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Old 08-01-2022, 02:00   #1
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Bandwidth Conservation for Sat System

We are about to leave on our transat via Cape Verde, and fortunately we got our TracPhone V30 working at last. It crashes the navigation system so we will switch it on only occasionally.



We get 1gb of high speed data and then it drops back to 128kbs down and 64kbs up. I don't know whether that is grossly inflated like the Iridium claimed bandwidth. But in any case I need to be able to set up users device so they won't gobble the high speed data in the background.


Any tips? I would like to set up user accounts on the wifi router which will throttle bandwidth for good measure; I'm also trying to figure that out.


Grateful for any hints on any of this.
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I behold from the beach your crooked inviting fingers,
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Old 08-01-2022, 09:05   #2
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Re: Bandwidth Conservation for Sat System

Apple devices and Windows 10 (and presumably Android?) let you tag your WiFi network as metered and that usually takes care of auto downloading updates and well behaved cloud “sync” apps.

For Apple, I would disable iCloud sync and Background App Refresh.

As to Router limits, that’s really dependent on which router.

I assume you’ve seen this helpful article? https://seabits.com/limiting-data-on-board-your-boat/
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Old 08-01-2022, 09:09   #3
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Re: Bandwidth Conservation for Sat System

Make damned sure that Windows updates are not automatic. Don't ask how I know.
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Old 08-01-2022, 15:06   #4
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Re: Bandwidth Conservation for Sat System

For every device that will be connected to the satellite ensure that the connection is “low data mode” or “metered” or whatever that device and OS provide for turning off auto updates and background OS and app refreshes.

For a belt and suspenders approach, on each device explicitly turn off data usage for every social media, media, gaming, antivirus, etc. app that you don’t want to be used with the satellite connection.
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Old 08-01-2022, 21:28   #5
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Re: Bandwidth Conservation for Sat System

Hi Dock,

You might look into Tripmode: https://tripmode.ch/ I used it with mixed results on Windows 10 with my Iridium Certus system.
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Old 09-01-2022, 01:09   #6
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Smile Re: Bandwidth Conservation for Sat System

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mal Reynolds View Post
Hi Dock,

You might look into Tripmode: https://tripmode.ch/ I used it with mixed results on Windows 10 with my Iridium Certus system.
Hi Mal, I have just installed a Iridium Certus system but have no experience with it. Most of all I'd like to get a handle on bit-usage on an Atlantic journey, some kind of volume guesstimate.
May I contact you on your e-mail address?
Cheers
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Old 09-01-2022, 02:05   #7
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Re: Bandwidth Conservation for Sat System

Check out Glasswire the "ask to connect" and "lockdown" modes are good for this although not free.



Sailmail's Airmail email client works well with satellite connections.
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Old 09-01-2022, 06:40   #8
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Re: Bandwidth Conservation for Sat System

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hermia II View Post
Hi Mal, I have just installed a Iridium Certus system but have no experience with it. Most of all I'd like to get a handle on bit-usage on an Atlantic journey, some kind of volume guesstimate.
May I contact you on your e-mail address?
Cheers
Of course, no problem.
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Old 09-01-2022, 17:49   #9
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Re: Bandwidth Conservation for Sat System

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but you could tell everyone to leave their devices home and enjoy the trip. Save the satellite for emergencies.

That should make this thread as much fun as an anchoring thread.
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Old 15-01-2022, 03:29   #10
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Re: Bandwidth Conservation for Sat System

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Originally Posted by Sun and Moon View Post
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but you could tell everyone to leave their devices home and enjoy the trip. Save the satellite for emergencies.

That should make this thread as much fun as an anchoring thread.

Not old fashioned -- just not retired. Two people on board have businesses to run, and need to be reachable.


We did, however, find a reasonable formula, I think. We have connected a strictly limited number of devices to the sat system, each of which went through the laborious process of shutting down all background data etc. The boat's tablet used to remote control plotters is one of these, and we have a low bandwidth boat email account on it. Those who are not connected to the sat system can write their family and friends from this account. Another of the crew has his own Iridium Go.


This worked pretty well from Las Palmas to Cape Verde. I'm not sure yet, however, what will happen when we run out of the fast data. The boat owner is pretty liberal with his use of the sat data, sending photos by WA etc. We'll see how it works when we get switched over to the slow data.
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"You sea! I resign myself to you also . . . . I guess what you mean,
I behold from the beach your crooked inviting fingers,
I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me;
We must have a turn together . . . . I undress . . . . hurry me out of sight of the land,
Cushion me soft . . . . rock me in billowy drowse,
Dash me with amorous wet . . . . I can repay you."
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Old 15-01-2022, 04:57   #11
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Re: Bandwidth Conservation for Sat System

Whatsapp is a dangerous data gobbler. Even if you don't send photos or videos others can send them to you. You can disable Photos and Videos (and other files) when not on Wifi but I assume the offending devices are using Wifi to connect to the sat server.
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Old 31-01-2022, 12:22   #12
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Re: Bandwidth Conservation for Sat System

We arrived yesterday in Antigua so I can report how all this worked out for us.


Short answer is that it did not work out for us. We did not figure out how to prepare devices in such a way that they don't gobble up the high speed data, and so we ran out of it fairly early in the month.


Android, oddly enough, turned out to be more baffling than Windows 10. Despite shutting off background data individually in all apps where this was possible, despite shutting down app updating wherever this was possible, there were a dozen loopholes left for data-gobblers. WhatsApp trying to backup the whole chat record to Google Drive, System apps trying to update (it seems you can't shut this off) -- I lost 30mb or something to bloody "Wallpaper Carousel" downloading the latest set of tasteless wallpapers


We tried to put another layer of protection into this by connecting the smallest possible number of devices and not leaving them connected but only when using them. But none of this really worked. Android and Windows are simply not designed to be connected to a network with a 1GB data limit, it seems.



So we are still looking for a solution. A radical one would be to set up ship's computer on Linux and connect nothing but that. Only then as far as I can see would we have actual total control.


If Ive missed something, however, I would love to be enlightened.


I am now using a local SIM card, and just for fun I set a 150mb data limit for the hotspot. I bang up against it every few hours even with the connection set as "metered connection"
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"You sea! I resign myself to you also . . . . I guess what you mean,
I behold from the beach your crooked inviting fingers,
I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me;
We must have a turn together . . . . I undress . . . . hurry me out of sight of the land,
Cushion me soft . . . . rock me in billowy drowse,
Dash me with amorous wet . . . . I can repay you."
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Old 31-01-2022, 15:03   #13
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Re: Bandwidth Conservation for Sat System

Depending on your ambition level (and skill), you could look at Pi-Hole (https://pi-hole.net/), amend your local WiFi router to point to Pi-Hole for DNS and then add a custom blocklist for all the gluttonous apps. A Google search will point you to some obvious block lists (say Windows 10 Updates) but you would likely need to watch the network traffic (on unmetered WiFi) to build your own list.

I was on a sailing trip with 9 other folks and burned through 10GB per day until we disabled as much of the auto background sync as possible, and even then it was way too high.
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Old 31-01-2022, 17:37   #14
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Re: Bandwidth Conservation for Sat System

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dockhead View Post
We arrived yesterday in Antigua so I can report how all this worked out for us.


Short answer is that it did not work out for us. We did not figure out how to prepare devices in such a way that they don't gobble up the high speed data, and so we ran out of it fairly early in the month.


Android, oddly enough, turned out to be more baffling than Windows 10. Despite shutting off background data individually in all apps where this was possible, despite shutting down app updating wherever this was possible, there were a dozen loopholes left for data-gobblers. WhatsApp trying to backup the whole chat record to Google Drive, System apps trying to update (it seems you can't shut this off) -- I lost 30mb or something to bloody "Wallpaper Carousel" downloading the latest set of tasteless wallpapers


We tried to put another layer of protection into this by connecting the smallest possible number of devices and not leaving them connected but only when using them. But none of this really worked. Android and Windows are simply not designed to be connected to a network with a 1GB data limit, it seems.



So we are still looking for a solution. A radical one would be to set up ship's computer on Linux and connect nothing but that. Only then as far as I can see would we have actual total control.


If Ive missed something, however, I would love to be enlightened.


I am now using a local SIM card, and just for fun I set a 150mb data limit for the hotspot. I bang up against it every few hours even with the connection set as "metered connection"
If you really wanted a solution and were willing to invest the considerable time and effort to accomplish it, you could set up a linux computer with the connection to the Sat data, and then all devices connect through the linux host. You can then filter and regulate all the clients on the linux box. You are going to have to become somewhat of a network administrator to do this. I have no doubt that you (Dockhead) are capable of this , but it's not a trivial amount of work to learn how to set this up.
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Old 01-02-2022, 02:09   #15
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Bandwidth Conservation for Sat System

You can configure windows 10 to minimally use the net but it’s laborious and requires much registry editing , the biggest culprit is the windows update service itself

Android is a curse and iOS isn’t much better
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