Internet in Bahamas

[Tspringer]

Hello!

We are planning to sail to the Bahamas for the rest of the winter as soon as we get a good weather window from S. Florida. I have to have decent internet in order to work. When I contacted My Island Wifi back in November they seemed to indicate that getting a hotspot from them would be no problem, contact when ready to leave. So I did... but now they are out of hotspot inventory and have no idea when they will have hardware available, we are on the waiting list.

So with My Island Wifi not a current option, what is the situation with getting internet access in the Bahamas? Our plan is to clear in at Cat Cay or Bimini and then sail to Georgetown as quickly as we can.

Any help on viable options is greatly appreciated. I do have an external cellular antenna and booster and bullet and wifi antenna. If we cannot figure out a good option, we will have to wait to depart until we can get the MIW hotspot which could be months.

Thanks!

Terry

[djs]

We bought a Bahama telecom BTC SIM card from mr SIM card before we left for the Bahamas. Once here using credit balance on the account bought a 30 day, 15GB data only contract. This would give you coverage until you can find out what possibilities GT offers.
Dave, SV Grace of Longstone

[wsmurdoch]

We have a Bahamas (BTC) SIM card that we bought in Alice Town, Bimini installed in our GSM cell phone. That gives us voice, text, and data in the Bahamas. There are some dead areas, but if you are in a place where Bahamians live, you will have service and the phone provides a hotspot. In some areas we find that putting the phone in a dry box and raising it to the spreaders improves service, so your antenna should be even better.

If you are in Miami, you might phone Cellular World to see if they sell BTC (Batelco) SIM cards.

Edit. I remembered this article. https://theboatgalley.com/bahamas-internet-options/

Bill Murdoch

[Lodesman]

From the other thread, it seems Google FI is a possible solution.

[a64pilot]

Last year and this year we are using our phone with Aliv.
$140 a month gives you 300 GB a month and download speeds quite fast depending on lactation. 25 to 30 mb is common, but traffic seems to slow it some at times, late afternoon seems to be the worst. But we Netflix etc and never have a problem
From people here I’ve not heard many happy customers of BTC. It seems at least for now Aliv is a better option, but I believe in many locations they share towers

[Group9]

The last two trips, we just used our BTC phone, that has a hot spot.

There may be better options, but that works fine for us.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Group9

The last two trips, we just used our BTC phone, that has a hot spot.

There may be better options, but that works fine for us.

That’s what I’m not understanding, why is it people want to pay for both a phone and a separate data box, when the phone will suffice?
I know in the US Carriers will set hot spot data limits low, but they don’t here in the Bahamas.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

That’s what I’m not understanding, why is it people want to pay for both a phone and a separate data box, when the phone will suffice?
I know in the US Carriers will set hot spot data limits low, but they don’t here in the Bahamas.

Pretty sure it is because you get unlimited data for $75 while the phone is almost twice that much and only for a limited amount of data

[S/V Adeline]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Pretty sure it is because you get unlimited data for $75 while the phone is almost twice that much and only for a limited amount of data

Most U.S. carriers have an unlimited data offering but limited speed once a designated threshold is reached. Having an ancient 10yr old outdated plan that specifically states in the contract that data cannot be limited in amount or speed has paid off well as we regularly exceed 200GB monthly.
Anyone considering a phone plan must research actual service areas for plan features and restrictions.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

That’s what I’m not understanding, why is it people want to pay for both a phone and a separate data box, when the phone will suffice?
I know in the US Carriers will set hot spot data limits low, but they don’t here in the Bahamas.

One of the nice things about our particular BTC phone is that it has a setting for data limits, where you can set the hotspot to cut off, when a certain amount of data has been used. Which is nice to keep from using up all of your data if someone connects to a high usage app or website, and doesn't log off.

But, we don't use all that much internet in the first place. I guess someone who was trying to work on the internet, or needed constant connection, might find a better connection than BTC, but it's all we need.