Starlink doubling prices?

[Snowgoose35]

Or you can just use the mobile regional at £85 and when you move continent cancel the plan and transfer your equipment to yourself and take out a new mobile regional for that continent . Check out the FB group Starlink on Boats for hundreds of people doing this without problem

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

As if it comes as a surprise to some that prices are going up on Starlink too….

It costs a lot more money to pay for stuff including peoples’ salaries now than it did a few years ago. And it’s fashionable for those who fundamentally created and perpetuate cost increases to blame corporations and CEOs as though it’s the role of a corporation to control the economy.

Yep. As if printing money had nothing to do with it . . .

[KTP]

Originally Posted by Lepke

Somewhere I read, Amazon is putting up satellites and offering a system sometime this year.
Competition may help.

And after Amazon has everyone signed up, they will change the user agreement and you will need to watch 5 minutes of commercials for every megabyte download.

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Yep. As if printing money had nothing to do with it . . .

I read recently that 40% of all money throughout the history of the US was printed in the last 3.5 years. But “corporate greed” has a nice ring to it.

[Shanachie]

Printing money? How quaint! Who even uses cash anymore?



The central bank controls money supply by varying how much of a reserve banks are required to hold and by esoteric tactics such as quantitative easing and tightening.


Basically, quantitative easing is issuing bonds and such to create money out of thin air. Tightening takes it away. It is all done electronically.



Quantitative easing was the big thing during the pandemic to keep people spending. The idea was that if people stopped buying, companies would struggle and maybe shut down.


Now the U.S. central bank is engaging in quantitative tightening of the money supply to control inflation. which is why mortgage rates are up.


The bigger issue is that the U.S. government has lowered tax rates on high-income people and corporations so much that the elite have stunningly large piles of money.


This makes them price insensitive. $30 million yachts, anyone? $3 million cars? Or even a $1 million catamaran? They want what they want, and they will pay whatever it takes to satisfy their greed to have more than anyone else.

Those of us with less money are the incidental casualties of these policies. If we happen to want what the 1 percent wants, we're going to have to pay what the 1 percent pays for the service or goods.


High-speed Internet on the open ocean is a luxury item. Thus, this rule applies.



Try to buy a new car. Many manufacturers have stopped making affordable cars for the average person. If you want to buy new, the low end is now a 50K SUV or a 70K luxury pickup.


That's because many vehicles are now six figures, targeting the ultra wealthy.

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Snowgoose35

Or you can just use the mobile regional at £85 and when you move continent cancel the plan and transfer your equipment to yourself and take out a new mobile regional for that continent . Check out the FB group Starlink on Boats for hundreds of people doing this without problem

So true, Starlink may be great in remote areas, but will not beat deals like unlimited Internet at 5G speed for 20€ a month like we have with our local WindTre sim card in Italy right now.

[SailingHarmonie]

This might (maybe) save iridium from the waste bin.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by dhenline

No one really needs internet on the ocean. It is a luxury!!!

Yep. Weather updates are a luxury. Once you leave what difference does it make? Emergencies? Brah......you should be self sufficient and be prepared for anything or suffer the consequences. For thousands of years, vessels sailed without internet, autopilots, navigation lights, engines, heads, VHF, GPS, and sorts of unnecessary luxuries. KISS!!!!

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

Yep. Weather updates are a luxury. Once you leave what difference does it make? Emergencies? Brah......you should be self sufficient and be prepared for anything or suffer the consequences. For thousands of years, vessels sailed without internet, autopilots, navigation lights, engines, heads, VHF, GPS, and sorts of unnecessary luxuries. KISS!!!!

As I got older the idea of crossing the Atlantic on a sailboat has faded from things I would like to do. Flash back to 2006 I'm on the Queen Mary 2 ocean liner heading to Southampton (my now favorite way to cross the Atlantic ) At 2 AM the VHF I took on board with me crackled to Life. A sailboat crossing the QM2 path asked the "cruise ship heading east for an updated weather report" The officers on the bridge of the QM2 complied spending several minutes giving the sailboat the weather update. Total cost to the sailboat for the weather info $0. No Starlink or satellite phone needed.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by mbianka

As I got older the idea of crossing the Atlantic on a sailboat has faded from things I would like to do. Flash back to 2006 I'm on the Queen Mary 2 ocean liner heading to Southampton (my now favorite way to cross the Atlantic ) At 2 AM the VHF I took on board with me crackled to Life. A sailboat crossing the QM2 path asked the "cruise ship heading east for an updated weather report" The officers on the bridge of the QM2 complied spending several minutes giving the sailboat the weather update. Total cost to the sailboat for the weather info $0. No Starlink or satellite phone needed.

.......and by checking schedules for commercial airlines, you could do the crossing without spending a dime on charts or displays! Such a deal!

Personally, I'll stick with the luxury of Starlink and a PredictWind subscription.....and avoid shipping lanes whenever possible.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

Yep. Weather updates are a luxury. Once you leave what difference does it make? Emergencies? Brah......you should be self sufficient and be prepared for anything or suffer the consequences. For thousands of years, vessels sailed without internet, autopilots, navigation lights, engines, heads, VHF, GPS, and sorts of unnecessary luxuries. KISS!!!!

Weather updates are a luxury? Really?


Not for me. Once you leave it is STILL important -- you can plan a different course and maybe avoid bad weather, or at least get prepared for it.


But you don't need satellites for that. An SSB and Pactor will allow you to get weather easily and free.


Or Iridium Go! for $139 a month gives you all the weather you can eat, and text email to boot. We used that for a summer in the Arctic and it was brilliant.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Weather updates are a luxury? Really?


Not for me. Once you leave it is STILL important -- you can plan a different course and maybe avoid bad weather, or at least get prepared for it.


But you don't need satellites for that. An SSB and Pactor will allow you to get weather easily and free.


Or Iridium Go! for $139 a month gives you all the weather you can eat, and text email to boot. We used that for a summer in the Arctic and it was brilliant.

I guess I wasn't sarcastic enough......my next post #25 (SL + PredictWind for me) hopefully was a bit more indicative.

BTW - I did the Baja Ha Ha this past year. They are retiring SSB as official comms for the rally. Of the seven boats with SSB, only three were consistently successful with checking in.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

I guess I wasn't sarcastic enough......my next post #25 (SL + PredictWind for me) hopefully was a bit more indicative.

BTW - I did the Baja Ha Ha this past year. They are retiring SSB as official comms for the rally. Of the seven boats with SSB, only three were consistently successful with checking in.

Ha, ha. Now I get it.

Right.

Iridium Go is probably a better option than SSB for boats which don't have SSB already installed. You can pay for quite a bit of service at $139/month for the difference in capital cost.

Especially since U.S.-licensed hams are no longer allowed to use WinLink for 3rd party traffic, which means no messaging except to SailDocs.

I like HF radio and have the gear and the skills but the 3rd party traffic ban really burns me up, eliminating one of the main uses of the equipment. I'm thinking about getting a Euro license to get around that.

I had Iridium Go in the Arctic but it's not really worth it for the cruising I'm doing these years, with few passages of more than a couple of days. I get GRIBS over SSB and can live without messaging for such periods.

[Jhowell5558]

I was finally able to get Starlink at the farm way out in the country.
Our price too went up a few months ago ($120) but it has been a
total gamechanger to how we are able to do business way out in
the fields.

Cheap at twice the price.
I expect an increase soon as well, but have no problem.
Going back to using wi-fi hot spots which consume total monthly
allocation quickly due to weak signal and retransmits - just not an option.

[JasonS]

Starlink has been a game changer for cruisers. Two years ago, very few cruising boats had satellite internet (Iridium Go not withstanding) in the Bahamas. Last year, we saw it sporadically and cruised with friends who had it. This year, we along with almost 50% of the cruising boats in the Bahamas had a Starlink dish.
Wow! The $150 a month is “fair” in most cruisers opinions we spoke with. An ALIV cellular MiFi runs like $75-125mo based on fair use and is much slower and doesn’t have coverage in the Exuma Land and Sea Park and other places. We just crossed from the Bahamas back to US (GA) and again GA to NC - Two 44 hour plus crossings. Turned on mobile priority and our total use was $10! $2 a GB.

About 35 years ago, sometime around 1990 when huge cell phones arrived for our cars, my company cell phone bill was over $400 month. So for early technology, you can argue Elon Musks Starlink is extremely well priced. Yes, he will take increases, but look at inflation.

And once Amazon, Viasat, and others continue to make progress on their competing systems, prices will come down further, just like cell phone bills did. And service offerings will even get better,,

Typing this at mooring field in Carolina Beach, NC and sent via Starlink