Starlink plans??

[Srpulpo]

I heard a rumor that you can use the cheaper mobile plan on a boat that is limited by speed like a sailboat compared to a power boat. A lot of people are getting a email telling them they have to pay more when using on a moving boat??

[Cheyne]

We use the Mobile Regional plan since we are moving. It is only $150 a month.

Cheyne

[wholybee]

The speed limit was/is for the v2 residential dish that isn't approved for use in motion. Most cruising yachts are slow enough that it works ok. Supposedly, it will go to sleep at 10mph.

[Srpulpo]

Hi, are you on a moving boat?

[Cheyne]

We are moving. 10 mph is only 8.69 knots. Even motoring we are normally close to that.

Cheyne

[wholybee]

For the official policy of Starlink. Goto https://support.starlink.com type "mph" in the search box:

Mobile Priority (available on "Boats", "Mobility" and "Maritime") service plans are designated for in-motion use with Flat High Performance Starlink.

In motion use in not permitted for Standard and Priority service plans, as described in Starlink's Fair Use Policy.

Mobile Regional and Mobile Global (available on "Roam" and "Maritime") service plan users will have the ability to opt in to Mobile Priority data as you need it on a per GB basis in order to use designated Starlink hardware in motion. In-motion use of Mobile Data is limited to less than 10mph.

YMMV but that is consistent what I hear from other boats. My yacht doesn't reach 10mph very often, and most yachts I don't think will do very many 200nm days.

[SailingHarmonie]

So much confusion around this, and Starlink does not help.

Read this post, it is up to date with everything you need to know to pick a plan: Starlink Plans for the Sailor

You do not need the High Performance antenna, UNLESS you expect to use starlink for video conferencing or other applications that are very sensitive to drop outs. For these applications some people get away with the standard antenna, others struggle. The high performance antenna maintains multiple satellite links at one time, which is why it is a more stable connection, and why it use so much more power. For routine web browsing and entertainment streaming, the standard will work fine.

For a plan, it depends on your use. The Mobile Priority plan is almost never the right answer for a cruising sailor, although many get sucked into it without understanding the way it works. Virtually everywhere you anchor you can use the regional mobile plan, unless you travel outside your home continent, in which case you need the Global Mobile plan.

When you travel "offshore" (outside the blue hexagons on the Starlink coverage map) you simply turn on Priority data, and you are good to go at $2/GB with any antenna and any mobile plan. Just remember to turn it off again when you are back in land coverage, or you could get a very large bill.

If you are in an area with a lot of Starlink data users, and you really NEED a high speed connection, you can turn on Priority data and move to the front of the queue. One weekend in Sint Martin a lot of cruisers had very limited connectability when five huge cruise ships hit port at the same time, with 5000 users each, all on the high priority commercial plans, sucking down bandwidth.

My own experience is that turning off the actuator motors in the standard antenna is handy for some mounting solutions, but has no real impact on performance--either way.

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

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That is a very good summary.