When coastal sailing, one of the best ways to access the internet, which allows for free calling and videos, is with Wi-Fi. We had a wi-fi antenna installed on our boat to extend the distance to a shore based wi-fi hot spot – up to a mile away.
Even when we can not get an internet connection due to the hot spots security, we have still found that Skype works well.
We worked with Wi-Fi for Boats for the hardware and software. The owner, Dalton, is extremely helpful.
We basically have two antennas. A large external antenna to connect to a land based hot spot and in internal antenna creating a hot spot on our boat. This internal antenna had three smart phones, an iPad and a laptop all using wi-fi at the same time with no problem.
