August 18, 2016
We’ve been in Noumea, New Caledonia, for a few days now. It’s one of those places that really makes me appreciate our external WiFi antenna.
Instead of searching for a place to perilously perch our precious PC, like this poor guy and so many others… (They do this to be near the WiFi signal.)
We sit in comfort, in our cabin, surf the net, send emails and research our next stop (New Caledonia’s Loyalty Islands).
These WiFi antennas (antennae?) are pretty common. We got ours, along with a small 12 VDC WiFi router that it plugs in to, from a great company called Island Time PC in Florida. I say “great company, not just because of the quality products they sell, but their exceptional level of support as well.
We made a little mount that lets us attach the antenna to our topping lift. We only install it when we’re in port or near a WiFi hotspot. It takes only minutes to put up and otherwise, stays out of the elements.
The truth is that we use this antenna less and less. In most places cellular is our go-to internet access method, but that said, I wouldn’t be without it. The cellular data is pretty expensive here, and once you pass 50MB per day, it is very slow (throttled). The WiFi here can also be very slow when there are a lot of people using it, but at least it’s free. -Rich
