New possibilities

[qvander]

Hi all,

I have been a long time lurker and have reached a possible point in my life where sailing might be actually be a possibility.

I would like to sail 6 months a year through winter months in the Bahamas with the possibility of reach the southern Caribbean later in life. Biggest concern is internet. I would need to work remotely several days a week and would need access for things like VoIP and video conferencing. I was thinking of using cellular sims and Starlink to supplement.

How is the cellular access on remote islands in the Bahamas? Would it even work or would i need to look into more of a full time Starlink solution? I am in planning phases and starting to put a game plan together. Have boated on smaller power boats before but going to start sailing lessons soon.

Thanks

[sailorboy1]

Starlink

[Foswick]

It depends on your actual needs. If you need a reliable connection capable of doing video conferencing from pretty much anywhere you might find yourself, then unfortunately, Starlink is pretty much the best option. Plan on $1000/mo.

However, if you are more flexible with your needs, you might be able to use a combination of cellular and wi-fi. If you are on/near an island where people live, you can almost certainly get a signal. Near a town and you'll get 4G. Wi-fi is widely available at marinas, cafes, etc.

The quality of wi-fi and 4G/3G vary widely, but good connectivity can be found pretty much everywhere near where people live.

Outside of that, you're pretty much looking at Starlink. They might have a pay-as-you-go option that you could leverage to supplement other means of connectivity. But, the current rate on their best plan is $1000/mo.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by qvander

Hi all,

I have been a long time lurker and have reached a possible point in my life where sailing might be actually be a possibility.

I would like to sail 6 months a year through winter months in the Bahamas with the possibility of reach the southern Caribbean later in life. Biggest concern is internet. I would need to work remotely several days a week and would need access for things like VoIP and video conferencing. I was thinking of using cellular sims and Starlink to supplement.

How is the cellular access on remote islands in the Bahamas? Would it even work or would i need to look into more of a full time Starlink solution? I am in planning phases and starting to put a game plan together. Have boated on smaller power boats before but going to start sailing lessons soon.

Thanks

Don't make any plans until you have sailed for a while and cruised locally some.

Cruising is a really slow lifestyle.

If you are in the working world and busy, switching to the slowness of cruising even for a few days is an adjustment.

Now if you are the type that enjoys a sedentary lifestyle and can fall asleep anytime no matter the circumstances cruising might work for you.

Plus there are tons of other reasons to not put the cart before the horse so to speak.

Small power boats and sailing/cruising are two entirely different things.

[SVE]

Originally Posted by Foswick

Outside of that, you're pretty much looking at Starlink. They might have a pay-as-you-go option that you could leverage to supplement other means of connectivity. But, the current rate on their best plan is $1000/mo.

Huh? It's $150/month for the Starlink mobile plan with an optional $2/GB for priority data (in-motion or across oceans). Or $250/month for 50GB priority data with unlimited mobile after that. And yes, both work perfect in the Bahamas for video calls. Where are you getting $1,000/month?

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by SVE

Huh? It's $150/month for the Starlink mobile plan with an optional $2/GB for priority data (in-motion or across oceans). Or $250/month for 50GB priority data with unlimited mobile after that. And yes, both work perfect in the Bahamas for video calls. Where are you getting $1,000/month?

was going to ask as in 2023 I was in Bahamas spending $150/mo and had internet everywhere

now can just unsubscribe to this thread

[Foswick]

Originally Posted by SVE

Where are you getting $1,000/month?

I was discussing the range of options from dealing with somewhat patchy bug free all the way up to serious bandwidth. Again, depends on what you need. Somewhere in between, for most people.

[CarlF]

Mobile Regional ($150) plus standard dish ($600) is what everyone gets to to work aboard in US, Bahamas, and Carribean. Spending more will not get you nocicably better performance.

My wife and I would often run two simultaneous Zoom sessions from out boat in The Bahamas (we have different jobs). Not a hiccup. Smoother Zoom than on even a 5G cell in the US. Smoother than our Xfinity internet at home in Boston.

Cell will cost you more if you are using more than about 250GB of data a month - which we were.

We just used the Starlink router. Would often have 20 devices connected (tablets, laptops, smart TVs, wifi cameras, Alexa). It never ran out of bandwidth. Bandwidth down was tyically between 200Mbps and 300Mbps.

When I first got Starlink they didn't have many satelites so I got a Peplink Router and cell sims with the bonding software. But I soon realized that the Starlink was rock solid and stopped spending $100/month on sims and then sold the Peplink on Ebay. Since then Starlink has launched so many satelites that the interuptions that were common in the early days have gone away. If you don't have sim failover on your home cable connection you don't need it on Starlink.

Don't overthink this thing.

[SVE]

Originally Posted by CarlF

Mobile Regional ($150) plus standard dish ($600) is what everyone gets to to work aboard in US, Bahamas, and Carribean. Spending more will not get you nocicably better performance.

100% agree. Basically in the same situation as you and your wife. We need to be on video calls multiple times a day, simultaneously. We did have an issue with the standard dish (RV/Roam) cutting out when swinging on anchor so I upgraded to the HP flat dish. I know there's now a way to make the roam dish "lay flat", but that didn't really fix our issue. I'd say the HP dish is overkill for most people but again, needed it to work seamlessly for 2 people, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, wherever we're anchored (or on the move).

In the US, I run the $150/mo Starlink mobile plan on the HP dish with a cell data backup (T-Mobile, 50GB at $50/mo) via a Peplink router. When we were cruising the Bahamas we went Starlink only and $250/mo mobile priority plan as I didn't want to find and sign up for a Bahamian cell plan... SL only worked fine. Outside of work, we're heavy data users. Saying you need the $1,000/mo plan to get solid internet is nonsense as this point.

Back to OP - Something to ponder. Working multiple days a week to full time will most likely limit your experience and sailing windows. We're nowhere near retirement age and wouldn't trade it for being back in an office/cube farm, but we needed to change our expectations from when we started. We're also planning to head down to the Caribbean soon and trying to squirrel away as much as possible so we can have lesser (or no) jobs when that time comes. Good luck with sailing lessons!

[qvander]

Thank you all for the info. I'm somewhat flexible in work days and figured while I have the time, age, and health to do what I have wanted to do for a long time...

My expectations are to slow down... enjoy life. Still run a few things and do so 6 months a year and then back to grind on land.

ty all

[Adelie]

Welcome to CruisersForum!

I would suggest updating your profile with your general location and your boat make & model or “Looking” in the "Boat" category. This info shows up under your UserName in every post in the web view. Many questions are boat and/or location dependent and having these tidbits under your UserName saves answering those questions repeatedly. If you need help setting up your profile then click on this link: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post3308797

I would happily help more if the link above is not enough.

[theBigKahuna]

We used a hot spot from the Bahamian provider, ALIV w/ relatively good results. Video calls might be a tough one and being the Bahamas, there are outages, but coverage was pretty good.

Starlink would be your best option for reliable higher speed internet, but.... you'll be paying for it.

Brad Peek
sv Fuzzy Logic
Leopard '40 sailcat

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by qvander

Hi all,

I have been a long time lurker and have reached a possible point in my life where sailing might be actually be a possibility.

I would like to sail 6 months a year through winter months in the Bahamas with the possibility of reach the southern Caribbean later in life. Biggest concern is internet. I would need to work remotely several days a week and would need access for things like VoIP and video conferencing. I was thinking of using cellular sims and Starlink to supplement.

How is the cellular access on remote islands in the Bahamas? Would it even work or would i need to look into more of a full time Starlink solution? I am in planning phases and starting to put a game plan together. Have boated on smaller power boats before but going to start sailing lessons soon.

Thanks

ROXY has been cruising the eastern Caribbean for eight years. If we were to continue we would absolutely get Starlink. You can be connected 1000 miles offshore. Phone is a different problem.

Cellular is iffy. Most of us doing this have found that getting an unlocked IPhone and then a chip in a French island such as Martinique works pretty OK. The French plan works throughout the Caribbean. Phone and internet by cell is dodgy at best in all of the Caribbean. Other cell plans are specific to various islands so you need to deal with it every move. Plan to use instant messaging, not voice and direct calling. Remote islands may have no tower and towers frequently fail to operate. Picking up WIFI at local restaurants works to a point but their connectivity and band width is always an issue. Many boats are now operating on Starlink. This is immensely more reliable and faster than any island WIFI you will find. Its drawback is cost and power consumption. Most cruisers disable the tracking and power down when it’s not in use.

Starlink has enabled remote working for many live aboards.

[lestersails]

Originally Posted by qvander

Hi all,

I have been a long time lurker and have reached a possible point in my life where sailing might be actually be a possibility.

I would like to sail 6 months a year through winter months in the Bahamas with the possibility of reach the southern Caribbean later in life. Biggest concern is internet. (stuff deleted)

Gotta say, that in your shoes, internet might be listed in the bottom of the third page of a list of my concerns. I would bet that if you were to successfully address the preceding three pages of concerns, solving the internet issue would be a nothingburger.

[DShant]

Ha ha I tend to agree with Lestersails. Nonetheless I know that internet is a must have these days.


I was recently on a cruise from Japan to Vancouver up to the Bering sea. Now we were a long way from anywhere and in the past having been on similar trips the internet using KU band satellites has been terrible and expensive. This trip the cruise ship had 12 Starlink antennas and the internet was broadband and rock solid the whole trip.



By the time you get sailing in the Caribbean it will be rock solid and probably $100 a month. Don't worry about internet.



Have fun doing all the other things on the list though and don't let anyone dissuade you!!