Hi, Geoff, and group,

"Geoffrey W. Schultz" wrote in message
7.77...
"Skip Gundlach" wrote
in ink.net:
We're considering something which would require us to have high speed
access and perhaps a power supply available...

If you're counting on high speed then you had better forget cruising or
transform your cruising plans into moving from marina to marina. Either
that or pony up for ISDN access via onboard satellite.

I've not seen any such opportunities - can you point me to some? And
marinas are nearly certainly unlikely, let alone regular, experiences, other
than occasional haulouts, so that's never entered our minds.


Most cybercafes in the Caribbean utilize satellite based broadband for
their access and this has terrible propagation delays (about 3/4 of a
second end to end I believe). Once you get the data streaming, you're
in good shape, but if you use something that requires a lot of hand-
shaking, forget it. For example, I can only retrieve about 10 e-mail
messages per minute via POP via satellite. Another issue is that the
satellite links can be heavily over-subscribed, leading to large packet
losses. Also, outages are frequent due to equipment problems, weather,
etc, etc.

Overall, if you're trying to run a business that requires high speed
access from a boat, don't rely on Caribbean Cybercafes.

Heh. No business - other than a congenital defect which keeps Lydia
umbilically attached to her adult children - and not from the boat, which is
the reason for the cybercafé question.

Satellite from the boat isn't currently feasible, at least as far as I've
found, other than via dialup over one of the satphones, which is *way* too
pricy for communication as far as I'm concerned. OTOH, sailcharbonneau.com
has a good exposition on why it's right for them, so different strokes, and
all that.

What we're looking at, and I brought up earlier, before knowing what I do
today, is internet phones. Basically an interface, it has an IP, and uses
either 64 or 128k (your choice) of bandwidth to feed a POTS 2-wire phone.
You make and receive calls just like you were at home (where you'd plug into
your cable or DSL or other high-speed access), including the number, which
follows the instrument. It takes 12v power from a wall wart, but I don't
know the wattage, which would determine the staying power of some battery
kludge (which might be easy enough to whip up). And, it's pass through,
which means that we could be doing computer stuff in the background while it
wasn't being used, and if the bandwidth would support it, one on the
computer (most likely me) and the other (most likely her) on the phone.

At the price of internet café vs international calls, it seems like a great
tradeoff. Prices for local (your general area) are in the 25/mo range, and
national/Canada in the 35/mo range, unlimited calling, and along the same
lines as the cheapest current services to call internationally (e.g.
2cents/minute UK, Hong Kong, where relatives live now) as additional costs.

The trick would be to find places to plug in, every so often...

Thanks for your input on the NW Carib - any others in other Carib or
Atlantic basin outside the continental US?

L8R

Skip and Lydia

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2


-- Geoff (who's been in Guatemala/Belize since January)


--
"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a
clear night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize
that you are quite alone on a great, wide sea, it is apt to occur to
you that in the general scheme of things you are merely an
insignificant speck on the surface of the ocean; and are not nearly
so important or as self-sufficient as you thought you were. Which is
an exceedingly wholesome thought, and one that may effect a
permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly appreciated
by your friends." - James S. Pitkin