Looking for something that might not exist

[Gettin' It]

I am very big into music and can't even imagine being on the boat without tunes. I however listen to a lot of music that is on Souncloud and other streaming only apps. The downside to this is that certain parts of my lake have dead zones with no service. Is there some kind of hotspot I can build into the boat? Supposedly the new Chevy cars come with built in wifi, what are they using?

[MLA]

They are likely connecting to the same cell service, that which your phone is dropping. Good chance they are using a booster antenna though. Much easier to do with a hard wired base unit as opposed to a pocket phone. Much like the days bag phones that could reach WAY further then modern phones because of the lack of cell antenna as compared to today.

Why not down load the music rather than stream? Thats why I like the Beast By Dre, soon to be relaunched by Apple.

[mmandley]

My new Ram has HotSpot and it basically uses my Phone Data plan so really not a good option for me.

I also notice that even in my truck it will drop out Serius pretty easily in the hills out by my house.

On a boat if you don't have cell signal a Hot Spot isn't going to help, your only option is try Serius radio, you can buy a receiver unit and connect it to the boat. Then you are using Satalite radio, more reliable in most settings.

I feel the same as you do about music, I downloaded a lot the first couple summers, now my local lake has a cell tower on the mountain with my carrier, so it helps a ton. I still switched over and got Beats Music on me and the Mrs phones and I can download the tracks to my phone with playlists for lakes we goto with no signal.

[viking]

Cheap USB flash drive and 4-8hrs of music and your set!!

[philwsailz]

Consider a WiFi extender/amplifier... Something like WIFI RANGER.

These devices go out and find a wifi hotspot, even if weak and lock onto it. The signal is amplified a lot. At that point, your boat becomes the wifi hotspot and you don't use data. This as long as the WiFi amplifier can find a shore-based hot-spot to connect to...


its a long-shot, but there are some GOOD wifi extenders that coastal cruisers use off-shore to stay connected to land-based WiFi hotspots.

[smorris7]

I am very big into music and can't even imagine being on the boat without tunes. I however listen to a lot of music that is on Souncloud and other streaming only apps. The downside to this is that certain parts of my lake have dead zones with no service. Is there some kind of hotspot I can build into the boat? Supposedly the new Chevy cars come with built in wifi, what are they using?

Switch to Spotify. You can download the music and play in your "dead zones" Not the mention the sound quality is better than Pandora and Sound Cloud!

[trayson]

Switch to Spotify. You can download the music and play in your "dead zones" Not the mention the sound quality is better than Pandora and Sound Cloud!

^^^^ This. and Pandora has so many LESS songs in their library. it's amazes me that people still use Pandora when other services offer so much more.

[viking]

we don't ever use pandora on the computer anymore. Spotify mainly. But the pandora app on the smart tv's is completely different and like it much better than computer. I have not idea why but better library and no ads.

[trayson]

we don't ever use pandora on the computer anymore. Spotify mainly. But the pandora app on the smart tv's is completely different and like it much better than computer. I have not idea why but better library and no ads.

So all we need to do is put a Smart TV in our boat? I'll get right on that.

[N2OGTO]

the new gm stuff uses the telematics communication interface module to act as a wireless LAN using 4g LTE to connect to the internet, you have to purchase a data plan in order to use it. So, something like that probably wouldnt work in your dead zones. I download my music and have it saved on my phone and most of the time thats all I use, unless we're tired of hearing the playlist. I'll open up pandora for a little while

[sandm]

Cheap USB flash drive and 4-8hrs of music and your set!!

this.

and now it's 10 letters....

[jmvotto]

get satellite unless you have large cliffs

[Gettin' It]

I listen is Soundcloud, which has songs/mixes/ and sets by dis that are not avail. for download. I have no desire to listen to music that is picked for me (pandora/sirius/etc). I am going to look into this wifi extender!

[EchoSkis]

Something like this from att@t might work. http://www.att.com/cellphones/att/wireless-home-phone-and-internet.html#sku=sku7130587
It would require it's own data plan though. We have the phone only one at the lake and while our cell phones get no reception the device does.

[cornrickey]

WiFi amplifiers are not going to work because your losing cell service. The only option is a mobile cell amplifier. The good ones are spendy @about $500. This happens to me at my cabin and I have researched it.

[Gettin' It]

Ok, I'll look into that.