In your experience, do non-US-Lower48 cybercafés rarely, sometimes, or
routinely have either wifi or RJ45 high-speed access available to you, or is
it "use my machine and share my dialup" or equivalent?

Likewise, what about wall-type power to plug into (realizing that we'd have
to carry converters to non-US-type power countries)?

Our expected use would be in the Caribbean, primarily, but could be
throughout the Atlantic basin and Med.

Also, as we've not yet begun our extensive use of same, we're not current on
what cybercafés cost these days. Our limited experience is all over the map,
from free to outrageous. What's your experience?

We're considering something which would require us to have high speed access
and perhaps a power supply available...

Thanks.

L8R

Skip and Lydia
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2

--
"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

"Skip Gundlach" wrote in
message ink.net...
In your experience, do non-US-Lower48 cybercafés rarely, sometimes, or
routinely have either wifi or RJ45 high-speed access available to you, or
is
it "use my machine and share my dialup" or equivalent?

Very funny. Maybe things have changed since we cruised, but 56K and less
was the rule of thumb in 1997/8 all through Central America. I found a site
a few years back that listed world wide cybercafes, but don't recall if they
listed speeds. Might be a good idea to check out the Lonely Planet's "Thorn
Tree" for the backpacker's info. They would be more current than me.

Likewise, what about wall-type power to plug into (realizing that we'd
have
to carry converters to non-US-type power countries)?

Uh, what for, a laptop? Just charge it on your boat and carry it ashore
fully charged?.

Also, as we've not yet begun our extensive use of same, we're not current
on
what cybercafés cost these days. Our limited experience is all over the
map,
from free to outrageous. What's your experience?

Generally pretty reasonable except in Belize

We're considering something which would require us to have high speed
access
and perhaps a power supply available...

Good luck on the high speed access. Few and far between would still be my
guess in most countries and asking somebody to connect your mystery device
to their computer (perhaps with a language barrier). Good luck on that too.


--
Evan Gatehouse

you'll have to rewrite my email address to get to me
ceilydh AT 3web dot net
(fools the spammers)

"Skip Gundlach" wrote in
message ink.net...
In your experience, do non-US-Lower48 cybercafés rarely, sometimes, or
routinely have either wifi or RJ45 high-speed access available to you, or
is
it "use my machine and share my dialup" or equivalent?

Very funny. Maybe things have changed since we cruised, but 56K and less
was the rule of thumb in 1997/8 all through Central America. I found a site
a few years back that listed world wide cybercafes, but don't recall if they
listed speeds. Might be a good idea to check out the Lonely Planet's "Thorn
Tree" for the backpacker's info. They would be more current than me.

Likewise, what about wall-type power to plug into (realizing that we'd
have
to carry converters to non-US-type power countries)?

Uh, what for, a laptop? Just charge it on your boat and carry it ashore
fully charged?.

Also, as we've not yet begun our extensive use of same, we're not current
on
what cybercafés cost these days. Our limited experience is all over the
map,
from free to outrageous. What's your experience?

Generally pretty reasonable except in Belize

We're considering something which would require us to have high speed
access
and perhaps a power supply available...

Good luck on the high speed access. Few and far between would still be my
guess in most countries and asking somebody to connect your mystery device
to their computer (perhaps with a language barrier). Good luck on that too.


--
Evan Gatehouse

you'll have to rewrite my email address to get to me
ceilydh AT 3web dot net
(fools the spammers)

"Skip Gundlach" wrote
in ink.net:

In your experience, do non-US-Lower48 cybercafés rarely, sometimes, or
routinely have either wifi or RJ45 high-speed access available to you,
or is it "use my machine and share my dialup" or equivalent?

Many Cybercafes now offer RJ45 type connections at the same $ rate as
using one of their machines. However, this varies widely. The larger
the cafe, the better the chance that they'll have one or more.

Likewise, what about wall-type power to plug into (realizing that we'd
have to carry converters to non-US-type power countries)?

Power plugs aren't an issue.

Our expected use would be in the Caribbean, primarily, but could be
throughout the Atlantic basin and Med.

Also, as we've not yet begun our extensive use of same, we're not
current on what cybercafés cost these days. Our limited experience is
all over the map, from free to outrageous. What's your experience?

The rates in the NW Caribbean have been $3 to $6 per hour. I will say
that the highest costs that we saw were in Key West where it was $10-$12
(or higher) per hour!

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.

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.

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

"Skip Gundlach" wrote
in ink.net:

In your experience, do non-US-Lower48 cybercafés rarely, sometimes, or
routinely have either wifi or RJ45 high-speed access available to you,
or is it "use my machine and share my dialup" or equivalent?

Many Cybercafes now offer RJ45 type connections at the same $ rate as
using one of their machines. However, this varies widely. The larger
the cafe, the better the chance that they'll have one or more.

Likewise, what about wall-type power to plug into (realizing that we'd
have to carry converters to non-US-type power countries)?

Power plugs aren't an issue.

Our expected use would be in the Caribbean, primarily, but could be
throughout the Atlantic basin and Med.

Also, as we've not yet begun our extensive use of same, we're not
current on what cybercafés cost these days. Our limited experience is
all over the map, from free to outrageous. What's your experience?

The rates in the NW Caribbean have been $3 to $6 per hour. I will say
that the highest costs that we saw were in Key West where it was $10-$12
(or higher) per hour!

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.

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.

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

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

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

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 22:19:05 GMT, "Skip Gundlach"
wrote:

Likewise, what about wall-type power to plug into (realizing that we'd have
to carry converters to non-US-type power countries)?
Check your power supply, most of them will work from 100-240 volts and
at the most you'ld need a plug adapter.

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 22:19:05 GMT, "Skip Gundlach"
wrote:

Likewise, what about wall-type power to plug into (realizing that we'd have
to carry converters to non-US-type power countries)?
Check your power supply, most of them will work from 100-240 volts and
at the most you'ld need a plug adapter.

"Skip Gundlach" wrote
in ink.net:

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.

If you're just looking at doing Voice Over IP (VOIP), ISDN isn't what
you're looking for as rates for that start at about $7.50/min. Check
InmarSat if you're interested.


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?

I would think that if a Cybercafe could offer VOIP, they would and I
don't know if they would let you use your own equipment over their
network. On top of that they probably have Quality of Service (QOS)
metrics set up for their machines to insure that their VOIP traffic gets
priority over the normal traffic that's flowing over the network. As I
mentioned the propagation delays associated with satellites may make
this unusable, or highly choppy at best.

Quite honestly your best bet is probably an Iridium or GlobalStar phone
at $1+ a minute. You might be able to find better rates through
GlobalStar if you roam in areas local to the US.

In Guatemala you can by a cell phone from, believe it or not, Bell South
that gives you $0.12/min calls to the US.

-- Geoff