Getting Internet While Cruising

We researched all sorts of wifi boosters before we left and asked a lot of cruisers. What we found, in actuality, were very few open networks that we could connect to. Not wanting to commit before I knew what I should spend money, I bought this simple USB wifi card with a huge 9dbi antenna. This was a perfectly acceptable solution for experimentation. If you had only one computer on board, you could totally mount this baby in a waterproof housing, get a proper marine antenna and call it a day. 

We used this onboard to help us connect at marinas where we had a passcode and could just barely get a signal. It helps you get a stronger signal, sees more networks and you can put the antenna outside and as high as possible. The downside is that it is of limited use...very few marinas have good wifi. Sure, you can get online and check email, but you won't be web conferencing because it's just too slow.

One note: it wasn’t always easy to get this thing to work on my Mac. Check your OS compatibility before buying. #firstworldproblems

2000mW 2W 802.11 G / N High-Gain USB Wireless Long-Rang WiFi Network Adapter With Original Alfa Screw On Swivel 9dBi Rubber Antenna and Suction cup Window Mount dock

Here’s a tutorial on how to use the Alfa card in a waterproof case as a booster (it’s an older article, but it still works fine and is simple)

http://www.practical-sailor.com/blog/Build-Your-Own-Long-range-WiFi-Antenna-for-Less-than-100-10081-1.html

2. Cellular is the Way to Go for Dependability

After traveling the ICW we learned there was only one cellular carrier that works everywhere: Verizon. AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile went miles and miles (which means days and days for us!) without any signal at all. Often Sprint would have a voice signal but not data. North Carolina and Virginia are very rural…and Verizon is the cellular king in rural America. When we spent a month in Ocracoke (a popular tourist spot!) we were surprised to find that neither of us had a usable cell phone.

Luckily, my unlocked iPhone 6 (and all iPhones since, I believe) are true world phones that work on every network. You can get a prepaid SIM card from Verizon for $35/month for 3 GB data, and you can add another 3 GB/90 days for just $20. Those rates are basically identical to Ting (cheaper if you include talk and text) and cheaper than T-Mobile or AT&T. Verizon is fast and has consistently gotten 30Mbps or more the entire trip! Ting is often 15-20Mbps…still good, but not as good.

3. For the Bahamas, BTC is the Bomb!

We picked up a BTC prepaid SIM card last year for our travels in the Bahamas. BTC is their local cellular provider, formerly Batelco. There is no monthly fee, you just add more money to the account when you need it. 15 GB of data is $35. Yes, you read that right. That’s about 20% the cost of data in America. What is up with that? It must suck, right? Au contrair mon ami…it is awesome. There are towers almost everywhere, and they are fast with LTE technology. I recently posted to Facebook and asked cruisers to report in their findings. Many reported that it worked faster than their home cable internet. Need to make a call or do a web conference? Look at your charts to find the nearest tower, and find an anchorage as close to the tower as you can. If you plan to go back, you can keep the same card and number IF you add $5 at least every 90 days. That keeps your account active, and you can use up that money when you go back.

4. No Need for a Mifi — Just Tether!

I see lots of folks online swearing by mifis. I don’t understand it, why pay for two devices when you already have the smartphone? I’ve been tethering data from my cell phone since I had a T-Mobile flip phone in 2002. I think it’s never caught on because the cell phone companies didn’t want you to know you could do it, and then when people got smarter the companies tried to charge for it. AT&T even went so far as to remove the function from the iPhone they sold you. Now it’s swung around again, and you can do it simply. Again, your iPhone might have to be UNLOCKED. iPhones can tether data via wifi, Bluetooth or USB cable. USB is by far the fastest, followed by wifi and then Bluetooth comes in slowest. One note about Verizon: I recently found out that you cannot use tethering (also known as a personal hotspot) with their "Unlimited" prepaid plan. Bummer.

5. Satellite is Nearly Useless and Too Expensive and Too Slow

We bought and installed an Iridium Go! last summer. It was great offshore when coupled with the Predict Wind membership. Amazing data to have at your fingertips. But…the cost is amazing too. The cost is almost as astronomically high as the speed is astronomically low. The unit and equipment were $1200. The unlimited plan is $128 per month. I’ve never found a good use for it beyond Predict Wind, so that’s another $250/year. It is useless any other time than offshore; if you have a cellular signal you would never use the Go! instead. You can’t check regular email or work from it (in my opinion). We are keeping the unit, but disconnected the service for now while we are near-shore and Bahamas cruisers.

Here is a quick run-down of places we've been recently with details:

Vero Beach, FL (mooring field) -- in town with excellent cell service from all providers. Verizon LTE regularly provides more than 30 Mbps. Marina wifi extends to mooring field with multiple access points, one of the best networks we have seen, but daytime speeds usually average 0.5-1.5 Mbps...unacceptably slow for web conferencing. Sitting in the lounge and at off-peak times we usually see about 5 Mbps. A wifi booster helps here, especially the farther out in the mooring field you are.
St. Augustine, FL (mooring field) -- Excellent cell service from all providers. Lots of wifi networks, but none unlocked. Marina wifi out of range for us (we were on the farthest ball). Did some work from a Pub one night...
Ocracoke, NC (Silver Lake anchorage) — Verizon only. We didn’t know so we had no service from our Ting phones (voice only on Sprint). Wifi was available, and the anchorage is surrounded by the village, so it worked okay. Not fast, but it was something. We quickly learned that everyone on the island uses their phone number as the wifi password…handy!

Ocracoke Harbor (Silver Lake), North Caroline...less connectivity here than you might think!

Deltaville, VA — If you've ever spent time in Deltaville, you won't be surprised by the lack of connectivity. As first timers during our first season, we were shocked. Sprint worked, but not well with spotty coverage and no data. Verizon for the win again! This is true for everywhere in the lower Chesapeake Bay we visited.

Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, Bahamas -- there is no connectivity here. We used out Iridium while at Warderick Wells to check the weather. This is the middle of Nowhere-ville and is great for vacation but not working online.
Hope Town, The Abacos, Bahamas — There are lots of wifi networks here, but they are all locked. If you are on one of the balls owned by the Inn or a restaurant, you might be able to get their passcode. There are two local WiFi providers, Out Island Internet OII and Bahamas WiMax, who you can purchase connection time from. These are good for short-term solutions but are fairly slow and expensive. There is excellent BTC LTE coverage and I think it’s cheaper than the wifi options.

Hope Town Harbour...I can think of no better place to work from.

Georgetown, The Exumas, Bahamas — No wifi in sight…but we anchored a long way from town. Excellent BTC coverage.

Amazing anchorage at Red Shanks, wonderfully isolated yet only a mile from Georgetown. Excellent BTC coverage!

Salt Pond, Long Island, Bahamas — when anchored near to Tiny’s Hurricane Hole (cruisers bar) the wifi is pretty good. A good anchorage for a wifi booster. Excellent BTC coverage.

Salt Pond, Long Island -- the BTC is just out of the frame here...excellent service!

So, in conclusion, we are killing the Iridium, keeping Verizon (in place of the Ting/Sprint account), getting BTC again for the islands, and working on a cheap solution to work as a wifi/cellular booster. More on that next!

Do you like to stay connected while cruising or on vacation or do you leave your devices behind?