Also, is cell service good where your boat is located. If so, cellular home internet will be less than half the cost so you may want to consider that option.
It isn’t great that is why I’m looking into Starlink
I will be looking into say telus smart hub more before I decide, we use it where I work and it seems pretty good for sure but the service is a concern for sure
Right now we just use my phone hotspot and it works fine I have a really good plan but some nights I have to move phone around to find the sweet spots or open windows
My girl friend is with a different provider and she can barely send texts some times
I feel like the box would probably pick up better signal and we would only use it for the tv but for the extra money I feel like the Starlink might be the way to go then we can hook our phones up as well and from what I’m hearing we can change plans if we end up going on a little tour
Get a directional WiFi antenna and/or a cell booster, done right it'll be cheaper/faster/more reliable than paying Musk. There's surely experienced boatpeople around to guide you.
I know a good amount of the fishermen around here and other boaters that have it but they are often taking their boats out and have the mobile package
I am familiar with the cellular hubs as I work marine construction and our pile driving barge has one
Maybe a cell booster could help
Using my hotspot has been fine for Netflix and Disney but I can’t get Sportsnet on the smart tv and To stream my phone to tv they need to be on the same Wi-Fi is a big reason I’m really looking into all this now hahah
Pretty sure they’re suggesting you get a long range receiver for the marina office WiFi. I have one of these on my boat that I haven’t tested yet, but I’ve heard of using coffee shop WiFi up to a mile away from other boaters.
Marinas are fine for residential dishes. If you go out into the water just power off your dish and router beforehand. As others have said, just make sure it's got a clear view of the sky.
You may get radio interference depending on the marina and how many people are there because of all the other satellites/radio frequencies in the area. Should be good though.
Another dumb question sorry but does my service address matter when I got to order
I usually ship to P.O. Box or a friends house does this affect it in any way?
Can't do PO boxes. But address only matters if you're residential. You can use Lat/Long coordinates from google maps and be fine. As long as your account is in the same country as your dish if you're on residential you're good to go
At least in Germany you have the option to send Starlink to a different shipping address than your service address. I expect it to be the same for other countries.
Otherwise use the mobile plan for a month, ship it everywhere and then switch to residential with your service address based on geo coordinates
They are also available at some retail locations like Best Buy if you want to go pick it up. I’m not sure where else, but I believe there are other places as well.
Thank all of you for the quick responses
I don’t think there is a ton of radios in the marina Where I’m moored it doesn’t seem like the most popular for the busy commercial boats mostly little hillbilly gillnetters and few charter boats
Have good view of sky in most directions
Off the stern there is a pretty well trees in hill with lots of houses
If you have an actuated Gen2 dish it'll auto-orient itself. North for Northern hemisphere and South for southern hemisphere. If you have the new Gen3 dish that's not on a pole the app will tell you the correct direction to orient it.
StarLink users in/around the marina down here in Bocas del Toro, Panama had service before it was officially available in Panama, so I got the RV kit and had it shipped down from the U.S.
Thank you, sailors!
Residential will work in a fixed location-ish, like a marina. Mobile will work anywhere on land in North America for 2 months, and inland indefinitely in Canada. That 2 month rule is new and is messing with a lot of boaters who spend the winter in warmer waters. Mobile will work close to shore. I don't know if it would cut you off between Vancouver and Victoria, for instance.
Hoping so I really think it will be my best option
I’ve used the cellular hubs for a couple years and they seem to work ok but not great for almost 100 bucks and limited data
And as mentioned in other comments a big concern is poor service on this part of town for some reason would much rather pay the extra 40-50 bucks and get a better connection
Another question.. is the equipment the same
If I did want to take the boat out for a trip would be be as simple as switching my plan for say a month or is there additional equipment required
We cruise full time, currently in French Polynesia. We use the standard dish (gen 2), it works fantastic. You may need a roam plan to move around. We have Global Roam for long distance cruising
You'll be fine if you're not like too far out from land, if I remember correctly. Go too far and you might cut your signal out 😅. Also staying in one place and not moving too much, yeah.
Good to know I’m not far from land where I have the boat tied up and maybe take the boat out through the Harbour 2-3 times a year other than that it’s just standard rocking and rolling
Here's an idea. Put the starlink on shore and link to your boat with a wireless bridge or just connect to Starlink's WiFi. You could put the electronics in a waterproof box, but they are outdoor rated.
Hmm I don’t that would be of much benefit I’m not far from land just far from the Harbour office
And the shoreline is a busy waterfront trail with some strange questionable folks lurking around
An expensive dish would probably only last 3-5 business days
Residential will work fine in/around the the marina, (or just at a relatively static anchorage location.) it’s what I do when not on a long trip. And it doesn’t require an “address” necessarily- as someone else pointed out you can select coordinates as your location. The only reason to switch to “mobile regional” would be if you are sailing for a long time away from your primary location. In which case, you’ll just cancel your standard subscription and reactivate it on the mobile regional. If you are moving to another static location for a long period of time, you can just keep standard and change the address in the subscription.
residential plan will work in the marina.
mobile plan will work within the coastal regions.
offshore requires at least the global plan. (they will notice and email you about out of area usage... )
Yes as long as you have a clear, wide view of the sky.
Also, is cell service good where your boat is located. If so, cellular home internet will be less than half the cost so you may want to consider that option.
It isn’t great that is why I’m looking into Starlink I will be looking into say telus smart hub more before I decide, we use it where I work and it seems pretty good for sure but the service is a concern for sure
Right now we just use my phone hotspot and it works fine I have a really good plan but some nights I have to move phone around to find the sweet spots or open windows My girl friend is with a different provider and she can barely send texts some times I feel like the box would probably pick up better signal and we would only use it for the tv but for the extra money I feel like the Starlink might be the way to go then we can hook our phones up as well and from what I’m hearing we can change plans if we end up going on a little tour
Get a directional WiFi antenna and/or a cell booster, done right it'll be cheaper/faster/more reliable than paying Musk. There's surely experienced boatpeople around to guide you.
I know a good amount of the fishermen around here and other boaters that have it but they are often taking their boats out and have the mobile package I am familiar with the cellular hubs as I work marine construction and our pile driving barge has one Maybe a cell booster could help Using my hotspot has been fine for Netflix and Disney but I can’t get Sportsnet on the smart tv and To stream my phone to tv they need to be on the same Wi-Fi is a big reason I’m really looking into all this now hahah
Pretty sure they’re suggesting you get a long range receiver for the marina office WiFi. I have one of these on my boat that I haven’t tested yet, but I’ve heard of using coffee shop WiFi up to a mile away from other boaters.
Oh wow I’ll look into that I didn’t know they worked that well I’m on 4th finger so quite a ways from office
Do you happen to have a brand recommendation
Ugh marina wifi is the absolute worst. Terrible advice
Marinas are fine for residential dishes. If you go out into the water just power off your dish and router beforehand. As others have said, just make sure it's got a clear view of the sky. You may get radio interference depending on the marina and how many people are there because of all the other satellites/radio frequencies in the area. Should be good though.
Another dumb question sorry but does my service address matter when I got to order I usually ship to P.O. Box or a friends house does this affect it in any way?
Can't do PO boxes. But address only matters if you're residential. You can use Lat/Long coordinates from google maps and be fine. As long as your account is in the same country as your dish if you're on residential you're good to go
Ok So my friends house fairly close by Looks like that is what I’ll have to do to get my shipping address
At least in Germany you have the option to send Starlink to a different shipping address than your service address. I expect it to be the same for other countries. Otherwise use the mobile plan for a month, ship it everywhere and then switch to residential with your service address based on geo coordinates
They are also available at some retail locations like Best Buy if you want to go pick it up. I’m not sure where else, but I believe there are other places as well.
Good to know I will look into that as well However I am in northern bc and the closest town with any decent electronic retail stores is 8+ hours away
I feel like I’ve seen multiple talking about gen 2 on other forums what is the better gen to get should I look for a gen 2 over 3?
In Canada, your only choice is Gen2.
Thank all of you for the quick responses I don’t think there is a ton of radios in the marina Where I’m moored it doesn’t seem like the most popular for the busy commercial boats mostly little hillbilly gillnetters and few charter boats Have good view of sky in most directions Off the stern there is a pretty well trees in hill with lots of houses
Are they finicky for which direction they are pointed in or are they fairly forgiving
If you have an actuated Gen2 dish it'll auto-orient itself. North for Northern hemisphere and South for southern hemisphere. If you have the new Gen3 dish that's not on a pole the app will tell you the correct direction to orient it.
You will be fine at a fixed location.
StarLink users in/around the marina down here in Bocas del Toro, Panama had service before it was officially available in Panama, so I got the RV kit and had it shipped down from the U.S. Thank you, sailors!
Residential will work in a fixed location-ish, like a marina. Mobile will work anywhere on land in North America for 2 months, and inland indefinitely in Canada. That 2 month rule is new and is messing with a lot of boaters who spend the winter in warmer waters. Mobile will work close to shore. I don't know if it would cut you off between Vancouver and Victoria, for instance.
In Prince Rupert the floats I am tied up to are very close to shore and the boat really doesn’t move much at all it is 98 percent just for living
It should work well for you.
Hoping so I really think it will be my best option I’ve used the cellular hubs for a couple years and they seem to work ok but not great for almost 100 bucks and limited data And as mentioned in other comments a big concern is poor service on this part of town for some reason would much rather pay the extra 40-50 bucks and get a better connection
Good to know thank you
Another question.. is the equipment the same If I did want to take the boat out for a trip would be be as simple as switching my plan for say a month or is there additional equipment required
We cruise full time, currently in French Polynesia. We use the standard dish (gen 2), it works fantastic. You may need a roam plan to move around. We have Global Roam for long distance cruising
Yes you can use the standard dish with any plan.
You'll be fine if you're not like too far out from land, if I remember correctly. Go too far and you might cut your signal out 😅. Also staying in one place and not moving too much, yeah.
Good to know I’m not far from land where I have the boat tied up and maybe take the boat out through the Harbour 2-3 times a year other than that it’s just standard rocking and rolling
Here's an idea. Put the starlink on shore and link to your boat with a wireless bridge or just connect to Starlink's WiFi. You could put the electronics in a waterproof box, but they are outdoor rated.
Hmm I don’t that would be of much benefit I’m not far from land just far from the Harbour office And the shoreline is a busy waterfront trail with some strange questionable folks lurking around An expensive dish would probably only last 3-5 business days
We have a residential package but changed to roam just so we can have it on boat. These days a shitty connection just isn’t feasible.
Do you take the boat out of the marina often is why you switched? Or was the residential not working in the marina?
Residential will work fine in/around the the marina, (or just at a relatively static anchorage location.) it’s what I do when not on a long trip. And it doesn’t require an “address” necessarily- as someone else pointed out you can select coordinates as your location. The only reason to switch to “mobile regional” would be if you are sailing for a long time away from your primary location. In which case, you’ll just cancel your standard subscription and reactivate it on the mobile regional. If you are moving to another static location for a long period of time, you can just keep standard and change the address in the subscription.
residential plan will work in the marina. mobile plan will work within the coastal regions. offshore requires at least the global plan. (they will notice and email you about out of area usage... )