AS OF SEPTEMBER 2022: No, not Starlink, unfortunately.

Someday. I dream that someday, I will carry a reasonably priced source of internet on Sonrisa’s solar arch, offering quick and easy access to all manner of communication ashore. But, today is not that day.

UPDATE AS OF OCTOBER 2022: Starlink, Obviously!

Almost immediately after writing this article, Starlink improved at such a drastic pace, it became an absolute no-brainer, game changer. I feel amazed by this massive technological change. It feels like going from horse-and-buggy to a combustible engine vehicle. I’m going to leave my old article and update it because it’s like a time capsule that captures an incredible moment in the history of technology.

Is Internet Available At Sea?

Starlink

SEPTEMBER OF 2022: Starlink currently operates in limited locations and it also still has functionality challenges. We are currently sailing in locations without Starlink coverage, and reports in the sailing community where it is available tells us that the Starlink equipment struggles to find and hold its satellite connection on anything that moves. Unfortunately, a boat is constantly moving. At anchor, we swing around and roll back and forth in waves, in open ocean — forget about it. Many masts in the nearby vicinity also seem to interrupt its functionality.

OCTOBER OF 2022: Within a month of writing this article, word came out that Starlink had expanded the number of its satellites so drastically that coverage had been achieved around the entire globe. We immediately purchased a mobile unit and installed in on Sonrisa’s arch. We found the quality and speed of the internet is as good as any wifi I’ve ever had on land, with the rare exception that a rain storm rolls in with thick heavy clouds. Then, it has some breaks in service, but never a continuous break so far. The key is making sure it has clear view of the sky, which on a sailboat, it pretty easy most of the time.

The price is similar to having internet on land as well, though this is something that is either always changing or threatening to change. If you go offshore or travel between countries, you currently need to toggle between two different plans. The offshore cost is about $5 per GB and the Mobile Close-To-Shore option is about $165/month. It could change at any time, but we don’t fret about it. We just carry on until someone tells us something else to do.

Satellite Internet Generally

You can purchase satellite internet infrastructure with internet subscriptions (those crazy bubbly domes), but it costs multiple thousands of dollars for the equipment and multiple thousands per month to run the internet subscription. Therefore, it is reserved primarily for superyachts and S/V Delos - a sailing YouTube channel lucky enough to be sponsored by the company that sells the things.

IridiumGO

When we cast off in 2016 and through October of 2022, we carried a basic IridiumGO Satellite Phone with a $165/month unlimited subscription. This allows us to gather weather prediction and send text-only emails. We can also send very small word documents and PDFs and hold phone calls that suffer a 30 second + delay. This subscription cannot support a legal practice, so I do not even try. When I am at sea, I am on a “sea sabbatical” with limited ability to communicate with my team and zero ability to take appropriate care of clients. This is one reason I am a part of a law firm and contribute to a team rather than operate solo.

UPDATE: The Starlink works exponentially better than the IridiumGO. It holds internet so well at sea that you can stream movies and music from the middle of the ocean without interruption. We carry the IridiumGO as a backup redundancy, now.

I still do not work while at sea, however. In my opinion, competent legal work and safely sailing offshore are mutually exclusive as each require full focus. So, when I go to sea, I take time away and focus on keeping Sonrisa safely on course.

Finding Internet In Foreign Ports

Before Starlink, we sailors hunted internet like a leopard hunts Wildebeest. Now, it’s constantly operable aboard. But, for the sake of historical records, and just in case we have to go back to the stone age…

Upon our arrival in any foreign destination, second only to checking into the country, we start our search for internet. The strategy typically focuses on getting a good local SIM Card.

Local SIM Cards + Cell Data Booster

Local SIM Cards are the cheapest way to bring internet onto the boat. We begin by asking locals which provider is most reliable, most economically reasonable, and covers the most territory that we plan to explore. Then, we buy ourselves SIM Cards. We find them at airports, malls, cell phone shops, and sometimes little roadside stands next to piles of recently picked pineapples.

If the cell phone tower infrastructure is good, we are in business. We “hotspot” or “tether” our phones to our computers and I set up shop aboard Sonrisa. A cell phone data booster antennae can help to pull slightly weak signal into the boat and make it stronger, but this doesn’t solve the problem if the signal is inoperable itself. Whenever the cell phone tower infrastructure is sparse, suffering failures of maintenance, at its peak community load, or is otherwise non-functional....we have to get more creative.

My work station aboard Sonrisa + my cutest co-worker.

VPN With Workshare Space or Wifi at Cafes

This is where a VPN becomes non-negotiable. If you need to acquire internet through public sources, you must protect your computer, client/customer information, etc. And so, you must run a VPN and keep your computer concealed on the public network. With that bit of technical protection in place, off we go to find more internet.

Where the tourist goes....internet (and I) follow.

In countries where they struggle to provide internet infrastructure for the local population, you can be assured they will not fail to provide it for tourists. Tourists MUST(!!!) have the ability to post their vacation photos on Instagram. And so, the first place I look for internet in a country where my SIM Card isn’t reliable is in the tourist sectors.

Cafes and Hotels often have free wifi or wifi you can purchase in chunks.

Homestays are often willing to rent you workspace and arrange for internet subscriptions to their shore based/dial up internet structures.

Sometimes the local SIM Card we originally bought works better where the tourists are, and so we find a way to build my “workcamp” there.

Google Fi and E-SIM

We do not use GoogleFi or E-SIM providers.

Google Fi allows you to use your home based SIM Card/Cell Phone Provider to access internet almost* anywhere in the world. However, it requires that you return to your home base (for us it would be the US) periodically. This doesn’t work for us, because we are away from home for years at a time.

Another option that does not work for us is an internet subscription from an E-SIM provider. We have found these subscriptions cost as much as the highest rate we’ve ever paid for internet (Cook Islands in the South Pacific and St. Helena in the South Atlantic, each approximately $10US/GB).

Both these strategies are also less than perfect as they, too, rely on the location’s cell phone infrastructure just like a local SIM Card would. For that reason, the only meaningful benefit they provide is to eliminate the SIM Card hunt in the first place.

How Do Inveterate Sea Lawyers Manage Their Internet Needs?