Satellite Internet, Direct-TV, and Phone

[65Hatntx]

So today I "bought the boat" or at least my earnest money went hard am I am now permanently in the deal. So, now the planning begins. This may be just be the first of many questions I will pose to all of you long time Hatt. owners/experts. BTW thanks for all of the good suggestions during my survey phase......

Is there one best satellite system out there that will offer me High-speed internet, Direct-TV and phone service? If not, what are my options?

 

[Kim Beatley]

Congradulations! What did you end up buying?

I bought a 37 year old 36C last August. My First!'

It has been loads of fun, and each WEEK I spend loads of cash. Already have 130 hours on boat since August and I do not live in the warm part of the country and I have not been anywhere except out locally.

So much to learn, so much to upgrade. Finishing new teak and holly flooring new hatches, and new African mahogney panneling, new cooling systems for each engine, new water pump for generator, (that one was expensive), new stove. Next - New windows and when my budget recovers, small diesels.

This forum is great! You can pick up a lot of used but very good parts if you ask at a good price. Members want to help and the banter that sometimes occurs is FUN!

Post some pics.

 

[GJH]

I like the American KVH line of products. Hi speed internet via satellite is VERY expensive on a boat, not just the equipment, but especially the bandwidth. Look up the plans for "Fleet Broad Band" on KVH and other sites, which Inmarsat's "budget solution". $8-$12 a meg, anyone? These rates are pretty standard across all resellers:

http://www.kvh.com/inmarsatairtime/...arsat/DS_InmarsatFBBAirtimeRates_A4 0510.ashx

If you intend to be a heavy user, another consideration is KVH's new Vsat product. Much less for data, but perhaps less coverage, not so much an issue if you plan to stay close to North America, still $2 a megabyte! And I believe the equipment is a little more expensive.

http://www.kvh.com/Pages/miniVSAT-B.../TracPhone V3 Leisure Airtime Rates 0211.ashx

If you are just coastal cruising, then cellular is going to be a MUCH more economical solution for voice and data, with an Iridium satellite phone as emergency back up.

 

[Bill Allen]

Congrats. I use a verizion air card and direct tv. I have an olf follow me tv unit on the bow bought five years ago, not the higest tech unit as you still need to adjust the azimuth but works. Bill

 

[Tim Powell]

So today I "bought the boat" or at least my earnest money went hard am I am now permanently in the deal. So, now the planning begins. This may be just be the first of many questions I will pose to all of you long time Hatt. owners/experts. BTW thanks for all of the good suggestions during my survey phase......

Is there one best satellite system out there that will offer me High-speed internet, Direct-TV and phone service? If not, what are my options?

Go to west marine as a byer who knows nothing and check out kvh satalite you may eaven look at there web site kvh marine .Also track vision marine I STAND TO BE CORRECTED BUT i belive you will need two systems to do all you want phone and sat may require two diffrent antennas.
Welcom to the clan there is a lot of members who have a lot of knowledge about hats here. Further can point you the correct way baised on trial and error. If there is a slot left in the hat school here in NC. You might give it some thought. The guy who teaches it worked for hat a long time and a heck of a nice guy. That is a heck of a lot of boat you got and a beauty to.Tim

 

[Pascal]

congrats and welcome.

it would help if you'd tell us where/how you will use the boat since this will affect your communications decision.

Sat TV is easy, there are a number of solutions from KVH, King, and others.

if you are not going to spend a lot of time outside US waters, you will want to stick with cellular for voice and data as it is a lot cheaper. Sat. equip. has come down in price ($5000 or so) but air time/data has not and it's still in the $1 a minute for voice and aroudn $10 a meg for data.

for instance, in most of the bahamas, you can get fairly reliable internet access thru Wifi when using a booster/router/external antenna. Obviously that really works in anchorages and marinas, not underway or in very remote areas but it's a lot cheaper and enough for most users.

 

[MikeP]

Concur with others - Sat TV is great and we have had excellent luck with the KVH M2. It works beautifully BUT it is sold/advertised as an "at anchor" system, not one that will track in seas. However, it tracks just fine in our normal cruising area (Ches bay) while moving though I only did it once out of curiosity. But if you must have sat tv while enroute, I wouldn't take a chance on buying the M2 system and then possibly being disappointed.

SAT internet is not practical at all IMO and I agree that cellular is the way to go if your cruising area has coverage.

 

[GJH]

For TV I also have an M2, which has since been replaced by the M1 and M1DX (go figure). We have been quite happy with it over the past 3 1/2 years and I have used it underway a few times while moseying down the ICW, both for TV and particularly XM radio which is part of the Direct TV package.

I checked the hardware costs from my 1st post. Vsat is a LOT more expensive; about $5,000 more than Fleetbroadband 250, for a total of $15k! You gotta want speed badly and be a pretty big user before those economics cross paths. If you are going to be out of cell and wi fi range for extended times and MUST have internet connectivity, (or just have more money than you can figure out what to do with) I suppose sat phone/internet makes sense. You can get e-mail through an Iridium phone-based system or via SSB radio.

So it really depends on where you are going to use the boat and what your connectivity needs are.

 

[Yacht Jim]

I recently installed SeaTel for my DirecTV and it's great. Total cost was less than $3,500 and I did all the installation.
I use T-Mobile for my cell phone with a Samsung Vibrant phone. I tether my phone to the notebook computer for internet at a cost of ZERO. Not super high speed but it was much faster than the WiFi we had at the dock that cost $40/month. Anywhere I have cell coverage I have internet. I agree with the others about Inmarsat - great but expensive.

 

[GJH]

How many gigs a month do you use on that tethering arrangement? One thing about AT&T and T-Mobile, you can talk and surf at the same time.

 

[65Hatntx]

Thanks all..... I will be spending a lot of time in the Bahamas and hopefully can get by with a Verizon hot spot for internet. Anybody know what the charges are for roaming down there? I guess I could go with local service and save a bundle.

 

[Pascal]

Do not even try data roaming it s like $1 a Meg whether Verizon or ATT

Voice roaming is expensive too, over $2 a min. Cheaper to buy a phone and sim there and recharge it with cards. About $1 a min outbound to the states and $0.30 incoming

Wifi is your best bet but you really need a booster and external antenna. In many places you can pick up free hot spots, although in most if the exumas you new to pay $10 a day

 

[Canuck Dennis]

And Pascal's ideas for wi fi reception is valid, I followed it and am very happy with the results, why I even sent email when underway from Boca Grande to Cape Coral...

 

[Yacht Jim]

George, I have exceeded my 5 GB amount twice. There is no additional cost as we are on the unlimited plan but it does slow the speed down from a 4G connection to a 3G connection. I've found that downloading movies consumes a lot of my availability. So, I've not done much of it lately. I'm on the net probably 4 hours a day and do not have any problems. AND, yes I can talk on the phone and surf the net at the same time. I think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I run Dish Network on an Intellian I2. It works flawlessly with at rest or underway. You do nothing once it is setup. Just turn it on and it does the rest.

What boat did you buy? I missed that if you already posted it.

 

[GJH]

George, I have exceeded my 5 GB amount twice. There is no additional cost as we are on the unlimited plan but it does slow the speed down from a 4G connection to a 3G connection. I've found that downloading movies consumes a lot of my availability. So, I've not done much of it lately. I'm on the net probably 4 hours a day and do not have any problems. AND, yes I can talk on the phone and surf the net at the same time. I think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

So it is not a cost of zero, you have it built into your phone plan. If you are in a good T-Mobile coverage area, they actually have an excellent data network (I'm in the biz). While they are getting much better, they are are still pretty sketchy coverage wise for 3-4G in many cruising areas.

 

[ThirdHatt]

I recently got a KVH FB250 for the boat. I really just wanted phone and fax capabilities offshore and in the Bahamas. As noted above, internet is expensive so I do not plan to use it for internet access. Cell phones usually bill at $1.99/minute in the Bahamas but with this FB250 I will be paying only $1.25/minute.

For internet at a more affordable rate, KVH makes the V7 which is less expensive for internet but much more expensive to buy. The FB250 that I have sells for around $11k but the V7 sells for around $29k! I think a cellular based setup would be best for cruising within cell range and of course a good wifi setup will work great at most anchorages. It's all about what your needs are and how much you are willing to spend to get it.

GOOD LUCK!

EDIT: I forgot to mention that for anyone considering a Fleet Broadband unit there are plans available with NO MONTHLY FEE, just pay for what you use. I signed up for a basic $1.25/minute pay-as-you-go plan with a one year contract. I asked what the cancellation fee would be should I want to end my contract early for some reason and the guy laughed and told me that because there is no monthly fee I could cancel it and not even have to let them know! I hooked it up a few weeks ago and used it for a 3 minute call to test sound clarity and to see how much delay, etc and found that the clarity was excellent. Much to my surprise there was no noticeable delay in conversation. I watched my wife as she spoke from 50' down the dock on her cell phone and I could hear her through the FB250 maybe one full second later if not a bit less. Not bad at all for a signal that had to travel 22,000 miles to the satellite and back! I concluded that this unit is MUCH better than the older generation sat phones that I have used in the past. YMMV.

 

[Dan Mapes]

We are currently in the Abacos, and have been all Winter. Some marinas offer free wifi, and some don't. Free stuff will be balky. You WILL appreciate learning a bit about wifi and high powered routers. They are also very helpful in the U.S.. By having one of these, you can hook up to a hot spot from the boat vs. carrying a laptop to the marina office or etc..
Consider an 8 DB Wifi antenna hooked up to a router such as the Ubiquity Bullet, or the Rouge Wave. Once familiar with these systems, and it isn't that difficult, you will be able to sniff out a hotspot a long ways away.

http://www.wavewifi.com/rogue-wave.html

http://www.ubnt.com/bulletm

We are using a noname router that accomplishes the same task but its software is kinda klunky so I won't recommend it.

Down here we use Bahamas WiMax. You can get long term contracts like 3 months for 200 bucks. Well worth it. Outer Island Internet also offers many hot spots in the Abacos but legacy problems may still exist. In the Exumas and Far Bahamas, you will pay more from what I understand. Much more.

Consider joining the Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club. They get some breaks on dockage and you may find this an asset. We do. Most importantly the people are great!