How to Pick Up Free Internet On A Sailboat With Ultra Long Range Wifi

My wife and I lived for a few years on our boat "Rising Star" traveling from the U.S. to the Caribbean and cruising the U.S. coast.

See my article "How To Live Aboard A Boat" in the resources section below.

Having internet access out at sea was prohibitively expensive for us since it still costs two dollars a minute or more. We did use a Pactor Modem and Amateur radio for slow speed e-mail access through the Ham network but this did not get us the internet.

We would go ashore in places where there were internet cafe's and use the terminals for a reasonable fee however we eventually found from other cruisers that there are often free, unsecured wireless networks available in many anchorages throughout the world.

Many yacht clubs and marinas are now offering free or cheap daily access to high speed internet via Wifi.

To pick these up out at anchor you need a high gain, long range Wifi adapter that includes an external antenna that you place up on deck, as high as possible.

There are models that use your laptop's USB port and are very versatile as well as easy to move from computer to computer. Others, such as the Engenius - Senao models plug into your laptops PCMCIA card slot and connect to an outside antenna. Ideally a directional antenna is best however these can be a problem if you are constantly swinging on anchor and not in a fixed position.

If that is the case an omnidirectional antenna is best. The "mirror mount' antennas that come with trucker's Wifi booster kits can be mounted on the life rails near the transom, out of the way. They are high gain antennas and will pick up wifi signals up to five miles or more since signals travel much farther over water.

UBDO makes a completely waterproof wireless internet booster that is housed in a durable impact resistant box. It is not directional, which is fine for a moving sailboat, and transmits one full watt of power. I like the fact that it is completely weatherproof and that there are no antenna connections to corrode.

If you want even more range you can buy the same model with a rugged fiberglass antenna. The 15db gain antenna will double the range of this already powerful marine and industrial WiFi adapter.

Shore WiFi Now Widely Available

There are more and more free, open networks as well as ones that offer high speed wireless internet to live aboard sailors in port for a small fee. Wireless internet can often travel long distances across the water and it can be fun to see what you can pick up. I once picked up a Carnival cruise ships wireless network, which required a fee of course, about four miles away.

In another instance we were anchored in St. John, USVI and were picking up a free wifi network across on the island of St. Thomas over seven miles away.  It can be fun to see just how far you can pick up open wifi networks with a booster and antenna and most of all you are saving a lot of money.

We have found an open wireless network in almost every single port we have visited.

I highly recommend these. They really do work!