WIFI Reception

[NahanniV]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

I've had the earlier (1000 mw) version for 10 years and it is still working well. I use a 15' USB cable, and hang it up over the boom if necessary. Rubber band a plastic bag around it for rain protection.

Thanks, Ordered it.

JM.

[hellosailor]

"can my mom or bro get me servicein my own name?? "
You'd have to enquire, and the answer might be different at a franchise vs a company owned store. Since you MIGHT be an Al-Queda sleeper agent, your own personal government issued photo-ID, which matches the person asking for service, is usually required. But, some places are willing to turn a blind eye to our extremely important national security considerations. (sigh.)


Or you might be able to apply online, directly.

[zeehag]

fangs. grrr. ok i will look for mx at&t...might be in mazatlan next to a telcel.
homeless insecurity.... they are a laugh a second.

[sck5]

not cheap but works extremely well

Bitstorm Bad Boy Xtreme MJ Kit

I was frustrated with cheaper alternatives, several of which we tried. In particular you DONT want a directional system if you are going to use it on a boat anchoring out. Their specs sound great on paper because they aim all their energy at a particular point but they dont work at all if your boat swings around a bit.

[sailprincess]

Hey All- I am Canadian. Sailing down to MX with my family of 3 + dog this summer to spend a couple of years there. We work from our boat (web design) so require a decent connection whenever possible. We are looking seriously at the Wirie Pro. I've also heard you can get a decent connect if you use the marina's hardwire option when at the dock. I'm very curious on the T-Mobile option that another user mentioned. If I opened an account in my Grandmother's name (she is living in the US) I wonder if we could get a plan that offers unlimited calling, texting and data in MX, USA and Canada? That would be GOLDEN! Any opinions on this for those down in MX would be greatly appreciated. We'll be around La Paz and then probably heading over to La Cruz at some point. Cheers!

[zeehag]

as you cannot access wirie site from inside mexico, do make sure it works before you get here.
if you can make a system that does not depend on the modem of the marina, that is very best.
if you can get at and t, awesome.
our options are still limited and the wifi in this marina is worse now than ever before.
la cruz uses mikrotik and it is not always excellent.
i donot go to la paz or soc.
i do go to mazatlan.

life is an adventure meant to be LIVED!!!

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by sailprincess

Hey All- I am Canadian. Sailing down to MX with my family of 3 + dog this summer to spend a couple of years there. We work from our boat (web design) so require a decent connection whenever possible. We are looking seriously at the Wirie Pro. I've also heard you can get a decent connect if you use the marina's hardwire option when at the dock. I'm very curious on the T-Mobile option that another user mentioned. If I opened an account in my Grandmother's name (she is living in the US) I wonder if we could get a plan that offers unlimited calling, texting and data in MX, USA and Canada? That would be GOLDEN! Any opinions on this for those down in MX would be greatly appreciated. We'll be around La Paz and then probably heading over to La Cruz at some point. Cheers!

life is an adventure meant to be LIVED!!!

[sailprincess]

Thanks for the reply. Really- the Marine WiFi and RV WiFi 3G/4G solutions – The Wirie website is blocked for you? Crazy. I guess we should make a note of their contact information then before heading down. Regarding the cell service- I just contacted T-Mobile to find out about that and there are strict rules for how long you can be in Mexico with that plan. You have to be in the USA for at least 1 year with the plan if you want to go to Mexico for 6 months or less with it. If you are in Mexico longer than you are in the USA, they will deactivate you. Nice hey?

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by sailprincess

Thanks for the reply. Really- the Marine WiFi and RV WiFi 3G/4G solutions – The Wirie website is blocked for you? Crazy. I guess we should make a note of their contact information then before heading down. Regarding the cell service- I just contacted T-Mobile to find out about that and there are strict rules for how long you can be in Mexico with that plan. You have to be in the USA for at least 1 year with the plan if you want to go to Mexico for 6 months or less with it. If you are in Mexico longer than you are in the USA, they will deactivate you. Nice hey?

typical.

carlos slim keeps a tight hold on his cellular empire, which also includes wifi services.
island time and wirie are blocked from inside mexico.
i want an ubiquity bullet antenna but i may have to buy mexican and work out the bugs so i can have a system to use.
hasnt beenmuch change over the past 4-5years i have occupied mexico.

[autumnbreeze27]

Originally Posted by zeehag

typical.

carlos slim keeps a tight hold on his cellular empire, which also includes wifi services.
island time and wirie are blocked from inside mexico.
i want an ubiquity bullet antenna but i may have to buy mexican and work out the bugs so i can have a system to use.
hasnt beenmuch change over the past 4-5years i have occupied mexico.

Not true. I have been able to access those sites from PV, Maz, and La Paz. You must have other problems Z! or maybe using some crazy restricted wifi! and keep in mind some places will block ubiquity devices from connecting at all!

Originally Posted by sailprincess

Hey All- I am Canadian. Sailing down to MX with my family of 3 + dog this summer to spend a couple of years there. We work from our boat (web design) so require a decent connection whenever possible. We are looking seriously at the Wirie Pro. I've also heard you can get a decent connect if you use the marina's hardwire option when at the dock. I'm very curious on the T-Mobile option that another user mentioned. If I opened an account in my Grandmother's name (she is living in the US) I wonder if we could get a plan that offers unlimited calling, texting and data in MX, USA and Canada? That would be GOLDEN! Any opinions on this for those down in MX would be greatly appreciated. We'll be around La Paz and then probably heading over to La Cruz at some point. Cheers!

Marina wifi sucks. You'll have to be either really patient, work only at 3am when the wifi is less congested, or have some way to batch upload your websites in the off hours and work on a web server on your boat. My experience in the past 3 months in Cabo, La Paz, Maz, and PV. If I had to do IT work from Mexico I'd be using cellular 3g/lte.

Disclaimer: It took me probably 5 min and I had to switch wifi connections to get this post up.

[zeehag]

i am glad you are having such excellent good fortune with mexicos wifilessness.
what antenna booster system are you using for your wonderful service which i found to be lacking in maz and la cruz and worse here??
what sat fone system are you using as a basis for your service??
you are the ONLY individual with whom i have communicated in more than 5 years who is praising the systems.
all other cruisers with whom i have encountered have described same issues i have experienced.
congratulations to you in your discovery of the fountain of youth.
for some reason , the reason known as experience, i have difficulty in believing your praise of systems others as we as i have experienced 180 degree opposition to your claims.
the best connectivity was mazatlan, with the hard wired ethernet system found in the marina office.
but that is not in boat wifi, which is promised for each marina.
enjoy your good fortune knowing you are the ONLY individual allegedly in marinas with decent wifi.
mebbe you are on the first dock to the office. that MIGHT help with reception issues. seems, however, that here position no longer matters, as ALL connectivity outside the hotel hasbeen ceased.
we are still waiting on the after three week magically improved system. has now been more than 3 weeks into the alleged repairs and upgrades. we still not seeing any improvement. fact is, we have less connectivity than before the alleged updates and upgrades were mentioned.
and there are very few boats in this marina. folks donot wish to be without their ability to contact their families and see weather. funny how that works.

life is an adventure meant to be LIVED!!!

[autumnbreeze27]

I never said I had good wifi, I said I didn't have restrictions on any web pages.

Keep in mind I've been in IT since I was a wee lad.

When I came to Mexico I brought lots of devices.
1)Ubiquiti Nanostation Loco M2 and M5 - I found one place with unsecured wifi on 5 GHz, but that may have been in the states, but not so useful in Mexico. The M2 was my primary internet access, but I ran into several issues:
a) They updated the firmware to exclude insecure protocols (WEP, WPA), so I had to downgrade the firmware
b) Some places blacklist the MAC address, which is the unique address of the device.
c) My wife blasted it with water at one point, right up inside it, and it died shortly later.
2)When I found places that the Nanostation Loco didn't work at, I would use an Alfa UBDo-nt. I connected it to a Alfa R36 to allow all my devices on the boat on the internet
3)When the Alfa UBDo-nt died (the usb port pulled out of it, could be fixed it I could find somebody who could SMD solder it back on), I'm using the R36 with a Alfa 1000mw with an omni antenna
4) When I go back to visit my dad in April, I plan on picking up a Mikrotik RB951Ui-2nD hAP and a MikroTik RBGrooveA-52HPn, and use that as my primary and the Alfa R36 combo as a backup.
All of these solutions have high power wifi antennas outside the boat. If you're trying to use a notebook inside your boat, I doubt you will have much luck. Even a notebook in the cockpit will not have as much luck as a device with an actual external antenna.

I've found Mexican Marina Wifi to be unreliable and incredibly slow, to the point of unusable many times. When Marina Palmira in La Paz relocated their office it was down for 2 days, and then one dock was working while the rest took another 2 days, but which dock was working was a secret. I mentioned to guy that it sucked the wifi was down, and he said "not all the docks are down"... and then had that look of "Oops I've said too much". I knew better to ask which one was working, when I got back to the boat I tried each dock's wifi until I found the one that worked.

I do not have a sat phone, I have an iphone 5S with a telcel SIM. I plan on buying a Wilson 4G Sleek amp for in April as well.

Here's a summary of my marina wifi experience:
La Paz - Cortez - WEP Encryption - Extremely slow, people in the anchorage use it as well. The encryption key is well known.
La Paz - Palmira - None/Captive Portal - Allows 2 concurrent connections. Usually slow
Mazatlan - El Cid - None/Captive Portal - Allows a single device for the duration of your service that you pay for separately, about $2/day. Very slow
Puerto Vallarta - Marina Vallarta - WEP Encryption - Slow
Puerto Vallarta - Flamingo Hotel - Captive portal - Slow

Almost all of them will have times where it's almost like broadband, but they are few and far between. Typically when something is going on and people aren't on their boats.

When I need to get on the internet for banking, I use my telcel 3g. When I need to get on the internet for weather and the wifi is too slow, I use my telcel.

Another trick is disable downloading of images in your web browser. Then at least if you are looking for content you can get it. I did that to post this.

[zeehag]

new situation for patina.....
at 1900 wifi for our half the marina gets turned OFF
i have requested they not do this as our half the marina uses that one and is unable to access the recommended site.
we see what happens.....
btw.... what works banderas bay and north seems not to function here on sw coast.

life is an adventure meant to be LIVED!!!

[autumnbreeze27]

Wifi in marina vallarta has been nonfunctional for 2+ days now.

Spent 299 for 1gb for 30 days on my cell phone

Talking to a neighbor, it sounded like the local broadband has recently changed ownership or something and they've f-ed it all up.

[autumnbreeze27]

I'm in tenacatita, will be in Barra soon, week or less, what wifi do u want me to check zee?


Sent from somewhere in the Pacific