Sail Life - Starlink satellite internet is SO awesome! ⛵ 

I fully agree with your comments - it is mind-boggling what Mads manages to install. I always wonder how much weight he actually has added to her which the less tech-driven sailor would not have thought off 🤔🤔

Unfortunately by now you will have re ieved the letter from Starlink forbidding you to use home Starlink in a mobile configuration. If you wish to use it on a traveling boat you need to sign up for the more expensive Marine service for 250 dollars a month.

Elon keeps claiming alien tech... And you know, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ;-)

What caught me off guard was that on Martinique, my cellphone contract from Germany was still working due to EU roaming...

Welcome aboard! :D Thank you for the comment. There were some details I didn't mention in the video :) The YR (Yacht Router) software provides a few numbers for signal quality (RSRP, RSRQ and Signal Strength). In the months after installing the YR, I kept checking those thinking it might be an issue with the coax cables or crimp. The numbers looked very reasonable (going by the definition in the YR manual, link below), so I stopped looking at them. The antennas (2 x Scan MULTI-band 698-3800 MHz and 1 x Scan 2400-5925 Mhz 5dB for wifi) are mounted on our solar arch. They are only about 3 meters above sea level. Raising them to, for instance, 10 meters shouldn't make that big of a difference in terms of connection stability, right? :) We have tried different SIM cards without much luck. Last winter, I moved a Vodafone SIM card from the YR to my iPhone 11 (with 5G disabled) and got speeds that were 10x higher than on the YR (same location and same time of day). yachtrouter.com/brochures/YR%20Mini%20s5%20-%20User%20Manual.pdf

@@SailLife Thanks for the reply. Good to hear the cable and connectors have been checked and verified. Generally speaking, moving LTE antennas higher means longer reach from base stations, and sometimes a cleaner reception of the signal in busy environments (think marinas, city center docks, etc) but the downside is that you will have more movement of the antenna that can cause other issues. I'm not familiar with that antenna you mentioned. Have you measured the antenna to ensure it is as designed? LTE antennas fail silently, and suddenly you get low/no signal. Easy to check with a multimeter resistance check. Good separation of antennae is important, especially antennas that share the same frequencies. PS: Stalink rocks.

This should really be in the "manual" ! Only found this out after drilling a hole the size of Portugal in my wall.

It does show it on the cardboard "manual" in the first image... one 3/4 inch drill bit and alls good. I do think it should be made more obvious though, Ive seen may people make the same errors.

I’m very happy with your explanations around internet on the boat! You did a perfect job, again!,😊

Scott, interesting points. Locomarine do recommend keeping one of the 'indoor' antennas attached to the router even with an external fitted. However my non-expert experience (see comment above) is that there is a persistent issue with the 'keep alive' function - regardless of being in a marina or offshore.

Thats great to hear! have you tried to switch your address to a different continent?

@@AndrewTomayko not a different continent yet for me yet. That will be the hail Mary though. It works for airplanes and big yachts though so don't see why the regular one won't.

The problem you noticed is quite common, not only on Yacht Router devices but on all routers working with SIM cards in roaming, mostly during summer months. Due the congestion of mobile networks during summer months, mobile providers (most of them) limit, slow down or even prevent access for roaming SIM cards by using few principles: 1. They limit data access for SIM cards issues by providers that they do not have contracts with. Just as example (might not be true) Vodafone Greece will limit T-Mobile Germany SIM card much before Vodafone Germany SIM card. 2. They limit access to 5G/4G networks but still provides access over 3G network. 3. They limit access to 5G/4G networks but only in some areas during some period, depending on current network congestion. 3. They monitor IMEI number (International Mobile Equipment Identity) of a device that is connecting to their network. IMEI number is unique for each mobile phone or a modem inside a router. If they figure out it is IMEI number of a modem, they will slow down or even prevent data connection as they assume you will share connection with multiple users and data traffic (network usage in general) will be much higher than with a single mobile phone. And there is not much you can do about that. Let me share some experiences with one mobile provider in one Mediterranean country (I will not name it here). They have very attractive data SIM card offer with 100GB data volume limited to 2 weeks. You put SIM card in your phone, and you got perfect data connection on 4G network. You put same SIM card in a router, you can connect to 4G network but no data flow. When you switch router to 3G it works fine. If you hack your modem (it is possible but illegal and I do not suggest you to do it) and change IMEI number to match IMEI number of your phone you will have same perfect 4G connection as you get on your phone. Another problem with some SIM cards when you use it in roaming is lack of implemented list of home-roaming networks. Let me explain… Each SIM card should have a list of home-roaming networks saved in SIM card memory. For example, when you turn on your phone with Vodafone Spain SIM card in Turkey, your phone (or modem) will scan for available mobile networks and then it will check which network is on a list of preferred home-roaming list. Connection in that case will be fast and reliable. If phone/modem cannot find any on a list, it will connect to the one with strongest signal. Of course, if does not mean Vodafone Spain SIM card will work on that network. You can experience two scenarios: modem will connect but Internet will not be available, or connection will be rejected at all. For you as an end-user that will look like router is not working. Keep Alive feature on Yacht Router will monitor Internet connection every 3 minutes and if it is not available it will reset a modem and restart connection. In a next scan/connection process it might connect to another network, but it could connect again to same network that is rejecting connection. And you can be in permanent loop that will look like: “something is really wrong with a router”. Again, there is not much you can do about that. There is solution if you contact Yacht Router support. They could check list of preferred home-roaming list on a SIM card over remote support and enter it manually. In a next Yacht Router software update you can expect new Keep Alive feature that will partially solve above mentioned problems with dual-level connection monitoring. Unfortunately, the only reliable solution for above mentioned problems is to use reliable SIM card providers in roaming and if you plan to keep in some areas for longer period to use SIM card from reliable local provider. Few words about expected bandwidth... Almost every new 4G/5G phone has better modem than most expensive routers. Most routers use modems manufactured by Telit, Sierra Wireless, Huawei etc. They are very expensive in comparison to mobile phones as production volume is much lower. If you plan to compare data bandwidth and performance in area with good signal, average 4G/5G phone it will outperform very expensive router in most tests. Therefore, if you need high-bandwidth mobile device that will work in most coastal areas with good signal, the best and cheapest solution is to use mobile phone as a hotspot. But if you want to have Internet connection 20+ NM offshore when you do not see a single signal bar on your phone, you should go with a router equipped with high gain outdoor antennas. As example, 9dB outdoor antenna with few meters of high-quality coax cable will give you about 20 dBm gain in comparison to your phone. If you got -100 dBm on your phone and -80 dBm on your router it is 100x stronger signal. If you want to benefit from Carrier Aggregation offshore, you have to install two outdoor antennas (or even four antennas for 5G technology). That is the main reason to go with a router instead of phone.

And that is what insurance is for. :)

All well and good till a claim is made.... the insurance companies will take those items off the table for future, unless a big outlay of payment is made. Boats have slowly becoming one of those uninsrable items.....

Starlink dishes use amazing tech to Phase Array Beam Focus the single to/from the Satellites. The dish can be pointed straight up permanently and it Virtually points in any direction it needs. Ocean waves will just make this adjustment happen a lot more often to chase after the orbiting satellites. I have heard there is a bit of a loss in speed performance. search YT for this video, - How does Starlink Satellite Internet Work? - by Branch Education