Wifi / Internet in Florida Marinas - Liveaboard

[Jcody2121]

I am looking to move on my boat permanently somewhere in Florida as a liveaboard for about 1-2 years while I finish up my career as a software engineer. I can work from anywhere provided I have a solid reliable internet with good speed. So public Wifi or the typical wifi you get at a marina will not suffice. I was wondering if anyone might know if cable or fiber can be run directly to your boat while living at a marina? Again I am still working full time so the internet connection would need to be equivalent to what I could get in a house / apartment. Mind you if cable TV is available on the slips then that would also mean Internet connection is also available from company such as Spectrum.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Jcody2121

I am looking to move on my boat permanently somewhere in Florida as a liveaboard for about 1-2 years while I finish up my career as a software engineer. I can work from anywhere provided I have a solid reliable internet with good speed. So public Wifi or the typical wifi you get at a marina will not suffice. I was wondering if anyone might know if cable or fiber can be run directly to your boat while living at a marina? Again I am still working full time so the internet connection would need to be equivalent to what I could get in a house / apartment. Mind you if cable TV is available on the slips then that would also mean Internet connection is also available from company such as Spectrum.

I recommend a 4G/LTE modem/jetpack

[gonesail]

Brevard county has a spectrum WIFI that might work

[Jcody2121]

Thanks Jedi and gonesail, yes I am looking into cell provided opportunities for 4g and 5g (when it comes online) however the issue there is capacity in terms of how many gigs you get per month and if you do video calls or webex sessions which I do a lot for work you end up going over these amounts very quickly. Even the so called unlimited plans are really now unlimited. The Spectrum Wifi option is certainly something to consider and if I understand it correctly if you for example have a Spectrum account you can tap the public wifi connection via there app on your phone and then make that a hot spot to connect your computer to. I am assuming this works exactly like a wired cable connection would work to your home and thus your speed and unlimited down load is the same? So if you have experience using the Spectrum Wifi option any advice, feed back would be great

[Jcody2121]

Gonesail, where in Brevard county did you keep your boat? I was already looking in that area? Is there a marina you recommend?


thanks

[_LifeInTheWild_]

I am following this closely. I too am a software engineer and am trying to relocate to Florida and liveaboard. I will most likely head to an office or a cowork space. I may actually have an opportunity to work remotely, but proper internet availability and speed may be an issue.

[Pitchondesign]

Im using Finally Wifi. Its a data only service based on the ATT cell system. Last I checked it was about $75 per month, with speed of about 6mbs, and no data cap. We used about 125gb last month. You buy a wifi puck for also about $75. I think they have a higher speed option for more money. So, if you can get a 4g LTE signal from ATT, it works.

I have had no success with marina wifi systems, and can't imagine how you could run a data cable to any slip.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Pitchondesign

Im using Finally Wifi. Its a data only service based on the ATT cell system. Last I checked it was about $75 per month, with speed of about 6mbs, and no data cap. We used about 125gb last month. You buy a wifi puck for also about $75. I think they have a higher speed option for more money. So, if you can get a 4g LTE signal from ATT, it works.

I have had no success with marina wifi systems, and can't imagine how you could run a data cable to any slip.

Isn’t Finally wifi just some hardware? Pls post a link to the service provider

[a64pilot]

Most better Marina’s often where you see the bigger power boats have cable run to the power pedestal. However it’s usually up to you to establish service with the local provider. That ought to get you cable internet.
My current Marina is that way now but I have not used cable.

So far the issue with cell phones seems to be allowable data, it’s not very big and even if you go to the most expensive plan, it’s still not a whole lot of data.
You have unlimited, but only on the phone, not if you tether a device.
Most other countries don’t have this issue, it seems to be a US thing and is of course profit motivated, for instance my hot spot limit in the Bahamas was 300 GB a month, from Verizon’s most expensive plan I think it’s 1/10 that amount.

[Pitchondesign]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Isn’t Finally wifi just some hardware? Pls post a link to the service provider

The link is https://finallywifi.com/. I think the way they work is buying a bulk data contract from ATT and then resell it. They resell hardware. There are multiple other companies providing this type of service. I'm using them because they also provide Bahamas service.

[Woodland Hills]

We have finally and are happy with the speed 99% of the time. Sometimes you get a tower with a lot of traffic and it will slow down a bit, but that is rare. We use it to feed our smart TVs and they always seem to be able to stream. I will say that our Verizon phones do appear to have longer range when offshore than the ATT device.

When performing speed tests, their Bahamas service was consistently a bit faster!

[gonesail]

Originally Posted by Jcody2121

Gonesail, where in Brevard county did you keep your boat? I was already looking in that area? Is there a marina you recommend?

we were at Telemar Bay in Indian Harbour. i think that marina is closed to live aboards now but you can check. The spectrum WIFI only required a wifi modem when I used it but that was back in 2012.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Pitchondesign

The link is https://finallywifi.com/. I think the way they work is buying a bulk data contract from ATT and then resell it. They resell hardware. There are multiple other companies providing this type of service. I'm using them because they also provide Bahamas service.

Ah okay, that is the US service from MyIslandWifi... using them to type this right now

[Jcody2121]

Thanks for all the information, these options look promising and I am more optimistic this should not be an issue, just need to pick an area, determine options and pick a solution.