Long-Distance WiFi Device

[highseas]

It is; 5 mile wifi .com The 5 mile wifi blows the Alfa out of the water,I can connect up to 10 miles out to sea when the Alfa won't even find a network.I have a seperate AIS receiver connected to my laptop,also a big bonus to compliment my radar.At 100 bucks a mile, it's totally worth it.Perfect for magicJack calls and so on.Shipment was fast and easy to set up.I run the antenna on a pole, mounted about 15 feet above sea level.Oops a double post,,you get the idea anyway.Not sure about the negative PR on this product,works for me.

[Canibul]

Thanks, John. I read through that, and it's very informative. I worked offshore for years, and of course was familiar with satcom and the cost. And the Iridium Open Port sure brings the cost of that down. Alas, it's not there yet for what would be ideal for us.

My wife develops medical software for some US clients, and makes a good buck at it. So of course we are very interested in being able to do that from a boat. Her ability to work anywhere with a good internet connection allowed us to move from the US to the Turks and Caicos Islands, for example.

But she is on the internet essentially full time when working. She establishes a VPN connection, launches a remote desktop (RDP) session, and works through a remote computer in NJ. That ain't gonna work out very well at a buck a minute. really eats into the income.

But this five mile WiFi stuff is pretty interesting, since we are essentially interested in a coastal cruiser anyhow. We might be able to work something out along those lines, eventually. Spend a lot of time in port, or hugging coastlines.

[hellosailor]

The 5Mile doesn't provide all the specs in one place, but they do state their output power is 1000mW (one watt) and their standard antenna cable is 25' of LMR-240, which coincidentally has a power loss of 50% (3db) for 25 feet at 2GHz, the lower WiFi range. The loss rises to nearly 2/3 for 5GHz use.

So what they aren't saying, is that their stick is actually the same power as any 500mW competitor that uses POE to eliminate the cable losses. The only other question is really how effective their antenna is compared to anyone elses. And, at that price, they should be able to afford one damn fine antenna in the box.

But if you have to go longer than 25' of cable...POE would have to be the better solution, given any kind of decent antenna. The cable losses just get too high, too fast.

[highseas]

The price was $399. US,I can't give you the technical numbers,but I have the two units set up side by side, and there is no comparison.With the Alfa I use the Engenius 2408 omni antenna.

[ka4wja]

Originally Posted by Canibul

That ain't gonna work out very well at a buck a minute.
.....we are essentially interested in a coastal cruiser anyhow. We might be able to work something out along those lines, eventually. Spend a lot of time in port, or hugging coastlines.

Canibul,
I understand your needs better now.....coastal use and/or in port, rather than

a good internet connection offshore.

.....
For your new described application a decent wi-fi setup (with the wi-fi unit and antenna mounted on a pole above deck, or perhaps even a spreader-mounted one), should work well....

An important clarification though, Iridium Open Port is NOT billed by the minute......(nor is Fleet Broadband)......
I'm really just trying to spread the facts to those who are just reading this forum, and are not inclined to read thru all the details of the referenced discussion.....
But, for those interested, the details are there, including Iridium's pricing.....and Iridium Open Port is not billed by the minute....

SSCA Discussion Board • View topic - Satellite Internet Service?


Fair winds...

John

[Cletus1219]

I got through the first 150 posts and jumped to the end. Any reason one couldn't put in two wifi hubs: one at the nav station to create a local network (with wep encryption) and the other as a repeater/bridge on the spreader or up the mast somewhere (weatherproofed of course) and powered off a spreader light circuit or similar with a short coax run to an omni directional antenna of some sort.

[Canibul]

No, John. That is backward. I AM interested in an offshore internet connection. My interests are NOT "coastal use and/or" in port. I did NOT post a new described application.

I said that with the current state of offshore internet we would have to make do with WiFi. Which does NOT allow us to do what I described to you, which is for my wife to be able to work via the internet while offshore.

And I think the part about Iridium not billing by the minute is marketing hype. They are limited to 128 kbytes per second. They bill by the megabyte. That means that it takes 7.8 seconds to transmit a megabyte, at 128 kb per second, right? So if they are charging by the MB, they are, in fact, charging by the minute. Or second, or hour, however they want to slant it, but it still works out to a unit of time to transmit a number of bytes.

[YOGAO]

Canibul,

I guess I am a bit confused by your requirements. I understand your wife needs to be on-line ALL the time. Does this include weekends and holidays? Could your wife be disconnected from web-based apps but have email capability during a passage for up to a week or 10 days?

FWIW, we examined satellite services (charged by the megabyte) for my wife's business needs, and quickly discarded that idea solely due to cost (performance would have been another issue as well). Also FWIW, technically a MB priced service isn't the same as a per-minute (or per 20/minute) since you might not always run @ 128K if that was your max rate.

Fair Winds,
Mike

[Canibul]

128K just ain't good enough. And yeah, she needs to be connected all day except for weekends and US holidays.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Canibul

128K just ain't good enough. And yeah, she needs to be connected all day except for weekends and US holidays.

I thought about that too with my wife but hey, I don't think she would appreciate working all day while cruising and me enjoying everything while she worked.

She agrees.

We are working on a plan to not work, either of us..........really hard.

[CAELESTIS]

I've looked at the 5mi wifi website. Their product does not work with Mac.

Any suggestions?

[YOGAO]

Originally Posted by CAELESTIS

I've looked at the 5mi wifi website. Their product does not work with Mac.

Any suggestions?

Alfa or Bullet 2 HP.

Fair Winds,
Mike

[Canibul]

Originally Posted by CAELESTIS

I've looked at the 5mi wifi website. Their product does not work with Mac.

Any suggestions?

PC notepad?

[Canibul]

Originally Posted by Therapy

I thought about that too with my wife but hey, I don't think she would appreciate working all day while cruising and me enjoying everything while she worked.

She agrees.

We are working on a plan to not work, either of us..........really hard.

Mine loves her work so much she would probably do it for free if they asked her nicely. She could have quit years ago, but she really enjoys the whole 'chucking the rat race in NJ and moving to the tropics" aspect of it. Which is what we did.

I designed her an office in our new home here, and she has a fantastic view not only of the ocean from one side, but overlooking the island on the other. She jokes about her twenty step commute, and that she can pick her own hours.

The only thing that has stopped us from taking this show on the rode is the internet connections offshore.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Canibul

Mine loves her work so much she would probably do it for free if they asked her nicely.


The only thing that has stopped us from taking this show on the rode is the internet connections offshore.

WOW!

Mine still works out of need.

She would do other, more pleasurable work (to her) if we were "out there".