Q: Why can’t I just use my internet access on my phone?
A: By installing dedicated hi-gain 4Gx/3G antennas on your vessel you can ensure you will excellent access to the internet at any time that doesn’t need to be shared with others. Enabling hotspot on your phone also drastically reduces its battery life.
Q: How does this kit compare the the Cel-Fi devices available?
A: The Cel-Fi devices are not a modem and you still require your mobile phone to provide a hotspot for data. The Cel-Fi units are locked to a particular carrier and are designed for boosting the signal, the Marine Internet Kit is a dedicated data modem with high quality external marine antennas. The performance of the modem in the kit with the dedicated antennas will outperform the speed available if operated via a Cel-Fi device. Essentially the Cel-Fi device is a bottleneck to the speeds the modem is capable of achieving.
Q: How does this kit compare to the competition?
A: Simply put, there is no competition to this kit. The modem is the fastest currently available and with global coverage capabilities, latest Wi-Fi technologies matched with the highest grade marine antennas, there is no competition to this kit. Competitor products have been designed overseas and don’t always fully support the Australia frequencies used here. Their modems are also often a lower specification.
Q: Is this kit 5G compatible?
A: At this time the 5G rollout in Australia is very limited and focussed around capital cities. It is unknown how long until or if this coverage will extend to marine coverage. The included antennas with the kit are already 5G compatible so should the technology move to the marine environment in the future you can simply upgrade the modem without re-cabling or replacing the antennas.
Q: Why are there two 3G/4G antennas in the kit?
A: Installing two identical high gain antennas allows you the best bandwidth/ speed and connection reliability possible. The kit will still operate on a single antenna however this will be at reduced performance. When operating further offshore the modem will only utilise a single antenna anyway.
Q: Is this secure?
A: Yes, by purchasing one of the PicoSense on-board marine internet access kits you will receive the hardware pre-configured with firewalls enabled and Wi-Fi access passwords set. Of course you can modify this later if you wish.
Q: Will this run from my boats power supply?
A: Yes, the marine modem will operate from a power supply of 12VDC (not 24VDC). It will also operate from a 240V outlet using the supplied plug pack.
Q: How do I know which plan I require?
A: This will depend on how much data you think you might use. Some plans will not continue to charge you if you go over your monthly limit, rather they will throttle your speed back until your roll over date. This can be useful as the speed when throttled is still often enough to check the weather or send emails.