With our lives shifting increasingly towards digital spaces, the lack of fast and reliable internet can get in the way of both work and down time. Thankfully, there is a myriad of solutions available to stay connected even when out at sea. In this article, we’ll be discussing the options available to sailors worldwide; from marina WiFI, to mobile data and dedicated satellite uplink.
The target nowadays is a fully digital yacht. But what does this mean?
In short, the answer is bandwidth: Gone are the days of huddling around a single screen to agonisingly wait to check email once a day. With even daytrip Bowriders taking a group of friends carrying a phone and maybe laptop for everyone on board, a single stream of bits will barely be enough to run your chartplotter, much less allow you and your guests to take video calls, watch a movie or, just for peace of mind, have a backup way to contact emergency services.
A wider bandwidth connection will ensure that multiple devices can simultaneously receive data effortlessly, it’s the difference between the WiFi router in your house and the dinky mobile routers you can buy which struggle with more than one or two devices.
Finding high bandwidth connections outside of well wired areas can be hard, which brings us to our first option for boat wifi:
Marina WiFi:
Today, you’d be hard pressed to find a docking marina without a decent WiFi connection and at least an antenna to reach your vessel. These are broadband connections and therefore are stronger and more reliable than mobile connections, you’re more likely to get superfast WiFi onboard from a land based WiFi connection if you’re within range.
However, WiFi connections aren’t built equal, and without your own connection, even the bandwidth of the marina’s WiFi can get overloaded and cause unreliable transfers, connection dropouts and security concerns when sharing WiFi with unknown users in the Marina. The quality of the Marina WiFi is difficult to judge without experience and familiarity with the place you’ll be docking, making your evening video conference a coin toss when you’re planning to stay in a new spot.
The biggest downside of Marina Wifi is that, well, it’s only available in a marina, meaning you must rely on low range cellular antennas in your phone for connections even near the shore elsewhere.
Regardless, the unlimited capacity and potentially high bandwidth of Marina WiFi make it a great option for network intensive tasks, and when it’s available we recommend you definitely make use of it for low security tasks like streaming or gaming, it’s lack of security and reliability however make it hard to recommend it as the only source of connectivity on deck.
If you want the opposite of low range, land based WiFi hotspots in marinas, open seas leave you with only satellite based communications:
Satellite Internet
When you’re looking for internet out in the open seas, you’re hard pressed for options which don’t require satellites. Satellite internet has global range but its infrastructure is incredibly expensive and slow. These don’t rely on any physical, land based infrastructure and connect directly to satellites in the sky to transfer your connection. This means even on open seas, many miles from shore, you will be able to receive data. The downsides of satellite internet for today’s marine needs are speed and cost. You’re unlikely to get any meaningful connectivity with anything but the most expensive solutions from the likes of KVH (the hardware for your boat alone will set you back well over £10,000), and even then, expect your experience to center more around whatsapp and email than Netflix and Youtube, with speeds in the kilobytes per second.
The middle ground between these two options is a high powered cellular connection.
This works on the same principle as your phone’s mobile data, but don’t mistake it for your iPhone’s hotspot. These devices can be as powerful as industrial routers and offer speeds comparable to your home WiFi as far as a few miles from shore. Unlike a standalone hotspot, these devices can broadcast a strong WiFi signal to all your devices and handle the network load of modern internet usage.
Off the shelf solutions like Ubiquity or Yachtrouter are designed to do this, but they can cost upwards of £700 and may not be as permissive with different SIM cards and carriers.
To really build a marine WiFi system which works for you, you need a cheaper, modular, and open system. A strong industrial router with an extended, omnidirectional, high powered pole antenna and unrestricted global SIM card support means you can get massive data packages for less and ensure you get coverage wherever you’re going.
Our low cost, high performance marine connectivity solution offers the fastest, most reliable internet connectivity while out at sea within a kilometre of the shore. QuWireless High Powered Omnidirectional antennas are robust, IP67 water resistant and easily mounted on J poles and masts.
These antennas can receive mobile signal long after your phone and WiFi extenders, sending the data to high performance industrial quality routers from Teltonika.
The Teltonika RUT360 connects to the antenna, collecting signal and broadcasting it through WiFi or ethernet to your devices. Not only can its mobile modem reach data speeds of 300mbs when using multiple carriers, it functions as a WiFi extender when using public marina WiFi, meaning you only need one device to ensure you stay connected in all but the most open of seas.
If this solution sounds right for you, why not check out this one click marine pack on our IoT shop, with everything you need to get started with marine connectivity for a lot less than similar solutions:
teltonika RUT360, QuOmni High powered 360 antenna, IoT sim + mounting pole.
Michael
Michael Kirkland is the CEO of The Mountain IoT Group and founder of Forest Rock, which he launched in 2010 with a vision to connect businesses to their buildings and systems through cutting-edge technology. With a background in software engineering, Michael has built a career in energy management, building automation, and IoT. Heโs passionate about creating innovative products, leading a talented team, and building a company culture where people enjoy coming to work.
