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caliston · 03-08-2007, 12:20

A WIND SIM will probably work OK... if you have a Bluetooth phone you might want to put it up high (on the mast?) to get better signal. I haven't any experience of using data at sea, but voice calls seem to have enough signal on ferry boats most of the way Patras-Kefallonia so it might be feasible. You may have better signal if you moor in a town. If you're in a remote bay it might be best to moor further away from the shore since the transmitters are often on tops of the mountains and you ideally want line-of-sight to the tall mountains. If you're doing this a lot you could buy a second cheap Bluetooth phone and mount it (with a charger cable) on top of the mast all the time.

The speed is pretty much unrelated to your computer. For GPRS in theory a computer made after about 1995 is going to be fast enough. For 3G maybe 1998-9 or so. If you buy a computer today even the cheapest bottom-of-the-line computers should have no trouble.

Centrino is a brand which basically means wifi+low power processor. Low power's handy if you're often going to be using your computer without a mains connection, as you get more battery life. But wifi is wifi: for the net it'll work just the same on a fast computer than a slow one. Especially in Greece where there aren't too many public wifi hotspots, even if you have a wifi connection it'll most likely be running at a tiny fraction of the 54Mbit/s claimed and so your computer speed isn't an issue.

It depends whether you think you'll be working a lot away from a power point, or whether you might be (say) running from the boat batteries/engine all the time. If the latter, any laptop with wireless will do (and even those that don't, it'll cost about £20 to add). If the former, look for a laptop the advertises the most hours on battery (often they quote another figure with an expensive auxiliary battery - ignore that. Don't believe that you'll actually get these figures, but they're a useful comparison). These tend to be more expensive, but if you don't need a fast laptop you could look for an older model reconditioned/secondhand. Fit a new battery if you buy this way, though, as batteries wear out through use.

If you are running from boat power rather than mains power, it might still be worth looking for a low power laptop as I don't know how big your boat will be - you don't want to drain the batteries for navigation lights!

	(#22)
caliston (Offline) Junior Member Amateur Member Posts: 22 Join Date: 11 Jun 2007 Country:	03-08-2007, 12:20 A WIND SIM will probably work OK... if you have a Bluetooth phone you might want to put it up high (on the mast?) to get better signal. I haven't any experience of using data at sea, but voice calls seem to have enough signal on ferry boats most of the way Patras-Kefallonia so it might be feasible. You may have better signal if you moor in a town. If you're in a remote bay it might be best to moor further away from the shore since the transmitters are often on tops of the mountains and you ideally want line-of-sight to the tall mountains. If you're doing this a lot you could buy a second cheap Bluetooth phone and mount it (with a charger cable) on top of the mast all the time. The speed is pretty much unrelated to your computer. For GPRS in theory a computer made after about 1995 is going to be fast enough. For 3G maybe 1998-9 or so. If you buy a computer today even the cheapest bottom-of-the-line computers should have no trouble. Centrino is a brand which basically means wifi+low power processor. Low power's handy if you're often going to be using your computer without a mains connection, as you get more battery life. But wifi is wifi: for the net it'll work just the same on a fast computer than a slow one. Especially in Greece where there aren't too many public wifi hotspots, even if you have a wifi connection it'll most likely be running at a tiny fraction of the 54Mbit/s claimed and so your computer speed isn't an issue. It depends whether you think you'll be working a lot away from a power point, or whether you might be (say) running from the boat batteries/engine all the time. If the latter, any laptop with wireless will do (and even those that don't, it'll cost about £20 to add). If the former, look for a laptop the advertises the most hours on battery (often they quote another figure with an expensive auxiliary battery - ignore that. Don't believe that you'll actually get these figures, but they're a useful comparison). These tend to be more expensive, but if you don't need a fast laptop you could look for an older model reconditioned/secondhand. Fit a new battery if you buy this way, though, as batteries wear out through use. If you are running from boat power rather than mains power, it might still be worth looking for a low power laptop as I don't know how big your boat will be - you don't want to drain the batteries for navigation lights!