WIFI Underway What are you using?

[Don L]

Far as I am concerned an limited data plan from a major carrier is enough if coastal cruising the US. I have had both Sprint and T-Mobil and they worked mostly everywhere included gonk hole anchorages from Maine to Keys and to The Gulf. But the same only semi worked in the Bahamas and I have had 3 different carriers there.

So now I have Starlink and a cheap prepaid Mint Mobil cell plan. It works out to be about $10-15/mo more than the unlimited cell plan in the US. It works out to be $30 less total when in the Bahamas, but works anywhere (except ashore unless I find a open wifi).

 

[bumpkin]

I could get cell service 10nm out of the port of Doha, but the antennae were mounted on top of high rises. What sort of range does the extender give you?

It is hard to tell how much farther an extender extends. I know it sounds funny but even the companies who make them only talk in dbs of gain, not extra miles of connectivity. I found in marginal areas, I had an extra bar of strength. This translated into fewer dropped calls, better calls and faster surfing on the web. It is not magic, in that, it will not make something out of nothing.

I similar to you, put the antenna on top of our boat. I received texts when I couldn't see land. This happened on Lake Michigan and in the Bahamas.

I reused my cell extender from RVing. I'm not sure I would buy one for boating.

Mike

 

[Mako]

It’s interesting how technology is changing things. Pretty much no one goes out and buys an SSB anymore when you can have a satellite phone. And now sat phones are being replaced by Starlink (and hopefully Kuiper soon).

 

[Bmarler]

I’ve been a T-Mobile customer for many years in south Puget sound. We’ve found that the coverage around key peninsula, Bremerton, port orchard, etc… is spotty. Verizon is king in those areas.
But, around the rest of the sound, T-Mobile works very well. We use the home internet service, powered up 24/7 as we live aboard.
They told us it wouldn’t work away from our home slip, (geofenced) but that hasn’t been our experience. We’re totally happy with it for Puget sound cruising.