Satellite broadband internet, now and in the near future...

[jkindredpdx]

I have a little experience with extending signals on my boat and at my mountain cabin. It's much easier at the boat cuz there are fewer rocks and trees in the way Wilson https://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/ has many options. I bought mine from SolidSignal for ~ $400. I also installed a "cell micro tower" which works with my wifi to provide cell over internet...

Originally Posted by LLizzard

...Do cell amplifiers work well enough to justify their cost? I have a Wilson Cell Amplifier that works well when I can get within 30 miles of a tower and have relative line of sight. It doesn't work well in deep forest/canyons/fjords.

...For Wi-Fi, I assume you'd have to be in or very close to a marina that offers it. Is there a way to boost that reception distance? I have a Netgear WiFi extender, there are many other brands from $30-$100. I'm not sure how many WiFi signals would be unsecured these days though.

...
Thanks
Jeff

[Scotty Kiwi]

The answer is "Project Loon". Is it worth its own thread? (How do you start a thread?)

Certainly I'd like to know if anyone has experienced it. Sri Lanka, Indonesia? or the trial in Christchurch or Brazil?

It's Google's project of balloons to circle the planet at 18km, providing ubiquitous internet at 4G equivalent.

Search "Project Loon".

And here is an extract from Wiki:

"On 16 June 2013, Google began a pilot experiment in New Zealand where about 30 balloons were launched in coordination with the Civil Aviation Authority from the Tekapo area in the South Island. About 50 local users in and around Christchurch and the Canterbury Region tested connections to the aerial network using special antennas.[1]

After this initial trial, Google plans on sending up 300 balloons around the world at the 40th parallel south that would provide coverage to New Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina. Google hopes to eventually have thousands of balloons flying in the stratosphere.[1][2]

In May 2014, Google X laboratories director, Astro Teller, announced that, rather than negotiate a section of bandwidth that was free for them worldwide, they would instead become a temporary base station that could be leased by the mobile operators of the country it was crossing over.

In May–June 2014 Google tested its balloon-powered internet access venture in Piauí, Brazil, marking its first LTE experiments and launch near the equator.[8]

In 2014 Google partnered with France's Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) on the project.[9]

In Feb, 2014, the record streak for a balloon lasting in the stratosphere was 50 days. In Nov 2014, the record was 130 days, and in March 2, 2015, the record for a continuous balloon flight is 187 days (over 6 months).

On 28 July 2015, Google signed an agreement with officials of Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) - Sri Lanka, to launch the technology on a mass scale.[10] As a result, by March 2016,[10] Sri Lanka will be the second country in the world to get full coverage of internet using LTE, after Vatican City.

On 29 October 2015, Google agreed to partner with Indonesia's XL Axiata, Indosat and Telkomsel to bring the technology to the country in the hopes of connecting its 17,000 islands.[11]"

[Symphony]

One more possibility I discovered this year if you can limit your location:

I am land bound on campus for several months, but otherwise I am on the boat and part of two development teams. Xfinity cable offers free wifi from hotspots that are built into home routers. my xfinity modem at home serves my router, but also has a hotspot within to share with any other xfinity customer using the hot spot plan.

this means in areas served by xfinity you have a lot of hotspots to use as part of your account. i put a ubiquity+antenna on my boat with a router serving the vessel and it is fantastic. in most areas of new england I can find over 100 strong signals from my boat, and speeds are 12-20 Mbps up and down with less than 12 latency. Slack and unfuddle are fine, I even GHO or uberconference this way. my wife is happy with her netflix and hulu.

as back up my iphone6 hotspot gets LTE to my devices and works fast enough if we don't run video. we use it while actually sailing, and around here we're never more than 10 miles off some coast. from Nantucket to NYC we were never out of LTE.

this wifi system won't get you offshore or even out of the US, but it allows me to fill my life with sailing, developing, communicating, music and being with my wife in beautiful and varied locations. We move when we want to.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Scotty Kiwi

The answer is "Project Loon". Is it worth its own thread? (How do you start a thread?)

I think I've seen that Movie...it's called Skynet and if I remember right...it didn't end well....

[Nikki S]

I've been working remotely as a bookkeeper since 2014 using 3G and 4G and public wifi. Europe, and the Med was the best. Faster speed than here in Australia. (I havnt tried America). I just plan well in advance to be in a known spot with reception for those times I have to work. As a consequence we get stuck in marinas or town anchorages for weeks at a time, but I'm not complaining. There is a fair bit of time when I can't work- like when sailing or out of range. So far I've managed to work around that, but my hours are flexible enough that a week or 2 off can be made up later. I bet a few of those in the shops I work for resent me. But They resent the bosses too and probably look for anything they can find to resent. Can't worry about that. I try not to mention I'm in the Whitsundays watching whales for example, when they are in cold rainy Melbourne

[amytom]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

I think I've seen that Movie...it's called Skynet and if I remember right...it didn't end well....

I think the space-X rocket that failed today had a similar satellite on board.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[DocRox]

Sounds like a lot of bruhaha to watch Cat vids on youtube.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

A boat IS a cubicle.

What are you sailing? Did you convert an old cargo container into a boat?

I'm confused what your issue is. You just seem angry about the idea of someone working remotely. As has been demonstrated by many on this thread doing it, with the exception of open ocean, it's eminently feasible and can be done at a reasonable cost. Yeah there are some limits and you need to adapt a bit but otherwise very doable.

[Davidhoy]

Originally Posted by DocRox

Sounds like a lot of bruhaha to watch Cat vids on youtube.

Al Gore invented the Internet with Grumpy Cat in mind...

[SaltyMonkey]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

What are you sailing? Did you convert an old cargo container into a boat? :facepalm.

Doesn't matter what I am sailing. This is not a question of boat ownership. Its a question of fast internet speed off the grid. Perhaps you might get out entrails and make other fantasy arguments? Any other ridiculous rhetorical brain farts to discuss here?

Does the OP still need permission to find out for himself, or is more hand-holding needed? GO! Find out.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Doesn't matter what I am sailing. This is not a question of boat ownership. Its a question of fast internet speed off the grid. Perhaps you might get out entrails and make other fantasy arguments? Any other ridiculous rhetorical brain farts to discuss here?

Does the OP still need permission to find out for himself, or is more hand-holding needed? GO! Find out.

The OP, reasonably, wants to collect as much information as possible from others prior to taking the risks involved in cutting the dock lines.

I believe he's following Bismarck's eminently, eminently good advice:

"Nur ein Idiot glaubt, aus eigenen Erfahrungen zu lernen. Ich ziehe es vor, aus den Erfahrungen anderer zu lernen, um von vornherein eigene Fehler zu vermeiden."

Just because you don't have your own Erfahrung, doesn't mean others don't. Some of us have been working remotely while cruising for years. It's very reasonable of the OP to ask us to share that experience with him.

[SaltyMonkey]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I believe he's following Bismarck's eminently, eminently good advice:

"Nur ein Idiot glaubt, aus eigenen Erfahrungen zu lernen. Ich ziehe es vor, aus den Erfahrungen anderer zu lernen, um von vornherein eigene Fehler zu vermeiden."

That was the most pretentious comment I ever heard coming from your lips, Dockhead. Shall we switch to French to show off some contrary point? Your message is lost in the translation, unfortunately. But I guess this is expected from thou, as usual, considering the grand Bismarck, another idol of this great chief, was sunk despite the experience of others.

Score
SaltyMonkey: 1,302
Dockhead: -12

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

That was the most pretentious comment I ever heard coming from your lips, Dockhead. Shall we switch to French to show off some contrary point? Your message is lost in the translation, unfortunately. But I guess this is expected from thou, as usual, considering the grand Bismarck, another idol of this great chief, was sunk despite the experience of others.

Score
SaltyMonkey: 1,302
Dockhead: -12

The most pretentious comment ever from me? You obviously don't know me well enough I'm capable of far greater pretentiousness than that little old thing


This thing from Bismarck is never translated right, so it's not actually that silly to present it in the original. You know this saying, I'm sure -- it's usually translated as something about learning from your own mistakes versus the mistakes of others.

But it really says:

"Only an idiot believes to learn from his own experiences. I prefer to learn from the experiences of others, in order to preemptively avoid my own mistakes."

Very much about the OP, and I would be doing exactly the same in his place.

[Davidhoy]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Score
SaltyMonkey: 1,302
Dockhead: -12

Now THAT is truly pretentious... Give it a rest, SaltyMonkey. Since we're using famous quotes, how about this one:

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt - Abraham Lincoln.

[SaltyMonkey]

Dockhead, you need some lessons from

SaltyMonkey's School of Writing®

Never be vague in your descriptions by the overuse of foreign languages or secondary interruptive phrase, despite liking bananas which SaltyMonkey does, once when he was in Ft McMurray and there were no bananas that is and dominos was the only sport, and blear clear wihtout mispellins and don't clog the airwayz or internet with chatter about internet speed.