wireless internet provider

[c.spots]

Can anybody recommend a wireless internet provider?
Do I need to look for free service, or sign up for a day or so wherever I happen to be?
Is there a provider for wireless service, with hotspots in very numerous, widespread locations? US, and/or international?

[rebel heart]

It's really hit or miss if you're talking about wireless ethernet (the classic "wifi" stuff). Even here in San Diego, which is rather advanced, we just got a wireless Internet signal on the bay, but it's spotty, and costs money.

You can get a verizon cellular card for $30-$40 a month though:

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/m...cess/index.jsp

Anywhere you have verizon cell access, you have Internet access. The speeds aren't shockingly amazing, but it's a heck of a lot better than nothing.

[rebel heart]

AT&T (a.k.a. Cingular) also has one:

Wireless Internet Card | LaptopConnect cards | AT&T wireless service

[Ex-Calif]

Many marinas here in the region are blasting free internet out to the yachties. Check in, pay your mooring fee, get the code. I expect this will become a must have for marinas in the near, near future.

[blove8]

Does anyone use satellite internet access while cruising the globe? Any suggestions on providers?

[waterworldly]

ATT: $60 unlimited per month, in the continental U.S. Worldwide availability at roaming cost, about $2.80 a minute! You can buy a plan for a specific country at about $1 minute.

[Harriet]

When we were in the US we used a verizon aircard with great success. In the Caribbean, however, it's much more hit and miss. I would go with an omnidirectional antenna that you can haul up the mast and look for available signals that way. In most cases, you should be able to pick up something without having to haul the laptop ashore to an internet cafe.

[Sunspot Baby]

blove8, it is possible to connect via satellite but pricey. Check Maritime safety and communication services. - Inmarsat

George

[blove8]

Originally Posted by Sunspot Baby

blove8, it is possible to connect via satellite but pricey. Check Maritime safety and communication services. - Inmarsat

George

Thanks for the tip George. I assumed it would be pricey, but so pricey as to not put prices on their site? yiikes

About 5 years ago I was thinking that in five years satellite coverage should be affordable to the regular user.... maybe it'll be another 5, 10, 20, never affordable for the commoner? This is another topic, I know. Thanks again for the help.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by blove8

Thanks for the tip George. I assumed it would be pricey, but so pricey as to not put prices on their site? yiikes

About 5 years ago I was thinking that in five years satellite coverage should be affordable to the regular user.... maybe it'll be another 5, 10, 20, never affordable for the commoner? This is another topic, I know. Thanks again for the help.

There's not really any demand for service in the middle of nowhere; the amount of people 1000 miles from land is roughly the same today as it was 10 years ago.

Orbcomm has a reseller named SkyMate you might want to check out. SkyMate. Wherever you are. Whatever you need.

$70 a month will get you worldwide coverage, up to 50K characters a month. You can't browse the Internet though; everything is asynchronous. You can send / recieve emails, and have things scheduled to send you weather reports, etc.

That's the one I'm planning on using. I can email, post to my blog (via email), get emails from others, and set up some kind of batch job (I'm a software dork) that will let me send my coordinates, and it will send me back the weather report.

[blove8]

My job requires that I have daily web access, so, it's either hang out close to shore until it's vacation time, or sort out a satellite solution. Problem with sorting out a satellite solution is that I probably don't make enough to afford a basic plan, and probably never will. I'll have to rethink the career options sometime between now and heading out into the deep blue.

BTW, thanks for the info.

[waterworldly]

It seems that outside the U.S., in other costal areas, you can buy a simm card that will allow you to connect to the net while in that country for reasonable fee, so the only "out" area is during the passages. The simm cards I have read about in logs seemed reasonable priced, and like the ATT card, have unlimited access.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by blove8

My job requires that I have daily web access, so, it's either hang out close to shore until it's vacation time, or sort out a satellite solution. Problem with sorting out a satellite solution is that I probably don't make enough to afford a basic plan, and probably never will. I'll have to rethink the career options sometime between now and heading out into the deep blue.

BTW, thanks for the info.

I write software, so I live on a laptop and broadband. I've gone through all the options, and even if I get my highest rate it would pay more than the worldwide data access rates, but that's not all of it.

I started looking at the reality of three software guys busting their asses in the office, knowing that one of their coworkers is sailing around the world, unavailable by phone, with crappy data access rates, unable to do face to face meetings, etc.

My solution is to have the email relay (SkyMate) so I can stay in touch, maybe I can work on some projects in a silo, but if I want to do real work, I'll fly home for a few months.

[SweetSailor]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

You can get a verizon cellular card for $30-$40 a month though:

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/m...cess/index.jsp

Updated URL: Enter your location

[Delezynski]

C.Spots,

Take a look at our "Position Reports" on our WEB pages. We had FREE WiFi from San Francisco to about Santa Barbara, from there to and including San Diego, we had to pay on a day-by-day basis. For the rest of our time on the Baja we have had FREE WiFi.

We have used an Internet cafe at about US$0.60 per hour.

Greg