Yachts: Crew Team looking for positions (Mate/Bosun, Stewardess/Sous Chef)

+1 954 683 3426

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Yachts (and others): Two Anti-Viruses Don’t Make a Right!

18. March 2009 by admin.

Just like the old saying that “two wrongs don’t make a right” - Two Anti-Viruses Don’t Make a Right either!

I’ve been on two job sites in the past 30 days or so where someone had installed an ISP (Internet Service Provider) supplied Application Suite (software) that provides Anti-Virus and such protection, along with another commercial (free or pay) Anti-Virus software. In both cases it messed up the computer severely. Causing inability to boot or inability to use the system even if it gets to the Windows Desktop part of the boot up sequence.

So unless you really know what you’re doing … be very careful of installing multiple protection softwares from multiple authors or vendors onto your computer. Many recent anti-virus softwares are adding additonal functionality such as Anti-Spyware and Anti-Worm, and even Firewall protection to their software installations.

The way I described it here the other day was … You’ve now got 2 softwares that want to protect the “Core” of the Computer - The Core of the Operating System. In my thinking you’ve then got two softwares that can fight over the “core” of the OS of the computer. And I don’t know if this is a good description of what happens, but, what if they BOTH WIN? And YOU LOSE.

You would think that each software would report some kind of violation of priveledged “space” or priveledged parts of the Operating System. You would think that each software would pop up some kind of dialog box asking you to decide to allow the other software acess to “the core” of the Operating System. But it seems like they may not. They may just lock in a death grip on the core and cause bad things to happen such as Rebooting right after reaching the desktop or the system refusing to let you do anything at all.

So if you’ve got an ISP provided Anti-Virus Software or such Protection Suite … you might want to uninstall it before you download something else to battle that virus (or root kit, or trojan horse) infection that you think you have on your computer. Once you’ve uninstalled one software, and rebooted, then you will likely be safe to install another software and do battle with the beast (or beasts.)

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Alan Spicer Telecom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

+1 954 683 3426

Posted in General Computer onboard Sail and Motor Yachts | No Comments »

Yachts: If you don’t have a WiFi Internet System to augment 3G Cellular… get with me!

14. March 2009 by admin.

Yacht captains, owners, … If you don’t have a WiFi Hotspot Internet (Router) System on board to augment your 3G Cellular… Get with me and I can hook you up with that.

See my other alerts in this same blog about 5Gb Internet limits problems on 3G Cellular. WiFi is often free in many marinas, docking facilities, and anchorages … is Very Fast on average … and doesn’t have 5Gb data limitations. So this can give you another option to farm off some of that Internet Bandwidth usage on something that doesn’t count the bytes and try to byte the wallet.

No you don’t have to break the bank. It’s not as expensive as you think it is. And in all likelyhood you can install it yourself with my help. You may not have to hire an hourly contractor to come onboard, or bother the owner to approve another big estimate or quote. My consulting agreements are on special and I can specify and diagram and document the whole thing … very inexpensively. So you save money implementing it as well as saving money by using it. (WiFi that is.)

I always say have as many Internet Options as possible on a boat. Well 3G Cellular and WiFi Systems are two that I specialize in. And how to switch between them.

Thanks!

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

+1 954 683 3426

Posted in WiFi Hotspot and Onboard WiFi Wireless | No Comments »

Yachts: Heed the 5Gigabyte Limit on AT&T 3G Cellular

14. March 2009 by admin.

Hello again. I got another report from an associate… someone within the US got a $5000 AT&T 3G Cellular bill. No not roaming. Just going over 5GB of Data Use.

So Captains, brief your crews… that this is something to watch out for. There are ways to monitor data usage in the W25 - not by individual user … but totals. So keep an eye on it. Advise your crew members that while on 3G Cellular Internet that this is not something to watch videos over. Don’t the latest basketball game or football game, etc. Don’t watch TV across the Internet. Yah I know the commercials have promised us all of these things… but it looks like these promises are no good so far on cellular. It’s not hard to hit 5 Gigabytes with heavy usage. Trust me I know, I’m using it now.

Regular web surfing and email should be fine. Go ahead and do your normal business. Just don’t use 3G Cellular to watch too much video or TV online. Don’t download DVD or CD sized content because that adds up to hundreds of Megabytes which adds up to Gigabytes rather quickly.

Perhaps as 3G evolves … they’ll have to build out their capacity to support everything.

No Cellular Internet bill, IMHO, should ever be over $60.00 to $100 US Dollars a month.

$5000.00 a month - that must be the cost for 1 complete tower for that month. That’s rediculous. $10,000 - that must be the cost to run 2 towers for a month.

If 5Gb is $60.00 a month. Then 10Gb should be $120.00 a month. 20Gb should be $240.00 a month. Thousand of dollars is just plain rediculous. The FCC should step in and stop this crap.

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Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

+1 954 683 3426

Posted in Cellular Voice and Internet | No Comments »

Yachts: Customer Feedback on Ericsson W25 on a S/Y

14. March 2009 by admin.

I got the following customer feedback regarding an Ericsson W25 System that they got from me and we installed onboard their Sailing Yacht:

Dear Alan

Thank you for the information.

Alexia crossed over to the Bahamas yesterday from Rodriguez Key and you will be interested to know that the Ericsson box is working well over here and picked up the internet about 5 miles before we arrived in North Bimini.

We have now left Bimini and are heading east across the Great Bahama Bank bound for Nassau.

Bimini is now about 20 miles behind us and we are sailing completely on our own with nothing visible in any direction.

As we still have a weak signal, I am hoping this message will get through to you.

Best regards

William. .

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Alan Spicer @ Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.twitter.com/alanspicer

+1 954 683 3426

Posted in Cellular Voice and Internet | No Comments »

Twitter is Hot, oh you didn’t know that… Follow me on Twitter

14. March 2009 by admin.

You can follow me on Twitter … Tweet! Tweet!

I am: http://www.twitter.com/alanspicer

I’ll try to tweet out some interesting tid bits in my posts (tweets) on there.

Thanks!

—

Alan Spicer

+1 954 683 3426

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Yachts - Marine: ASMT New Web Domain for Equipment Purchases (e-Shop)

14. March 2009 by admin.

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom has activated another web site domain:

…for the purpose of showcasing the Marine Communications (Internet Access, Voice) products that we handle for the yachting market.

I was going to get “internet for yachts dot com” but someone is already camping (domain parking) that domain probably to shark it for money. So I went with internetforyachts.net which works every bit as well. Notice how marinetelecom.net works just fine, right? Dot com is just another top-level-domain. Doesn’t mean squat anymore.

The site: http://www.internetforyachts.net automatically redirects to the shopping cart service that I use on 1and1.com web hosting. If anyone has any questions or problems with this web site, don’t hesitate to call ME by phone: 954-683-3426. I’ll be glad to help you out.

This e-Shop site … contains links to my older long-time web sites - which obviously often contain much more information. But this e-Shop loads much quicker and may be better for those on lower bandwidth connections or paying by the megabyte (satellite) connections.

Thanks again!

—

Alan Spicer

+1 954 683 3426

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Yachts: Blog only special… on Ericsson W25 and WiFi Hotspot Sharing System

8. March 2009 by admin.

For viewers of my blog only…

Ericsson W25 - $50.00 off … ($700 - 50 = $650.00) + 72.00 shipping. External antenna and coax cables will cost additional.

WiFi Hotspot Sharing System - $50.00 off… ($900 - $50 = $850.00) + shipping. This one is the complete system with coax cable and marine antenna and mount.

* Installation support by telephone and email 30 days is included.

…This is a blog only special. I’m not posting this to my regular web site(s) pages.

—

Alan Spicer

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

+1 954 683 3426

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Yachts: WiFi Hotspot Internet Router - use Free or Inexpensive Fast WiFi Hotspot Internet for everyone on board!

6. March 2009 by admin.

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom has a main purpose to sail and motor yachts - to help you save money on your communications and Internet Access costs. I often specify multiple systems to give you least-cost options for any particular location. Often one of those lowest cost options is WiFi Hotspot Internet which is offered by many marinas and other locations where you travel. Often WiFi Hotspot access is FREE - or included with your docking fees. At other times it is offered for relatively low cost weekly, monthly, or yearly by pay WiFi Hotspot Systems. But you’ll want to take full advantage of those systems by sharing a single connection to them to all of your computers and laptops on board.

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom has just the thing. A WiFi Hotspot Sharing System - with 400mW power output, and all the Coax Cable and Outdoor antenna parts of the system included. I also offer installation support via my yearly consulting and support agreements which can help you get the whole thing installed and working on your vessel. This includes integration with other Internet Systems that you may have, and the onboard wired and wireless networking that you will need to make full use of all of this.

Please contact me here:

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Alan Spicer Marine Telecom