Interenet for the Boat: Why I chose Starlink

[Nwdiver]

Interesting development. Ip56 rated antenna now available, at a cost

I wonder what the power consumption is

https://www.pcmag.com/news/starlink-now ... tial-users

 

[FlyMeAway]

Interesting development. Ip56 rated antenna now available, at a cost

I wonder what the power consumption is

https://www.pcmag.com/news/starlink-now ... tial-users

It'll be interesting to see how much this is really necessary (hypothesis: not at all). You'd have to go through 4 of the basic antennas to pay for the big antenna. More power for sure (bigger dish, bigger motor). I think unless the current dishy only lasts 1-2 years, this won't be worth it. By the time you go through two basic antennas, Starlink will have a v3 or v4 you'll want to upgrade to anyway...

 

[Nwdiver]

Yep, I will use the one I already have until it dies, then reevaluate. It is interesting the bigger antenna is supposed to be more sensitive, but probably not worth the extra cost.

I did find out something useful when I was using the Starlink out in the field last month, I was able to make phone calls on my iPhone through the Starlink internet connection. Very handy when my exchange ran out of hamburgers and called in an emergency food order :lol:

 

[FlyMeAway]

I did find out something useful when I was using the Starlink out in the field last month, I was able to make phone calls on my iPhone through the Starlink internet connection. Very handy when my exchange ran out of hamburgers and called in an emergency food order :lol:

Wifi calling over Starlink is a great use case and definitely works. I've found the latency is fine for VoIP and mostly fine for video calls (WiFi calling is basically VoIP, but LTE is basically VoIP too).

 

[Submariner]

And now the latest is that Starlink in motion is now being blocked for the RV and residential service with the latest firmware upgrade.

Folks are reporting that speeds at 10mph or faster will cause Starlink to stop working. Once their speed falls below 10mph it once again works. Slowboating and swinging around at anchor continue to operate as normal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC8ndB7ZxQQ

 

[FlyMeAway]

And now the latest is that Starlink in motion is now being blocked for the RV and residential service with the latest firmware upgrade.

Folks are reporting that speeds at 10mph or faster will cause Starlink to stop working. Once their speed falls below 10mph it once again works. Slowboating and swinging around at anchor continue to operate as normal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC8ndB7ZxQQ

I largely don't have a problem with this. I also think the 10mph / ~8.5 knots is generous. 7-8 knots isn't "slowboating" for many of us, it's optimal cruise. 4-5 knots is slowboating ;-)

 

[dbsea]

And now the latest is that Starlink in motion is now being blocked for the RV and residential service with the latest firmware upgrade.

Folks are reporting that speeds at 10mph or faster will cause Starlink to stop working. Once their speed falls below 10mph it once again works. Slowboating and swinging around at anchor continue to operate as normal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC8ndB7ZxQQ

My bigger complaint is at the moment is speed. I was on Bainbridge Island (Port Madison / SYC Outstation) this weekend and it's a cell phone dead zone, so naturally I fired up the Starlink, and I could not get more than 30Mbps down / 3Mbps up the entire weekend with no obstructions. Barely enough to stream television...I hope they can get the speeds back up sooner rather than later or that it was a fluke based on my location.

 

[FlyMeAway]

My bigger complaint is at the moment is speed. I was on Bainbridge Island (Port Madison / SYC Outstation) this weekend and it's a cell phone dead zone, so naturally I fired up the Starlink, and I could not get more than 30Mbps down / 3Mbps up the entire weekend with no obstructions. Barely enough to stream television...I hope they can get the speeds back up sooner rather than later or that it was a fluke based on my location.

This is an interesting datapoint. I had no problems WFB ("working from boat," my new favorite) on Friday at EBM (which is an adjacent cell). 90-180mbps down and 10-30 up. Plenty for video calls and watching some streamed news/videos.

I wonder if the SL network gets a lot more use on weekends vs. during the week? Alternatively, out on Bainbridge you're competing w/Kitsap where quite a few people are using SL as their primary connection (30mbps is a lot faster than the local DSL on offer).

Bainbridge Island (Port Madison / SYC Outstation)

Surprised you didn't just use SYC wifi. I've found from the docks I pull ~15mbps to a laptop in the cabin and have watched Netflix and YouTube a few times without issue.

Barely enough to stream television...

FWIW, HD streaming (1080p) only requires about 4mbps of stable connection. 4K requires about 15-20mbps. A stable 30 should be more than sufficient for a single HD stream.

 

[dbsea]

My bigger complaint is at the moment is speed. I was on Bainbridge Island (Port Madison / SYC Outstation) this weekend and it's a cell phone dead zone, so naturally I fired up the Starlink, and I could not get more than 30Mbps down / 3Mbps up the entire weekend with no obstructions. Barely enough to stream television...I hope they can get the speeds back up sooner rather than later or that it was a fluke based on my location.

This is an interesting datapoint. I had no problems WFB ("working from boat," my new favorite) on Friday at EBM (which is an adjacent cell). 90-180mbps down and 10-30 up. Plenty for video calls and watching some streamed news/videos.

I wonder if the SL network gets a lot more use on weekends vs. during the week? Alternatively, out on Bainbridge you're competing w/Kitsap where quite a few people are using SL as their primary connection (30mbps is a lot faster than the local DSL on offer).

Bainbridge Island (Port Madison / SYC Outstation)

Surprised you didn't just use SYC wifi. I've found from the docks I pull ~15mbps to a laptop in the cabin and have watched Netflix and YouTube a few times without issue.

Barely enough to stream television...

FWIW, HD streaming (1080p) only requires about 4mbps of stable connection. 4K requires about 15-20mbps. A stable 30 should be more than sufficient for a single HD stream.

The Wi-Fi at the outstation in PM has been really bad this year. Unsure what the exact issue is but I joined the IS committed to see if we can improve the overall Wi-Fi offerings at the outstations. Valid points on Kitsap- likely the case. WRT to the streaming I’m not sure what was going on then. I was trying to watch HBO max (house of dragons) and it kept buffering every 10 mins or so.

 

[Submariner]

[ 7-8 knots isn't "slowboating" for many of us, it's optimal cruise. 4-5 knots is slowboating ;-)

Fair enough. 🙂
I should have made reference to planing vs hull speed(s).

 

[FlyMeAway]

The Wi-Fi at the outstation in PM has been really bad this year. Unsure what the exact issue is but I joined the IS committed to see if we can improve the overall Wi-Fi offerings at the outstations.

Please do! To be honest haven't used it this year. If I ever have free time that's a committee on my list to join.

I was trying to watch HBO max (house of dragons) and it kept buffering every 10 mins or so.

This might be at least a small part of the problem. HBO Max is not the best architected of the streaming apps. I have gigabit fiber at home and I can't get through an episode of anything without at least one buffering pause (never have a problem on Netflix, Prime, Disney+, or ESPN). It's worse on some platforms than others (web streaming / in a browser is the worst, don't know if that's what you were using).