and it's not working at the moment. Meanwhile I have been using a TP Link AC-1200 adapter which works very well, dramatically much better than the built in wifi card in my laptop, even when the signal is strong.

It's good to have this as a backup to a mobile phone data connection. I cruise through 10 countries every year and it's a PITA to maintain SIM cards for every one of those countries.

Come June 15, however, all roaming charges within the EU will be banned, so I'll be able to use the best plan I have, everywhere. That would probably be my Finnish plan, on DNA, which for less than one euro per day gives me truly unlimited 4G data.

Although my Danish plan on Lebara is also pretty awesome -- 30GB of 4G data plus 10 hours of telephone calls to most countries in the world and unlimited SMS's for -- 99 Danish Krona, about 13 euros per month.

[sailorboy1]

Sounds that the answer to why marinas don't have internet is that they don't want it and/or are too cheap to get it.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Sounds that the answer to why marinas don't have internet is that they don't want it and/or are too cheap to get it.

Like others, I have friends who are more knowledgeable about the tech details than I am. Most all of them have said, at one time or another they have gone to the marina offices and offered to improve the wifi service FREE OF CHARGE and the marina declined!!!

Technical changes and the use of phone data plans will change user's habits, which might actually free up some bandwidth for us neanderthals still using wifi! I use an Alfa.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Sounds that the answer to why marinas don't have internet is that they don't want it and/or are too cheap to get it.

It's a fairly involved, fairly expensive project to put in a WiFi system capable of giving good connections to dozens of boaters at the same time.

In the UK, the local broadband providers are setting up these systems, maybe without charge to the marinas. In the Baltic, a lot of the WiFi systems are provided by the municipality.

WiFi is considered basic infrastructure here and there are different ways to get it put in.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Sounds that the answer to why marinas don't have internet is that they don't want it and/or are too cheap to get it.

Actually, the question becomes: Are you willing to pay an extra $25 per day for your marina slip? The owner will need to pass the cost along to the customer. Most will say no, so the situation remains unchanged.

Things related to cellular service and the internet are much cheaper in the EU, as in well less than half the cost of the same service in the Americas, probably due to the politically connected monopolies which control service in the US and Mexico.

Example: Here in Italy I can purchase a SIM card for only $10 which will give me unlimited local calls, calls to the US for .20 per minute, unlimited calls to thirty countries including Pakistan ( of all places) and 10GB of data for thirty days.

[a64pilot]

If it was a good connection, I would pay for it and I assume others would to.
Maybe that is the way, drop the free crap, and pay for real service? I have only once found a Marina that had acceptable Wifi, and I do not stream Video. To me that is abusing a resource cause I know there is only so much data that has to be shared.
However if I were paying extra, I would expect to be able to stream video.

BTW, in the US anyway there is no unlimited data plans on cell phones, they all throttle you to a slow speed pretty quick, true unlimited doesn't exist anymore. It did used to, then they found out how much more money they could make doling it out to you in bundles

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Maybe that is the way, drop the free crap, and pay for real service?

There are marinas (and there used to be hotels and even airports, too, but not so much any more) which contract with a third-party WiFi provider. This provider then charges you to sign on and use the service.

Unfortunately, the rates are higher than most people would pay for just an overnight, in the range of $10-$15 per 24-hour period. It's less (per day) if you sign up for a week or month. But people rarely stay in an airport, hotel or marina for a week or a month at a time, so it didn't really work out for most people.

[sailorboy1]

This money excuse is just bull!!!!

The little motel across from me right now has wifi with internet good enough to stream video. Yet the marina that by quick calulation brings in 4 times the revenue doesn't!!!!!

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

This money excuse is just bull!!!!

The little motel across from me right now has wifi with internet good enough to stream video. Yet the marina that by quick calulation brings in 4 times the revenue doesn't!!!!!

Then stay at the motel if that's what's most important to you.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Then stay at the motel if that's what's most important to you.

Nice reply, very thoughtful!

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Free wifi , the most useless statement that marinas made. Yes they have wifi, no it doesn't connect to the internet.

Why can hotels manage to provide internet to have mereds of rooms, but marinas can't???

the excuse i heard from the providers was that no one lives in boats so it is not important to deliver connectivity to the marinas.. good luck.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Nice reply, very thoughtful!

He has a point though.
Likely the Hotel has it because to be competitive, it has to. While the Marina does not, so it doesn't. Just like the bathrooms in some Marina's are horrible.
My Brother used to keep a boat in a Marina that also rented Condo's on site. The Marina's amenities sucked, wanted a nice clean bathroom, cable TV that worked etc? They were happy to rent you a condo, that way you could sit on the porch and look at your boat.
You would be surprised how many people did that, I don't think my Brother ever didn't rent one of the Condo's.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Nice reply, very thoughtful!

I already provided my thoughtful replies, did you read any of them? I spent more than an hour this morning writing them down.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

This money excuse is just bull!!!!

The little motel across from me right now has wifi with internet good enough to stream video. Yet the marina that by quick calulation brings in 4 times the revenue doesn't!!!!!

The marina likely pays enormous lease payments and business property taxes to the local governing authorities, the motel pays business property tax.

Most marinas are nothing more than a small business management firm, very few actually own any of the property. You're also very mistaken on the money the marina probably brings in. Most slips are rented on a monthly basis bringing in somewhere between maybe $300-$1000 per slip depending on location and the length of the slip. The motel turns rooms on a nightly basis, so even a room costing only $80 per night, or lets say $100 to keep things easy... that motel is taking in as much as three times the amount that marina is taking in on a monthly basis or $3000.

Much more incentive for the motel to provide business quality internet for business customers.

[sailorboy1]

A lot of posters here should buy a marina as they are already experts at making excuses for them.

BTW my wife worked at a telephone/internet company for years so I have some insight. The bottom line is that most marinas don't care or are too cheap to do the upgrade (including ones charging $3+/ft)