Starlink Global Roam shake-up will hit cruising sailors

Laura Hodgetts

Cruising sailors are calling for Starlink to rethink its decision to cancel its Global Roam plan – a move that is proving costly for long-distance boaters.

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Over the last four to five years, Starlink has made broadband connectivity – for obtaining weather, routing and technical advice while offshore, or for enabling online working in remote locations – much cheaper than previous satellite broadband systems through its roaming plans.

Now, Starlink has cancelled the popular Global Roam plan and placed a 30-day international roaming limit on its Roam Unlimited plan.

The Cruising Association Regulatory & Technical Services (RATS) group said: “It has a track record of doing this in the past, but this summer’s changes are more significant than before.

“The reduced ability to use the international roam plan will force many sailors to either pay more for the higher-priced Global Priority Plan or significantly reduce their use of Starlink.”

Starlink satellite communications gear aboard a yacht. Credit: Steve Hodges

Some sailors are facing fee increases of £5,151 a year unless they reduce usage. Credit: Steve Hodges

Personalised plans

Several campaigns have been launched by the liveaboard community to try and get Starlink to back down on these changes, and the CA RATS experts said: “As a result, Starlink has introduced a new personal maritime plan but this may not be suitable for bluewater cruisers due to the restrictions of the plan.”

Liveaboard sailors Alexandra and Guido Sobbe of Aurora Blue Sailing said they faced increases of “€500 (£429) per month or €6,000 (£5,151) per year” as Roam Unlimited, “the only reasonably affordable alternative for many of us, now provides just 30 days of service outside the registered home country or region” before users must go home to “reset the travel allowance” or upgrade to a Global Priority plan.

Ray and Holly Hendricks, of SV Sabado, also faced £500 per month extra for their usage, with fees rising by at least $650 (£480) a month, until complaints to Starlink resulted in the personal maritime plan invite being sent.

Ray told PBO: “It seems that Starlink has raised the personal maritime plan eligibility limit from 40ft to 60ft LOA.

“So now we are paying $10 (£7.30) per month more for the same service. Still, Starlink has raised the Priority data price, from $2 per gigabyte (GB) to $6/GB, which applies offshore.”

‘Think carefully’

The CA RATS experts added: “Offshore sailors will end up paying more for data if they go over their data allowance and so will need to reduce their use of Starlink for non-essential purposes.

“However, in the Global Priority plan, Starlink still provides a low level of bandwidth (up to 1Mbps download) after you exceed your data allowance and this should be sufficient for weather routing, etc.

“In summary, sailors have managed without Starlink in the past, and now we will have to think carefully as to whether we want to become dependent on a quasi-monopoly supplier.

“It’s possible that the Amazon Leo system will become an alternative but it’s not available yet and we don’t know the details of the service offering.”

PBO is still awaiting a response from Starlink.

Starlink satellite communications gear aboard a yacht. Credit: The Cruising Association

Starlink is a regular favourite amongst ARC sailors and long-distance cruisers. Credit: The Cruising Association

Starlink changes may influence ‘data usage’ by ARC cruisers

Alternative satellite communications systems used regularly by Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) sailors include: Iridium’s GO! and GO!exec; Certus 200 and Handheld; Inmarsat’s Fleet Broadband and IsatPhone; and Lars Thrane LT-3100.

However, Starlink has remained the “most popular choice”, despite “changes to the price plan over the years”, and is expected to remain so, according to World Cruising Club managing director Paul Tetlow.

He added: “We doubt that these changes will have an immediate impact on the number of vessels with Starlink devices on board,” said Tetlow.

“However, it may have an influence on data usage per cruiser.

“The team at World Cruising Club will continue to provide support to rally participants to ensure they feel confident that they have the right communications system and plan to suit their needs.”

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