Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service has been all the rage these days. The technology uses low-orbit satellites to beam internet connectivity directly to customers around the world.
This makes Starlink a good solution to bring internet service to far-flung areas, mobile homes (RV), and apparently, boats.
When you own a multi-million boat or yacht, internet service would be the last of your problems. Still, if you want to surf the web while cruising the seas, Starlink has created a special service just for the sailors out there. It’s called Starlink Maritime.
This doesn’t come cheap, obviously, but the cost should be nothing for big-time boat owners, oil rig companies, and others.
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To start, you have to pay an upfront cost of USD10,000 (around Php564,000). That’s for the satellite dish and other hardware required for your boat to receive the internet beamed by the satellites in space. After that, you have to shell out USD5,000 (around Php282,000) per month for the service.
For comparison, the standard Starlink residential and Starlink RV versions have a USD599 (around Php33,800) upfront cost with a monthly fee of USD110 (around Php6,200) and USD135 (around Php7,600), respectively.
According to the company website, the Starlink dish can withstand “extreme cold, heat, hail, sleet, heavy rain, and gale force winds” and even “holds up against rocket engines” as it is being used for SpaceX’s rocket landing livestreams from the sea.
Moreover, Starlink Maritime doesn’t have data capping and can be paused when not in use. It offers minimum speeds of 100Mbps and maximum speeds of up to 350mbps, and upload speeds between 20Mbps and 40Mps.