After our first outing and realizing that using a cell phone hotspot for internet access was’t going to do the job, we determined we needed something a bit more permanent. After doing some research, I purchased the MOFI Network MOFI4500-4GXeLTE-SIM7 which is described as working well with TMobile service. After purchasing the router, I then ordered a SIM card from TMobile. We may consider Verizon or another service is the TMobile coverage is not good enough. Although this won’t help us when we travel to Canada (if the border is ever open again), it will work great in the US waters around the San Juan Islands.
I ordered a SIM card for TMobile service, installed it on the boat an it is awesome. I suppose you could pull the sim card out of your phone and give it a try if you didn’t want to pay for another line with your carrier. If you are ordering one of these be sure to get the right one for your carrier. I think that for ATT you need a slightly different model number.
Here are the links to the router and the 12v adapter
The speeds wit the MOFI router and TMobile are awesome. I was able to get 30mb download speeds with this device. Streaming Netflix and working were not a problem.
The antenna’s are very directional, so if you are anchored and the boat turning with the current you may need to reposition the router occasionally. I am considering trying some omni-directional antennas that plug into this unit. Currently when we are using this we place it on a high point on the dash of the fly bridge to get the best coverage. If we had the omnidirectional antennas we could mount those on the radar arch for even better reception.
This is faster upload speed than I get at home with a Xfinity/comcast cable connection.