SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

Does anyone work on the Internet while sailing?

17K views 43 replies 30 participants last post by  vega1860 
#1 ·
Hi...I cannot retire right now and probably never will be able to...I accept that...I would like to know if it is possible to be a cruiser and take care of a web business at the same time? Does anyone do this? I am so new at this lifestyle....:)
 
#8 ·
You can access email through satellite, SSB, Ham (no business permitted), but web surfing is out the question - way too slow.
 
#9 ·
H'girl,

This is a question in which many of us are very, very interested as it is the key to being able to "afford" a 'sailing life'. Obviously, that means different things to different people. To me, it is the ability to work from my boat no matter where it is anchored (but not while at sea). I have researched the topic and have found the same thing everyone else has found and reported. That is: predictable, reliable, affordable broadband Internet access is not available 'everywhere'. For me, "everywhere" is the east coast of the US and the entire Carribean. "Affordable" is less than $250 per month (unlimited data and at least 256k speed).

I think most of us find it hard to believe that reasonable quality satelite Internet (256k-ish) is not available at a reasonable price but it isn't. There are options but they all add up to thousands of dollars per month for what most of us would consider "typical" data volume. None of us want to believe that so we go off and do our own research (and eventually come to the same conclusion).

I've talked to quite a few cruisers that report Wifi is available in many anchorages but certainly not ALL (within the geographic area listed above) and it is not always reliable or 'fast'.

The options that that seem to exist right now and the approach that I am planning for is (in order of preference):
  • Open Wifi.
  • Purchase Wifi Access.
  • Mobile Broadband here in the US (3G/4G).
  • Obtain a local cellular data card/plan (outside the US).
  • Internet cafe.
  • Sailmail (text email via SSB).

I have the Wirie for longer range Wifi.

The plan is to use the local radio net for info on Wifi, hope for the best, and move to the next anchorage if necessary. I know, this is not a great plan for conducting business. I should note that I have no first hand experience with any of this (outside the US).

Obviously, the "needs" and resources of each person vary so it is hard to speak in absolutes on topics such as this.

Hth,
 
#10 ·
How much money do you plan on making? Only asking as it defines the relative "expensiveness" of service. link to a relative article.... 22 bucks per mb if the pricing is still timely... pretty rich for blogging and most telecommuting, but if you are trading with the bankroll of the shah of iran maybe cheap....
SatCom Upgrades | Yachting Magazine
 
#11 ·
Yes. Good WIFI the key. maybe not able to do long passages, but coastal cruising easy. Was also commuting to Japan and leaving the boat in a marina in Asia. Sailing and working off the internet in remote anchorages, boy did i have the last laugh. being laid off wasn't that bad either....now I can just tease my friends about sailing and NOT working....
 
#12 ·
What do you need to do on the Internet? There is huge difference between strictly accessing email and needing to surf, watch videos, access remote mainframes via VPN, etc.

In season, both my wife and I will work on the boat a bit on Fri and Mon. Mine is almost strictly email, with the need to edit or create a document. Hers requires that she can access her office via VPN.

I now get away with an Ipad and can easily use either the marina wifi or cell network 3G access almost anywhere. As Murphys Law would have it, whenever I find something time critical, the marina wifi acts up. It's either buggy or just slow, which I suspect is a symptom of many users accessing it at once. I often find myself switching to 3G which has never been down and perfectly fast for email.

The iPad itself has become an incredible piece of marine technology. I have chart apps, gps, entertainment, radio, movies, email, etc, etc.

My wife has to use her office laptop for VPN and connect to the marina wifi. However, it would be possible to get her a cell receiver for an additional subscription. She just tries harder to avoid work on the boat.
 
#13 ·
Ah yes, the "I wanna be in the middle of nowhere and still have internet" request :laugher

Here's how it shapes up. On land in remote areas you can get land based satellite pretty reasonably in the 200-1k price range. I have a friend in Afghanistan I'm chatting with right now with such a setup who uses it to download the TV shows from the states he likes to watch.

Once you get offshore you lose access to those birds. You have to use marine based satellite providers and they're just not interested in the low end market. I know because I work for a company that installs this equipment on ships. The price at this level is 7-15k for the hardware and $10 a MB for the traffic. Speeds are slow to decent, around 256k is average. Reliability is good. If you're day trading a few million shares a day, this is the route to go.

But for the rest of us mere mortals you're left with wifi and 3G/4G. Wifi will be cheap, fast, and available at most marinas and quite a few harbors. It'll also be unreliable because the people that run marinas don't know anything about internet technology and the guys that actually own the equipment(Yachtpals and Beacon wifi) really don't seem to care if their equipment isn't working right.

3/4G works very well, though that'll depend on the area, but can have caps depending on your provider and location. I use Verizon in a 3G area and have a 10G cap. So it's great for surfing, video games and doing business, but don't try watching Star Trek on Hulu over it. You'll burn up your data cap.

Personally I use both wifi and 3G/4G with a wifi router that let's me switch between the two as needed.

Equipment and costs:

Rogue Wave Wifi antenna($300-400): Rogue Wave | Wave Wifi, the #1 Name in Marine Wifi, Yacht Wifi, Marina Wifi & Wireless Internet
Verizon UML290 3G/4G Modem($250), I also picked up a straight 3G modem off of ebay for $10 as a backup. If you're not in a 4G area, just do this.
Outdoor antenna for the 3G/4G modem($100): 9.5" Full Band Outdoor Omni 3G/4G Antenna (Adapter Cable Sold Separately) [CM4GLTEACCELLKIT] : 3Gstore.com
My MBR1400 wifi router which links together all of the above($340): CradlePoint MBR1400 3G/4G Router (MBR-1400), Includes WiFi as WAN Firmware 3.4.0 [MBR1400] : 3Gstore.com

My Verizon contract is about $100 a month with taxes and fees while my wifi internet at the marina is free.
 
#14 ·
When out for more than a few days I will send myself an email with attachments I may need and work when at a marina with free wifi or go to an internet cafe. Most marina internet wireless connection don't have enough bandwidth for more than a handful of heavy users.

Cell phone on silent and computer off while sailing.
 
#15 ·
Why not just get a MiFi wireless router and be done with it.

~$50 for the access point, and ~$80 per month for 10GB (This price per GB is ridiculously high -there is no reason for it, other than because they can... it would be great if Wireless access were NATIONALIZED - but I digress)...
 
#19 ·
(not) Downwardly mobile artist



Generally snail mail is an alternative, although it is quite slow. You have access to UPS/Fedex/DHL but the cost can be quite high and not as reliable as you might be used to, depending on where you are. I think it is much more of a problem trying to get stuff delivered in that sending it out. A bit tricky with art work since you are dealing with something irreplaceable unless you are doing digital stuff in which case you can start with internet availability and fall back to regular mail if need be.

Living on a boat and cruising to interesting places constantly involves making things work. Part of the challenge and part of the fun.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Its a wonderful world to live in where you can make money online while sitting on a sailboat in a beautiful anchorage off some exotic shore.

Points to consider based on experience:
If you are dealing with deadlines then it can be stressful counting on someone else's wifi. It may or may not work when you need it, and you may or may not be able to make it to an anchorage or marina with wifi by the time you need to get online. If you are just blogging then this is no big deal as you can schedule your posts in advance, but if you have production deadlines and skype meetings, then you have to get there early and make sure you have the connection ironed out the day before you need it, or else you'll be stressed.

Another major concern (and one that has prompted me to start consulting in this area) is security over public wifi. I know too many cruisers that log into their online businesses and check their bank accounts and order things from amazon or defender over open unsecure public wifi in who-knows-where. If you are going to rely on unsecured and unknown wifi, you'd better be smart and take some security precautions, or else be prepared to have someone steal your identity or money or accounts, etc.

Either way, yes, it can be done and is a joy when it all works out alright, and if you don't protect yourself adequately you could be in for one hell of a long headache.
 
#24 ·
Interesting article but note guy's on a 62'Morris. Given needs of my job for present actually will plan cruises around wifi access for next year or so. Between that and ssb (with sailmail) for weather and personal communications can get by. For someone doing constant active business on web it remains problematic. Have real people for staff in a real office with real servor but also stuff in cloud. One way around it is to email staff tell them what to do and have them do it on web/phone etc.. Email easy and cheap.
 
#25 ·
i think the issue is whether you have the type of job that would let you telecommute in the first place. In my industry telecommuting is not an option. I would need to develop a new skill set to allow me to work from afar. Beyond that you have to look at the access to internet and scheduling your availability. One key to cruising cheap is to spend time swinging on a hook in remote locations. If you need to have internet to support your cruising you will need to spend more time in potentially expensive marinas, greatly increasing the cost of the cruising lifestyle.

Depending on your job needs and if you need to be readily accessible online long passages and your choices of destinations will be limited. Being an artist might work. I am a photographer and would love to sail around the world taking pictures while some studios represent and sail my work. What kind of art do you create? If you could create from your boat and have a following or studios that can sell your work without you being there often you could be good to untie and go. If you are a lifesize marble scuplture you might need a bigger sailboat.
 
#26 ·
When I was making a living as an outdoor writer the PC was, and still is an incredible tool. I purchased an inexpensive USB antenna, about $19 on sale, it provided me with up to 7 miles of access to various sites open to the public. I could check my email, file my feature stories and photos, easily meet deadlines, listen to music, watch movies, all of which were free of charge. I sincerely believe that if you are going to be a coastal cruiser, and can work from the comfort of your boat, this is the way to go.

The guy who was docked in front of me at Marathon City Marina was an electrical and mechanical engineering consultant. He had not been to the corporate office in more than 5 years. He had a similar WI-FI antenna mounted near the top of his mast. It provided him unsecured Internet access nearly every place he sailed.

I'm still self employed, only now the income comes from being a musician/entertainer. My musical equipment is not what it was a decade ago. It's much lighter, takes up far less space, easily transportable, and during my excursion down the ICW and back it was with me the entire time. Everything survived the harsh marine environment, several nasty storms, and the humidity of the Florida Keys. The PC and Internet access were vital to me during that 6-month voyage. It allowed me to learn new songs that local audiences requested. It allowed me to keep in touch with my family, maintain communication with clients in Maryland, and the ability to set up and schedule performances at dozens of locations, both at home and along the way.

Now, all of the sites I used were unsecured. That means these are places you want to do online banking, make transactions using credit/debit cards, etc... That would be financial suicide at the very least. But, for most everything else, unsecured sites are just fine.

Good Luck,

Gary :cool:
 
#27 ·
When I was making a living as an outdoor writer the PC was, and still is an incredible tool. I purchased an inexpensive USB antenna, about $19 on sale, it provided me with up to 7 miles of access to various sites open to the public. I could check my email, file my feature stories and photos, easily meet deadlines, listen to music, watch movies, all of which were free of charge. I sincerely believe that if you are going to be a coastal cruiser, and can work from the comfort of your boat, this is the way to go.

The guy who was docked in front of me at Marathon City Marina was an electrical and mechanical engineering consultant. He had not been to the corporate office in more than 5 years. He had a similar WI-FI antenna mounted near the top of his mast. It provided him unsecured Internet access nearly every place he sailed.

I'm still self employed, only now the income comes from being a musician/entertainer. My musical equipment is not what it was a decade ago. It's much lighter, takes up far less space, easily transportable, and during my excursion down the ICW and back it was with me the entire time. Everything survived the harsh marine environment, several nasty storms, and the humidity of the Florida Keys. The PC and Internet access were vital to me during that 6-month voyage. It allowed me to learn new songs that local audiences requested. It allowed me to keep in touch with my family, maintain communication with clients in Maryland, and the ability to set up and schedule performances at dozens of locations, both at home and along the way.

Now, all of the sites I used were unsecured. That means these are places you want to do online banking, make transactions using credit/debit cards, etc... That would be financial suicide at the very least. But, for most everything else, unsecured sites are just fine.

Good Luck,

Gary :cool:
Great that it worked out for you, but the time of unsecured wireless is coming to an end, unless it is being offered as a service. But most places are now figuring out that this "free service" can now become a profit source I am sure most will dry up unless there is a coffee shop nearby. Most of the time now cable companies offer "free" wireless routers now with there service. One of the main reasons they are doing this is that so many customers were not smart enough to follow the two page flyer that comes with the router to set up a secure connection. The cable companies were tired of folks "borrowing" bandwidth. So they provide the free router with is offered to make sure the connection is secured.

I will say that some local cable companies are doing a great job of offering free to subscribers wifi hotspots in lots of locations. Apparently they encourage the local business to offer it. But you have to be a cable subscriber to connect to it. Optimum is great in my area, but there cable service is not good so we switched.
 
#31 ·
I had a KVH V3 system installed last winter. This is full internet and sat phone service. Offshore we had seamless internet and phone service. Not terribly expensive, $250 a month for the base plan. Anything you can do on your home computer you can do with this system. The hardware is available for $13,000. +/-, not installed, and you need AC power to run it so if you are a smaller boat like me add inverter and 2 batteries. Of course you will need to offset this weight gain with lots of carbon fiber bits ;-)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top