GSM- GPRS-UMTS (Internet)
WiMax (Future) (Internet)
WiMax is like WiFi on steroids providing link speeds up to 10 MBs with a 10 mile range.
It is currently only available in a few cities around the world, but will soon be available worldwide, like the GSM mobile phone system.
A company called Clearwire is begining to set up Wimax services in a few sample cities in USA and Europe.
Until it becomes a common consumer product, WiMax might be cost prohibitive for the average cruiser.
WiMax is available in Palma de Mallorca from a company called OmniAccess that caters mostly to superyachts, but they have lower budget services that might be suitable for small yachts that will be based in Palma on a monthly basis.
OmniAccess can be reached at +34 971221 979 or at sales@omniaccess.com
Howard [Just Imagine] 22-Mar-2008
WiFi Access (WiFi)
WiFi was never intended to provide wide area coverage to ports and marinas. It is intended for local conectivity in your home or small office. The fact that it works at all in these hotspot marinas is a miracle in itself.
The biggest problem with WiFi is interference from adjacent Wifi networks.
The frequency channels assigned to WiFi are actually overlapping, so if you have several WiFi systems in an area, they could all be interfering with each other to some degree. Channels 1, 6 and 11 are non-overlapping and generally the preferred channels to use. If you see other channels in use in your area, some systems will be degraded.
Howard [Just Imagine] 22-Mar-2008