There was a few weeks ago , maybe a month some exchanges concerning E-mail on board. Here are some extra information I have gathered since then. I hope it helps those who are looking for the right solution which I havent found yet. Globe wireless is a very professionally run operation which caters mainly to commercial accounts, some with full fleets. The service they offer individuals has the inconvenience that only someone with an account with globe wireless or someone who has your account number (and mentions it at the start of the message) can e-mail you a message. It s not a major obstacle but if you were planning to put your e-mail address on a business card and hand it out to fellow boaters you meet along the way, you need to give them also your account number or have it printed on your card. Pin oak is a little more "family" and while the service they offer is similar to Globe it is less popular than Globe. I base this on the fact that the few installers I have talked to are all familiar and have installed Globe , none have dealt with Pin-Oak. (Maybe I have been talking to the wrong peoplebut I dont think so). I have not been able to compare the cost of one system to the other yet. They seem to be in the same range . I am a little uncomfortable with Pin-Oak ability to handle communications from very far away. Mobil marine radio (Alabama) is a very small message service outfit, very family and consequently quite personal. He is basically using the ordinary ability of your SSB to communicate with any receiver through a more or less off the shelf modem. To quote Ren of Mobil he and others like him are the poor mans solution. I found that if his service works as well as he describes it and your needs are limited to the Continental North America including Panama he is the most cost effective and the personalized service he offers is very attractive. This includes sending faxes, receiving and sending phone messages to friends or home etc..In this case costs are probably half or less than Globe and Pinoak. The modem alone is in the 500$ max. oposed to the 2 others at 1500$ to 2000$ I estimate that while Globe has thousands of accounts, Pin-Oak has a few hundred max., Mobil manages tens of boats only at a time. To answer the need expressed by someone and which I was hoping was possible, you can not browse the web and download files as you do at home from your computer with a SSB based system. The speed of transmission ( a few hundred to a thousand bauds max. compared to 36000 on your phone line) makes it technically impossible.. To do so, you need to go the satellite phone route (Inmarsat and others) and that is in an other budget category. I hope this helps and might reactivate this thread with input from our overseas members. It also explains why we do not have on board people actually offshore cruising. Frank & (Maude) soon on board m/v Horizons