Clear Lake Marina with best wifi

[Driftwoods]

To get 100% live-aboard, I need a good wifi connection for work. Right now I am in Portofino Marina and they do no supply their own wifi. I instead rely on the area wifi provided by a third party and that service is not working well - It can meet my needs at times but very high signal to noise ratio and the lack of controls to maintain the advertised SLA have resulted in some performance failures where even a simple a page like google.com can take 30 seconds to load or may even result in a time out. By the way, I do have a Wirie AP so signal strength is not a issue for me.

I like Portofino but this is a show stopper for me. Consequently, I'm looking for a new marina. Anybody find one in the Clear Lake area that has reliable and reasonably high speed wifi?

[tbodine88]

It takes power and money but I get good Wifi using my $19 smart phone and Cricket.
$75 a month. I think you'll get good overage in Clear Lake. I'll check when I'm down for Christmas.

I haven't checked the speed, but have used it for work and over a VPN.

[djmarchand]

Wifi service is very, very location specific. Ask the marina for specific slips that are available when you need them and check them out your self with a laptop or tablet. 100' can make a huge difference.

David

[Sunnyside]

Across the channel from you, I need high speed (prefer a T-1 line) to do my work. But if I stay away from the powerlines, avoid peek hours (8am-4pm), use after 6pm, stay close to the wifi signal source, or use a wifi booster, those things help. If those fail, then I pull out the cell-wifi card and sit in the cockpit for a better signal.

[RainDog]

I tried Seabrook Shipyard, Waterford, and a third party Wifi, prob the same one you are using. Waterford was by far the best of the three, however I still supplemented with a 4G data plan. Sprint worked well, Verizon not at all. Did not try AT&T.

If you want a near 100% solution, I think you will need both top end marina wifi and a 4G data plan.

[xeon_tsd]

I am at watergate. The wifi there is awful and they know it. I made some changes to the system (as thats what I do professionally) and it is slightly better. When it is urgent I use my phone as a hotspot. I have T-Mobile and it works great inside the boat.

[RainDog]

Maybe we should buy a small marina, put in fiber and high-end wifi, and turn the clubhouse into a business center. Live aboard tele-commuter paradise.

[xeon_tsd]

Brilliant!

[Pirate999]

Originally Posted by xeon_tsd

I am at watergate. The wifi there is awful and they know it. I made some changes to the system (as thats what I do professionally) and it is slightly better. When it is urgent I use my phone as a hotspot. I have T-Mobile and it works great inside the boat.

I'll second, third and fourth this. Watergates wifi is horrible, they know it, give a BS excuse about bandwidth and won't fix it.

[xeon_tsd]

It isn't bandwidth out... it is the way the access points are set up. If we ran cat5/6 out to each one it would be rocking! The AP's are a single channel, so there is a lot of overhead for the mesh network taking up bandwidth. Plus they try to be "smart" and route you out 1 of 3 gateways.

[Pirate999]

Originally Posted by xeon_tsd

It isn't bandwidth out... it is the way the access points are set up. If we ran cat5/6 out to each one it would be rocking! The AP's are a single channel, so there is a lot of overhead for the mesh network taking up bandwidth. Plus they try to be "smart" and route you out 1 of 3 gateways.

I know it's not BW.. It's just a crap answer they give. I told them I hope they aren't actually paying money for this.

Given the state of the docks, I'm not surprised they cheap rigged the wifi with the single Chanel AP and wiring. They can spend thousand and thousands on statues and a marble patio area that no one uses but can't offer better services such as wifi. Rant over.

Anyone like Waterford?

[RainDog]

Loved waterford. Great facilities, best docks in Clear Lake, active community, and the Wifi was even good. If you have a bullet, you can even steal Wifi from one of the 50 mansions across the way.

[Tony B]

I'm across the way from you in Blue Dolphin marina.
I just signed up for Cricket service about a month ago.
No contract - Unlimited data service. The fist 10GB of data used is at 4G speed. Above that it will drop down to a slower speed - noticeable, but still OK.
$70/mo
If you have any questions call me. I sent you a PM with my cell no.

[Pirate999]

Originally Posted by RainDog

Loved waterford. Great facilities, best docks in Clear Lake, active community, and the Wifi was even good. If you have a bullet, you can even steal Wifi from one of the 50 mansions across the way.

I've thinking about Waterford. Parking has been the only concern. I'm considering going back to portifino too. Was there for a long time. Watergate since 2002 but I'm not noticing any improvements...

I have been considering a bullet anyway... Good idea

[xeon_tsd]

Originally Posted by Pirate999

I know it's not BW.. It's just a crap answer they give. I told them I hope they aren't actually paying money for this.

Given the state of the docks, I'm not surprised they cheap rigged the wifi with the single Chanel AP and wiring. They can spend thousand and thousands on statues and a marble patio area that no one uses but can't offer better services such as wifi. Rant over.

Anyone like Waterford?

They got duped by the people who built the system... and they know it. Problem was all quotes to fix it where silly high. Might have some ohter options down the pipeline from the rumor mill... Or hell I may just go run some cat5/6 for them for the cost of the wire just to get better service.