A mobile phone can facilitate a great deal onboard a boat, from obtaining weather forecasts to sending blog posts, but all this technology only works if you can get and stay connected to cellular towers.
What good is an up-to-the-minute weather forecast if you can't connect to read it? Think back to the days when mobile phones were new (and much larger). Remember going in search of that sometimes elusive signal – standing by the window, stepping outside, maybe even walking to the top of the hill. Well, on your boat you may be returning to those nostalgic times.
Of course, those of us who live on the coast of Maine and other rural locations never left. For example, here in Castine, the sweet spot is on the town dock. You may have to stand up on one of the picnic tables and face southeast, but don't worry. We're used to that.
Mobile phones depend on towers for a signal, and where they are located matters.
First, we will explain why, despite huge investments by the mobile network carriers, the signal on your boat remains poor – sometimes even worse than it was a few years ago. Then we'll go over some of the equipment that is available to solve the problem. With a small investment and a little work, you can greatly increase your mobile network access.
HOW IT WORKS
Your mobile phone is a radio much like your VHF radio. Electromagnetic signals are sent through the air so you can communicate with others. On your VHF radio there is a distance range outside of which you cannot reach another VHF radio (the rule of thumb is generally line of sight). This range is relatively long for your onboard VHF, which usually has a signal output of 25 watts, and quite a bit less on your handheld VHF, which generally has an output of just 5 watts. In either case, you cannot communicate unless there is another VHF radio within your signal range.
The same is true for your mobile phone, except your phone's signal is going out to cellular towers, which are routing that signal to the desired location. As we are all aware, if you are out of range of the cell towers, you will not have a signal.
On our boats we have VHF antennas – typically large ones – to extend the signal range. In comparison, mobile phones have tiny antennas; most so small they are actually inside the mobile phone. Now some of you are thinking, I bought an external antenna for my mobile phone and it didn't help one bit. That is most likely true. In fact, by the end of this article you will understand why doing this can actually make your signal worse than if you had no external antenna.
Companies are moving to a model that calls for more towers with less reach.
So why is your cell signal often so poor on your boat? Well, the first reason is fairly obvious. On a boat we are frequently heading to remote locations. After all, isn't that the point of being on your boat – to get away? Remote areas are often underserved by mobile companies. That's why we have poor mobile service in rural Maine and good service in New York City: mobile carriers focus their investment on equipment in the locations that will give them the biggest bang for their buck. More remote areas will tend to have fewer cell towers and those towers often have older technology.
WHY WORSE?
But that doesn't explain why your mobile phone service may have actually gotten worse on your boat over time.
It is true that more cell towers appear every day. However, these towers are focusing on the largest population. They are therefore generally directed inward towards land and away from the water. After all, there are typically more people on land than on the sea (you may dispute this on a beautiful Saturday in July, but we assure you it is true). So even when new cell towers are installed in more remote areas, they are most likely pointing away from your boat.
In addition, many mobile carriers are moving away from cell towers that reach out to a broad area in favor of more towers with less reach. They have found that this provides better coverage and quality – if you are on land.
