We asked all the SetSail correspondents about using WiFi and Skype to stay in touch while cruising.

WiFi and Skype are two subjects near and dear to our hearts here on Zia. Since we left land and moved aboard, we have been suffering from bandwidth withdrawal. At home, we had three computers online all the time plus a wireless network for our laptop, again online 24X7. At the office our computers were our main source of information and communication, even eclipsing the telephone and certainly the fax. It is amazing how those newfangled fax machines came to seem so old and clunky. You couldn't edit the text in a fax, and then you would actually have to carry a piece of paper (can you imagine?) from the printer and feed it into the fax. Tru,e you could do this by computer, but that was just paving the cowpaths. Once we got proficient with e-mail and PDF files, the fax went the way of the dinosaur.

So we use our computer for e-mail, instant messaging, voice communications, entertainment, news, managing our finances and research. Oh, and navigation too, of course, with our Nobeltech charting software.

Bandwidth/Connectivity is King

So I will start with the bandwidth issue, from which all of the rest of our communications flow. Currently we have a high-powered wireless card and an antenna system that allows us to connect from the boat while up to a mile from the signal. Purchased from www.bbexpress.net, our PCMCIA wireless card slides into the side of the laptop and is about ten times more powerful than the built-in wireless that came with the laptop (300mw vs 30mw).

This means that when you send data from the PC, it is amplified so it can reach the receiving end with enough punch. The next part of the system is an 8DBI antenna hoisted into the rigging connected to the wireless card by a 50-foot coax cable and a pigtail adapter.

WiFi antenna up the topping lift.

Of course we still have to find a wireless access point within range to which we can connect and gain access to the Internet. Throughout the Bahamas and Caribbean they were surprisingly ubiquitous, both pay services and freebies. The smart bars and restaurants had free WiFi and were inundated with customers trying not to spill their beer on their laptops. You can often tell that a beach bar has WiFi by the number of boats anchored in close, often in an otherwise marginal spot, just to receive the signal. In the Bahamas we used a pay system that had access points throughout the Abacos so we could actually stay online while sailing from point to point. Although the distances weren't far, this was a lot of fun.

We have ordered a whole new system that includes a 1 watt (1000mw) amplifier and an 11DBI antenna. I will send in a report on how well it works once I have suffered through the punishment of the installation and testing. While researching the new system, I came to the conclusion that no one has yet designed a powerful, easy and comprehensive system designed for marine use. The WaveRV from www.radiolabs.com sounded like a great idea but we have seen two boats using them and they don't have the range that our limited system has, and the software is the very definition of "clunky".

Skypers Unite

We use Skype whenever we are lucky enough to have the bandwidth to support it. We can talk on the phone for hours at a stretch (computer to computer) - internationally - for free. We also use Skype-Out which allows us to call a regular phone from our computer for around .02 cents per minute - that's just under an hour of talking for a dollar - not too bad. We also recently discovered the Skype-In service. We purchased a US phone number (I forget the price but it was minimal) that our friends back home can call that directs them right to our computer. So mom can pick up the phone (she's not big on this computer stuff), dial a US phone number, and it will ring my computer wherever in the world we may be. Another cool feature of Skype-In is that we can forward our computer to our Spanish cell phone and receive a call from the states for the .02 cents per minute when we are away from the computer. The computer does not have to be on for this to work.

No international fees. I could kiss the guy who came up with the idea. Of course I am sure that he is busy flying his Gulfstream jet to his various chalets throughout the world.

More Geeky Hardware

We quickly discovered that one computer on board was not enough for two ex-techno geeks and two young daughters. We now have three laptops deployed. One of them is a complete backup of all of our navigation, weather, SSB and satellite software and is down in our cabin. The other runs educational and entertainment software for the girls and lives in one of their cabins.

Standard router adapted to 12V

I recently out-geeked myself by setting up a wireless network on board. I wired a standard Linksys wireless router into our 12V (straight thru with two wires) system and added all of the computers to the network. Then I shared the main internet connection from our main laptop (using Microsoft ICS) and voila, Internet and e-mail throughout the boat. This also allows us to give an access code to friends anchored near us so that they can piggyback on our bandwidth. We have to be careful with this so we don't get friends anchoring on top of us.