Wi-Fi on a yacht: how to stay connected even on the ocean?

Without the Internet, life on a yacht is not the same...

Many yachtsmen do not share this approach. This is understandable: many of us deliberately go to sea to escape from the hustle and bustle of today. But it is impossible to deny the fact that the Internet is a very useful thing for a sailor. Maps of all colors and sizes, navigation programs, weather forecasts - all this can be found in abundance on the Internet.

Mobile communications falls into the same category. Alas, both the Internet and mobile communications are limited by the transmission range of terrestrial communication towers. You don’t have to look far for an example - just leave a large city, away from a communication tower, and it’s already more difficult to go on Instagram or talk normally on the phone. So what to do if you need the Internet and you are on a boat?

Budget option for yachtsmen

The cheapest, but, alas, not always the easiest way to access the Internet via Wi-Fi is to connect to an access point in the marina. However, it is difficult to achieve a good connection in this way. Moreover, in this way you are tied to the marina, and when you leave it, communication with the outside world will be carried out only through radio communication.

The budget option offers the following scheme - a receiver antenna that will catch the marina's Wi-Fi signal, connected to a router installed on board the yacht. Voila! Cheap and cheerful. Yes, there will be no Internet at sea, but we have the optimal minimum ready.

Mid-budget option

The Wi-Fi signal from the marina is unlikely to penetrate very far. But do you need internet somewhere on the coast, in a quiet place? No problem, we need a 4G router and a SIM card with a suitable tariff. 

This design (usually also consisting of a receiver antenna and a router) will provide you with communication far beyond the marina. Alas, you still remain tied to land, and specifically to communication towers. But it’s better than being stuck in the marina!

Some manage to catch such a connection as much as 10 miles from the coast. It all depends on the capabilities of your operator and the device’s antenna.

Communication on the yacht anywhere and anytime

If you want to watch movies in HD quality while being somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, then you should pay attention to satellite communications. But be prepared to spend. In the case of satellite communications, not only the equipment, but also the cost of one megabyte (not gigabyte) will be much higher. Let us be pleased right away: there is simply no “ceiling” on the cost of packages for satellite communications of any operator. 

In fact, a basic satellite dish and router are relatively inexpensive. You can easily spend $1400 (Iridium 9555). But this will be only the necessary minimum. In the case of Iridium, data transfer will be carried out not by the actual amount of data (conditional 100 MB in 20 minutes), but by the time spent on transfer. The price is fixed – $1.5 per minute of data transfer. The speed is very low, but it is sufficient to obtain weather forecast data.

More expensive systems offer speeds of astronomical 150 Kbps (Fleet One from Inmarsat), 352 Kbps (Iridium Certus), 550 Kbps (Inmarsat Fleet Broadband). Keep in mind that connection speed increases absolutely disproportionately to the cost. 

The most advanced satellite Internet system at the moment is Fleet Xpress from Inmarsat. The cost is also astronomical: almost $33,000. At the same time, you will get download speeds of up to 10 Mbps. Fleet Xpress terminals weigh more than 37 kg and have a diameter of up to 1 m. Such equipment is suitable only for owners of large yachts.

A healthy alternative

Starlink is a relatively inexpensive alternative to Inmarsat systems that is available to almost every boater. Yes, the connection is not perfect everywhere, but it’s better than being tied to the marina or the coast.

With an antenna cost of $2,500 (special antenna for boats) and a monthly fee of $250, you get stable internet with a large coverage area.

Quick Guide to Speeds

Kbit/s and Mbit/s are measures of data transfer speed. For example, 10 Mbit/s shows that you can transfer as much as 10 Mbits of information in a second. For a better understanding: an average quality photograph weighs about 1 megabyte (MB), a song weighs around 5-6 megabytes, a movie in HD quality weighs about 5-6 gigabytes. 

At a speed of 352 Kbps, a 1 megabyte photo will be downloaded in 24 seconds, a 5-6 megabyte song in 3 minutes 16 seconds, and a 5-6 gigabyte movie will be downloaded in 53 hours. What about watching a movie online?

Everything is a little more complicated here. In a coastal area, using Starlink you will probably be able to watch a movie in at least 720p, but in the ocean this option is only available for the most powerful stations like Fleet Xpress. It’s better to save money on watching a movie and first download it to your device while still on land and with a normal Internet connection.

New videos on the Interparus channel!

It's been a long time since we've had an interview video on our YouTube channel. Let's get better! This time we’ll talk about yachting in the format of an interview with our friend, yachtsman Andrey Klimenko. Let's talk about yachting life hacks, sailor experience and the maritime dream of every yachtsman. Enjoy watching!

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12.12.2023