I'm looking at T Mobile and Verizon Broadband as a way to supplement
WiFi access in marinas as we do the Great Loop staring this summer.

I'm looking for opinions as to which is best and if there are other options.

Capt. Jeff

On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 23:24:11 -0800, Tamaroak
wrote:

I'm looking at T Mobile and Verizon Broadband as a way to supplement
WiFi access in marinas as we do the Great Loop staring this summer.
I'm looking for opinions as to which is best and if there are other options.

Capt. Jeff

Jeff,

Don't exacly know what _you_ mean by "the Great Loop" but I guess
it'll take you to Europe too.

Presently in the Netherlands I use T-mobile. I have a 19 euro's a
month subscription that allows me to log in on wifi hotspots. Combined
with a T-Mobile cell-phone subscription I pay 9 euro's in stead of 19
(for the wifi thats is, cell phone is apart).
No data-limit, 110 kBps downlink, 40 uplink. Here in Holland my
experience is: works great and 1% downtime. Only one minor
irritation: the automatic log-off every 6 hours.

T-Mobile provides a usb-stick that will do the job when distance to
marina- antenna is about 300 meters or less.
For a more distant access (at anchor fi) I am considering mounting an
omnidirectional antenna+waterproof receiver in the masthead so I can
lead a UTP cable that also privides the power to the receiver.
When you want I can provide you with details.

HTH, Len
S/v Present

The Great Loop goes around the eastern half of the US, usualyy through
the Great Lakes down the Mississippi, the Tenn-Tombigbee to the Gulf,
around (or through) Florida, up the ICW and the Hudson and Erie and
Trent-Severn Canals home.

Capt. Jeff

Not leaving the country ? Should be referred to as "The Local Loop" ....


"Tamaroak" wrote in message
...
The Great Loop goes around the eastern half of the US, usualyy through the
Great Lakes down the Mississippi, the Tenn-Tombigbee to the Gulf, around
(or through) Florida, up the ICW and the Hudson and Erie and Trent-Severn
Canals home.

Capt. Jeff

"Tamaroak" wrote in message
. ..

WiFi access in marinas as we do the Great Loop staring this summer.

Capt. Jeff

I envy you. Just read a fine book on the subject. Curious what kind of
boat you are taking.

-Greg

36' Monk trawler

Capt. Jeff

On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 23:24:11 -0800, Tamaroak wrote:

I'm looking at T Mobile and Verizon Broadband as a way to supplement WiFi
access in marinas as we do the Great Loop staring this summer.

I'm looking for opinions as to which is best and if there are other
options.

I've found marina WiFi to be universally terrible. However there's
usually a cafe or bar nearby with good (and free) access.

Where that's not available, I've had great luck using my Verizon cell
phone as a modem. Of course it's too slow for the web but it's fine for
email and limited web use. With that in mind, Verizon's Broadband cell
service should be good in areas where they advertise having coverage.
You'd have to check with Verizon about the areas you're going to though.

Matt O.

When we were in Spain in November of this year, there were a number of
places that we noticed that had WiFi public access. It seems that if
you are cruising the Med that sporadic fast internet access should be
available in a lot of ports.

Can anyone who has been recently comment on WiFi access in the
caribbean? South Pacific? For example, if I pull into Papeete
can I find coffee shops with free WiFi? Pago Pago?

Don W.

Tamaroak wrote:
I'm looking at T Mobile and Verizon Broadband as a way to supplement
WiFi access in marinas as we do the Great Loop staring this summer.

I'm looking for opinions as to which is best and if there are other
options.

Capt. Jeff

Capt. Jeff,

If you are referring to the Great Loop in the US, I have a suggestion. First of all, I subscribed to T-Mobile hotspots during my annual road trip to Albuquerque, NM from upstate NY. The service includes a hotspot locator so you can find them. This worked well. However, I found out that if you are anywhere near a wifi site your computer will find it. While it isn't exactly kosher, you can connect to these and do your business. Most are open. I found them in some real out-of-the-way places BTW. Near large motels is another place to find a hotspot as most of the nation-wide chains now offer free broadband connectivity. Panera Bread locations offer free wifi. I was talking with my local Starbucks manager and she told me that it is most likely that Starbucks will be having free broadband sometime in 2006. Competition for customers is fierce she said. Most large truck-stops now offer wifi as well, but I think it is fee based in most places.

Hope this helps you a bit.

Vic

--
__________________________________________________ ______

Victor Fraenckel - The Windman
victorf ATSIGN windreader DOTcom
KC2GUI

Tamaroak wrote:
I'm looking at T Mobile and Verizon Broadband as a way to supplement
WiFi access in marinas as we do the Great Loop staring this summer.

I'm looking for opinions as to which is best and if there are other
options.

Capt. Jeff
I've used my GMS phone as a connection while on the boat. With a
bluetooth adapter, it acts like a modem, except that its connecting at
about 100 kbaud. Its frustrating if you're used to cable modem,but
faster than dialup.

I'm on Cingular using the $20/month unlimited data service. They
recently modified the agreement so that "tethered" usage (whether
wired or bluetooth) is not allowed, but I'm grandfathered in. They
would like me to use the $80 service.

T-Mobile has a $20 service that explicitly works tethered, but their
coverage is not quite as good, I'm told. T-mobile has a very nice
coverage map, where they can show street by street your expected signal.


In years gone by, I've had trouble using the cell phone on the water,
but the last year or so has been much better.