It’s time for big boy internet

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by smj

I think Verizon has better cell phone coverage where T-Mobile has the best 5g internet coverage.

Ah.... I think you are right. I was just noticing that myself.

[Statistical]

Originally Posted by Chotu

it’s probably important to mention that I don’t really need help with networking inside the boat or anything like that. Or understanding what the different technologies are.

I have a masters in physics and a minor in computer science. I was a software developer. I know how to throw together and network at any time. I think I have some sort of Microsoft Networking certification somewhere in my résumé as well lol even though I was a software guy.

what I am more concerned about is what products I can get. And I guess they are all now in this thread aren’t they?

starlink sounds great. But I’m not paying $200 a month. Unless someone knows how to crack it or share their password with me and split it, I am in no way paying $200 a month for as n internet connection. And moderators don’t need to delete this post because that was basically a joke I’m not proposing actually cracking starlink though I should probably look into it ha ha

that leaves terrestrial based Internet. Cell phone Internet works pretty well for me now. The only problem is I get throttled over 20 gigs. I have an unlimited plan on my phone that throttles.

What I want to be able to do is watch a good amount of videos, use MatLab which is a local software product anyway and not necessary for the Internet connection, and do a bunch of simple text stuff with AI. I still have some software development to do as well. And I run a small business remotely, but am looking to acquire another one.

that’s about the extent of my Internet use. Oh yeah. And almost 10,000 posts on some Internet forum. Haha

To be clear Starlink is $150/mo (Regional Mobile) unless you are going beyond NA (which per SpaceX definition includes all of the Caribbean). Of course if you are going beyond NA then T-Mobile isn't going to help either.

By the way, I’m glad nobody likes Wi-Fi because more for me. I don’t find any problems using public Wi-Fi. Lots of businesses have a very fast connection. McDonald’s. Starbucks. Lowe’s home improvement is blazing fast. Walmart. You name it. There are tons of open networks if you have a high gain antenna. I would not mind adding that to the mix. But, if the cellular provider has unlimited band with as it pertains to the above paragraph with what I plan to do with it, there would be no reason to use the Wi-Fi anyway.

Wifi is fine in places where most people don't use it but pretty sure you aren't going to drive your boat through McDonald's parking lot. In a marina or anchorage or coastal sailing wifi is next to useless.

Note Verizon is better for a smartphone but they crack down heavily on what they consider "hostpot" usages to include a boat wide pepwave router. An unlimited plan ($40 to $80) will only have 50 to 150 GB of 5G hotspot service and then drop to <3 Mbps.

So for non-Starlink reasonably goodish not terribly throttled internet your best bet is TMobile.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Statistical

To be clear Starlink is $150/mo (Regional Mobile) unless you are going beyond NA (which per SpaceX definition includes all of the Caribbean). Of course if you are going beyond NA then T-Mobile isn't going to help either.



Wifi is fine in places where most people don't use it but pretty sure you aren't going to drive your boat through McDonald's parking lot. In a marina or anchorage or coastal sailing wifi is next to useless.

Note Verizon is better for a smartphone but they crack down heavily on what they consider "hostpot" usages to include a boat wide pepwave router. An unlimited plan ($40 to $80) will only have 50 to 150 GB of 5G hotspot service and then drop to <3 Mbps.

So for non-Starlink reasonably goodish not terribly throttled internet your best bet is TMobile.

OK. That’s less than I thought for Starlink. I could’ve sworn that they raised the prices on it recently and the 200 was the least you could pay. I guess I’m wrong about that.

Definitely not going beyond North America in the near future. I have a boat to build inside. Plus all of that crap that you see in my previous post about what I am using the connection for. In fact, I may never leave North America in the Bahamas. Not by boat. I can just fly wherever to enjoy different cultures. It’s not really necessary for me to go by boat. Although it might be fun to take it to Europe. I flew to Thailand over the summer and it was fantastic. Much cheaper and easier than sailing there (sorry everyone)

I guess you aren’t familiar with high gain antennas? I was pulling in a library wifi from miles away from a previous boat of mine around 2006. I used a wifi amp and an omnidirectional high gain antenna. I could get wifi from the next town over. From my boat. No problem at all. Like I said, I’m glad none of you like it that’s why it’s always fast. Lol

but yeah. I was thinking Tmobile was the one. Glad to hear a second vote on that.

What about the Verizon hotspots though that wholeybee mentioned? Just out of curiosity? Aren’t they direct competitor to the T-Mobile home Internet product?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Be Free

Chotu,
I have an unlimited Verizon plan on my cell phone; so does my wife. I've never felt like I've been throttled; she has. Take that for what it is worth.

I make my living designing networks. All networks have limits. Once traffic reaches a certain point something will have to give. Sometimes some judicious traffic management can untangle a problem. Sometimes you have to throw more resources (read:money) at the problem.

If your data is caught in the crosshairs of either situation you may feel like you are being throttled even if that is not what is technically happening.

I’ve noticed some grandfathering when it comes to throttling. My ex girlfriend? Whatever she is. She has an AT&T account that she has had since she was a child. It was in the time when they had unlimited without throttling. And she has never changed the number or got a new account so she gets a blazing fast Internet without any throttling. I switched to AT&T because I wanted to go to Canada and not have to pay extra. I thought I might end up like her. No. They throttle me at 20 gigs.

what do you mean caught in the crosshairs of either situation? I’m not quite following you.

of which two situations?

maybe throttling isn’t the right word actually. The correct word I should be using is deprioritizing.

Over 20 gigs I get deprioritized over other traffic on the cellular Network.

[Statistical]

Originally Posted by Chotu

I guess you aren’t familiar with high gain antennas? I was pulling in a library wifi from miles away from a previous boat of mine around 2006. I used a wifi amp and an omnidirectional high gain antenna. I could get wifi from the next town over. From my boat. No problem at all. Like I said, I’m glad none of you like it that’s why it’s always fast. Lol

It isn't 2006 anymore. There are only so many 2.4 GHz channels and they tend to be overloaded. If it works for you then great but prepared to be rather disapointed.

but yeah. I was thinking Tmobile was the one. Glad to hear a second vote on that.

What about the Verizon hotspots though that wholeybee mentioned? Just out of curiosity? Aren’t they direct competitor to the T-Mobile home Internet product?

Verizon is an option but they tend to be more expensive for less. Hotspot plans start at $40 for 50 GB priority data and then you are heavily throttled.

T-Mobile throttles 5G hotspots as well but it tends to be more data for less cost and when throttle not quite as terrible (although not good).

A lot really depends on what your monthly data needs are. 50 GB? No problem. 200 GB? Not ideal. 500 GB? Yeah just get Starlink and save yourself a ton of money and frustration.

[Be Free]

Originally Posted by Chotu

I’ve noticed some grandfathering when it comes to throttling. My ex girlfriend? Whatever she is. She has an AT&T account that she has had since she was a child. It was in the time when they had unlimited without throttling. And she has never changed the number or got a new account so she gets a blazing fast Internet without any throttling. I switched to AT&T because I wanted to go to Canada and not have to pay extra. I thought I might end up like her. No. They throttle me at 20 gigs.

what do you mean caught in the crosshairs of either situation? I’m not quite following you.

of which two situations?

maybe throttling isn’t the right word actually. The correct word I should be using is deprioritizing.

Over 20 gigs I get deprioritized over other traffic on the cellular Network.

The two situations I was referencing are first when your traffic is being actively managed but the queuing strategies are not helping and second when there is, in fact, no capacity remaining at the present time and only additional infrastructure will fix the problem. You want to avoid either situation if you can.

It does not matter what you call it. All Internet traffic is prioritized, throttled, and queued. Most of the time it is not noticed.

If you ask your carrier if they "throttle" your data they will probably say, "No, we don't throttle our customers." What they will do though is set a quality of service, class of service, and drop-eligible flags (just to name a few) in the packet and trigger queuing strategies in the router. Sometimes that's enough to get through a rough spot; sometimes it does not work and your data has to be re-transmitted.

[CaptainRivet]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Hmmmm. I’m just doing the North America east coast and maybe Bahamas in the near term. Boat is not done so more work ahead.

So figure mostly USA from Miami to Canadian border. Occasional jumps outside to Bahamas or Newfoundland as treats.

WiFi ability would be good as well to pull in from the local coffee shop and whatnot.

I’m not sure if I will be keeping the RV, but it would be nice to grab whatever item we are talking about and bring it with me. Just grab one thing and bring it. Then also grab it and throw it in the motorcycle.

Then i would go with a Mofy router with cell plan of your choice + starlink RV dishy.
The mofy router merges cell and starlink and if you have free wifi nearby also takes that and does load sharing.
Less fancy are GL net routers, the slate travel routers are genious and need very minimal power running of USB connection. I have a netgear M1 cell router connected to a slate AX-750 and starlink RV dishy as another source and he can also repeat marina or coffee shop wifi cloning yor mac adress so the free wifi thinks its one device connected as eg marinas often limited to 3 devices and no router. What GInet slate cannot do is load balancing between different internet sources.
All GInet routers have a extremly versatile OS, you can do all from fixed ip, port forwarding, mac adress clone, VPN, open wrt....

[CaptainRivet]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Hmmmm. I’m just doing the North America east coast and maybe Bahamas in the near term. Boat is not done so more work ahead.

So figure mostly USA from Miami to Canadian border. Occasional jumps outside to Bahamas or Newfoundland as treats.

WiFi ability would be good as well to pull in from the local coffee shop and whatnot.

I’m not sure if I will be keeping the RV, but it would be nice to grab whatever item we are talking about and bring it with me. Just grab one thing and bring it. Then also grab it and throw it in the motorcycle.

Then i would go with a Mofy router with cell plan of your choice + starlink RV dishy.
The mofy router merges cell and starlink and if you have free wifi nearby also takes that and does load sharing.
Less fancy are GL net routers, the slate travel routers are genious and need very minimal power running of USB connection. I have a netgear cell router connected to a slate AX-750 and starlink RV dishy as another source and he can also repeat marina or coffee shop wifi cloning yor mac adress so the free wifi thinks its one device connected as eg marinas often limited to 3 devices and no router. What GInet slate cannot do is load balancing between different internet sources.

[mvweebles]

I believe Chotu's OP was asking about T-Mobile's 5G Home Internet offer, not their SIM-card based data plan. Their Home Internet plan is has no data caps and is intended to compete with traditional ISP providers such as Xfinity, Comcast, etc. Their SIM card plan is around $40/mo for 50GB. They do have the option to throttle.

Although the T-Mobile Home Internet is advertised as "Fixed 5G Wireless," someone on TrawlerForum recently posted they are using their home equipment on their boat in the PNW. You do have to use their equipment.

Here is a decent/recent review of the T-Mobile offer. Geographic availability is limited but given the price, sounds like a great deal if you're in their territory ($50/mo standard; $30/mo if you're a Magenta user - my wife and I went to Magenta 1-1/2 years ago from Verizon. Coverage is slightly less, but cost is less than half - $90/mo for both including taxes/fees. Free Netflix too).

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Be Free

The two situations I was referencing are first when your traffic is being actively managed but the queuing strategies are not helping and second when there is, in fact, no capacity remaining at the present time and only additional infrastructure will fix the problem. You want to avoid either situation if you can.

It does not matter what you call it. All Internet traffic is prioritized, throttled, and queued. Most of the time it is not noticed.

If you ask your carrier if they "throttle" your data they will probably say, "No, we don't throttle our customers." What they will do though is set a quality of service, class of service, and drop-eligible flags (just to name a few) in the packet and trigger queuing strategies in the router. Sometimes that's enough to get through a rough spot; sometimes it does not work and your data has to be re-transmitted.

I have certainly noticed this. They do this in the Hamptons. In New York. There are so many people there in the summer that the phone actually doesn’t work sometimes. At all. You cannot load anything. Hopefully one year they will get this fixed.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

I believe Chotu's OP was asking about T-Mobile's 5G Home Internet offer, not their SIM-card based data plan. Their Home Internet plan is has no data caps and is intended to compete with traditional ISP providers such as Xfinity, Comcast, etc. Their SIM card plan is around $40/mo for 50GB. They do have the option to throttle.

Although the T-Mobile Home Internet is advertised as "Fixed 5G Wireless," someone on TrawlerForum recently posted they are using their home equipment on their boat in the PNW. You do have to use their equipment.

Here is a decent/recent review of the T-Mobile offer. Geographic availability is limited but given the price, sounds like a great deal if you're in their territory ($50/mo standard; $30/mo if you're a Magenta user - my wife and I went to Magenta 1-1/2 years ago from Verizon. Coverage is slightly less, but cost is less than half - $90/mo for both including taxes/fees. Free Netflix too).

this is correct. That’s exactly what I was looking at. Just don’t know where to get the thing shipped.

[smj]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

I believe Chotu's OP was asking about T-Mobile's 5G Home Internet offer, not their SIM-card based data plan. Their Home Internet plan is has no data caps and is intended to compete with traditional ISP providers such as Xfinity, Comcast, etc. Their SIM card plan is around $40/mo for 50GB. They do have the option to throttle.

Although the T-Mobile Home Internet is advertised as "Fixed 5G Wireless," someone on TrawlerForum recently posted they are using their home equipment on their boat in the PNW. You do have to use their equipment.

Here is a decent/recent review of the T-Mobile offer. Geographic availability is limited but given the price, sounds like a great deal if you're in their territory ($50/mo standard; $30/mo if you're a Magenta user - my wife and I went to Magenta 1-1/2 years ago from Verizon. Coverage is slightly less, but cost is less than half - $90/mo for both including taxes/fees. Free Netflix too).

The T-Mobile 5g home internet has no data caps but they do reserve the right to throttle your speeds if the network is busy.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Chotu

this is correct. That’s exactly what I was looking at. Just don’t know where to get the thing shipped.

T-mobile home 5g is the only service I'm aware of without some flavor of data cap or throttling. Highly location specific obviously and is intended for fixed installation though some do relocate the unit to their boat while aboard. Right now, they claim they cover around 30% of US households.

After that, you're back to either starlink or SIM cards with data caps. I believe T-Mobile has the highest cap at around 40gb for $50/mo but not sure. If you have a dual-SIM router, you could of course add a VZ card too.

Chotu, I always enjoy your threads. But they sure seem to end up with "can't get there from here."

[smj]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

T-mobile home 5g is the only service I'm aware of without some flavor of data cap or throttling. Highly location specific obviously and is intended for fixed installation though some do relocate the unit to their boat while aboard. Right now, they claim they cover around 30% of US households.

After that, you're back to either starlink or SIM cards with data caps. I believe T-Mobile has the highest cap at around 40gb for $50/mo but not sure. If you have a dual-SIM router, you could of course add a VZ card too.

Chotu, I always enjoy your threads. But they sure seem to end up with "can't get there from here."

You need to read the fine print on the T-Mobile home internet as they will slow your speeds down if needed.
“During congestion, Home Internet customers may notice speeds lower than other customers due to data prioritization. “
Would that quote be considered throttling?

[Statistical]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

T-mobile home 5g is the only service I'm aware of without some flavor of data cap or throttling. Highly location specific obviously and is intended for fixed installation though some do relocate the unit to their boat while aboard. Right now, they claim they cover around 30% of US households.

After that, you're back to either starlink or SIM cards with data caps. I believe T-Mobile has the highest cap at around 40gb for $50/mo but not sure. If you have a dual-SIM router, you could of course add a VZ card too.

Chotu, I always enjoy your threads. But they sure seem to end up with "can't get there from here."

T-Mobile has hotspot plans for 100 GB for $50. They also have 50GB for $50 so posible the 100 GB plan is a limited time thing. Note those aren't hard limits you get deprioritized after that.

Verizon has a 150 GB for $80 hotspot plan but when they throttle/depriotize you it is a lot worse.

The Home Internet option could work and some have managed to use it on boats/rv but recently T-Mobile has started asking users to update them when changing locations and that service may not work if they don't do that.

So options are:
Tmobile Home Internet - $50/mo no caps but always deprioritized over mobile traffic and technically not allowed by TOS but as we know from Starlink threads TOS not always enforced may work just fine.

Various hotspot plans $40 to $100+ depending on data needs.

Starlink Regional Mobile - $150/mo (plus $2/GB when offshore).