Spawned by online while boating. "Wanted techie"

[mocruising]

Spawned by online while boating. \"Wanted techie\"

Hi guys I am sorry I am just a thick sailor lost by all this tech. jargon, but I do have a problem. I am an end used and don't like electronics. I am in Portugal and will head down to Spain in March. I have an SSB onboard and a Mini M and a mobile phone but I think I need to upgrade it to a 3G. I will be investing in a new lap top soon as mine is company owned and I have to take care what I use it for. What I need is for some one who understands these things (Communications from the 21st century) to come on board and help me spend some of my money, I am SKI'ING at the moment.

What I want to do is be able to sit down below in either a marina or the middle of the Atlantic for that matter and send and receive e-mails, get weather forecasts and surf if necessary. Power consumption is not a problem. The lap top will be wifi and have blue teeth if that's correct I have looked into that and understand some marinas are equiped Lagos Portugal for example. Cost does come into it the cheaper the comms. the better but I would rather pay for a decent service than have a crap cheap provider.

So if any of you guys are wintering in the Algarve at the moment or like me heading for Gib and Spain in the spring let me know and I will gladly pay someone for a couple of days to come and give me a crash course and set things up on board. Or recommend a company that will give me impartial advice and not just try and flog me what they happen to be stocking or marketing.

Some say the investigation and experiment is the fun, my eyes just glaze over when people get too technical. I am a simple sailor love the theory of sailing, aerodynamics and stability but a dinosoar when it comes to electronics.

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[Trevethan]

Re: Spawned by online while boating. \"Wanted techie\"

There are a number of options available -- I am no techie and am not very familiar with sat coms but work sometimes involves getting laptop to talk to phone/radio systems to file stories remotely.

In built wireless laptop range is limited -- suggest you look at external powered antennae options to give you the most reach while in marinas -- some marinas offer wifi access in other places its possible to piggyback on local wifi in coffeeshops or unsecure home/business networks. Great for surfing etc, but I wouldn't recommend doing your banking etc that way.

That will hopefully solve many of your marina based connection issues.

Re: 3G not sure how widespread that is in Europe.
Suggest a talk to Vodafone or Orange. They can provide 3G pcmcia cards that will plug into laptop. They can also advise on roaming fees (quite dear)

For the SSB comms would need to know model etc. Not so familar with them, however have had remarkable success rxing weather using a Sony worldbank SSB receiver hooked into the line in soctet on the pc sound card and some software. Can't remember the name but somehere recommended it.

Drop me a line if I can help

(nicholas.trevethan@reuters.com)

Talk to you later,

Nick





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[bon]

Re: Spawned by online while boating. \"Wanted techi

Hi Mocruising,

I read your message with interest as this is something I have been looking into with some interest. My Dad is currently in Gib, and I'm looking to head out there permanently soon.

3G datacards are available for laptops from Orange and Vodaphone. However the cost of data transfer can get quite pricey. Many marinas are Wifi enabled now, so registering with the marina on a short term basis so surfing when in a marina shouldn't be a problem. I know in Gib Shepherd's Bay is Wifi'd most of the time. Word of warning tho, even tho the laptop's got built in wifi u may not get a signal. Wifi generally runs in the 2.4ghz band, and as you get a wall in the way of you and the base station your signal can slow down alarmingly.

On Dad's boat we use a USB Wifi adaptor that plugs in the back of the laptop. With a long USB lead, Dad can sit in the cabin and sit the USB wifi out the window or in the wheel house. That solves that problem.

Also, on the track of mobile phones, (Nokia Ruggidised are really good on boats) you can now get Wifi phones. We found Dad was running up horrendous bills on the mobile, so asked me to look into a way around it (I run a techie company). What we discovered is a £180 handset that connects to the Wifi internet signal. Then we carry the phone connection to our data centre in Brackley and connect you to BT there. We also put a UK phone number onto the centre and link it to your phone. So you call people in the UK from any Wifi hotspot in the World, and you're only making a UK based phone call! Also, this knackers the mobile carriers charging you for incoming calls, because people just call the number we give you and from Brackley we route the call over the net to wherever you are.

Clearly doing the phone home thing this way saves an absolute fortune. If someone calls you when your phones out of a wifi hotspot, we take a voice mail that you can collect when you are back in service (and we email it to you just in case).

As I say, I'm heading to Gib very soon to base permanently over there as Im finding a large market from the Ex-Pats for these phones. I can also jump on a plane any time and visit Gib before hand as I regulary go see Dad. If you require any help with the laptop / phone etc Please drop me a line and I'll be more than happy to help. Techie advice is usually charged by the pint! If you need any work doing I can give you a quote, or point you to a few companies I always reccomend. Can't point you to a web site on the wifi phones as I'm still building it, but it will be on www.sftalk.net in the next week.

For any other info, just drop me a line.

Kindest regards,

Ian Bonham
ianbonham@sftalk.net

P.s. - Blue-tooth, not blue-teeth!! Nearly, but not quite!

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by bon on 11/11/2004 19:13 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Gerry]

Re: Spawned by online while boating. \"Wanted techi

This also sounds just what we are looking for, particularly the wifi phone, can you send more details via pm? Thanks

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[ashley]

Re: Spawned by online while boating. \"Wanted techi

You can also use "skype" on any pocket pc with wifi or a SD wifi card for voice over IP
But this will only allow outgoing calls at the moment

<hr width=100% size=1>Live life to the fullest... think of all the people on the Titanic who passed up chocolate dessert.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by ashley on 12/11/2004 16:50 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[bon]

Re: Spawned by online while boating. \"Wanted techi

Hi,

After a few requests for more information on this, although the public web site is not completed yet (I've been working on the private users interface) I have put together a 2 page PDF document on the phones explaining about them. If you would like this document, pop to http://www.sftalk.net and you can download the 'Information Pack'.

I apologise the web page looks a bit like a half complete refit at the moment, but we've not actually started working officially with the public as yet, just getting people like my Dad's working. However in that Acrobat document theres the info you need to get you up and running.

Hope that helps, Kind regards,

Ian

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[rrees]

Re: Spawned by online while boating. \"Wanted techie\"

Hi I use as service called BGAN on my boat
This gives me broadband via Sat and can be either a network connection, USB or Bluetooth.
Cost is based on Mb of transfer and can be reduced using a compression method.

We provide the same service to the BBC field journalist who send their reports for the news via theis terminal.

Please feel free to Email me on richard.rees@4bn.com if you would like further information.

Thanks

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[trouville]

Re: Spawned by online while boating. \"Wanted techi

to use BEGAN you need the modum and sat phone,if im not wrong by now when i last looked an iridium cost around$2000? the internet modem must cost anothe $1000? then you can pay for your abonament plus data transfer?If you simply want p2p phone for example its altogether only payable by the very rich or tony blairs government emplyees from our taxes???

Its a great consept but to expensive--why not set up a fast packet modem onboard receive the packets via SSB at your home? and feed the internet that way ?? total cost excluding ssb $200 !!

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[bon]

Re: Spawned by online while boating. \"Wanted techi

Just to let those that were interested in Internet phones know, the SFTalk.net site is now operational at http://www.sftalk.net.

All contact details and call charges are listed on the site.

Ian Bonham