SetSail.com - the serious cruising sailor's website

April 19, 2007 - WiFi, Skype, and other Connections
by Beth & Al Liggett

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

We have just spent five weeks at the Tanjong City Marina in Penang. Besides the advantages of being right in town with access to all the shopping, repair services and great restaurants, this marina has a WiFi Hot Spot set up. Berth holders need to buy into a Wireless Broadband Service in order to hook up to the Internet. In this case it is TM Net. Costs are minimal - 28 MR (Malaysian Ringgit: 3.45 to US$1, so this would be about $8.12) for a 30-day unlimited use registration. It is so much nicer to do your e-mail, get downloads, work with your financial accounts, and search the net for information or good deals right from the boat! Of course the downside - or upside, depending on your point of view, is that you tend to spend far more time on the computer with Internet, etc. Not many book trades anymore - I think it might be because people are not reading as much as they used to, just sitting in front of their computers. Well, that can be productive too.

The WiFi main antenna is at the marina office. Many of the yachties took their computers and attachments up to the Yachtie Lounge (Yes!) to do their Internet work. We were moored closer to the marina lounge than most. I have an old (6 years) Dell and hook an external antenna (D-Link) into one of the USB ports. I never had a full strength signal, but always had enough to do e-mail and whatever I needed right on the boat. Al has a new (1 1/2 yr) Acer with a built-in wireless antenna. He was never able to have as good a signal on the boat as I was, and took his computer to the lounge now and then for Internet work. Speeds varied. Go to www.internetfrog.com it will look at your computer upload and download speeds - should you need to know that.

The 3 marinas in Langkawi all have WiFi system Hot Spots for their berth holders too. Some are free; some have an access charge similar to what is described above. There are a lot more boats in those marinas than in the Penang Marina, and the system sometimes gets bogged down with Yachtie overload.

I suspect that not too far away we'll see enough shoreside businesses having Hot Spots that there will be broadband coverage in proximity anchorages as well. I know this is the case if you are anchored in Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand. There are many hotels right along the beach and we have seen our computers try to use their signals. Course you have to have their "key" in order to get into their service.

When we go to Thailand we use our cell phone for Internet service. We have a cell phone that has both GSM and GPRS systems. It also has Bluetooth capability. Once you have the phone and a SIM card, you sign up for an Internet package which will give you the number of hours per month you think you will need. We took one for 20 hours of use/month, and that cost 200Baht. (Apx 35 Baht/$1, so about $5.70 per month) That charge is automatically deducted from your cell balance the following month, and on that date thereafter. When we leave Thailand, I just call the service and cancel the GPRS package.

The first time we did this we took the phone and the computer to the cell service office where a lovely young lady configured the phone/computer set up. I am a real klutz with something like that. Luckily, I wrote everything down in step-by-step format, so the following year when we again signed up and paid for GPRS, I just pulled out my notes and Voila! I was connected again!

Now, when we are in Thailand, I can get Internet service anyplace that my cell phone has reception. I just turn the phone on, turn on the Bluetooth signal, plug my Bluetooth receiver into a USB port, make sure the computer and phone are talking together, and then connect. It is not very fast, but gets the job done just fine. GPRS Internet is also available in Malaysia but is very expensive, as you pay for phone time plus charges for every Kb you download and upload. Our local phone "guru" advises against it.

Skype is a VoIP system (Voice over Internet Protocol) for making phone calls from your computer to anyplace in the world. Skype works if you have broadband coverage. It does NOT work with GPRS service. So if you are at a marina with broadband services you can make phone calls with Skype right from the boat. We bought a headset with earphones and microphone to plug into the computer. You will have better talking and listening with a headset than just using your computer speakers and mike.

Go to www.skype.com. Skype is a free download, but you will have to deposit funds into your Skype account in order to make calls. Usually $10 is more than enough to get started and do a lot of talking.

We have used Skype in the past. Many of our cruising friends regularly speak with their friends, family members, or business connections with Skype. It is cost effective when you are dialing into a land line. But one phone call to a cell phone can empty your account rapidly! Of course Skype to Skype account holders can call each other free. They both have to be on line at the same time to do that. In that case, time zone differences can be a bother.

Right now, in Malaysia, it is just as easy for us, and just as cheap, to use our cell phone to make long distance calls. Maybe easier and cheaper, in fact! Our cell phone service has a special access code for long distance. I just made a business call that lasted 7 minutes 36 seconds; it cost MR1.95 or about 57 cents!

We have noticed that many of the cyber shops in this part of the world also are set up for Skype use with headsets at each computer terminal. Some of the computers even have a web camera so the person you are calling can see you! It is a little bothersome to others doing text or Internet work to have roaring conversations going on right next to them, however.

How well does Skype work? Last year our good friends Nick and Jan (yacht Yawarra) were in Ushuaia, Chile - the very bottom end of the whole South American continent. They were at a cyber shop, they have a Skype account, and they knew we were in California visiting Al's brother Charlie. They made a Skype call to us and we talked - clearly - for over a half hour! Jan said later in an e-mail that it hardly put a dent in their account.

Now we are back in Langkawi, at a favorite anchorage - one of the fjord-like areas near the freshwater lake. We are snug between beautiful soaring cliffs. The trees are full of birds - eagles, kingfishers, hornbills and all kinds of swifts and swallows and other tweety birds. A wonderful "get up" chorus in the mornings! But there's no Internet. We don't even get cell phone coverage here because of the cliffs! Ahhh...Just like cruisin' in the good ol' days!