TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands wi-fi on charter boat

Hello everyone thanks for all your information
how reliable is the wi-fi provided by the charter company on the chartered sailboat?

We just chartered with Horizon and the wifi worked great for us with only one or two areas it got a little slow. Kids used it to do their school work and I used it to do a little of my work. However, it wasn't free - we had to pay $250ish for our 10 day charter. It was unlimited though.

What charter company are you with? TMM has amazing upgraded WiFi that is complimentary for charter guests - owners provide it.

We just returned from a charter on a cat with Starlink and it was terrific.

Interesting that a charter cat would have starlink. I just installed a starlink at my villa and my download is around 100 and up load about 20 Plenty fast to do anything we need.

I would not invest for my boat until they decide what to do about geofencing for Roam. The current marine package option is for ultra mega yachts with pockets deeper than the Atlantic.

Most Starlinks on sailboats I have seen appear to be the RV type. Much more affordable but concern is this may be restricted as rules subject to change.

However the TMM wifi does work amazingly well with very few slow areas. Streaming videos impressive and rarely buffeting

(And I have had enough friends aboard who need reliable internet due to business commitments )

I have an RV type Starlink. I'm writing this message from the middle of the stretch between St. Barths and Antigua - 35NM each way. Nothing to see, no ships in sight, nothing on radar or AIS. I'm bored and fired up my StarLinkRV and am getting 150MBps download and 60MBps upload while sailing. What a game changer! My usual connection speed is around 200MBps and the monthly limit is 1TB! All that for $150 per month plus the initial $500 investment for the hardware. In St. Martin I would see Starlink boxes daily in the container used by cruisers. It is awesome and no cellphone company or technology can compete.

I've even seen Superyachts and Megayachts with the RV version, those guys didn't get rich by throwing money away! The RV version has a cutoff-speed of 10 or 15MPH, so there is still a market for the expensive version.

Watch for more upcoming changes. I have been following the Starlink On Boats Facebook page. They have changed RV to Roam and are initiating more changes. Lots of chatter about what this means (essentially no use while moving) for those with the “RV” systems on boats. They need an affordable official version for us “regular” boaters.

@MIDiver - there's so much chatter and not one piece of actual information regarding upcoming changes on all those forums and in the internet; I'm not worrying about it until Starlink officially announces a change. As of now, it is the best option available for most.

Certainly is the best option for those like you Zanshin. I am just not ready to put it on my boat in a charter fleet when the WiFi is already pretty darn good (I work from the boat at times and never have issues - knock on wood). Perhaps if I was sailing down island 🙂
Will be interesting to see how things develop.

We have always rented a mobile WiFi hotspot before leaving the US. In our case from Cello Mobile although I am sure there are lots of possibilities. This has worked out cheaper than onboard rentals so far, and satisfies our meagre needs (a few video conferences, text, e-mail, light social media, no streaming, no backing up movies, no online games,...).