I am considering retiring shortly and getting a trawler and cruising the Keys, Bahamas and Caribbean, among other places. One thing I wanted to do, was keep in touch with bank, people back home, and of course here with my homies, via the internet. A friend had a motorhome, and had satellite TV, internet and phone on his motorhome. I see them on eBay for sale cheap, what's the story with Satellite internet? Good, bad, dont, what? I know if it is directional, then it will come and go on a boat, so maybe I need a boat specific one, or are they all the same?

Very common and there is even wireless networking avail if you get as boat big enough to have a need for that. I have sat email now but my browser currently isn't up yet.

they have everything now, just go to KVH website and look around.
http://www.kvh.com/KVHSatCom/

and many marinas have Wi-Fi too.

Yes, as a matter of fact, the company I work for is building several satellite spacecraft reflectors that is intended to increase the coverage and bandwidth of wireless internet.

It works well and seems to be very reliable. A member here, young guns, is currently sailing from Hawaii to Alaska and has been in touch with me almost daily with progress reports via radio email and an internet blog! Pretty cool for a 15 yerar old huh?
Here is their latest update
http://www.sailcutthroat.com/2008/06/17/chinese-fire-drills%e2%80%a6all-day-long/

Works well for anything but gaming. For gaming you get a noticeable lag or latency due to the time it takes to bounce the signal up and back down.

It works well and seems to be very reliable. A member here, young guns, is currently sailing from Hawaii to Alaska and has been in touch with me almost daily with progress reports via radio email and an internet blog! Pretty cool for a 15 yerar old huh?
Here is their latest update
http://www.sailcutthroat.com/2008/06/17/chinese-fire-drills%e2%80%a6all-day-long/

Very cool trip! Thanks for the link.

I am considering retiring shortly and getting a trawler and cruising the Keys, Bahamas and Caribbean, among other places. One thing I wanted to do, was keep in touch with bank, people back home, and of course here with my homies, via the internet. A friend had a motorhome, and had satellite TV, internet and phone on his motorhome. I see them on eBay for sale cheap, what's the story with Satellite internet? Good, bad, dont, what? I know if it is directional, then it will come and go on a boat, so maybe I need a boat specific one, or are they all the same?

My understanding of the satellite dishes that are used with motorhomes and at homes, is that they don't work at all on boats because of the motion. They are only of any use if you mount them on the dock and just use them in a slip. The KVH setups like the link in one of the above posts do work, but they're pretty pricey. About 5-6k for the equipment and then rates of about a dollar a minute to use.
I plan on spending next winter in the Bahamas and my plan is to just keep it simple and use my $99 wifi antenna when I anchor off of the inhabited areas. That along with a Pactor 3 modem and ssb for email anytime.

I am planning in 09 to sail around South America. Anyone ever used the ssb email. I am researching the weatherfax capabilities but email would be nice. With sattelite internet can you actually browse websites and send pictures? Or just text?
Thanks,
Travis

Oh yeah, Stevemc1, I currently live off Key West in a sailboat and my verizon USB aircard works great all the way up and down the keys. I had cingular(now at&t) before and it wasnt as fast. just a little slower than my office but you tube type videos are no problem. Boca Grande is just about the limit to the west and it was pretty spotty out there.

Travis

on the dive boats in the gulf, we use the internet through the sat tv and it works well, slow, but you can send pics and every thing. the only reason its slow is the fact we usually have 15 ppl on the wireless at a time