Cell-phone Internet

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stmbtwle

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I looked into a wireless card for the boat some time ago but the cost put me off.

HOWEVER I've recently discovered that with the appropriate data kit I can connect my computer to my new cell phone. For about $25/mo the cell company will allow you connect to the internet, with unlimited data minutes.

It's not that fast but it IS a connection, and I can call the phone company and connect or disconnect the service when I want.

Bluetooth works too, but it's only half as fast as the cable.

I'm getting about 56kbs with Bluetooth and 112kbs with the data cable. I don't know how that compares with a cellular card.
 
The last thing I want to do when Im on the boat is to go on line for anything. A cell phone is bad enough!
 
with a verizon air card I get a min of 220K down & 90K up
Most of the time I get around 500K+ down and 128k up
 
thanks I was wondering how the cellphone compared to the air card. It'll do for me, for now.
 
it's beed 2 or 3 years since i used a cel as a modem, it was slow. maybe they're faster now, i think some newer phones are G3 compatible. i recently updated my cingular card to a new G3 and it's almost as fast as DSL or Cable, in areas with G3 service
 
quote:
Originally posted by Denis

The last thing I want to do when Im on the boat is to go on line for anything.
Click to expand...


Weather updates, maps, parts, email a schematic to help on a repair, etc, etc,,,....to name a few reasons....
 
i agree... while it's cool to say "i don't want a computer aboard" regardeless of someone business nees, just getting the latest radar imagery is worth it. here in so fl and dailty afternoon thunderstorms it helps to see where the cells are and how they're moving.
 
The March Issue of Yachting Magizine had a really good article on just this topic.

Almost There
 
If it's basically a dial-up service, via cell, it will be painfully slow. My father in law tried it with TMobile. If it's true broadband service, like a Blackberry can provide, and what abalmuth is talking about, it should work fine for you. Make sure you understand the speed.
 
Last season I had a pci card from alltel, works great IF you're in a high speed zone, but up at the lake it was worthless...would take almost an hour to upload a 2mg commercial, just didn;t work well for our application as we are always sending and receiving larger audio files...You guys that get the high speed sure are lucky! perhaps in the next few years service will get better for us land locked boaters.
 
Not only painfully slow, but sometimes makes you think suicide (NOT!). If you thought dial-up was slow, wait until you try using your cell phone as a dial-up modem. I usually try every 6 months or so, remember how frustrated it made me, and then give up almost immediately.
 
With the latest Sprint EVDO Rev.A cards I am getting about 600-1000K uplink and 1.2 to 3 meg download.
 
Pascal,

Do you still have the web cam set up on your boat? Can you post the url?
 
I use the T-Mobile MDA. We have a couple of favorite spots to anchor out where I can jump on a WiFi antenna with the computer. If not, we just jump through the cell via a Bluetooth dial up connection.

While this is slow compared to a cable modem or DSL, it's still about 2 to 3 times faster than... "gulp" dial up when on the Edge network. When anchored at Egmont Key in the mouth of Tampa Bay, I average about 115kb, which is more than twice dial up. If your just checking email or downloading text based weather updates, this is more than enough.

I have their unlimited email and data plan with 1,000 minutes peak. It runs around $90 per month.

One cool option is that the Admiral can instant message via AOL, MSN or Yahoo with her folks in Michigan while we're underway. She hasn't lost a connection yet when the signal jumps tower to tower.

I own several internet businesses (SkeetobiteWeather is one), so I have to be connected pretty much all the time.
 
quote:
Originally posted by lanbuilder

With the latest Sprint EVDO Rev.A cards I am getting about 600-1000K uplink and 1.2 to 3 meg download.

Click to expand...
My VZW card gets the same in some areas but the least I get is the 220K down & 90K up
 
Several years ago I used an older model cellphone to connect via-dialup... the speed was 14.4 kbs. It was painfully slow but ok for an email download. The new phone at 112 kbs is about twice the speed of the best dialup; still no comparison to dsl or cable but at least it works. I agree going on line isn't the top of my priorities but it is a nice option to have. It's slow, but it does work and it doesn't cost much.
 
Hi Willie.

I just got a Treo 650 from Alltel. The data connection cost me about $30 a month and is comparable to ISDN speed. The nice thing is that I don't need to connect to a PC. I can look at weather radar, check email, etc, all from the device. I can and do sometimes, connect via bluetooth to my laptop and can surf the web. Doesn't compare to my Road Runner cable modem at home, but does allow for spot checks of weather radar before taking off.
 
From reading the above people are mixing technologies.

quote:
Originally posted by Denis

The last thing I want to do when Im on the boat is to go on line for anything. A cell phone is bad enough!

Click to expand...


The relatively new EVDO broadband wireless system is allowing me to spend more time on the boat.

True broadband (over 114kbps) has really only been offered for a short time yet is growing in number of users and areas covered every day.

I use the independent burst speed test at CNET and have seen speeds as low as in the low 300kpbs (6x as fast as dial-up) to 2000kpbs (70x dial-up speed)

I am averaging around 600kpbs.

I am using AllTel. This is not meant to be an endorsement. With a cell phone the cost is $60/month. OK, on the surface that seems like a lot however:
- cut your road runner and you are saving $35 month (may vary market by market) Drop this, saves you $35/month.
- how often to you pay the $9/day or so at a hotel or airport? I was doing this 4-5x month. Saved me another $40 or so a month.
- does this help or hurt? If you are a business owner or manager that can control your time the benefit may be you can now spend more time on the boat, more time away from the office even if you need to log in a few times a day. This answer will vary from individual to individual.

EVDO is the standard today for wireless broadband.
 
Sprint and Verizon are rolling out EVDO Rev.A which offers even higher speeds.
 
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