Recommendations for 2 weeks in Exumas

[Pascal]

I ve only flown to Stella Maris and Crooked’s Pitstown, and that was in the 80s... never went by boat. I ve looked into LI which isn’t far from Gtown but not sure it s worth the detour considering all the Exumas have to offer

[Passages]

Thanks for the helpful replies.

It's apparent that my planning priority is not ports of call but ensuring reliable wifi & cell service. That will determine how long we can remain in Bahamas.

Now I need to educate myself on wifi/cell antenna's, repeaters, sim cards and how to tie it all to our T-Mobile service.

[Westfield 11]

The WiFi hotspot looks like a good deal: $75 a month with a one-time $50 device purchase. Pascal, is the unit battery only? If so, is battery life an issue?

[carolinacoast]

hughesnet satellite internet may be a backup option for email.

[Pascal]

MIW is now $75 a month unlimited, no fine print, no throttling back. The hot spot has a built in battery and can be charged or plugged in with a standard usb charger

As mentioned earlier cell coverage is very good in Exuma with the only dead spot being in Exuma Park. But from Compass on south it s 100% all the way to Gtown. The MIW hot spot can be set up high in the boat, like in the flybridge where you ll have better range

We installed a Shakespeare Super Halo booster a couple of months ago and this has almost doubled the range we get. On the way back from Gtown I kept signal all the way till Warderick Wells

We don’t use T-Mobile but I ve seen people complaining that roaming speeds are terrible in the Bahamas.

This last trip with the MIW was the first time I never heard the words “is the internet working”?

[Passages]

T-Mobile not good in Bahamas?

Well maybe Skype would be a good work around. As long as we can participate in Webex conferencing we could work from the moon.

[Passages]

hughesnet satellite internet may be a backup option for email.

I spoke to the folks at Global Satellite here in Ft Lauderdale and they advised against sat comm for my application. Too slow & costly. They suggested I go back to T Mobile to add Bahamas usage to my account.

Sat comm is best reserved to true ocean crossings.

[Pascal]

Sat is indeed way to expensive. Last time I checked it was still about $6 to $8 per meg. Yes, per meg not gig

T-Mobile isn’t the solution if internet is critical. again MyIslandWifi is the way to go especially at now $75 a month. It s a no brainer.

[Passages]

If T-Mobile is no good on the islands, would another carrier be better? I could always buy a throw away phone just for Bahamas.

Also, with MyIslandWiFi, would I also need some type of wifi antenna to pick up signals while anchored out?

[Pascal]

I have used BTC for years until MIW. BTC data is $30 for $15 GB, prepaid. You can put the SIM card either in one or their phones, any unlocked phone, in a tablet or in any unlocked cell modem.

It works fine although the cheaper the phone the slower the hot spot will be. I tried it in a couple of phones and it wasn’t as fast as a quality cellular modem. The other issue with BTC prepaid is that every 15 GB, you need to refill the sim online, put it in an unlocked phone and dial a code to activate a new 15GB plan. It get s old very quickly especially if you use a lot of data and this needs to be done every couple of days. It s even worst if you are in the middle of something...

No need for an external antenna with MIW. The name is a little misleading as it uses Cellular signal not WiFi.

For voice, you can use WiFi calling on your phone. I ve never tried it but supposedly it works very well