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Internet at Sea - Sky Mate I1000

3548 Views 17 Replies 10 Participants Last post by DFletcher2, Apr 21, 2015

DFletcher2

Discussion Starter · Mar 11, 2015

I was thinking about adding a Sky Mate I1000 to my boat for limited internet at sea, mainly for weather information and limited email. Anyone have experience with this unit?

Skymate I1000

Overview

The SkyMate I1000 is your global communication solution. Our technology gives you access to essential data services including email and weather so that you can stay in touch with friends, family and co-workers when out of cellular coverage on your boat. The SkyMate system works with any Wi-Fi enabled device (cell phones, tablets, and computers), simply connect and open the browser of your choice.

Retail: $1,600 and about $35-65/mon.

Features

E-Mail & Attachments

SkyMate provides worldwide email coverage. Whether you are at the dock or in the middle of the Atlantic, you can stay in touch with family, friends, and coworkers with SkyMate. Our easy to navigate screens makes it simple to send or receive emails from anywhere in the world. With the addition of Wi-Fi you are now able to access your SkyMate email on your phone, tablet, or laptop anywhere on your boat. You can read messages from your work and home e-mail accounts if your office or Internet Service Provider uses a Post Office Protocol (POP3) server. If you like, you can choose to retrieve message headers only, which can then allow you to select which full messages you would like. New in the Skymate ISeries are attachments. For your convenience, attach any type of file to your email up to 40 Kb and press send, its that easy!.

Weather

SkyMate offers a wide range of weather options from textual to graphical. All of our weather is on a per request basis. You select the type of weather and the location and your request will be sent to you within minutes. Examples of services available are: Coastal, Offshore, High Seas, Buoy, Point Forecast, Tropical, NEXRAD, and various charts.

WiFi Connectivity

The Skymate ISeries is now completely wireless. Connect to it through any device capable of running a browser such as Chrome, Safari, and Internet Explorer from anywhere on your boat. Enjoy the freedom of staying connected without wires.

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miatapaul

· #12 · Mar 11, 2015

DFletcher2 said:
Good questions. Satellite communication gives internet signal. The SkyMate allows WiFi aboard for other devices. Yep, I am talking about blue water passages. Here is my understanding. I have a sat phone aboard but data cost rates are very high. My own WiFi hotspot in the middle of the ocean sounded like a nice ATON. But transmission rates are low enough to keep email to a minimum. No large attachments such as pictures (I would have liked that). No chance of my teenage son using it for gaming, which I would not like at sea. Its a good story. Does it work? That is why I am posting.

Ouch taking a teenager offshore, I don't know that sounds dangerous. Not sure who would make it back to shore, me or my teenagers?! :laugher Heck I can't even get them to take out the garbage.

But on a serious note, if the connection speed is decent then it might be worth it. This was in the FAQ:

Q: How much is 30,000 characters of email?

A: Each line of text is about 100 characters long. So with 30,000 characters you can send about 300 emails that are one line each, or about 100 emails that are three lines each, or about 30 emails that are 10 lines each.

So they are saying this is how long of service? Does sound quite limiting. Might be better off with the 2 way messaging the DeLorme In Reach. Then there was this nugget:

Q: Does SkyMate work with Windows Vista?

A: Vista is Microsoft's newest operating system. It was released well after SkyMate software. If you have a new computer with Vista, download these instructions to allow SkyMate to run. If you need additional assistance call SkyMate technical support.

So how up to date is there software? Come on that was 8 years ago that Vista was released.

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