Alternatives to starlink?

[dtynan]

At the risk of a contrarian opinion, and taking my sailing cap off, I find I don't like the idea of Starlink for a host of reasons. Apart from an intense dislike of Musk, the programme plans call for losing around ten tons of satellites every year, which will need to be replaced. That's a lot of crap to burn up in the atmosphere and it's a lot to have to launch every year in order to stay in business. For shore-based Internet access, we should be pushing harder to get fibre everywhere. We got 220v power everywhere, why not a fibre cable? As companies and countries roll out fibre more and more, people will switch. As the pool of Starlink users declines, the costs will go up. Especially if Amazon gets in on the act.

While crossing the Atlantic, and using a satellite phone to download GRIB data and very, very short emails, I really enjoyed being disconnected. Sure, I hoover up bandwidth as much as the next person when I'm at anchor or in a marina, but it's great to be away from the digital noise. What would be great was some sort of low bandwidth satellite service which published GRIB data which we could pick up with cheap hardware. That to my mind is a great use of bandwidth because one satellite radio can send the data to an unlimited number of receivers within the satellite footprint. It doesn't even need to be low-earth, as latency isn't an issue. They can be geostationary.

 

[bergie]

For coastal cruising, I think LTE is still a totally valid option. In much of Europe you can get similar speeds to Starlink much cheaper and with less power consumption. Downside is having to occasionally go and get a new prepaid SIM when crossing borders.

It is also quite feasible here in the Caribbean. Just get an unlimited Digicel card from one of the French islands, and it'll work everywhere.

That's what we did now that we're in Curaçao for the hurricane season. We "paused" (the 5€ plan) Starlink and use cellular.

Offshore there aren't many realistic broadband competitors until Kuiper launches. But just for weather and maybe updating your blog once in a while, Iridium Go would work. Though it is so much slower and more expensive than Starlink that it is hard to justify. And of course there's still the SSB option...

 

[Sea Change]

At the risk of a contrarian opinion, and taking my sailing cap off, I find I don't like the idea of Starlink for a host of reasons. Apart from an intense dislike of Musk, the programme plans call for losing around ten tons of satellites every year, which will need to be replaced. That's a lot of crap to burn up in the atmosphere and it's a lot to have to launch every year in order to stay in business. For shore-based Internet access, we should be pushing harder to get fibre everywhere. We got 220v power everywhere, why not a fibre cable? As companies and countries roll out fibre more and more, people will switch. As the pool of Starlink users declines, the costs will go up. Especially if Amazon gets in on the act.

While crossing the Atlantic, and using a satellite phone to download GRIB data and very, very short emails, I really enjoyed being disconnected. Sure, I hoover up bandwidth as much as the next person when I'm at anchor or in a marina, but it's great to be away from the digital noise. What would be great was some sort of low bandwidth satellite service which published GRIB data which we could pick up with cheap hardware. That to my mind is a great use of bandwidth because one satellite radio can send the data to an unlimited number of receivers within the satellite footprint. It doesn't even need to be low-earth, as latency isn't an issue. They can be geostationary.

I somewhat agree, we held off getting Starlink for as long as possible.
SWMBO is part way through a Masters with the OU and we absolutely had to have decent internet whilst in the Bahamas, as she had her end of year exam coming up.
The best SIM package available was $48 for 16Gb... we normally use about 100Gb a month. So Starlink at €90 for unlimited data made much more sense.
Then there's the fact that in many parts of the Bahamas there isn't any cell reception anyway.

We've carried on using it out of laziness... once you've got it it's hard to go back...

 

[lustyd]

For coastal cruising, I think LTE is still a totally valid option. In much of Europe you can get similar speeds to Starlink much cheaper and with less power consumption. Downside is having to occasionally go and get a new prepaid SIM when crossing borders.

The other downside is that its much less reliable, has blackspots, and is usually lower bandwidth. Not an issue for reading the forum but some people need to work.

 

[dtynan]

I was in a marina in Italy for a bit, while also working. I tried that Speedtest app on the marina WiFi and it gave me great numbers. I had my work phone and my personal phone with me. Tried the speed test on those, too. Got great numbers. Figured I'd be fine. None of them worked worth a damn for video meetings. I ended up getting a local PAYG SIM which worked just fine. So much for roaming. I wasn't surprised by the marina WiFi as that's usually just a user-grade link shared amongst a metric tonne of devices, but the fake throughput on the speed test was annoying.

 

[lustyd]

None of them worked worth a damn for video meetings.

I’ve used Starlink for Teams calls mid-channel before and a friend did so between lands end and Fastnet. Local SIM would have been no use in either situation.

 

[westernman]

For shore-based Internet access, we should be pushing harder to get fibre everywhere. We got 220v power everywhere, why not a fibre cable?

Because it would cost 38,000 Euros + VAT to get it to my location. Which is less than 5kms from the centre of Montpellier - not exactly in the middle of nowhere either. Very poor 4G and no 5G.

I also investigated getting a wireless bridge to a suitable antenna. That was even more.

So I pinched my nose, covered my eyes, and got Starlink.

It does what it is supposed to do.

 

[bergie]

The other downside is that its much less reliable, has blackspots, and is usually lower bandwidth. Not an issue for reading the forum but some people need to work.

Yes, totally depends on your cruising ground. In the northern Baltic we had great bandwidth and very few problems with LTE, despite two people working Zoom-heavy jobs. We had actually team mates complaining how our call quality got worse when we returned to Berlin!

On the other hand, Scotland north of Ardnamurchan had no cellular in most of the nicer anchorages. Though in the north Starlink also has fewer satellites, and hence cuts were frequent.

 

[Dockhead]

The other downside is that its much less reliable, has blackspots, and is usually lower bandwidth. Not an issue for reading the forum but some people need to work.

Indeed. Even in coastal waters, Starlink is vastly superior to mobile data for videoconferencing, something I have to do at least once or twice a day. Mobile data is a great thing, but it ebbs and flows and really can't be relied to work ALWAYS, like Starlink can. This is a night vs. day difference for business use.

Prior to Starlink, I used to have to plan cruising to be in a place of known good coverage periodically, in order not to risk screwing up a critical Zoom call, which can really mess up your passage plans. Starlink has been an incredible liberation from that.

 

[Obi]

Obi said:
Might be worth exploring. I have no idea on how operational it is only that it is intended to be an EU alternative to Starlink:
Satellite connectivity solutions for maritime | Eutelsat

I'm starting a new link, so as not to hi-jack the thread on Starlink costs.
I've looked at the website for Eutesat, and it's looks like marketing BS.
There's no mention of data rates costs or T&C's.
Is it actually operational?
Any ideas of the cost to install and use?
Are there any leasure users actually using it?
Or is this a system designed for commercial shipping companies and they hoping to catch some supper yachts where money is no problem?
If it competitively price compared to Starlink, I'd be interested, Musk already has too much money and control.

@ian Edwards: To quote myself: "I have no idea how operational it is". I know nothing about Eutelsat, nothing more than simply being aware of it.

Seems there are plenty of answers coming along, I do not think it is BS at all, it came to me via the NCSC as a possible solution for something else.