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Bandwidth management

Discussion in 'Technical Discussion' started by Danvilletim, May 28, 2018.

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  1. Danvilletim, May 28, 2018
    #1
    Danvilletim

    Danvilletim Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2011
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    Location:
    isleton, ca
    Has anyone setup a cellular router like cradle point to manage bandwidth. I can see most of the boats around me have separate wifi networks for crew, captain, and guests. Which makes sense when you only have so many gigs a month.
  2. Danvilletim, May 28, 2018
    #2
    Danvilletim

    Danvilletim Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2011
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    Location:
    isleton, ca
    Also what data plan have you been able to get? Best I could get in a rush was at&t @ 25gb per month. That won't last long with a full boat.

    I'm also not sure if it will work in Bahamas.
  3. Pascal, May 28, 2018
    #3
    Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    Location:
    Miami, FL
    I have an old unlimited with fine print ATT plan and average 25 to 30gb a month. I believe the new 25GB plans are unlimited with slower peak hour speeds beyond the 25. Check the fine orint.

    No it will NOT work in th Bahamas and more importantly you must be absolutely sure that the sim is either disabled i teh craddlepoint setup, or physically removed before entering bahamian waters or the roaming bill will be higher than your fuel bill :).

    In the bahamas i use a BTC prepaid sim which works pretty much everywhere except in the coversge gap between Shroud and Compass in the exumas. The plans are $35 for 15 gb. You can add $ to your prepaid account on line and reactivate the dataplan when you run out. To reactivate you need to take out the sim, put it in an unlocked phone, dial *203# and select a new plan, then put it back in the router...

    The key to controlling bandwith usage is to disable the connection at night in the craddlpoint settings. If you dont every device connected to the network will try to synch, back up, etc... and you will run out of bandwith before sunrise... i hvent found a settting to disable it automatically between certain hours. Yet.

    There is also a new service called Aliv which has larger plans than BTC work in most of the bahamas except the exumas for now. Ive heard good things but wnt try it till it works in the exumas.
  4. German Yachting, May 28, 2018
    #4
    German Yachting

    German Yachting Senior Member

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    On your router, you can also easily establish data caps for each band as well as speed caps.
  5. Danvilletim, May 28, 2018
    #5
    Danvilletim

    Danvilletim Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2011
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    794
    Location:
    isleton, ca
    Thanks. I like the idea of having data caps for different users. Also like the BTC suggestion. Can you sett that up stateside?

    I do see you can also block certain devices...so we may block the apple tvs from trying to perform a backup.

    Cradlepoint seems super powerful, but not in love with the manual.
  6. Pascal, May 28, 2018
    #6
    Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    Location:
    Miami, FL
    You can order BTC sims from Mr Sim .com and they can preload a set amount, or you can go to
    https://secure2.btcbahamas.com/quicktopup/

    and add funds. If you are away from te bahamas for more than 90days, make sure you add $5 every 90 days to keep the sim alive.

    Then when you get there, you put the sim in an unlocked phone and a tivste a dataplan.

    ApppleTVs dont use much bandwith for saving, its really the phones and ipads
  7. ychtcptn, May 29, 2018
    #7
    ychtcptn

    ychtcptn Senior Member

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    Jul 8, 2005
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    Location:
    Lighthouse Point, FL
    Check out the Pepwave max HD2, this is what we use to manage our bandwith and users.
    I have an AT&T card from unlimitedville.com, 199 a month for truly unlimited, we burned up nearly 50 gigs one month with no slow downs or alerts.
    BTC is best for Bahamas.
  8. Scallywag, Jun 2, 2018
    #8
    Scallywag

    Scallywag Member

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2012
    Messages:
    82
    Location:
    Islamorada FL
    I use an unlimited 4G on Sprint's network by donating to Calyx Institute which is a non profit focused on internet privacy and security. The donation ($500/yr) goes to a good cause and the cost benefit is great. They market it as "30 gig/month" but there is no throttling and no overage charges. We blast though about 500gig per month mostly due to streaming HD content on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. I use a Zing WiFi Hotpspot with two high gain 4G antennas. This solution is so good I rarely ever think about my internet connection. It just works. Here are some details on the Calyx 4G: https://www.calyxinstitute.org/member/map

    In the Bahamas I use a dedicated BTC phone as a hotspot bridged to my boats WiFi. We are just mindful of usage but data through BTC is very cost effective as long as you aren't streaming video etc...

    I also have a Rogue Wave Rogue Pro http://www.wavewifi.com/services/rogue-pro/ but haven't used that in years because the internet connection is always only as good as the source. Most marinas have terrible wifi with corroded outdoor antenna or RJ45 terminals and are overloaded with all the other boats sucking up their small amount of available bandwith. Garbage in - garbage out.