DEALING DATA

KVH TracPhone LTE-1 customers purchase data directly from KVH in 20 GB installments, which cost $199 per month with unthrottled data speeds, sans minimum contracts or commitments. Additional data (read: grandkids or Netflix habits) costs $9.99 per GB, and users can winterize service for $9.99 per month of inactivity. signal coverage,” Bennett says. ¶ For its initial rollout, the TracPhone LTE-1 will only work on U.S. waters, but the Middletown, Rhode Island-based manufacturer plans to expand its LTE horizons. “With our future plans to go beyond U.S. waters with the TracPhone LTE product,” Bennett says, “we will explore LTE solutions with multiple SIM cards.” ¶ While the LTE-1 is designed to appeal to coastal and Great Lakes cruisers, it will also provide faster, cheaper data to existing mini-VSAT Broadband customers. ¶ “We designed the TracPhone LTE-1 to work seamlessly with our VSAT systems,” Bennett says, adding that once a TracPhone LTE-1 is networked with a mini-VSAT Broadband dome, “KVH systems can be configured to provide seamless, least-cost routing, so the customer will receive the most affordable connectivity at any given time while on the water.” ¶ To achieve this system flexibility, users must pay an initial configuration fee and buy KVH’s CommBox Service Bundle subscription, costs that are offset by the low per-gigabyte price of transmitting data over cellular — rather than satellite — networks, especially for habitually data-heavy users. ¶ So, if you’re in the market for a fast and more affordable way to bridge your vessel’s satellite-communications equipment with your personal smartphone, or if you’re interested in using a long-distance cellular router as your primary means of maintaining cloud cover while boating, then KVH’s TracPhone LTE-1 could be worth consideration. Not only can it help you share your latest encounters from much farther offshore than with a smartphone antenna, but it does so without overtaxing the cruising kitty.