Building Broadband Wireless Network On Board

I know most of you guys are talking about having an internet connection while away from your dock/home port. That said, I spend most weekends on my boat and at our marina last year we could hook up to Comcast for cable TV while at the dock.
As I have Comcast in my home/office, I purcased a Linksys Wireless-G Cable Gateway and brought it to the boat every weekend and was able to access the internet along with cable tv for the summer.
Don't let Comcast know I was hijacking the internet signal while only paying for tv! :)

Dan
 
Dan,
Our marina doesn't have cable or phone hookups. So, I'm out of luck there.

Thx,
Alex.
 
There are several options for you to consider. Isn't that always the case, it just can't be easy. I do not know of any details that make one solution better than another. I have heard the same about the K-1, but who knows what that means. These are the things you need to consider:
CDMA or GSM? (Verizon, altell or AT&T, Cingular) Or Both.
Do you think you will change carriers in the next few years?
Will you be cruising in the Bahamas or other areas that may be limited with carriers? (this is the only reason I changed from verizon to cingular)
Are you going to use an external antenna? If not, then card compatability is not as important.
Is there an interface that you are used to? Then go with what you know.
What is the best BW in your area? The verizon 2.5G is not nearly as good as the AT
&T 3G, but roll out schedules are all over the map and not that reliable.
Do you need voice as well as data (other than VOIP?)


There are many vendors, and again, I don't have an absolute recomendation. I have ruled out some as it does not fit my grand scheme, but I don't think you are asking for anything more complicated. I do like companies like top global http://www.topglobalusa.com/product2_02.asp?newsid=20060413143304175&classid=102103102 because you can put virtually any type of card you want it there. I have tested this with verizon and AT&T and they both came up flawlessly. That said, I also have used Linksys with std router software, as well as Linksys and Buffalo with DD-WRT router software. The D-Link products I have tested so far (not all routers), seem to have great user interfaces, but it is difficult to to anything other than basic stuff, which may not be a problem.

Placement should be pretty easy, aa boats (at least SeaRays are relatively small). I have mine behind a panel in my salon, and I can use my Skype iphone from anywhere in the boat and about 30 ft away on the dock. That is all without worrying about placement or installing an indoor antenna.

As a side note, please use WPA as a minimum for your security, as I can crack a wep key in about 5 minutes average, 1 hour max.

Once you decide on your features and make a selection, if you have any questions let me know.

briman
 
briman,
Thanks for detailed info. Let me try to summarize it.
  • I have Verizon PC5750 Broadband card with regular contract for $59 “unlimited usage”.
  • I’m planning to stay with the Verizon for at least next couple of years, unless I have a real good reason not to.
  • I’m not planning a long off-shore cruising, but if it’ll happen I’ll plan things to have need for internet access when I’m near land with cell service. So, I’ll consider this a non-issue.
  • I’m not sure about need of external antenna, but I would like to have the option, in case if I’ll need it.
  • Interface is something I can adjust to. I’m the IT guy.
  • “What is the best BW in your area?” – what is BW? :huh: If you’re talking about coverage area, whatever I get from my Verizon PC card is acceptable.
  • I’m not planning to use VOIP. Cell phone or blackberry will do fine.
To put my needs in one single sentence, “all I need is whatever I get from my current PC card from Verizon for one laptop to have it work for 2-3 laptops, which could connect to a router as my local wireless network (just like at home)”.

So, considering all of the above would you say that WRT54G3G-VN from Linksys could work for me or would you recommend something like top global over it? Based on what I could see Linksys is a pretty good candidate, the only thing I’m not sure about is the external antenna.
I still have to learn a little more about cellular antena booster that Gary was recommending.

I just checked both for card campatibility and top global clearly has it on the list where linksys has only this:

DATA CARDS SUPPORTED
1. PCM/CIA
a. Sierra Wireless AC595

What does it mean, do the support mine or not?

Man, if you can crack my WEP security in 5 min :thumbsup:, you deserve to use my network for free as a reward for your knowledge.:smt038

Many thanks for helping out,
Alex.
 
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I assume when you say AT&T's 3G is faster than Verizon's 2.5G you are referring to Verizon's old 1xRTT data stuff that was around 100kbs? Verizon's new EVDO technology is over 1Mbs and I regularly see that when using it. I also think Verizon's EVDO coverage is much greater that AT&T/Cingular. In fact, the Apple iPhone has always been dinged in reviews because it was on a 100kbs AT&T data network.. At the end of the day, you have to see who has better and consistent coverage in your area. I'll tell you that Verizon really has the best coverage map in the NE and mid-Atlantic but suffers as you go south. When I worked for a mobile software company, I used to carry both a Verizon phone (CDMA) and a Cingular phone(GSM) because the differences in coverage can be extreme. If you travel oversees, CDMA is non-existent... Go Qualcomm.
 
It sounds as if you are just expanding your acceptable service, then I think it would be ok. The only caveat is that it is advertised as a verizon router but the card you have is not reported to be supported. My guess is that they have not updated their specs, but this absolutely needs to be checked out first. If you get the run around, let me know as we are supposedly a linksys reseller. It would just take a day for my guys to e-mail our technical reps.

BW = Bandwidth. The AT&T 3G BW kicks butt!, whereas I only have the EVDO stuff for verizon in my home area. It is OK, but does not "kick butt".

If you use Gary's solution of just putting a well place cell phone amplifier, then your router gets the same amplification as your normal cell phones and Black berry. These are great and save your battery consuption a lot, as your phone only has to talk to the amplifier and it repeats the signal to the cell tower. It will not give you the range of a direct connect, but it is more versitile as it helps your voice calls as well.

I hope this answers all of your questions. If I missed anything let me know. The setup is fairly straight forward and linksys has all these wizard tools to do easy out-of-the box stuff. Do NOT use your boat name as the WEP key, as this cuts my time down to seconds ;-)
 
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Gary,

Just saw your post as I was posting. The AT&T 3G stuff is waaaay faster than the EVDO. The iphone issue was not a carrier issue, but a time to market issue. One of the reasons I did not even consider an iphone as the first release was crippled and only used the older EDGE technology, so all those gadget freaks will be upgrading later this year....

Your right about coverage. I waited 2 years for EVDO and thought it rocked, until I took my cingular chip and router to FL and got amazing cable modem like speeds on their 3G network, which by the way is not in my home area yet :-(.
 
Ryan said:
Gary,

Where did you place the internal antenna? Does it cover all of the interior of your 48?

Thanks,
Ryan
Click to expand...

I mounted the internal antenna on the back bulkhead on the port side over the sofa (under the AC vent and next to the light switches) and it faces forward. The range is only supposed to be like 15 or 20 feet but it helps all the way down to the front stateroom. My data access on the BlackBerry is also faster.

I mounted the amp in the lazarette area on the starboard side bulkhead under the TV. I ran the external antenna wire down the starboard arch and straight down through the existing conduit into the lazarette area. I also ran the power up to the main distribution panel and added a breaker to match the rest of the breakers..
 
I have a Verizon USB aircard that I would like to share. Does anyone know of a router that will accept USB ? Or a USB to PCMCIA converter?
 
I have the Verizon aircard and the linksys WRT543G router and used it every weekend last summer without incident. I had up to as many as 4 computers cranking through it on occasion (a neighbor or two leeching connectivity, with my permission). Never so much as a peep of complaint from Verizon.

I did nothing special with the card. No external antenna, no money wasted on an amp. I simply put the router on a shelf in the cabin down below and fired it up. Worked great.

On the Chesapeake, Verizon's coverage works well. Cingular/AT&T did not, I tried them and they had next to no coverage when underway or at anchor anywhere beyond a stone's throw from a city. While they might have barely had coverage on land, their over-water coverage was pretty much non-existent.
 
wkearney99 said:
I have the Verizon aircard and the linksys WRT543G router and used it every weekend last summer without incident. I had up to as many as 4 computers cranking through it on occasion (a neighbor or two leeching connectivity, with my permission). Never so much as a peep of complaint from Verizon.

I did nothing special with the card. No external antenna, no money wasted on an amp. I simply put the router on a shelf in the cabin down below and fired it up. Worked great.

On the Chesapeake, Verizon's coverage works well. Cingular/AT&T did not, I tried them and they had next to no coverage when underway or at anchor anywhere beyond a stone's throw from a city. While they might have barely had coverage on land, their over-water coverage was pretty much non-existent.
Click to expand...

Bill,
Thanks for your input. I'm hopping to get the same results. But, ideas with having different options to get better signal (external antena or amp booster) are pretty good. What model is your card same as mine (PCMCIA) or USB?

Thx,
Alex.
 
Thanks Alex and Briman...I'll look into that router..
 
Here are my latest findings after calling to Linksys and Verizon:

Linksys:
1. The router doesn't have connection for external antenna.
2. They're not sure if the router supports my card.
3. The router is External 12V DC, 1.0A.
4. The router doesn't support USB cards.

Verizon:
Simply told me that they strongly do not advise to use the routers just b/c cards are meant to be used on a single PC or laptop.

So, in the end it looks like even though the router is made for Verizon, they don't want us to use it, nor they don't want to share the testing information on the cards they really support.

Does it mean that if I want to go with the Linksys router it's a simply buy and test process? If it works, great. Otherwise return and look for a different one?

Alex.
 
Bill Kearney (above) said his works, so you might want to see what PC Card he uses, then it is not much of a risk if it is the same. The external antenna for cell can be achieved by buying different PCCards with an external antenna port, so it is not imperitive that the router supports it.

Verizon just does not want you using the system with more than one PC without more accounts. That is rediculous. I remember when NAT was new and ISPs said you could only have 1 PC on your account unless you buy more PC bandwidth. That is now a thing of the past since everyone has NAT built into their routers.

I will try to get some answers from Linksys.

briman
 
OK, it is not exactly official, but I have a little more information for compatability. One on-line vendor http://www.evdoinfo.com/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,115/
reports these cards to be compatable:
  • Sprint:
    S620, AC580, PC5740, S720, AC595, PX-500, EX720*, 597E*
  • Verizon:
    KPC650, PC5750
  • Alltel:
    PC5750
*requires firmware version 2.01.12 and pcmcia to expresscard adapter

I have also read from another forum that all EVDO cards are compatable. I hope this helps.

briman
 
Mine is a PC5750 PCMCIA card, not a USB dongle. The router has a PCMCIA slot. All I need to do to is plug the card into the router, everything else is automatic. I did have to set up the card in a PC first, and I believe it has to be periodically updated the same way, but this is trivial. My wife uses the card during the week and on trips in her laptop. When we're on the boat the card gets popped into the router and our laptops use that connection.

The router in question is "technically" specified for using a Sprint network card. Neither linksys nor verizon claim to support anything. But it's literally plug-and-go. I've not used any of the USB-based setups. Mainly because, over the years, I've found using a PCMCIA slot-based device to be more physically durable. The size of the USB-based devices would be awkward in either of our laptops. That and my wife would be a lot more likely to wreck the USB ports with that sort of thing sticking out of it.

The curious thing about these aircards is they're actually USB-based, even the PCMCIA ones. The PCMCIA card shows up in the operating system as a serial device connected via USB. It's a PCMCIA adapter, to a USB adapter, to the serial modem; all in one device.
 
Briman and Bill,
many thanks for additional info. This is all very helpful and looks like I should have a good shot on having this to work. Bill's setup sounds like excatly what I'm looking for. I'll shop around for the router and will test this out. the only outstanding item would be to see if I would need the signal booster. But, that'll be step 2 in this small project.

Thanks again to all,
Alex.
 
I was all ready to have to use an external antenna, cabling and/or some sort of amp. I was pleasantly surprised to discover otherwise. I've got my router just stuffed into a cabinet down in the cabin. It is above the waterline, as I can imagine it WOULD be a problem trying to use it below the waterline. But if it hadn't worked my next choice would've been to put the router up inside the radar arch (there's just barely enough room). And if the wifi from there wasn't sufficient for on-boat coverage I'd have run a CAT5 wire down into the cabin to a separate access point.
 
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