I test and evaluate lots of different ways to stay connected while on the water. These articles cover antennas, routers, and plans that you can use to get internet access from your boat.
As of iOS 13, there is a Low Data mode for WiFi! For many years, you've been able to limit cellular bandwidth usage, but iOS has not had a way to control the same thing for a WiFi network, until now.
weBoost released the Drive Reach recently which is a more powerful and refined version of the venerable Drive 4G-X, the gold standard for cellular amplifiers since 2014. I have been using mine for a few months, and have some observations
These are my recommended system designs for getting high quality Internet on your boat. There are several different choices depending on your budget.
Having a reliable setup has always been one of my top goals, usually leveraging several technologies. This article covers the tech that I used on my boat.
Managing your internet data usage on the boat is important both for a quality experience, and because of limited WiFi and cellular networks.
In the last 4 months, I have been developing my overall network on board Rendezvous. I wanted a good WiFi/Ethernet network to connect me to the outside world, as well as a well developed NMEA 2000 network for marine equipment while underway. So far, here's what I have...
Setting up the MikroTik Groove to boost WiFi on your boat can be daunting. With a few quick steps you can get the Groove up and running quickly on your network.
I've written a lot about my boat network, and in particular, Peplink products that offer a ton of functionality and features. For the last 6 months, I have been playing with configurations and hardware that cost less, but still provide flexibility and features that more expensive solutions offer.
I use an Intel NUC as a boat linux computer to run Grafana, SignalK, Zabbix and many more tools.
For almost two years I have been testing, re-testing, and re-wiring my setup on Grace in an effort to find the best LTE antenna configuration.
Keeping your boat secure is always a challenge. Video security is hard to do because of bandwidth and cost. Arlo cameras have solved this for my sailboat, providing high quality video day or night, low bandwidth use, and easy to install and stow while underway.
T-Mobile changed the unlimited benefit while roaming - the monthly data allowance has shrunk, and the speeds have dropped from LTE to 3G once you hit that limit. Boaters will be affected who use T-Mobile, as I do, out on the water.
