Satcom for the sailor
Ocean Navigator|July/August 2020
When long-range cruising, it’s nice to get away from it all — but some of us still must remain connected. We are spoiled on land with Internet access at speeds of 300 Mbps for prices as low as $50 a month. The same speed at sea may cost you $50,000. Therein lies the challenge: How can we surf the Internet at sea without blowing the entire communications budget?
DAVE BRENGELMANN
Satcom for the sailor

The fishing and shipping industries use VSAT broadband services today, but these systems start at $25,000, may run $1,000 or more for airtime, and are too large for most users. Future services sound fantastic — like SpaceX’s Starlink or Amazon’s Project Kuiper — but are not ready for prime time yet. This means your best option is still L-band services from Iridium or Inmarsat.

This story is from the July/August 2020 edition of Ocean Navigator.

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This story is from the July/August 2020 edition of Ocean Navigator.

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