While amplified antennas are useful and all, they're really not the best solution on a boat, since the gain from the antenna is usually eaten up by the length of the coax cable. A much better solution for boats is usually an high-gain antenna with an integrated WiFi to ethernet bridge, which has very little signal loss between the antenna and the WiFi transceiver. The better units will use POE to carry both power and data to the unit, like the Ubiqiti NanoStation, and only require a single cable for wiring.
A good primer on WiFi security and what a lot of the terms are is located
here.
As for free WiFi hotspots, there is a good database of them at jiwire.com
BTW, the unit mentioned in the first post is not a great unit, given the price. You can get a NanoStation 2 and a Linksys WRT 54G together for under $200, where the new Portside unit is $500.
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Sailingdog
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Telstar 28
New England
You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.
—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)
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Still—DON'T READ THAT POST AGAIN.