Redport Archives

What happens when a monkey swings from a Redport Halo long distance WiFi antenna on a sailboat in a boatyard in Africa?

We found out today. We are in a boatyard in Zululand Yacht Club…in Richards Bay, South Africa, as many of you know, and a monkey went “ape-shit” on our Redport Halo WiFi Antenna that we use for WiFi, from Global Marine Networks (GMN) The antenna hung there, horizontal…with coal dust heavy on the otherwise white antenna.

Its been a few years now since we put this antenna up..and while we don’t use it all the time, because we often have cellular data..it has proven it’s worth. We arrive to a country and don’t even have to get off the boat to get a new SIM card..and wala…we can get a WiFi signal and catch some internet, often complimentary! Sometimes we even get it Sailing up the coast before we ever arrive! Communication at sea at its best! More about it here

All cleaned up after 2 years and 5000 miles

We crawled up the stern arch, disconnected the antenna and brought it down to the deck. (it’s only a simple network cable, easily replaced anywhere, so if it had no problem!) So we cleaned it up, we applied new tape, and reassembled, tightening the little set screws, and put it back up. ITS WORKING!

So now we all know that a Redport Halo Long Distance WiFi Antenna can get beat up my a monkey in Africa and survive, and triumph!

And look at how stainless the stainless steel looks after 2 years. This thing is built to last!

Borneo Malaysia 3 Years ago…Proboscis Monkey!

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You are a Monkey!

Boy was I wrong!

I can not even begin to tell you the tangle of wires and pile of contraptions that I have accumulated on this boat trying to get useable wifi signals in the last 10 years. I’ve done better than a lot of boats, but in the past 5 years I just assumed it was the lack of maintenance of the routers ashore, and the general infrastructure that supports wifi, that was toppling to extinction. I thought the world had converted to 3G and 4G cellular devices, and wifi was just a rusty relic in my bilge.

I asked friends all over the world if they were experiencing the same thing. And guess what, wifi is still alive and well, and improving all the time, the world over. There is no good reason to stop chasing the wifi signals because they are most often your least expensive option, not to mention your only hope of a signal at all. Some countries are even starting to limit who can have a SIM card, and it may not be as easy going forward, for cruisers to even obtain SIM cards! I find that so hard to believe, but rather find out the hard way, I decided to get a good rig up, and the bad gear off the boat, once and for all.

I have a wifi hotspot with a SIM card in it. I am embarrassed to tell you how much money I lose when I go over my limit; money flies out of my wallet keeping this topped up.

Today arrived a Redport Halo Long Range Wifi Extender.

What a gorgeous piece of hardware! This morning, the only signal any of my devices could see, with my best rig up, was the marina’s wifi. It could not hold the signal long enough to actually bring up a page. There were 1-2 bars of signal strength.

Eager to start saving money, and approaching another plan end…I did a temporary install of this Extender, and found it very easy to set up on our horizontal Bimini bar. Within 10 minutes, I had 25 signals showing. Now, the marina signal was not just useable, but lightening fast.

What’s nice about this device too, is that once I activate the built in firewall and service, I can be sure that my computer won’t do automatic updates, or that running background apps won’t suck down the data while I am attached to expensive wifi or 3G/4G data plans, never mind my Inmarsat satellite phone. I have all but decided to sell my Inmarsat Isatphone Pro since every time I have used that for data, I’ve run my data out before I’ve even gotten the weather or my emails while at sea.

If anyone wants a bundle of wifi devices, come’n get em…free for the taking. I will likely be replacing my Inmarsat IsatphonePro sat phone with an Iridium GO, so if anyone wants a good deal on a an Inmarsat Isatphone Pro, let me know that too. It has the latest firmware with it, and a data connection kit.

Yeah…I’ve always liked my gadgets!