PC Internet access on board

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captainpat

captainpat

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Feb 10, 2004
204
Hunter 426 Rock Hall, MD
I know zero about this topic, so I need some guidance. I want to be able to connect to the internet on my upcoming ICW trip down to the Keys. Once there I will have internet at my marina so I only need to get coverage for maybe 2 months; therefore, NO CONTRACTS. I do know that I will need to purchase some sort of USB device and then pay for a month by month plan. Investigating on-line just serves to confuse the issue. Someone out there please recommend a relatively inexpensive device/plan that will give me the best coverage while transiting the ICW.
 
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gettinthere

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Nov 26, 2008
1,970
Endeavour 42 Cruisin
Verizon has the best coverage. But even with them, there are places in Va, NC & SC with little to no data coverage until you get near communities. I just did this run in April. We went outside around Ga so I can't comment from experience there but I suspect there will be spotty coverage there also.
Many of these areas are fairly remote so all they have is voice or 1X.
We also had a T Mobile phone and that was terrible, not even voice in many places.
 
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Steve Dion

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Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
You can use some phones as a "Tether". Then you will have access with your phone acting as a "hotspot". If you have Verizon I think they charge about $20/mo. There may be some other "free" ways to do this, but I am not sure.
 
onecoolair

onecoolair

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Jun 25, 2012
942
hunter 356 Kemah,the Republic of Texas
mifi connected wirelessly to a signal booster

I use a mifi to connect wirelessly to my laptop,I-pod and nav station computer. Its small fits in my waterproof pocket wallet. So it can go everywhere I go. I have a cellphone antenna booster at the nav station connected to a cellphone antenna at the top of mast. When I get into a area were cell coverage is poor I just flip the switch on the signal booster. It locks onto a far away cell tower then grabs my cellphone and myfi signal up to 30 feet away then hooks me up. While aboard I simply leave it plugged into ships power leaving mifi sitting at the nav station desk. Works great!
 
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CaptChuck

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Sep 29, 2008
78
Catalina 320 Buffalo
We found that most of the marinas we stopped in along the way had wifi available. If you don't need service everyday you might think about it.
 
onecoolair

onecoolair

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Jun 25, 2012
942
hunter 356 Kemah,the Republic of Texas
gettinthere said:
Onecool

WHERE does it work great? Are you getting 3G on the ICW throughout Va, NC & SC?
Click to expand
Works just fine all along the texas coast. When out cruising to different places and out of nomal cell range Coolair often becomes the local wifi hotspot and the boat to stand next to for my sailing friends looking for a cell signal. Most times its 3G, but sometimes 3G or 4G is just not available in some of the more remote locations yet. But we ussually at the very least get the old 2G data service.
Plus its private. I can see who is on logged on. Plus It can keep track of who as been on my wifi net work. This way I can trust that I am not logging onto an unsecured network.
I have had friends that have done the great loop and have done the east coast north south icw route. They would have tell you more. I do remember one friend last year I believe it was who did have both a verizon and at&t plan (its a his and hers thing) and in some areas there was no verizon but they had an at&t signal. And visa versa. In fact I believe they said that at&t had the most dependable uninterupted service most of the way. But don't quote me.
 
Sailgunner

Sailgunner

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Jun 4, 2004
1,087
Mainship Piliot 34 Punta Gorda
We teathered our Iphone and it worked pretty well. We had to upgrade to the $50/month data plan (ATT) compared to the normal $20/mo. The good news is we just switched data plans after we got back from our trip.
 
Bob 04 H260

Bob 04 H260

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May 16, 2007
1,509
Boatless ! 26 Ottawa, Ontario
onecoolair said:
Works just fine all along the texas coast. When out cruising to different places and out of nomal cell range Coolair often becomes the local wifi hotspot and the boat to stand next to for my sailing friends looking for a cell signal. Most times its 3G, but sometimes 3G or 4G is just not available in some of the more remote locations yet. But we ussually at the very least get the old 2G data service.
Plus its private. I can see who is on logged on. Plus It can keep track of who as been on my wifi net work. This way I can trust that I am not logging onto an unsecured network.
I have had friends that have done the great loop and have done the east coast north south icw route. They would have tell you more. I do remember one friend last year I believe it was who did have both a verizon and at&t plan (its a his and hers thing) and in some areas there was no verizon but they had an at&t signal. And visa versa. In fact I believe they said that at&t had the most dependable uninterupted service most of the way. But don't quote me.
Click to expand

Robert, what cell antenna booster are you using on your mast top ? Is it designed for outside mounting or did it need to be weather proofed ? Are Verizon phones GSM ?

tnx, Bob
 
seabrooksailor

seabrooksailor

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Aug 15, 2011
49
macgregor mac 22 seabrook tx
If you have an Android phone go to the app store and download an app called klink i believe its $3.99 it will tether your phone to a laptop without incurring extra monthly charges
 
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Forrest15112

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Jan 22, 2008
423
Catalina 30 Mandeville, La.
Bob 04 H260 said:
Robert, what cell antenna booster are you using on your mast top ? Is it designed for outside mounting or did it need to be weather proofed ? Are Verizon phones GSM ?

tnx, Bob
Click to expand
Verizon has no GSM. ATT & T-Mob are the only major carriers in the US with GSM networks. GSM is going away and will only be around for a couple of years longer. One thing to consider regarding GSM is that as the shut down date gets closer, the carriers will not install GSM equipment in any new sites. It's already happening. As far as the outside antenna, ALL exposed antenna connections need to be weatherproofed.
 
onecoolair

onecoolair

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Jun 25, 2012
942
hunter 356 Kemah,the Republic of Texas
Bob 04 H260 said:
Robert, what cell antenna booster are you using on your mast top ? Is it designed for outside mounting or did it need to be weather proofed ? Are Verizon phones GSM ?

tnx, Bob
Click to expand
Its a typical standard marine grade white 4' cellphone antenna mount to top of mast. It was installed back in 2002 when I still had my analog bag cellphone installed at the nav station. That cellphone was connected directly to antenna cable no booster at that time. Booster was installed and connected to antenna when I lost analog service, and removed bag phone from boat. I Don't remember for sure what brand cell booster is? Maybe a wilson? Its just a small black box mounted at nav behind the flat panel tv/moniter. I had to remove exsiting tiny connector off the boosters tiny antenna cable and do some micro surgery installing new connector to a short piece of tiny cable end that would fit the existing connector attached to shielded cable from mast top antenna. The wireless recieve/send puck style antenna of booster is mounted on forward bulkhead using a velcro patch.
 

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Bob 04 H260

Bob 04 H260

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May 16, 2007
1,509
Boatless ! 26 Ottawa, Ontario
thanks for all the information everyone........when we leave Canada to go sailing in Florida for the winter we use a cheap pay-as-go US phone with a local number because the roaming charges are too high on a Canadian phone.

For internet we use a Ubiquiti Bullet for WIFI, it works quite well over very long distances when access is available.

When we can not find a WIFI signal it would be nice to have some limited internet access to look at weather or check email.

Last winter we went to AT&T and Verizon outlets, looked at MIFI and such but it was expensive to buy and the product reviews were not great. They did not seem to be sure exactly how much it would cost to start and stop the service each year. If we could get a data plan that was more like a pay-as-you-go phone we would be interested.

thanks again, Bob
 
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twistedline

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Dec 24, 2011
81
Hunter 33C Chesapeake
I use and Android phone with straighttalk ($45 unlimited everything) and wifi hotspot app.

I just leave the phone charging and we can use as many wireless devices as we want.
 
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gettinthere

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Nov 26, 2008
1,970
Endeavour 42 Cruisin
Twisted
Aren't straight talk androids on the T Mobile system?
The OP was asking about ICW and our straight talk t mobile was quite useless in much of NC & VA.
If you got an ATT android, let me know how, what zip code you used.
 
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twistedline

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Dec 24, 2011
81
Hunter 33C Chesapeake
gettinthere said:
Twisted
Aren't straight talk androids on the T Mobile system?
The OP was asking about ICW and our straight talk t mobile was quite useless in much of NC & VA.
If you got an ATT android, let me know how, what zip code you used.
Click to expand
You can choose either ATT, T-Mobile or I believe Verizon. I have only used ATT and T-Mobile personally.

It would be nice if you had all three.
 
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