On Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:01:17 -0600, Ken Marino
wrote:

I cruised this area using my Verizon standard plan phone. It worked
withing sight of land just fine. How far offshore are you planning on
needing a telephone?

My standard Verizon phone worked enroute to Hawaii on a cruise ship.
No screwing around, it just worked normally. No extra charge, the ship
seems to have just had its very own cell. A satellite figures into
this somewhere, I am sure.

Casady

On Jan 4, 5:37*am, Ken Marino wrote:
Fairly new to the group. My wife and I purchased a 40' sailboat about 6
months ago and are ready for our first long trip,

Hello Ken:

If you havent already I urge with the most politness, please do a
Group Search here using the words "Skip & Lydia". Then order the hits
by date begining with the earliest. Very intereting reading about a
couple who follow thier dream.......... but not advice.......then
stick their boat on the on the rocks.... uhhh, reef.

I am also assuming that you have spent six months sailing your new
boat out of yor home port daily in all typs of weather.... including
Small Craft Warnings.

Bob

On Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:35:17 -0800, Bob wrote:

On Jan 4, 5:37Â*am, Ken Marino wrote:
Fairly new to the group. My wife and I purchased a 40' sailboat about 6
months ago and are ready for our first long trip,

Hello Ken:

If you havent already I urge with the most politness, please do a Group
Search here using the words "Skip & Lydia". Then order the hits by date
begining with the earliest. Very intereting reading about a couple who
follow thier dream.......... but not advice.......then stick their boat
on the on the rocks.... uhhh, reef.

I am also assuming that you have spent six months sailing your new boat
out of yor home port daily in all typs of weather.... including Small
Craft Warnings.

Bob

Thanks Bob, Don't have a lot of sailing experience myself, but my wife
has sailed 33 and 62 foot boats extensively through the BAHAMAS. She has
weathered 2 hurricanes on the boat (at anchorage both times). We did
sail this boat down from Maryland when we bought it, in some pretty nasty
weather.

Ken Marino wrote:
Fairly new to the group. My wife and I purchased a 40' sailboat about 6
months ago and are ready for our first long trip, We plan to spend 2-3
months in the Florida keys and Bahamas--mostly the latter. Any suggestions
on a reasonably priced ( I know cheap is out of the question ) phone and
or data plans out there? Many thanks in advance for any and all
suggestions. Also open to starting an ongoing exchange of experiences with
any who have done or are doing similar trips.


Another option would be to get a sat phone, preferably Iridium. I
bought a used phone for $750 and can get minutes in blocks of 500 for
about $1.20 per minute. Data connections are available.

And they work everywhere. And incoming calls are charged to the caller,
discourages interruptions.

Maybe a bit over the top but it is an option.

Don't forget, a GSM network has more capabilities than pure phone
service, for instance internet and email access. There are global
providers mostl with cheaper roaming fees than you US-provider is
asking for, but whenever we stay a little longer in any country, just
go for a local SIM-card. Internet access via GPRS or UMTS is sometimes
surprisingly cheap (sometimes not), and I prefer to make my bank
transactions in the privacy of my own boat.

What Phone: GSM only is worldwide :

be sure it is a tri-, better quadband GSM as US is using other
frequencies than the rest of the world.

if money permits, be sure it is at least GPRS capable, better though
EDGE best UMTS

UMTS, in some countries called 3G, uses different technology and is
much faster, but mostly only available in larger cities, but this
depends on the provider, might sometimes be countrywide if it is a new
proider without the "old" technology. All UMTS phones are GSM capable
too. This comes closest to broadband you might be used at home.

EDGE is an enhancement for GSM, cheaper upgrade for the providers,
they do not need new Antenna towers, just a few electronic parts, so
it is more widespread, but much faster than GPRS, much much faster
than ISDN

GPRS was the first data service for GSM phones, still much better then
using dial-up service.

All these data services are usually volume paid, if time, then onl the
actual transmitting time, much better again compared to dial up. One
thing I agree, learning how to program cellphone and computer to work
together might sometimes be frustrating.

for the technical terms wikipedia and/or searchmachines are
helpful ;-)

Still I'd have an external WIFI antenna on board just in case you
catch a free signal somewhere, marinas and restaurants sometimes
provide free service, sometimes for a charge. ;-)