internet on board

[frederick]

Internet on boardDoes anyone of you have experience with hooking up a cell phone on a laptop while under way on the ICW or close to the coast to browse the Internet and receive email?Does it work? Is it affordable? What phone is best and affordable?

 

[Charles Weikel]

A pain, but can be done.

Simplifying options, there are two ways to do it:1. The 'Old' Way - You need a laptop ($400 to $4,000), cell modem card (~$200), cabling to the particular model of phone (~$50) and of course a phone. Do a search on the net, there are people who sell all this stuff. This setup, as the best I can determine, will only work when your phone is on an analog cell network.2. The 'New' Way (a.k.a. what the cell companies want you to buy) - In this setup your phone, through software on the laptop, acts as the modem. So you need a phone with this capability (e.g. a phone with Sprint Wireless Web)and a cable & software (sold by Sprint for $100). AT&T, from what I can tell, is behind in this technology, but other phone companies may offer it besides Sprint. BUT it will only work in digital cell or PCS systems.So... where will you cruise? Near the big cities the cell networks are digital, but outside that it is generally analog. For example, on the Gulf coast, around Houston, New Orleans and Tampa is digital while the rest (70% of the coast) is analog (& probably roaming & more $$$). I assume a similar situation would exist on the East Coast.If e-mail is all you want, then the best solution might the the hand held e-mail devices reviewed in last month's Practical Sailor.

 

[Dave McCarthy]

Wirelss Modems

Fredrick,Have You looked into the wireless modem option ie: Ricochet Wireless Network? www.metricom.com Coverage may be a problem but it is worth a try. No need to use your portable phone and the connection doesnt require special wiring. Like any other boaty item, it can get spendy!!

 

[Forrest Clark]

Slow now but...

There are a couple of solutions but right now they are all slow. The wireless web from Sprint is a 9600 bps connection, okay for downloading a handsets display of text but pathetic surfing. As a matter of fact you can't actually surf anywhere with it, only special places where the pages are specifically designed for their system. The other application is the use of wireless protocol modems. The problem here is also slow but faster than wireless web, and the ISP modems must have the same wireless protocols to get the upshifting feature. These modems connect at a slow rate like 4800 to 9600 then depending on quality, the speed will shift to higher rates. I have seen 19.2 kbs but that's about the limit.There is good news though. There is a new technology out there called 3G or 3rd generation wireless. The BIG selling point for 3G is wireless data, specifically what you are asking for. Every wireless carrier out there, whether cellular or PCS ( there's really no significant difference) will deploy this system as soon as it is available. It promises data rates from 200 kbs and up. The higher rates would be pretty expensive because of the amount of bandwidth taken. You theoretically could have a wireless data connection as fast as T1 through your cellular phone. The bad news is this is about a year away, and of course most carriers do not intentionally cover the coastal waters. I have used a digital cellular phone on the ICW between New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast without problems - data is something different.Whatever you do, get an external antenna and put it as high as high as you can.