Internet in the Med

[JordanBoon]

Good Morning,

I have finally made my company an online based success, and i am handing over operations to a collegue. However i am still going to be answering the phone and answering emails etc.

I am looking to see if there are any options out there for EU internet from a yacht so i can use 3G wireless without the huge data charges.

Basically i am looking for help in getting the cheapest deal in 3G internet all over the Nothern Med.

Any Help greatfully recieved.
Jordan Boon

 

[ccscott49]

We just buy a local PAYG data sim in whichever country we are in. If you are going into marinas, often they will have WiFi available, with an omnidirectional hi gain WiFi antenna, you can often get free connections from diverse sources. But we rely on our 3g dongle.

 

[JordanBoon]

What network is your 3G dongle on and how much does it cost, We are going to be mainly staying at achorages, but i think the wifi antenna sounds good idea

 

[sailaboutvic]

vodafone

Hi
we have sailed thought northern Spain Portugal and on to Southern Spain each time buy a Vodafone pay as you go sim card and dongle for what every country we was in , it works well , better then the uk we been getting signal well out at sea ,

www.bluewatersailor2.webs.com

 

[Andy and Lyn]

If you are going into marinas, often they will have WiFi available, with an omnidirectional hi gain WiFi antenna, you can often get free connections from diverse sources.

where does one get a omni direc hi-gain wi-fi antenna and where do you plug it into on the Laptop?

 

[goosewing]

I use this and it's brilliant. Plugs in via usb, I'd also get a aqua waterproof bag for it. I have a large one, i then hang it outside my hatch and get great coverage but it also works well inside my cabin.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mobile-Wifi...QO/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1295454823&sr=8-11

 

[ccscott49]

If you are going into marinas, often they will have WiFi available, with an omnidirectional hi gain WiFi antenna, you can often get free connections from diverse sources.

where does one get a omni direc hi-gain wi-fi antenna and where do you plug it into on the Laptop?

google it, I cant remember the name of mine, but its an antenna with built in transceiver, so it plugs into a USB socket, much better than normnal antenna, as you dont get any signal loss in the antenna cabling.
I'm on Vodafone with my PAYG data sim.

Just had a look, look for wave rv marine wifi antenna, these are brilliant.

 

[nimbusgb]

Now £25 an month for 2.4 gig of satellite broadband! Turn the spare heads into a server room along with one of them fancy fuel cell jobbies!

Hmm. time to move to liveaboard and work off the boat in some nice Southern or Eastern Med port!

 

[ccscott49]

Now £25 an month for 2.4 gig of satellite broadband! Turn the spare heads into a server room along with one of them fancy fuel cell jobbies!

Hmm. time to move to liveaboard and work off the boat in some nice Southern or Eastern Med port!

........and how do you get this satellite broadband? Do you need a dish? A gyro stabilised dish? On a boat?

 

[Caladh]

Don't buy from Amazon at that price ! Try ebay - its' around £28

See - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Alfa-Network-...=280427357945&ps=63&clkid=6338282271932892202

 

[rivonia]

I use this and it's brilliant. Plugs in via usb, I'd also get a aqua waterproof bag for it. I have a large one, i then hang it outside my hatch and get great coverage but it also works well inside my cabin.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mobile-Wifi...QO/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1295454823&sr=8-11

We use this in the Med and it realy works. At the moment as no free wifi around we are using a dongle from WIND.

Fair winds

Peter

 

[maxi77]

Travelling down through France and Spain we managed on wifi, either paid for or free. Some marinas have excellent service for free or nominal prices. On arrival in Portugal our destination for the time being we bought an Optimus dongle and they had a dongle based wifi server on offer so we bought that so through the one dongle we get two laptops, two Iphones and an Ipad for 50 cents an hour.

 

[JordanBoon]

I have been looking into this satellite internet service and i think that sounds like the best option, could anyone recommend any good companies that give the best value for money.

Also if i go over what is the max i can get charged. I am very weiry about this as i have heard many horror stories of the £1000 data usage bills.

Also does anyone know:
I currently have a VOIP landline number forwarded to my mobile, and was wondering if the customers calling me would be charged anymore, i should really just call my VOIP provider.

Thankyou

 

[nimbusgb]

........and how do you get this satellite broadband? Do you need a dish? A gyro stabilised dish? On a boat?

Yes you need a dish. For anything more than in a marina or a very flat anchorage ( run a cable ashore to a tripoded dish? or run a small controller at the dish and wifi the internet locally to the boat ) you'd need a stabilised dish. this company does a £299 up front DIY option £25 / month service. I'm guessing it could be set up to work afloat.

Given that when you are sailing it think you should be, well .. sailing and when you are at anchor or moored up you can do internetty stuff why bother with the added expense of a stabilised system? Lets face it if you have a superyacht a couple of grand for satellite internet is not a bother. For the rest of us £300 for the ability to get connected with just a little hassle is not a bad deal.

 

[charles_reed]

Good Morning,

I have finally made my company an online based success, and i am handing over operations to a collegue. However i am still going to be answering the phone and answering emails etc.

I am looking to see if there are any options out there for EU internet from a yacht so i can use 3G wireless without the huge data charges.

Basically i am looking for help in getting the cheapest deal in 3G internet all over the Nothern Med.

Any Help greatfully recieved.
Jordan Boon

As suggested a 3G local data SIM is the most effective choice.

Prices vary, country-to-country and time-to-time.

In the last 3 years, I've used Bouygues in France (€20/100hrs), TIM in Italy (€24-2/100 hours/month), T-Mobile in Croatia (€1/500Mb), Vodafone in Greece (€30/5Gb) and WIND (€0/month, unlimited). The last is an unrepeated offer.

I infinitely prefer to use a smartphone than the dongle (sic). Having used both I've found the former far faster, more sensitive and less power-hungry than the Huawei USB modem provided by all the networks.

IMHO, using cellular data is more convenient, cheaper, simpler and secure than using public wi-fi with Win or Mac OS - I've used it for the last 6 years since 3G has become more widespread.
However it is a very fast-moving scene and what is best-buy today will not be best-buy tomorrow - you have to shop around.
Don't use a UK "go-anywhere" SIM, unless you are made of money, despite the EC Commissioner rulings the UK providers at are nearly as big bandits as the UK banks.

 

[ccscott49]

Yes you need a dish. For anything more than in a marina or a very flat anchorage ( run a cable ashore to a tripoded dish? or run a small controller at the dish and wifi the internet locally to the boat ) you'd need a stabilised dish. this company does a £299 up front DIY option £25 / month service. I'm guessing it could be set up to work afloat.

Given that when you are sailing it think you should be, well .. sailing and when you are at anchor or moored up you can do internetty stuff why bother with the added expense of a stabilised system? Lets face it if you have a superyacht a couple of grand for satellite internet is not a bother. For the rest of us £300 for the ability to get connected with just a little hassle is not a bad deal.

I guess it would definitely have to be ashore, with a repeater, then theres the problem of power, but I suppose a battery and inverter would solve that problem, but carting all this stuff ashore and setting it up, to allow access for a day or two at anchor, seems a bit of a hassle. If you are marina based, then I guess it could be a goer, but if you are marina based, then you would probably have wifi and/or 3g as well.
I think I will stick with my 3g dongle and wifi masthead transceiver, for now.
I do have a stabilised sat phone aboard and internet is availabe through that, but eyewateringly expensive. I havent even got it working on the phone yet, too bloody expensive and so far uneccessary, in the meddy anyway.

 

[mikewilkes]

Don't buy from Amazon at that price ! Try ebay - its' around £28

See - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Alfa-Network-...=280427357945&ps=63&clkid=6338282271932892202

Got one of these early last year. Worked very well over the summer stuck to the glass with "bluetac" cos we did not get the holder. Seems to have one hell of a range!!

.

 

[sychristina]

wifi france

Not sure if it meets your requirements, however, i have "unlimited internet" for 9 eu via Orange mobicarte on fr. on my cheap smartphone. Works via an Android tether to my netbook very nicely.

 

[BigJoe]

For Spain, we use a Movistar dongle and plug it into a normal wireless router.
So the kids, the wife and I can all update Facebook at the same time.
Works in most places, but not everywhere.

 

[Chris_Robb]

We just buy a local PAYG data sim in whichever country we are in. If you are going into marinas, often they will have WiFi available, with an omnidirectional hi gain WiFi antenna, you can often get free connections from diverse sources. But we rely on our 3g dongle.

I have a wind data sim €17 per month, abd coverage is really good. HOWEVER, when the PAYG month runs out on May 5th, I have to find a wind shop to pay the next months charge - the problem is that I won't be near one. So I think I am going to try a different tack and do a contract one on DD to my bank and stop the DD at the end of september when I come home/ It seems unbelievable that I cannot renew the PAYG on the internet!!!!

Does anyone know better re the wind problem (not me, you idiot)