Best low cost email?

[Sunspot Baby]

I am about to head out but am email addicted. I was very close to buying a Pactor modem for my Single Sideband, but another cruiser told me about a low earth orbit satalite system called skymate. Price seems good and it might be more reliable since it is looking up instead of over the horizon.

Does anyone have comparative information?

[tauras]

Sunspot baby:It all depends on where you sail. If you stay in the coastal areas skymate is a good way to go. But if you cruse outside the US it gets real spotty. We now use inmarsat c the mini m system. At a 1.29 per minute it''s a little pricy but we can send and receive e mails,faxes and voice any where in the world. We are on our way to the Med and need the communications. But for just sailing in the US coastal areas it''s the cheapest email system you can get.
Ray Hunt
s/v West Wind

[Sunspot Baby]

Thanks for the input. We are headed south in January and this will be our “freshman year” of cruising. We plan to spend it in the Bahamas. Walking before we run so to speak. I think SkyMate covers that area pretty well at least the cruiser who first told me about it has good service there.

Our budget is neither the smallest nor largest, but the inmarsat systems are beyond what I want to go right now. I am ready to stop spending money and start cruising. I won’t go into all the $$ spent preparing but since you’re there, you probably know better than I.

Thanks again.

Wind in your sails,
George
www.stateham.com/sunspotbaby