Keeping Your Boat Connected and Online

 After years of cruising while working online, we've come up with solutions that work for us. Lucy's job requires web conferencing for 3-4 hours per day, which means we need a fast connection with at least 1 GB per day just for her job. So here's how we do it.

First, let's define Wi-Fi. Everyone knows what Wi-Fi is, right? Well, we've noticed a lot of confusion about it lately. This article is about getting online, and Wi-Fi is a part of that. But maybe not in the way you think it is. 

When someone talks about using Wi-Fi to connect to the internet, what they're usually saying is that they are joining an existing Wi-Fi network. Maybe it's provided by a marina, a coffee shop or a hotel. With that in mind, let's introduce Rule #1.

Rule #1: Forget About Wi-Fi

If you live aboard at one marina that has decent Wi-Fi, you might get away with using it for emails and maybe even the occasional Netflix movie. But in our experience, you cannot ever count on it for the important stuff. Even if your marina has fantastic service, Wi-Fi networks experience too much down-time and too much variability due to other people using the network. Meaning that if it's 8 pm and everyone in the marina is "Netflix and chilling," but you've got an important webinar you're hosting, you're SOL. If you're the Netflix guy, it's just a bit annoying. If you're Lucy and you've got classes booked, but the internet is too slow, you risk getting a "Teacher IT" issue from the company and blacklisted from booking future students. No bueno...

Yes, you can get boosters to connect to distant Wi-Fi networks and get online for free. We've tried it, and it never stuck. All of that equipment has been boxed and is buried in the bilge somewhere. It seems to us that all the good Wi-Fi networks are locked with passcodes now, and while there are lots of Wi-Fi networks out there, not many have good internet connections.

So how do we connect to the internet then? That's where Rule #2 comes in.

Rule #2: You Need an Unlimited Data Cellular Plan

With Wi-Fi out, cell phones are now our life. 4G LTE internet can be just as fast as most landline connections; as a matter of fact, we've found it much faster in some places. 

Why go with an unlimited plan? You certainly can make it work by counting your GB carefully and monitoring your data usage. But for us, it was a time consuming and annoying endeavor, and we never had any leftover for fun stuff like Instagram (data hog!) or Netflix. 

Unfortunately, it's extremely easy to overpay for poor internet service. The major companies in the US (AT&T and Verizon) offer terrible customer service for extremely high rates. They want to charge for each device and not allow you to tether your computer. They don't offer unlimited data anymore, and when they do, they have "fair use" policies that give them the right to slow down your service to a crawl (called "throttling"). We avoid contracts since we are often out of the country for long periods. During those times, we deactivate the US phone and pick up a local SIM card.

We were floored when we went to The Bahamas for the first time and picked up a BTC sim card; it was so cheap and so easy! A prepaid plan lets you pay $35 for 15GB of data. It lasts a month, but you just pay another $35 when you need another 15GB. When compared to AT&T and Verizon, that is a real bargain. The service was spectacular and fast. There are now several other great options for just as cheap service in The Bahamas.

But the US is still a problem. We're big fans of MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators). These are small companies that lease time from the major carriers (in the US AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-mobile are the big ones). They don't have towers themselves. They just resell the service. But because of their negotiated rates and lower overhead, they often offer plans that are far cheaper than the major networks. And sometimes they offer unlimited data with no throttling.

The two MVNOs that we've had the best luck with are Ting and UnlimitedtoGo. We've also recently added a Google Fi phone.

We use Ting for our regular cell phone. This line costs us $6/mo to keep active, and then we pay for whatever we use. Our typical Ting bill every month is about $25. Ting uses the T-Mobile network or the Verizon network. For use on the ICW and the Chesapeake Bay, you need the Verizon card.

UnlimitedtoGo offers data-only SIM cards for mobile hotspots. A mobile hotspot is a device that uses a cellular connection to connect to the internet, and then broadcasts that connection to all of your devices via a private wifi network. So your phone, tablet, computer, chart plotter, Kindle, etc. all can get online via one cellular plan. UnlimitedtoGo offers plans from T-Mobile or Verizon. We have an AT&T plan, which they apparently no longer offer. We pay $99 for truly unlimited data; it's a spectacular deal for us.

Google Fi is an MVNO that roams on several different carrier's networks. Their real sales pitch is that it works globally with no international roaming fees. However, just as we started using it, we've learned of several cruisers and digital nomads who have run afoul of Google's policies by being out of the US too long. We plan to use the phone only for occasional phone calls and to get online when we first get to a country before we find a local SIM. In the US, Google Fi uses the T-Mobile network, as well as Sprint and US Cellular, where available.

Rule #3: Pick Your Network Carefully

Since we depend on a cellular connection to get us through our workday, we try to pick the best signal for the area we are cruising. Here's what we've found.

Florida–nearly all coastlines are developed, and pretty much any cell phone works fine. T-Mobile has excellent service throughout, as do AT&T and Verizon.

Atlantic ICW, Beaufort, NC to FL/GA state line–this area of the ICW is pretty developed and is similar to Florida. T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon all work with occasional dead spots in wilderness areas.

Atlantic ICW, south of Norfolk to Beaufort, NC–this area is extremely rural. There is no T-Mobile or Sprint connectivity–even in the towns along the way. AT&T and Verizon have about equal coverage here, but both still have a few gaps.

Norfolk, Annapolis, Baltimore–big cities along the Chesapeake all have excellent service from all companies.

The remainder of Chesapeake Bay–words cannot describe how rural this area is. Service is spotty throughout, with only Verizon and AT&T providing any service at all, and then only near towns. 

The Bahamas–the primary service provider is BTC, which has towers near every settlement. If you are more than 10 miles from a tower, you will not have service. Aliv is a newer provider with their own towers. Aliv is faster than BTC in most places since they have newer equipment and fewer subscribers. Since each settlement only has one tower, if it is very busy, service slows noticeably. MyIslandWifi is an MVNO that offers unlimited mobile hotspots on the BTC network, but at the time of writing, they are sold out.

Rule #4: Boost that Signal!

To avoid spending all of our time in towns, we have a cellular signal booster onboard. Yes, there are marine models available that do the job, but we see no advantage for spending twice the money for a "marine" brand. Weboost by Wilson Cellular makes boosters of all shapes and sizes for cars, homes, and RVs. 

We have the 4G-RV model with the antenna mounted on our mast at the spreaders. So far, it has been amazing. As I write this, we are docked in an SC marina that is notorious for having lousy cell phone coverage. When we leave the boat, our T-mobile phones have "no service" or one weak bar. Onboard (near the booster), we have two or three bars of AT&T 4G LTE from our mobile hotspot, and we are getting a reliable, fast connection. We leave it on all the time since it only draws about 6 watts of power.

We put in the RV model because we had had such a great experience with the portable car model (and we had the mast down anyway). We still carry that portable unit, but for the most part, we've wound up loaning it to friends who need a quick boost. The disadvantages of the portable unit are that it requires you to mess with long cables and set it up all the time (we never could figure a way to leave it up since the wires usually go out the door or a hatch) and it only boosts one device at a time. The Weboost on our spreaders boosts all cell service in the vicinity; so each of our devices has access to a boosted signal. 

Here's a quick recap of what we're using and why

Primary internet connection: We have a mobile hotspot that runs an unlimited data plan with UnlimitedtoGo. Ours uses the AT&T network, which is not currently available on their website, but you can get Verizon or T-Mobile. We plan to switch this SIM card out with each county's best unlimited plan. For example, in The Bahamas, we're going to get MyIslandWifi, but if it is still unavailable, we will get an Aliv hotspot plan.
Cost: $99/month

Primary voice phone: We have Google Fi. We bought this with an eye on international travel, but we know that it won't be as fast and cheap aboard as they claim. We plan to use it when we first get to a country, for random phone calls, and to have as an emergency backup for weather and what-not.
Cost: $25/month

Secondary voice/data phone: Whatever local SIM card is the cheapest. At the moment, we have a Ting card, which costs $6/month plus whatever voice, texting, or data you use every month. We'll probably get an Aliv card for The Bahamas.
Cost: $25-50/month

VoIP Internet voice/text: We still have a Google Voice VoIP phone number. This has been nice since, in our all experimenting, we keep changing our numbers. VMs come to my email, so we give out this number to anyone who might need to get ahold of us. We'll keep it, but for all intents and purposes, Google Fi is now "our number." The Google Voice number is the voice equivalent of our spam folder.
Cost: Free

Satellite comms: We currently use a Garmin InReach for logging and tracking online, and for satellite messaging when offshore.
Cost: $25/month

Conclusion

While the number one reason to go cruising is to get away from it all, that certainly doesn't mean you need to be disconnected from the world. Having an internet connection allows you to run your business remotely, keep in touch with loved ones, or simply enjoy a streaming movie from time-to-time. Everyone wants to be connected on some level, even if it's just to have a reliable means of checking the weather forecast. 

Our findings have come from several seasons of cruising the ICW, the Chesapeake, and The Bahamas. Your internet needs and set up might vary, but for us, our set-up has worked out well.