WI FI unlimited?

Here in FL many of my neighbors visit the Bahamas and are raving about the WI FI ther have there, island wi fi.

https://www.panbo.com/island-wifi-offers-u-s-service/

It is now being offered in the USA . $110 a month for an almost unlimited package.

Does anyone thin this is a good deal for WI FI at home and when traveling?

Issue is this would be a totally incremental cost to your mobile cost. You would have to evaluate if you really needed that extra data over the unlimited that providers like AT&T provide with your phone plan.

The reason that this is so popular in the islands is that people either have to get a Bahamas SIM and pay as you go for data (15 GB per month usually) or use roaming with their US cellular carrier. With a Bahamas SIM they also now have a different number in the phone than what their contacts know. So an additional local WIFI plan then makes a lot of sense - especially if you are still working.

Here, I am not so sure. For example I am on AT&T's "unlimited" plan, and still have four of us on it including two grown children. I have never noticed any slowing down of service, if we have ever reached that point.

Retired , so only phone plan is Verizon $19.95 home style unit with unlimited phone usage. Works good for our snowbird lifestyle either in CT or FL or anywhere we plug in to 120V with Motor Home.

Our local service in FL is at almost dial up speeds , and using a different satellite style provider is similar cost , with the hassle of extended service contracts , and paying an equipment rental fee when not in use.

Tried a phone hot spot system but the wi fi radio at night 80KB ate too much.

I found a service https://www.otrmobile.com/ OTR provides a cell sim card data only with unlimited usage for $60.00 a month. I also purchased a Glomex Wi-Fi and Cell booster for sim card, About $500 dollars us. I have not installed it yet but claims you can stream tv and cell service connect to I-net up to 20 miles offshore. After I install it I will report how it works.

An unlimited Verizon plan for a smartphone is only about $65/line. Includes voice, and also includes Canada and Mexico. It can be tethered to your computer, no need for another device. The will throttle the data rate each month if you've exceeded a threshold (20G is it?) but it is very hard to get there. Other carriers have similar service. Not clear to me the advantage in paying $110.

DDW said:

An unlimited Verizon plan for a smartphone is only about $65/line. Not clear to me the advantage in paying $110.

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All I have is a Verizon unlimited data plan, Nothing else. I use the hot spot for watching Amazon movies and can connect to the Internet when I need to. (Almost never!) For TV, I have a Glomex OTA antenna which picks up TV broadcasting stations within 40 miles (If no mountains are in the way!) Since i don't live on my boat, this is more than I really need.

We have exceeded the limit on our unlimited Verizon plan nearly every month we have had it. Our hotspot limits are reached by the third week of the month which means no map updates on our navigation iPads until the clock resets which can be a safety issue if I cannot get the USACE surveys for Aqua Map.
We will be getting our kit from Island WiFi in a couple of days so I can report back on how it works. If it delivers, we will dial our Verizon plans back to the minimum. For two of us that will go a long way to recouping the $110.

The Island WiFi modem arrived today and within 5 minutes of opening the box I had my Samsung tv streaming Netflix! I was going to connect the boat router to the modem and connect all of our devices to the boat network, but since we can connect up to 10 devices to the modem I’ve just hooked up directly and shutdown the boat network. For whatever reason ATT seems to be a bit faster than Verizon too.
We will have to return this modem to Island WiFi for another unit when we go to the Bahamas since this one is USA only, but that’s not a dealbreaker IMHO. We ordered the modem on Friday and it arrived on Monday, probably would have been a day faster if the weekend had not interfered.
Now I will have to see how it works out over the next month or so.......

I have an At&t 'unlimted' plan for my phone, but they limit my hotspot data to 10 gigs per month, and they limit my connection speed when I use more than 22 gigs a month. Unlimited my ass.

I use a lot of mobile data, because I'm always mobile, and I found I was running into those limitations regularly.

I wanted a truly unlimited mobile cellular data package that would effectively replace the home internet connection that I've just given up. I signed up for a package from RVdataSat.

I've only just started using it a few days ago, but I have to say, I've been impressed with the quality of connection I've gotten. They use T-Mobile coverage, and so far I can't find fault with it. It's a bit of a buy to get the hardware and get set up, but so far I'm glad I went this route.

Do you guys ever just sit out back and watch the world go by?

menzies said:

Do you guys ever just sit out back and watch the world go by?

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What can you see when the sun goes down? Not much of a view out my windows after dark......

Woodland Hills said:

What can you see when the sun goes down? Not much of a view out my windows after dark......

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You boat alone?

Do you have Kindles?

I read in bed. I watch tv in the salon in the evenings with my wife. Why, are you able to see out of your windows at night? The only way I could do that is sit in the dark and look out which sounded pretty depressing.

Woodland Hills said:

I read in bed. I watch tv in the salon in the evenings with my wife. Why, are you able to see out of your windows at night? The only way I could do that is sit in the dark and look out which sounded pretty depressing.

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Although I am sure you are being somewhat flippant; for us sitting out back in the evening, dark or not, is very pleasant. It is very rarely "dark" to the the extent you cannot see each other.

In fact, by the time we get the anchor down, do our chores, get settled and dinner prepared and eaten, then cleared up, after an hour or two sitting talking or reading, we are ready for the bunk.

My question was really around why you feel you need so much data?

menzies said:

My question was really around why you feel you need so much data?

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So I can get to 4,500 TF posts?

NOGILLS2 said:

I found a service Travel And Rural High-Speed Wireless Internet Plans & Pricing OTR provides a cell sim card data only with unlimited usage for $60.00 a month. I also purchased a Glomex Wi-Fi and Cell booster for sim card, About $500 dollars us. I have not installed it yet but claims you can stream tv and cell service connect to I-net up to 20 miles offshore. After I install it I will report how it works.

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We've been using this service with a Netgear Nighthawk Mobile Hotspot router. So far so good. We're seeing between 7 mbps and 40 mbps down. I can work from home, including Zoom conference calls and this past Sunday we streamed the Seahawks game on YouTube.tv and still could surf, etc.

menzies said:

Although I am sure you are being somewhat flippant; for us sitting out back in the evening, dark or not, is very pleasant. It is very rarely "dark" to the the extent you cannot see each other.

In fact, by the time we get the anchor down, do our chores, get settled and dinner prepared and eaten, then cleared up, after an hour or two sitting talking or reading, we are ready for the bunk.

My question was really around why you feel you need so much data?

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Because they do and they want it. You don't so you don't. Read your books. They will watch TV. Choices. Here's a question. Why can't you get along with a smaller boat? Do you really need all the space a 53-foot boat offers? Can't you get along with a, say, a DeFever 44? My point is, and I say this respectfully, your observations are not helpful to this discussion.

The Island deal seems best for us , so we signed up.

Will report back in a couple of months .

menzies said:

Although I am sure you are being somewhat flippant; for us sitting out back in the evening, dark or not, is very pleasant. It is very rarely "dark" to the the extent you cannot see each other.

In fact, by the time we get the anchor down, do our chores, get settled and dinner prepared and eaten, then cleared up, after an hour or two sitting talking or reading, we are ready for the bunk.

My question was really around why you feel you need so much data?

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I need so much data because I keep running out, as I stated earlier. We enjoy audio-visual media, we also don’t really care to go to sleep at 9:00pm. On a typical travel day we are anchored by 3:00pm, finished with dinner around 7:00pm and asleep by midnight and then up at 6:30. If there is nothing we want to watch on Dish or the OTA tv, we will stream for 4 or 5 hours a night and often for longer.

Why do you feel the need to comment/criticize our viewing habits? Beyond making you feel good about sitting in the dark, how do your comments add to this discussion? This is just “virtue signaling”, and nobody appreciates a holier-than-thou attitude.

This is an interesting thread. Does anyone know how the coverage is in the more remote areas of the Bahamas? Do they use btc towers?

Anybody have a true data only hotspot that works in USA and Canada?

menzies said:

You boat alone?

Do you have Kindles?

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Judgemental much?

We have Verizon cell services on a pre-paid account. Two phones each with 15 gigs of hotspot cost $75/month total. We also have, inactive at the moment cuz we are not cruising and have good wifi at our marina, a JetPack MiFi 8800L with which, for $60/month, we get true unlimited data. Not well-known among Verizon customers, for reasons I do not understand, there are significant pricing differences between pre-paid and post-paid accounts. With 30 gigs of data available from our two phones, I am not certain that we would ever have to reactivate the JetPack but it is easily done on the MyVerizon app.

If you are a Verizon customer, call and ask to be switched to a pre-paid account with automatic monthly payments. The agent will have to involve another department to make the switch but it is done in no more than 15 minutes on the phone. I will accept PayPal tributes. Joking of course but I would love to hear from anyone who makes the switch as to how much they saved. My bill went down by $20/month and we got 10 more gigs of data to boot, not a fortune but, still, we now get 30 gigs and that is a lot of data.

According to the modem we have used 8.95gb of data in 24hrs. 9gb times 30 days equals 270gb a month........

That Verizon jetpack plan caught my attention. I'm currently with ATT so not completely fluent in Verizon speak, but this sounds like they don't do the true unlimited anymore.

https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/verizon-plan-unlimited-faqs/

For those that may be curious, the wife and I are big college football fans. We start with college gameday at 8AM and stream two to three games at a time until we go to bed around 11PM. Fortunately we have land based internet at our slip. Unfortunately we don't take the boat out on football Saturdays bc if we had to do this off our data plan we would run out before the day was over.

Definition of celestial hierarchy. : a traditional hierarchy of angels ranked from lowest to highest into the following nine orders: angels, archangels, principalities, powers, virtues, dominions, thrones, cherubim, and seraphim.

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My virtue is better than your virtue.


I have that Verizon prepaid plan mentioned above. Free hotspot and use 4-7 gigs. It's nice to know I have 15 if I need it.


My TV has an antenna and gets forty or so channels. I use it like a fireplace. It runs a lot and I pay attention to it every now and then. I'll watch Alabama and LSU next Saturday if I get it.

I looked and Verizon ended it last May. I am grandfathered.

jsplichal2 said:

That Verizon jetpack plan caught my attention. I'm currently with ATT so not completely fluent in Verizon speak, but this sounds like they don't do the true unlimited anymore.

https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/verizon-plan-unlimited-faqs/

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Woodland Hills said:

We have exceeded the limit on our unlimited Verizon plan nearly every month we have had it. Our hotspot limits are reached by the third week of the month.

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So its not unlimited at all

menzies said:

My question was really around why you feel you need so much data?

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I need mobile data for work.