Internet at sea

neon_glows

I will be at sea from monday morning onwards for 4 weeks, im addicted to the internet and dont know how im going to get by, the ship i will be on wont have internet facilities and it will be going to norway, i will get to get off the boat a few times over the 4 weeks but not for more than a few hours at a time and it will be at places i dont know and most likely at night time.

Im really hoping there is some sort of a device that wont cost me anymore than 100e for the 4 weeks that i can get internet on my laptop with. i cant subscribe to any 12month contracts as im leaving ireland after xmas. Im thinking i will need to get one of them usb broadband devices, but will they work at sea and in norway, do they cost more when they are used out side of ireland? and i have an xda aswell so is it possible to get gprs/wap enacted on that, buy somesort of a bundel and plug phone into laptop and get internet that way, is it expensive? ill be using internet to check and send emails, downloading some attachments, using msn messenger and working on websites (which will involve a certain amont of uploading)

Sam Vimes

mobile networks won't work out at sea. the only answer would be some sort of satellite device. a satellite phone would be ridiculously expensive to use for proper internet usage for weeks. re mortgaging your house kind of expensive

neon_glows

when pulling alongside places in Norway, or not to far from land i would expect to get mobile phone coverage, would that mean i would also have O2's 3G/GPRS coverage and would that work while on a norweigan network?

Also im looking at this here: http://www.o2online.ie/wps/wcm/connect/O2/Home/Business/Price+Plans/Data+tariffs

it will cost me €16 per every 25mb which is a huge cost, but is it possible to connect my mobile phone to my laptop, and browse from my laptop using O2's 3G/GPRS. i suppose i could get away with chatting heavily on msn for 4 weeks but not transferring any files and disable all images etc on my browser and just browse using text and only use it to check and read and reply to mails.

At €16 per 25mb i would be able to have a bandwidth of 150mb for a little over a 100e and i suppose thats manageable.

neon_glows

my phone is the xda orbit

cormie

I was on the Ferry from Holyhead to Dublin there the other day and connected to something like MLB or MTB or something, got a welcome message to their network that said "your gsm provider at sea".

neon_glows

Saw the same thing on my phone when i went on ferry to france from ireland but its not on a ferry im going on and i think that particular network is actuallly part of the ship, so its a ships satillite you are connecting to or that specific route in the ocean might have some sort of phone network system, i dont know but the boat im going on doesnt have a similiar system and/or wouldnt be taken a standard shipping route to norway.

Random

If O2 have coverage for GPRS/3G in that country (more than likely yes, you've checked the website anyway ahven't you?) then you should be able to get coverage when you dock at various places.

As you say, very expensive though - but if you've gotta feed the habit

Random

If O2 have coverage for GPRS/3G in that country (more than likely yes, you've checked the website anyway haven't you?) then you'll be able to get coverage when you dock at various places.

As for using your Orbit as a modem, no problem! Via the data cable or bluetooth if your PC has it. Sometimes it can be a bit of a pain to setup though so I'd suggest you get it working before you go so that you can just plug and play! O2 Data support can help you if you have problems 1850 601740

As you say, very expensive though - but if you've gotta feed the habit

Moriarty

Short answer is no.

Near shore you'll probably get a mobile network connection - gprs if you're lucky. Roaming charges for data are exceptionally expensive though. You're talking well over eur30/MB on a lot of networks for data roaming. Your only realistic option for the price you're talking about is hopping into net cafes when the ship docks.

Sponge Bob

I have heard of the sailor with a girl in every port.

Frankly a sim in every port sounds somewhat perverse, whats wrong with the local knocking shop ?????

SeaSide

Sponge Bob wrote: »

I have heard of the sailor with a girl in every port.

For safety/redundancy purposes you are now supposed to have two.

Ten years ago the Noggies had GSM coverage on their offshore platforms but never had the opportunity to verify this myself.