Internet for the boat. Why I didn’t choose Starlink.

[Submariner]

What kind of data plans do you have? I suspect one for each sim card?

T-Mobile I have 50gb/mo, which includes 5gb/mo in Canada. When I get to 50gb, t-mobile drops me 3G, which wouldn't be usable really.

ATT I have 100gb/mo (unlimited) international plan, which includes Mexico and Canada. When I surpass 100gb, ATT may throttle me at their discretion. But the first 100gb/mo is unthrottled. For Canada, my 100gb/mo plan is still in effect, but they may throttle me anytime. I assume this just means, if Rogers needs the bandwidth, they'll throttle me as an ATT user at their discretion.

The MAX BR1 Pro 5g router has 2 sim slots. I could always buy a 3rd T-Mobile SIM card and monthly plan to get an additional 50gb/mo. But I find what I have to be plenty, at least for right now.

In the MAX BR1 Pro 5g router I set my preference (which SIM card, ATT or T-Mobile).
When I need to work I prefer T-mobile. When I'm not working I prefer ATT. This is all based on bandwidth vs. performance, since I have twice as much with ATT.

However, once I get into Canada, ATT is going to get me the best service as T-Mobile doesn't have much a presence in Canada. Same with SE Alaska. So once in Canada, I would set the router to prefer ATT and I wouldn't expect T-Mobile to offer much of a backup to ATT in Canada or SE Alaska.

It's important to evaluate the cellular carriers coverage map(s) based on the area(s) you plan to visit. It's easy to swap out SIM cards on the router. While the router may have 2 slots, I can easily swap out for a 3rd or 4th carrier.

Everything on a boat has limits. The SAN tank, fresh water tank, house battery bank, fuel tank, food and liquor... even communications. 🙂

 

[Severum88]

You don't need any additional licenses unless you want to take advantage of speed fusion and other features, and even that comes with a trial. I only use it for Wifi. Rock solid.

Severum

 

[Submariner]

I'm anchored in Roche Harbor for tonight. Did some performance testing.

iPhone 13 with T-Mobile on 5g... 359mbs down, 30mbs up.
MAX BR1 Pro 5g/Mobility 42G Antenna on T-Mobile - 169mbs down, 69mbs up.
MAX BR1 Pro 5g/Mobility 42G Antenna on ATT - 92mbs down, 10mbs up.

Any way I go, I'm good for the night on bandwidth, streaming YouTube on the ROKU.

 

[Nwdiver]

Well, starlink finally legal to use in motion and even have a new dish specifically for marine use. Don’t think I will be getting it though, it’s a bit pricey

https://www.starlink.com/maritime

 

[briandunnington]

I took the bait and clicked - *only* $5000/month with a one-time equipment purchase fee of $10000!

:shock:

 

[Nwdiver]

Yep 😀

 

[Submariner]

Well, starlink finally legal to use in motion and even have a new dish specifically for marine use. Don’t think I will be getting it though, it’s a bit pricey

https://www.starlink.com/maritime

Don't go looking for an install/upgrade video from me on this anytime soon. LOL 😀

 

[Nwdiver]

Your going to need a bigger boat. For commercial use out of cellular range (mega yacht) it might actually save money. But the promotion video is really cool, the test boat was a drone ship that they landed rockets on. Now that’s a harsh environment :lol:

 

[FlyMeAway]

It looks like for Starlink you really only need the maritime coverage and better antenna if you are headed offshore and plan to use it while underway... I'm guessing that the RV plan will continue to work for coastal cruising.

FWIW, the pricing SpaceX announced for marine Starlink is a full order of magnitude cheaper than any of the competition, for what you get. Basically unlimited ~350mbps will cost you $20-80k+ a month from existing vendors (if you can even negotiate the contract).

ATT is going to get me the best service as T-Mobile doesn't have much a presence in Canada

This is incorrect. T-Mobile will get you substantially better coverage in Canada than AT&T. AT&T generally only roams on Rogers (for consumer wireless, anyway). T-Mobile will roam on Rogers, Bell, and Telus. So you get the best of the three wherever you are (though you might have to force your router or phone to hop over; there is an annoying habit that the iPhone has in particular of defaulting to the first carrier you picked up in a new country).

The latest plans may not be subject to the limits you mentioned re: bandwidth based on what they released last month, but YMMV on that point (I haven't checked the details of the newest international features, just know they substantially expanded them).

 

[gregc]

I'm anchored in Roche Harbor for tonight. Did some performance testing.

iPhone 13 with T-Mobile on 5g... 359mbs down, 30mbs up.
MAX BR1 Pro 5g/Mobility 42G Antenna on T-Mobile - 169mbs down, 69mbs up.
MAX BR1 Pro 5g/Mobility 42G Antenna on ATT - 92mbs down, 10mbs up.

Any way I go, I'm good for the night on bandwidth, streaming YouTube on the ROKU.

All of these numbers are faster than I get on my residential cable.... nice

 

[Submariner]

ATT is going to get me the best service as T-Mobile doesn't have much a presence in Canada

This is incorrect. T-Mobile will get you substantially better coverage in Canada than AT&T. AT&T generally only roams on Rogers (for consumer wireless, anyway). T-Mobile will roam on Rogers, Bell, and Telus. So you get the best of the three wherever you are (though you might have to force your router or phone to hop over; there is an annoying habit that the iPhone has in particular of defaulting to the first carrier you picked up in a new country).

The latest plans may not be subject to the limits you mentioned re: bandwidth based on what they released last month, but YMMV on that point (I haven't checked the details of the newest international features, just know they substantially expanded them).

Thank you for this! So far, I've been more than impressed with the performance I'm seeing out of the Mobility 42G antenna. Later this summer when we head North into Canada, I'll be taking good notes on signal strength. I was looking at the coverage maps for Rogers and Telus, and they appear to have Desolation sound covered pretty good. But nothing compares to actually being there and seeing how it works.

 

[KlaassyC]

Super interested if you’ve had a chance to test your setup in Canada yet? We are hoping to work from the boat primarily in Georgia Straight, Gulf Islands, Desolation Sound and will require solid internet for Zoom and Teams meetings. We can move to better locations as needed but hoping to stay in general areas, allowing us to work and our son to carry on with distance education. This past summer in Desolation our Bell phones had very minimal reception, not even enough for a quick google search or email, never mind video calling.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk