We have two on-board systems:
1.
Wifi through a Ubiquiti bullet, which connects to the ship's computer, which acts as a hub you can connect laptops to; and
2. A Globesurfer III
cell phone terminal connected to an outside
antenna. The Globesurfer has its own hub built-in, so you just hook up to that. It is a GSM
phone terminal which can do HSDPA data speeds if the
network is capable of it it -- we get about 500kbs sometimes, which feels more or less like
broadband.
Even with the
antenna lying in the
salon, the Globesurfer has many times the range and speed of a regular tethered
cell phone. We are still figuring out where to put the antenna;
current candidates are first spreader and a stern-mouned pole.
The Globesurfer has another benefit that you can connect a handset to it and use it for voice, too, so it gives you a ship's phone.
We use
wifi whenever we can get either an open hotspot or a hotspot we've got a subscription to. Otherwise, we use the Globesurfer. We have a "fair use" limit on the cell phone account of I think 2 gigabytes a month, so we are a little more sparing than at home (no youtube or other heavy data users).