Cruising Cell Phone Conundrum

[Roger Long]

My LG, a “Feature Phone” Verizon calls it, with Internet access just had had its camera die. I don’t use the camera much but it’s nice to have. About all I’ve used the Internet for is Doppler Radar when cruising in cell phone range while thunderstorms are forecast.

They don’t carry the phone at Verizon any more so I’m faced with choices:

Door #1: Keep the phone and plan I have and live without a camera.

Door #2: Keep my current plan but go to a clunky phone I don’t like with a camera of poorer quality.

Door #3: Upgrade to a Droid phone for about 100 bucks and a 30 dollar a month increase in my bill which would give me email on the phone, and all the cool new stuff as well as a camera with more resolution than my current real camera as well as usable video. This also requires committing to a new 2 year contract.

The reason I’m posting this here is that I expect to be doing the ICW Bahamas thing next fall. Will any of that Droid stuff via Verizon do me any good in the Bahamas?

I’ll be in Canada most of next summer which they assure me will be just the same as the US with a plan upgrade except for possible huge roaming charges if I do too much Internet and data stuff.

It would be nice to have email on the phone so I’m not dependent on marina’s for WiFi. I’m not sure it’s worth 30 bucks a month though. Being out of touch is one of the nice things about cruising.

Does anyone here have experience with the slide out keyboards in a salt water environment? The sliding contacts look like one drop of seawater would put the thing out of business. I would like to get a phone with a keyboard because I’ve found the touch screen on mine rather difficult to use when it’s humid or cold. Should I go with a fixed keyboard that has a full membrane over it?

 

[RichH]

"The reason I’m posting this here is that I expect to be doing the ICW Bahamas thing next fall. Will any of that Droid stuff via Verizon do me any good in the Bahamas?"

Cell phone coverage in the Bahamas is quite sparse or non-existent when away from Nassau, Lucaya, Marsh Harbour. Almost ditto in the low country (swamps) of NC, SC, GA and N. Florida along the ICW - very 'sporadic coverage'.

For weather info from the 'net' (NOAA Nat. Ocean Prediction Center, Passage Weather, Weather Underground, etc. etc.) I'd suggest a high powered/ amplified WiFi (bridge type) antenna that can pick up signals from 'miles' away from an open source/node. When in the Bahamas BaTelCo is extremely EXPENSIVE for roaming charges.

Also for weather in the Bahamas Id suggest at least a high quality SSB 'receiver' with ext. antenna. - Carib. Wx @ 4.045mHz USB - 7AM, etc., especially good for 'passage decisions'. All these Wx sources are much better than the seemingly 'legally conservative/restrained' NOAA FM broadcasts and will allow you to make your own forecasts/decisions, etc.

For sailing 'outside', the absolute BEST for weather from NC 'on down' and in the Bahamas and the Carib. is a SUBSCRIPTION to Chris Parker @ Caribbean Weather ... subscriptions are either monthly/single passage or 'season'. This is a (Mon-Sat) SSB weather 'per boat / individual' routing service. www.caribwx.com/ ... price is steep, but vastly cheaper than a cell phone and its 'roaming charges', etc. Carib.Wx is really cheaper than listening to the anemic NOAA FM forecasts (for large areas) and winding up in weather deep doodoo due to 'local effects', etc.

Good discussion on amplified 'bridge type' external WiFi antennas: http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-...ting-right-now-using-long-range-wireless.html

 

[Gail R]

Keep repeating this part over and over:

Being out of touch is one of the nice things about cruising.
Being out of touch is one of the nice things about cruising.
Being out of touch is one of the nice things about cruising.

Yeah I'm not much help. If it were me, I'd choose Door #1, seeing as how you have another camera anyway.

 

[Bill Roosa]

begin with the end in mind

you want to take your boat other places than the Bahamas? Probably ought to consider the "long term solution" of marine SSB/HAM and wx fax. that way you don't have to come up with a different solution every time you go someplace different. You will save $$ in the long term and meet a bunch of folks "on the net" that are interested in sailing just like you. Can't do that on a cell phone now can you?

 

[Velero49]

Google for LG "model number" parts. I just found out that there is a huge market for repair parts for cell phones including the iPhone.

 

[RichH]

Bill makes a valid point.
With SSB/Ham (even with just a 'receiver') you can download NOAA WeFAX charts to view on a computer. Plenty of 'translation' software available.

NOAA WeFAX surface/500mb/wave height/wave period, etc. forecasts for 24/48/96 hrs. : --- http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/index.shtml .... then click on "Atlantic" in the headbar, right next to "unified analysis" ... good for when the propagation on SSB/HAM is 'lousy'

 

[Tim R.]

My Droid Incredible doubles as a backup weatherstation, chartplotter, tide/current predictor, weather radar, email, internet, MP3 player and soon to be AIS receiver and of course cell phone.

I already have all of the above functions in my dedicated equipment but it is nice to be able to look at stuff in the palm of my hand or as a backup unit.

The coolest app I have found so far is Shipfinder by Pinkfroot.com. Cool AIS app that requires internet so no good off shore but great for coastal cruising. I also have it on my iPad.

 

[Steve Dion]

Tim:

Damn, my dselxeia is bad. Be sure to use pinkFRoot.com and not pinkfoot.com (oh my)

 

[Bill Roosa]

marine SSB/ham

AND
sailmail world wide email service with your own email address
GPS tracking via the internet (as sailmail feature) so your loved ones can see where you are, how fast and the direction you are going and read a short blerb on current events
tap into a dedicated group of weather reporters (free and for a fee) that can provid pinpoint (if there is such a thing in the middle of the ocean) weater reports.
auto emergency reporting (marine SSB) of your boat name, location, and type of emergency just like the chanel 70 on VHF
no subscription fees if you set it up right and I think sailmail only costs like $50/year
internet access at a whopping 9.8 KILObits/sec

 

[windward54]

Sailmail is now $250 a year. But Winlink is still free!

 

[Roger Long]

No door, I'm just going to duck under the table for now. I typed "LG phone camera error" into Google and instantly came up with the advice to remove the battery and push hard on the camera lens housing. It works!

I did learn that no U.S. phone works in the Bahamas. You have to buy a cheap phone and purchase a Simm card there to unlock it. The national phone company has their system completely locked up.

 

[RichH]

..... "The national phone company has their system completely locked up"

... and the same company runs the 'internet' there too and therefore also blocks VoIP (phone over Internet, Skype, etc.). Batelco is sooooooo bad that most Bahamians use marine VHF for most communications.

 

[Witzend]

I don't carry one anymore, anyone I ever called never answered anyway, so why should I.
I have a 1W wireless setup for my laptop and most times can find a signal. I have MagicJack, works great costs $1.70/month. If someone calls me I just listen to the message on my Laptop from email, and return there call and leave a message on their expensive cell phone plan. No internet costs and almost no phone costs.

 

[RAD]

I second the Verizon Driod.....its like having a portable computer on your hip and when I was offshore this summer there was storm activity in the distance and a quick look at current radar told me I'll dodge it if I stay on my present coarse plus all the other cool applications

 

[JVB]

No cell phone or computer in the cabin solution will hold a candle to a purpose designed nav and weather unit. I bought a used Garmin 376C chart plotter on eBay for a few hundred bucks to get near real time weather and real time GPS navigation. With the optional XM satellite radio antenna it will receive 5 or 10 minute old radar, wave height, buoy data, etc and overlay the graphics on the marine chart that it displays. It works everywhere you are likely to sail. The "Sailor" satellite weather package from XM costs $30 per month. Chart packages are an additional expense.

http://www.xmwxweather.com/marine/data-service-pricing.html

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=325&ra=true

 

[Benny17441]

Yeah, got me a droid. Find it more like having a toy in my hip rather than a computer. Can get my E-mails but can't open half of them. Got a bunch of apps and an internet browser. Got one that gives me the tides, another the weather station data, other provides the radar and a fourth the moon cycles. When aboard the boat I got instrumentation that gives me all that in an easier and more relevant context. The internet browser works ok if you do not mind reading 1/32 of a page at once. I carry an HP Notebook with a Sprint wireless usb connector for convenient data use. Keep your current phone and get yourself a digital camera so when the phone dies you can throw it away and still have a camera.

 

[Bad Obsession]

One thing that we need to submit here is there the different companies had different activity in some areas.

That being said, in the Chesapeake Bay, Verizon is the best hands down. I have a friend with an Iphone, I had Sprint once, and now I have Verizon. In MOST places I have coverage.

If phone coverage is that important you could always do a satellite phone. I expect that they will come down someday and be the important thing (like Loran gave way to GPS). We shall see.

I envy you guys. It will be many years before I get to attempt the trip south.

 

[Bill Roosa]

phones as weather radar

lots of posts on using the phone as a weather radar. Which makes my wonder how we did it before we were all connected all the time. I seem to remember someone saying "keep a weather eye out" to me once when I was getting started in sailing. Also wondering how knowing the weather from an internet site is actually going to be useful in a slow sailboat. You need advance notice to get to a safe location or it just does not matter. I don't think there is an app that pings me in advance of a storm approching. With the bad storms moving at 40ish MPH you certianly will not be able to do very much except watch it run you down. But then you could do that with your eyes.
I'm hoping all you phone geeks have a backup plan for weather info

 

[Bad Obsession]

Cell phones, weather fax, GPS, and technology is nice. It is still a good idea to have the ability to navigate and cruise without these. That being said, technology is here to make things simpler for us. Sometimes technology is so complex that it is more complex to use it than to use the basic stuff. That is where the fine line exists.

Most sailors are just that....sailors. This means that we are informed about the rules of the road, know how to read weather, and have other important skills.

 

[djplatt@cogeco.ca]

GSM phone

Buy a cheap unlocked GSM phone and get a pay as you go sim card wherever you are. Saves a bundle in roaming charges. My provider was going to charge me $3.50/minute in Ireland. I bought a 10 euro card, used it all week and still had a 5 euro balance when I left.