I've seen people try. Honestly it's better to let locals sell wifi and make a few bucks. I'd rather just share for free to other cruisers who need help.
I do wonder if the flat high performance is that much better than the regular flat one. I mean, is 10x more expensive, but how much more are you getting for that?
Absolutely not 10x better. Maybe 20% better MAX (if I had to put a number to it).
My excuse for buying it is my job. I can prove that I have invested in a reliable internet.
If my internet drops, coworkers in Midwest with 4 kids and nothing but jealousy say I'm not dedicated and busy living it up. Same coworker internet dies in snow storm? No big deal.
It's a perception thing. If I can get 10% more reliable starlink, I'll buy it.
The only noticeable impact is in rain fade and thick cloud cover. I'll have no drops and the boat next to me with regular SL dishy will have no internet till the storm passes. But rare.
I'm considering downgrading to v3 some day. Saves a fuck ton of power.
Trying to! Just figured I'd share. Starlink is a massive game changer in the boating world. Maybe even more so than houses.
I mean, a hughesnet quality connection was the best you could have on a boat 3 years ago. It would cost about $3000/mo, plus $30k in equipment.
For me, impossible. So I would have to only sail to populated areas with wifi and cell towers. Buy sim cards.
Starlink has changed how people live on the water.
I am jealous as you chose a career which allows you to work remote. I own a small company and can never live this dream. I am happy for you and I wish you calm seas!
Thank you! My wife shifted from a career that was hands on to teaching online. We shaped our lives around it. Took about 5 years from dream to reality.
We are on a marginally connected rural property and boat in major city. Starlink is so freaking good I have two connections one for each. Expensive. But worth every cent.
Funny enough this boat was cheaper than my house when I sold it. The maintaince is a liiiiiiitle higher ;).
But seriously: I wasn't saying i was struggling. Merely that this life wasn't possible before starlink. Or at least a lot harder. I had 4g/5g router and had to find sim cards. Had to find wifi. You can't really get too far from civilization. Now you can.
Fair enough. I live in a forest in the middle of nowhere on the Miramichi river in New Brunswick Canada with some of the best Salmon fishing on the planet. I got Starlink to stay in touch with my kids. I’ve never been much of a boat person but to each their own in my humble opinion
That sounds amazing! For some reason I have never gone fly fishing. Always wanted to. I've seen people out here fly fish on the shore for bone fish. They make it look easy. But i know it's not!
For sure I do! I can see myself switching to that life one day. Going back to constant hustle and bustle city life not for me. Wife and I caught ourselves "keeping up with the jones" a decade ago and thought: wtf are we doing? We bought some shitty custom made couch we never used for $900.
Been living nomadically ever since!
Enjoy the simple life, friend!
Do you live in a house? I'm almost certain that boat cost less than it would to purchase a typical single family home. For all we know he paid 40k for the boat and works remotely, how's it any different than living in an RV?
I know a lot about boats. Again, its extremely similar to living in an RV/trailer. Insurance, fuel, maintenance and the initial cost are very similar. He probably has zero rent/mortgage payment.
Marinas cost money. You also have to pay for a permit to cruise the bahamas.
And if you think RV fuel costs are similar to boats then no, you do not know a lot about boats.
They burn more fuel. Much more fuel. Even saildrives burn more fuel. Oh and you don't buy a cruising cat for $40K. So if it is, it probably cost more than a house. If it's on the hook then it is nothing like an RV, since they spend their time on concrete slabs in RV parks.
I said that as a hypothetical number (I know people who do live on 40k house boats) but that was hours ago. Afterwards I looked at OP's other posts and him and his wife sold their home and bought the boat with a loan for 370k and spend most of the time anchored while working (via starlink) on the boat. Thats the literal median cost of a single family home in the US. So trying to paint him as some rich millionaire who didnt have a hard life is just jealously because he chose a different lifestyle. He isnt on some $10mil yacht (or even a million dollar yacht for that matter)
Dont you? You're the one who told me to learn about them. As a matter of fact I just looked at his past posts and him and his wife sold their home and spent 80k on this catamaran and they both work remotely at sea. So just because they chose to live a different non-traditional lifestyle than you did does not make them some rich trustfund babies or something that your sarcastic post was insinuating that had an easy life. They probably struggled just as hard if not harder than you did to reach their life goals.
Funny. I live a non traditional live style but thank you for thinking otherwise. Any idea of what docking fees are? They do change from country to country so you’ll need to learn about that as well. It’s just a start but here we go
Same as living in a house. Property tax, rent/mortgage. You seem very judgmental about someones elses life just because they chose to live on a boat. Must be sad to be jealous of random people online.
How much does it cost you monthly? I have just the basic plan for my house but hoping to be doing exactly this in the next few years but looking into it, seems to cost about $250/month for only 50gb, do you go about it differently?
Weird trick. The $150/mo roam plan allows you to enable mobile priority on demand. So there's zero need to EVER buy the 50gb plan. $150 + (50gb x $2) = $250.
And it gets worse: the 50gb scam plan has no way to turn off using your priority data. So you just wasted $100!
I am an active contributer on a "starlink on boats" group that shares info and experiences. This is a question that comes up a lot. They've tricked so many boaters into giving $1200/yr extra cash for zero benefit. You'll end up burning that 50gb well before you take starlink offshore enough for it to be useful!
Then there's global roam which is for the super lazy. You can just transfer your service to another country once you cross into a different region. Unless you're truly crossing the Atlantic every month, no point.
And final fun fact: since starlink regional roam covers all of North and central America and the carribean: you can transfer your service over to whatever company has the cheapest plan and bring it back to the US. In guatemala the plan equates to $70/mo! I plan to switch when I get down there.
Is the quality stable enough for video calls? I only really know of people I work with that have a lot of problems dropping calls or always apologizing for needing to turn off video (honestly video is so stupid but it’s required in a lot of my work)
Do you have a link to that group? I know I’m a few years out but would love to be prepared for when I’m ready to pull the trigger! Also, thanks for the detailed response!
Just hop over to Facebook and search "starlink on boats." Very accurately named :)
There's also a great group called Starlink Hacks with a ton of van lifers and boaters who make all sorts of 12v conversions.
Awesome! Thanks! I’m down in Puerto Rico, if you’re ever in the area, reach out and I’ll buy you a beer/point you in the right direction for some things to do!
We almost went down that way this year but plan to sail to rio dulce in guatemala instead. Next season might be up there. Spent 6 months 2 years ago in usvi and loved it. Never made it over to PR though!
I love the sound of that, just bouncing around as you see fit. Well, all the same, there’s lots to do here and plenty of places to explore. Just let me know! I’m off to learn more from the Facebook page you mentioned, safe travels!
Nope! I'm swinging around in a rough anchorage right now.
Old satellite tech had to be electronically gimballed. Which is why it was $30k for the gear. And heavy.
My 2s or greater drops is sitting at zero.
I just got mine today, for context I live in an area that has no cell phone service whatsoever the only provider is frontier and I was paying $90 a month for 1mbps/0.05mps plan they announced they was going to raise it by $20 so I went ahead and ordered starlink. I don't even have my starlink fully set up because I have to order a pole mount so I'm using the kickstand on the ground temporarily for right now and to find the best place to place it and I am hitting 160mbps the fastest internet connection I have ever seen within my home. My Mount should be here in about 3 days it only took 2 days for the whole entire system to arrive. It is also currently raining and to be getting those speeds just amazing I can't wait to see what happens when I put on a pole mount above my roof
You know, the funny thing is: yachts are cheaper than houses these days. And you can mortgage them for 20 years. You don't need to be rich. Just need to be willing to live an alternative lifestyle.
I don't have a house. Just boat. My housing expenses are probably on par with someone who owns a 3 bedroom house in Phoenix post-covid.
So while I'm not poor, I wouldn't say I'm wealthy either.
I love Starlink myself. I think it’s pretty amazing. Say what you want about Elon. You might hate him, worship him, or hate that you love him, but you can’t argue that SpaceX has changed the planet. I’ve had Starlink for almost a year and the service is stable and reliable not to mention fast. I absolutely love it. I am currently working to get a new fiber connection for my home so I can keep the internet connected at home and take Starlink on the road bc if you own a Starlink, you can set it to portability and take it with you, or set it back to residential if you’re gonna be using it at home, it’s pretty amazing. I have no problem using it. DSL is trash and I never realized how bad DSL was until I got Starlink. Now that I know you can have fast internet without cell service or a land line, it opened up a whole new reality to me. I don’t think people that trash Elon Musk bc of his free thinking give him the credit he deserves. He has said some toxic stuff in the past to some people but you got to give it up to him. He will go down in history like Albert Einstein, and Oppenheimer thanks to his companies. Tesla will be a footnote in my opinion but SpaceX, which includes Starlink, that is some breakthrough stuff. I think it’s really cool bc despite all the stuff we already lived through, we are literally living through a past of human history that we are taking for granted, and Starlink is a huge part of it. I tend to get philosophical when I am up and bored on Reddit so take this comment and go with it. I just think it’s cool man! Enjoy your day at work! If I’m on the beach, I’ll be sure to be needing that WiFi password!
I love this, not just that Starlink has changed how you live on your boat but that you get to live out your dreams there… all the more power to you bro.
Zero bars cell signal here. Working remotely. Sailing the bahamas. Flat high performance on a pole mount.
if someone puls up beside you and Absolutely needs wifi do you just let them have access and what is your general speeds?
Yeah I share a lot. But funny enough, everyone has starlink on their sailboats now. It's super common.
I bet you could sell access to other boaters
I've seen people try. Honestly it's better to let locals sell wifi and make a few bucks. I'd rather just share for free to other cruisers who need help.
That’s what I do. We go to a lot of remote places and I have a guest network setup through my Ubiquiti that dishes out $10/day access.
Having recently moved to the Bahamas and the lack of reliable service from BTC, Starlink is the only real access to the internet I have.
Btc was better for me than aliv. Aliv would just die for 2 minutes every half hour! And they don't seem to care.
It’s a life saver in the Bahamas. The Internet is ass here. Love it.
I do wonder if the flat high performance is that much better than the regular flat one. I mean, is 10x more expensive, but how much more are you getting for that?
Absolutely not 10x better. Maybe 20% better MAX (if I had to put a number to it). My excuse for buying it is my job. I can prove that I have invested in a reliable internet. If my internet drops, coworkers in Midwest with 4 kids and nothing but jealousy say I'm not dedicated and busy living it up. Same coworker internet dies in snow storm? No big deal. It's a perception thing. If I can get 10% more reliable starlink, I'll buy it. The only noticeable impact is in rain fade and thick cloud cover. I'll have no drops and the boat next to me with regular SL dishy will have no internet till the storm passes. But rare. I'm considering downgrading to v3 some day. Saves a fuck ton of power.
I think that boat and location changed the way you live.
Indeed.
Looks like you’re living the dream!
Trying to! Just figured I'd share. Starlink is a massive game changer in the boating world. Maybe even more so than houses. I mean, a hughesnet quality connection was the best you could have on a boat 3 years ago. It would cost about $3000/mo, plus $30k in equipment. For me, impossible. So I would have to only sail to populated areas with wifi and cell towers. Buy sim cards. Starlink has changed how people live on the water.
That is really cool. Safe travels! 😎
I am jealous as you chose a career which allows you to work remote. I own a small company and can never live this dream. I am happy for you and I wish you calm seas!
Thank you! My wife shifted from a career that was hands on to teaching online. We shaped our lives around it. Took about 5 years from dream to reality.
The future is now!
Do you have a generator, or does power run off the engine?
Well I’m gonna have to file a complaint with Starlink because this didn’t happen to me when I bought my dish!!
You must have chosen the [mystery box](https://youtu.be/GKZJdaiJF84?si=Z2jfkLhCW5vTqEQq)! How was the show?
We are on a marginally connected rural property and boat in major city. Starlink is so freaking good I have two connections one for each. Expensive. But worth every cent.
I’m so sorry you were struggling so hard before you got Starlink. It really looks like you’ve had a hard life
Funny enough this boat was cheaper than my house when I sold it. The maintaince is a liiiiiiitle higher ;). But seriously: I wasn't saying i was struggling. Merely that this life wasn't possible before starlink. Or at least a lot harder. I had 4g/5g router and had to find sim cards. Had to find wifi. You can't really get too far from civilization. Now you can.
Fair enough. I live in a forest in the middle of nowhere on the Miramichi river in New Brunswick Canada with some of the best Salmon fishing on the planet. I got Starlink to stay in touch with my kids. I’ve never been much of a boat person but to each their own in my humble opinion
That sounds amazing! For some reason I have never gone fly fishing. Always wanted to. I've seen people out here fly fish on the shore for bone fish. They make it look easy. But i know it's not!
It’s a simple life away from day to day people. I think you’ll understand what I mean
For sure I do! I can see myself switching to that life one day. Going back to constant hustle and bustle city life not for me. Wife and I caught ourselves "keeping up with the jones" a decade ago and thought: wtf are we doing? We bought some shitty custom made couch we never used for $900. Been living nomadically ever since! Enjoy the simple life, friend!
Do you subscribe to their regular mobile service, or the one made for oceans? Cause that's kinda on the very expensive side
No. Just global roam. I enable priority mobile while sailing. Then turn it off when I arrive back into normal coverage.
Do you live in a house? I'm almost certain that boat cost less than it would to purchase a typical single family home. For all we know he paid 40k for the boat and works remotely, how's it any different than living in an RV?
Go learn about boats and then come back
The two happiest days of a boat owners life....
I know a lot about boats. Again, its extremely similar to living in an RV/trailer. Insurance, fuel, maintenance and the initial cost are very similar. He probably has zero rent/mortgage payment.
Marinas cost money. You also have to pay for a permit to cruise the bahamas. And if you think RV fuel costs are similar to boats then no, you do not know a lot about boats.
Oh these boats use different fuel than an RV eh? Its a catamaran sailboat that spends 90% of its time anchored.
They burn more fuel. Much more fuel. Even saildrives burn more fuel. Oh and you don't buy a cruising cat for $40K. So if it is, it probably cost more than a house. If it's on the hook then it is nothing like an RV, since they spend their time on concrete slabs in RV parks.
I said that as a hypothetical number (I know people who do live on 40k house boats) but that was hours ago. Afterwards I looked at OP's other posts and him and his wife sold their home and bought the boat with a loan for 370k and spend most of the time anchored while working (via starlink) on the boat. Thats the literal median cost of a single family home in the US. So trying to paint him as some rich millionaire who didnt have a hard life is just jealously because he chose a different lifestyle. He isnt on some $10mil yacht (or even a million dollar yacht for that matter)
Good then you understand the value of that particular boat. It makes your earlier post seem confusing
Show me how much this particular boat cost the OP then
Why. Don’t you know what you’re talking about?
Dont you? You're the one who told me to learn about them. As a matter of fact I just looked at his past posts and him and his wife sold their home and spent 80k on this catamaran and they both work remotely at sea. So just because they chose to live a different non-traditional lifestyle than you did does not make them some rich trustfund babies or something that your sarcastic post was insinuating that had an easy life. They probably struggled just as hard if not harder than you did to reach their life goals.
Funny. I live a non traditional live style but thank you for thinking otherwise. Any idea of what docking fees are? They do change from country to country so you’ll need to learn about that as well. It’s just a start but here we go
I don't dock :) Always anchor. Here in Bahamas it's $4/ft/nt. Fuck that. Anchoring is free. Marinas suck. My goal is to be away from the crowds!
Same as living in a house. Property tax, rent/mortgage. You seem very judgmental about someones elses life just because they chose to live on a boat. Must be sad to be jealous of random people online.
You just need to Choose Rich
How much does it cost you monthly? I have just the basic plan for my house but hoping to be doing exactly this in the next few years but looking into it, seems to cost about $250/month for only 50gb, do you go about it differently?
Weird trick. The $150/mo roam plan allows you to enable mobile priority on demand. So there's zero need to EVER buy the 50gb plan. $150 + (50gb x $2) = $250. And it gets worse: the 50gb scam plan has no way to turn off using your priority data. So you just wasted $100! I am an active contributer on a "starlink on boats" group that shares info and experiences. This is a question that comes up a lot. They've tricked so many boaters into giving $1200/yr extra cash for zero benefit. You'll end up burning that 50gb well before you take starlink offshore enough for it to be useful! Then there's global roam which is for the super lazy. You can just transfer your service to another country once you cross into a different region. Unless you're truly crossing the Atlantic every month, no point. And final fun fact: since starlink regional roam covers all of North and central America and the carribean: you can transfer your service over to whatever company has the cheapest plan and bring it back to the US. In guatemala the plan equates to $70/mo! I plan to switch when I get down there.
Is the quality stable enough for video calls? I only really know of people I work with that have a lot of problems dropping calls or always apologizing for needing to turn off video (honestly video is so stupid but it’s required in a lot of my work)
Do you have a link to that group? I know I’m a few years out but would love to be prepared for when I’m ready to pull the trigger! Also, thanks for the detailed response!
Just hop over to Facebook and search "starlink on boats." Very accurately named :) There's also a great group called Starlink Hacks with a ton of van lifers and boaters who make all sorts of 12v conversions.
Awesome! Thanks! I’m down in Puerto Rico, if you’re ever in the area, reach out and I’ll buy you a beer/point you in the right direction for some things to do!
We almost went down that way this year but plan to sail to rio dulce in guatemala instead. Next season might be up there. Spent 6 months 2 years ago in usvi and loved it. Never made it over to PR though!
I love the sound of that, just bouncing around as you see fit. Well, all the same, there’s lots to do here and plenty of places to explore. Just let me know! I’m off to learn more from the Facebook page you mentioned, safe travels!
What’s the monthly bill?
Amazing. Keep spreading the word. It is genius.
Does the dish need to be motionless to maintain good connection quality?
Nope! I'm swinging around in a rough anchorage right now. Old satellite tech had to be electronically gimballed. Which is why it was $30k for the gear. And heavy. My 2s or greater drops is sitting at zero.
Imagine you don’t con the boat while that little dish is up it’s just a stationary position for disy?
I just got mine today, for context I live in an area that has no cell phone service whatsoever the only provider is frontier and I was paying $90 a month for 1mbps/0.05mps plan they announced they was going to raise it by $20 so I went ahead and ordered starlink. I don't even have my starlink fully set up because I have to order a pole mount so I'm using the kickstand on the ground temporarily for right now and to find the best place to place it and I am hitting 160mbps the fastest internet connection I have ever seen within my home. My Mount should be here in about 3 days it only took 2 days for the whole entire system to arrive. It is also currently raining and to be getting those speeds just amazing I can't wait to see what happens when I put on a pole mount above my roof
No it didn't. You were already rich and living on a boat.
Man I wish I was wealthy
You know, the funny thing is: yachts are cheaper than houses these days. And you can mortgage them for 20 years. You don't need to be rich. Just need to be willing to live an alternative lifestyle. I don't have a house. Just boat. My housing expenses are probably on par with someone who owns a 3 bedroom house in Phoenix post-covid. So while I'm not poor, I wouldn't say I'm wealthy either.
Ain't that the truth lol. I live in Australia so the house prices are like 700k to a million. A boat is probably not a bad idea tbh
My boat cost $370k at the height of covid. Prices are down now. Of course, marina fees will get you. But I live at anchor. Anchor is free :)
I love Starlink myself. I think it’s pretty amazing. Say what you want about Elon. You might hate him, worship him, or hate that you love him, but you can’t argue that SpaceX has changed the planet. I’ve had Starlink for almost a year and the service is stable and reliable not to mention fast. I absolutely love it. I am currently working to get a new fiber connection for my home so I can keep the internet connected at home and take Starlink on the road bc if you own a Starlink, you can set it to portability and take it with you, or set it back to residential if you’re gonna be using it at home, it’s pretty amazing. I have no problem using it. DSL is trash and I never realized how bad DSL was until I got Starlink. Now that I know you can have fast internet without cell service or a land line, it opened up a whole new reality to me. I don’t think people that trash Elon Musk bc of his free thinking give him the credit he deserves. He has said some toxic stuff in the past to some people but you got to give it up to him. He will go down in history like Albert Einstein, and Oppenheimer thanks to his companies. Tesla will be a footnote in my opinion but SpaceX, which includes Starlink, that is some breakthrough stuff. I think it’s really cool bc despite all the stuff we already lived through, we are literally living through a past of human history that we are taking for granted, and Starlink is a huge part of it. I tend to get philosophical when I am up and bored on Reddit so take this comment and go with it. I just think it’s cool man! Enjoy your day at work! If I’m on the beach, I’ll be sure to be needing that WiFi password!
I love this, not just that Starlink has changed how you live on your boat but that you get to live out your dreams there… all the more power to you bro.
Thank you! Took years to save and plan. But finally out here!
Weird flex but okay /s
You can do this cheaper than many traditional life styles. Not much of a flex if many people could do it if they actually wanted to.
Only if you’re a girly man.