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What's the current best alternative for boat dwellers?

by remcob 5y ago

InvaderFizz 5y ago
Considering they are already in the process of certifying mobile terminals, I would say late 2022 for larger boats and planes. 2023 for something you or I could buy for RV/Boat use.
- BoxOfRain 5y ago
  That's not bad at all! I do wonder how they're going to make the tranceivers rugged enough for the wet and salty environment your average sailing yacht is found in, and I suspect the motion of the waves makes aiming the dish a challenge. I suspect the speed will drop as soon as the boat goes upwind and starts heeling!
  - InvaderFizz 5y ago
    That's already built in, I think. My reading of this news[0] is that they're using much larger phased arrays that sit flat on the deck/roof. 100% electronic steering. Granted, that's speculation on my part based on a decade of military satellite operations. Starlink stated that they are larger, higher gain, lower power usage, and won't shoot below 25 degrees azimuth. That says to me a 2-4x surface area, lays flat, phased array panel. I wouldn't expect much drop in speed, even in the worst waters, except for rain fade and if the roll of the boat causes a satellite to go out of sight to the dish. In those scenarios, I think most people can live with Netflix being barely functional. 0: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/08/starlink-for-vehicles-plan-has-ruggedized-terminal-for-extreme-heat-and-cold/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/08/starl...
BoxOfRain 5y ago
Depends on the type of boat and what you're doing on it. Personally I'm moving onto a sailing yacht next year and I'm planning on being quite nomadic, I'm installing masthead 4G and WiFi aerials and sticking to marinas and anchorages I know for certain have decent coverage until Starlink becomes available for installations like these (I think it might be a while before you can rely on them - the saltwater might be an issue even when they do have mobile coverage). While your options are currently very limited once you're out of line-of-sight radio range from the land, doing your day job on passage as well as having a watch would be pretty difficult anyway for practical reasons so I'm just timing my movements to coincide with annual leave and weekends. My aim is to see the world but slowly and steadily! If you're on a canal boat or something along those lines you've got a lot better 4G coverage depending on what country you live in. Having said that, none of the canal boat dwellers I've spoken to have worked in tech and most of them commuted into cities so their need for fast and reliable internet wasn't as strong. I imagine permanently moored houseboats have decent WiFi links as well, though I've never really looked into that kind of thing.
iso1210 5y ago
Probably an vsat with an appropiate domed dish. Your latency will be high, but I think you can get unlimited data plans at reasonable downlink speeds. You'll need a fairly large boat to host the satellite dome I believe, and they aren't cheap.

What's the current best alternative for boat dwellers?

by remcob 5y ago

What's the current best alternative for boat dwellers?

Considering they are already in the process of certifying mobile terminals, I would say late 2022 for larger boats and planes. 2023 for something you or I could buy for RV/Boat use.

BoxOfRain 5y ago
That's not bad at all! I do wonder how they're going to make the tranceivers rugged enough for the wet and salty environment your average sailing yacht is found in, and I suspect the motion of the waves makes aiming the dish a challenge. I suspect the speed will drop as soon as the boat goes upwind and starts heeling!
- InvaderFizz 5y ago
  That's already built in, I think. My reading of this news[0] is that they're using much larger phased arrays that sit flat on the deck/roof. 100% electronic steering. Granted, that's speculation on my part based on a decade of military satellite operations. Starlink stated that they are larger, higher gain, lower power usage, and won't shoot below 25 degrees azimuth. That says to me a 2-4x surface area, lays flat, phased array panel. I wouldn't expect much drop in speed, even in the worst waters, except for rain fade and if the roll of the boat causes a satellite to go out of sight to the dish. In those scenarios, I think most people can live with Netflix being barely functional. 0: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/08/starlink-for-vehicles-plan-has-ruggedized-terminal-for-extreme-heat-and-cold/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/08/starl...

BoxOfRain 5y ago

Depends on the type of boat and what you're doing on it. Personally I'm moving onto a sailing yacht next year and I'm planning on being quite nomadic, I'm installing masthead 4G and WiFi aerials and sticking to marinas and anchorages I know for certain have decent coverage until Starlink becomes available for installations like these (I think it might be a while before you can rely on them - the saltwater might be an issue even when they do have mobile coverage). While your options are currently very limited once you're out of line-of-sight radio range from the land, doing your day job on passage as well as having a watch would be pretty difficult anyway for practical reasons so I'm just timing my movements to coincide with annual leave and weekends. My aim is to see the world but slowly and steadily! If you're on a canal boat or something along those lines you've got a lot better 4G coverage depending on what country you live in. Having said that, none of the canal boat dwellers I've spoken to have worked in tech and most of them commuted into cities so their need for fast and reliable internet wasn't as strong. I imagine permanently moored houseboats have decent WiFi links as well, though I've never really looked into that kind of thing.

iso1210 5y ago

Probably an vsat with an appropiate domed dish. Your latency will be high, but I think you can get unlimited data plans at reasonable downlink speeds. You'll need a fairly large boat to host the satellite dome I believe, and they aren't cheap.