Internet connectivity sources

[liveaboard60]

I have one of those wonderful jobs in which I can work anyplace I have a good quality Internet connection.. I want to do some cruising and would love to hear from some of the members how they "stay connected" when cruising. I will be mostly cruising the Gulf coast for now at least..

The marina in which my boat is currently moored offers WiFi, but does not guarantee connectivity.. And naturally, on the pier where I am moored it is hit or miss..

Yes, I can get service through my hot spot from Sprint, but that can get very expensive now none of the cell carriers offer true unlimited data (they drop you down to 2G speeds once you exceed a given amount)..

So what say you?? flk k

[valhalla360]

We use wifi when we can and hotspot otherwise. Depends how much data you really burn thru, it's getting cheaper.


If you will be at one marina for a longer period, you may be able to get a landline hookup.


If you need gigs of data per day, it will be expensive. If 5-10gigs per month works, no problem.

[haiqu]

I used a wifi extender and scanned the horizons for open networks for a few years, but people seem to be more security conscious these days.

A 4G modem in Australia is the best solution. It's not cheap at $130 for 22Gb but I always have a reliable connection, even offshore a couple of miles. Reducing your video usage and downloading program updates manually when you have a cheap or free connection can save a huge amount of bandwidth.

[zeehag]

there was a lady in la cruz who went to the location for free unlimited interwebzz and did her business at set hours of day.
for those cruising in areas such as this with crap wifi, it is one of the only ways to cheaply get your job done.
fact--unlimited service aint happenin anymore. when i cruised gom i had unlimited service sprint. that so rocked. now it is not unlimited. i no longer have sprint, and no more unlimited service options other than finding a wifi cafe and hunkering down and paying the hourly rate, unless you can find some unlimited free spot.
good luck.
of course, one could invest in a satellite service then report back on the data end of the deal.......

[Sailor_Hutch]

If it's business, and you use a WiFi cafe, you'd definitely want to have a VPN account. I imagine you know that already. I wonder what kind of data you're using and sending? If its mostly email, then using a separate email client (not webmail) really cuts down on the amount of data passed. Web based apps always have a ton of overhead (pics and things that don't mean anything). The same goes for web browsing. Most browsers let you turn the pics off, and you can always use a text mode browser if you don't need the extra stuff. Then, your data load would be much less. A separate mail client, compared to webmail, is probably 10 - to -1 difference in data.

[barnakiel]

I go thru the nearest beach cafe. Using two antennas and a set of decent extender/booster hardware. OpenWRT kit on the router too.

No guarantee of continuous connectivity though. Able to work at night when there are no clients in the cafe. Works for me as I'am a night beast anyways.

b.