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Old 13-07-2018, 01:12   #1
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WiFi/phone coverage while bareboating in Northern Sporades Greece

Hi All
We’re making the leap from flotilla to bareboat and are heading off to the northern Sporades end of August. Getting regular weather updates is one of our prime concerns - can anyone advise on mobile phone coverage in that region please? We have O2 and vodaphone.
We’ve been offered the hire of a router (at €50 per week) and not sure whether this would be a good idea or a waste of money.
We generally prefer to stay in small bays so won’t generally be ashore more than necessary for occasional provisioning.
Any information/hints and tips gratefully received!
Cheers
Veegee
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Old 13-07-2018, 01:27   #2
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Re: WiFi/phone coverage while bareboating in Northern Sporades Greece

I don't know if it is what you need, but we use Skyroam for any coastal wifi needs....if you travel a lot (sailing or not), it's pretty cool. Basically it's a little orange disc about like a big battery charger pack (which it also does) and it synthesizes a SIM card in about 2 minutes wherever in the world you turn it on, and you can connect up to 5 devices at a time to it with very very good speed. The cost is 8 bucks per 24 hours, or 80 bucks unlimited for a month. You can pull into any country you like, turn it on and be connected in a few minutes.

check them out:

https://www.skyroam.com/solis-global...QaAhzsEALw_wcB
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Old 13-07-2018, 01:51   #3
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Re: WiFi/phone coverage while bareboating in Northern Sporades Greece

Had a great charter in the N Sporades in May of this year. Mobile phone coverage is pretty good in most of the area, but just a few blackspots where you might expect them.
I am UK based and simply used a couple of the usual weather apps on the local networks (EE user in the UK)
Had a great time, and booked to return in June of next year.
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Old 13-07-2018, 21:19   #4
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Re: WiFi/phone coverage while bareboating in Northern Sporades Greece

Been there last year.
Used local Greek Vodafone SIM.
Coverage good/acceptable at sea. In bays - sometimes signal disappears!
Learned to get forecast during day sail and check again while at anchor if possible to get later one.
We are using Predict Wind as it present 4 different models simultaneously.
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Old 14-07-2018, 12:37   #5
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Re: WiFi/phone coverage while bareboating in Northern Sporades Greece

We use a Cosmote data sim card. 20 GB for 25 € and 30 days at the moment. We use it in a small mify huwawei thing to set up a local wifi. Cosmote has apparently the best coverage in Greece.

Disadvantages - you need to go to a Cosmote shop to get it /charge it up.

Windfinder app for the weather forecast seems to be pretty accurate for us.

Great sailing area, have fun!
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Old 14-07-2018, 22:59   #6
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Re: WiFi/phone coverage while bareboating in Northern Sporades Greece

Quote:
Originally Posted by Perna View Post
We use a Cosmote data sim card. 20 GB for 25 € and 30 days at the moment. We use it in a small mify huwawei thing to set up a local wifi. Cosmote has apparently the best coverage in Greece.

Disadvantages - you need to go to a Cosmote shop to get it /charge it up.

Windfinder app for the weather forecast seems to be pretty accurate for us.

Great sailing area, have fun!
I wrote above about using Vodafone - if you buy the simcard from them it is possible to set up an 'my account' on their site and then it is possible to top-up the card online (of course it should be done before the current plan expires...). I do not know if Cosmote provides such a solution.
As to coverage, it may be true that Cosmote has a better one than Vodafone, but we used Vodafone without problems for three months this year and 5 months in 2017.
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Old 14-07-2018, 23:08   #7
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Re: WiFi/phone coverage while bareboating in Northern Sporades Greece

Quote:
Originally Posted by meirriba View Post
I wrote above about using Vodafone - if you buy the simcard from them it is possible to set up an 'my account' on their site and then it is possible to top-up the card online (of course it should be done before the current plan expires...). I do not know if Cosmote provides such a solution.
As to coverage, it may be true that Cosmote has a better one than Vodafone, but we used Vodafone without problems for three months this year and 5 months in 2017.

Cosmote have the online top up but I have never ever been able to use it successfully, neither paypal nor credit card. It may be something to do with the fact that my accounts are outside the EU.
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Old 15-07-2018, 02:54   #8
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Re: WiFi/phone coverage while bareboating in Northern Sporades Greece

Quote:
Originally Posted by veegee View Post
Hi All
We’re making the leap from flotilla to bareboat and are heading off to the northern Sporades end of August. Getting regular weather updates is one of our prime concerns - can anyone advise on mobile phone coverage in that region please? We have O2 and vodaphone.
We’ve been offered the hire of a router (at €50 per week) and not sure whether this would be a good idea or a waste of money.
We generally prefer to stay in small bays so won’t generally be ashore more than necessary for occasional provisioning.
Any information/hints and tips gratefully received!
Cheers
Veegee

Used both Vodaphone and Cosmote and generally both work well both on islands and between islands with just blackspots in more secluded areas. At peak periods can slow down in popular spots but if you get up earlier then usually get fast speeds until rest of the tourists get out of bed. Recommend using Poseidon (Greek meteorology bureau) for weather forecasts - it is specifically tailored to Greece and to what occurs around an island



Poseidon System


rather than being more generalised estimates from Grib files. There are some very windy spots up there!! Choose Sailing forecasts - North Aegean from left hand side menu.



Fair winds


TwT
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Old 15-07-2018, 06:15   #9
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Re: WiFi/phone coverage while bareboating in Northern Sporades Greece

I don't know where you are from, but we had been using our AT&T phones with the $10/day unlimited data option. But we used a lot of data due to all the people aboard. It did provide that with great coverage. Cosmote is the general phone plan of choice there.

As for weather, most Greeks use Meteo.gr
I've found that to be the best.
meteo.gr: Sailing maps for Greek seas


The meltemi doesn't blow as strongly in the Sporades - typically. But when we were there two years ago it did and my advice is to watch the weather forecast very closely and make sure your in a safe harbor early. Be careful about being caught stern tied to shore if the winds change as it can be a really bad situation. Also, the holding isn't great in many of the bays so make sure to verify your anchor is dug in and use a lot of scope. One night we had 50 knot winds all night and it was a constant show of boats dragging all through the anchorage. We fortunately didn't drag but so many did and came right past us it was very dangerous.
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Old 19-07-2018, 09:09   #10
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Re: WiFi/phone coverage while bareboating in Northern Sporades Greece

Thanks everyone for taking time to reply. I've got Poseidon and Meteo bookmarked and will look at the other sites mentioned. Looking forward to our trip. Just keeping fingers crossed we don't get too many force 5-6's overnight - but at least we can be prepared.
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Old 19-07-2018, 09:59   #11
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Re: WiFi/phone coverage while bareboating in Northern Sporades Greece

Are you bringing a daughter? We had such a great time anchoring at the base of the little church that was filmed in Mama Mia. If it's calm I'd highly recommend doing this trip.
I'm sure your charter company will give you recommendations but we anchored in:
Koukunaries beach, Skiathos
Town bay off Skiathos
Panormos Beach Skopelos
The harbor of Skopelos - very nice
Milia beach on Allonosos
I think we liked the Sporades more than any other area of the Aegean. It has that evergreen smell and beautiful blue water. Wow, just thinking about it makes me want to get back there.
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Old 19-08-2018, 10:12   #12
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Re: WiFi/phone coverage while bareboating in Northern Sporades Greece

I have just spent 3 x months in Greece including the Sporades - the simple solution is to buy a local SIM card Cosmote or similar , create a hot spot on your phone ( I have a 2 nd older I Phone , which I use ) It works very well up to about 5 to 7 n/miles offshore and you can run a number of I pads / computers etc at the same time . You can top the card up online , but only available in a Greek only app . Hope this helps
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Old 19-08-2018, 16:04   #13
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Re: WiFi/phone coverage while bareboating in Northern Sporades Greece

Thanks for the info and taking the time to reply 👍
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