Quote:
Originally Posted by AZ-Oldguy
Not the answers I hoped for, but lots of good info. FYI, cellular does work for my wife's job, I probably need to keep a log of harbors with good cell exception, and accept that is the best I can get.
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Very good take away. It's a reality. I use an Alpha to get better input signals once I'm in a place that actually does have wifi, in most cases in harbors where I already have legally obtained the password/security key.
It is NOT NEW news that "open" wifi stopped existing almost everywhere once they started making routers with built-in
security. This has been reported endlessly on this and every other
boating forum.
wifi in the smaller islands here simply doesn't exist. There is a great
service offered by my
internet provider called Shaw Open. If you have an account with them, you can use anywhere from six to ten other devices (for friends or family) to access what is essentially free wifi all over southern
Vancouver Island.
The reality is that it ONLY exists in cities and small towns, and some selected "beehives of activity."
It is available, for example, in my own marina which is in the middle of nowhere but close to a yacht club who may have helped Shaw decide to set up
service there

, and I use it instead of the marina's wifi (which is also free for me, but a much weaker, slower signal, and used by guests visiting who don't have Shaw accounts; my friends from up-island who do have Shaw accounts use it there, too).