Email & Internet Options at Sea

[DKB]

We are outfitting a Beneteau 456 for extensive cruising offshore and would like to know what are the best options regarding emails and if possible the internet and to be able to receive and transmit attachments. Am familiar with sailmail but is there anything better at a reasonable cost.

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[markdj]

The only other option is by Satellite phone like Iridium or similar. Can't remember the name of the other one but it's thousands...$$$
Depending how far you are off shore, a GSM aerial up the mast might be an option. If the line of sight is clear, 20 miles is possible depending on height of aerial.

Sailmail is a great way of doing things though it is slow. Of great use is http://www.ybw.com/cgi-bin/forums/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=ym&Number=243287

Hope some of this info is useful.

<hr width=100% size=1>Mobile UK Weather
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.stronge.org.uk>http://www.stronge.org.uk</A>

 

[Matthewb]

I am not sure how far offshore you want to be but for real offshore use you will have to go with a satellite option as any terrestrial phone system is reliant on land based transmitters which have a very limited range.

I cruise in the Solent and use Vodafone GPRS for both web browsing and email - it's fine. Performance is similar to a fast analogue modem which is acceptable for occasional browsing and fine for email. But it is Asynchronous, ie the download speed is faster (typically 3 times) than upload.

I have a dedicated PCMCIA card in my laptop but you can just hook up to your phone if it is compatible.

Of course none of this is any good if you are planning to spend the weekend in the Southern Ocean........!

Matthew

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[vyv_cox]

How about GPRS costs? Would they be acceptable for a private account or are they written off to company account? GPRS seems to be a good option for coastal cruising but some of the costs quoted seem horrifically high.

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[colvic]

I was given a demo of GPRS last week and to be honest I couldn't see many advantages for it over our existing phone. I appreciate being able to be on line with very little cost except when sending or receiving, but our "ordinary" system of a standard 4year old mobile, data suite software and a cable connection allows us to connect to the internet, local ISP, download the daily weatherforcast for northern Spain and go off line again in under 50 secs and at less than10p. A pay as you go phone carries no monthly charges and when people from the UK phone us, they pay instead of us as was the case when using a contract phone.

Number of calls received dropped straight away!

Considering the fact that we use the internet every day for both sending/receiving e-mails and downloads of weather etc. I think we are just as quick as GPRS and at least £60 a month cheaper.


Phil

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[markdj]

GPRS is £6 a month for 10Mb with Orange UK. If you are going abroad then you can't use your 10Mb monthly allowance but it is still only £3 a Mb anywhere in the world for GPRS. Orange have an international GPRS roaming agreement and the price is excellent.

For info on Satphones, I found this today. <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.motorboating.com/motorboat/electronics/article/0,12696,386891,00.html>http://www.motorboating.com/motorboat/electronics/article/0,12696,386891,00.html</A>

Hope this helps



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[beneteau_305_553]

Go for sail mail

The ssb radio is also great for long distance comunications, (5000 miles) ,Crusing networks, Atlantic weatherforcasts and BBC world service!

<hr width=100% size=1>Richard