Starlink has rocked the boating world like the transformative technology it is. Boats that cruise the Bahamas or other rural areas have spouted Dishys like fungus. RVs love it, too, because they can boondock anywhere and still be connected for work and play.
But Elon Musk, on track to become the world’s first trillionaire, has gone insane with political power. The Starlink bills pile up for casual users, and the equipment isn’t free. The amount of space trash being put into orbit to make it work is mindblowing — a constellation of 25,000 satellites and counting. And there are more esoteric questions, too: Aren’t we voyaging to escape the real world, not take it with us?
The truth is, most of us were doing fine before Starlink came along—even those of us who work full-time and video conference from our boats in remote areas. Lucy and I have experience with many of these technologies before Starlink, so here’s a recap of your other options.
Alternatives to Starlink
There’s nothing quite like having Starlink on a boat, which explains why it’s so popular. For a very reasonable price, you get unlimited data to use nearly anywhere at breakneck speeds. The service is almost flawless and entirely reliable for high-stakes use, such as work meetings, Zoom calls, and anything you might want to use it for. For boaters, RVs, and van-lifers, it’s a game changer — you can go anywhere and still have fast, reliable internet.
But it’s not without its problems, too. The equipment uses a lot of power, so you need a bigger battery bank (the new Starlink Mini dish is much better than the bigger ones, though). It’s only $165 per month for unlimited service anywhere on land (2025 U.S. price for Roam), but when sailing offshore or crossing oceans, you’ll have to upgrade to a much more expensive Global plan with data limits. For a complete rundown on the power and cost, check out our article about using Starlink on a boat.
Many folks don’t need to use Starlink — it’s en vogue, as they say, but budget constraints and politics could quickly push many to look for alternatives. Here are a few we know of, having worked from our boat for nearly a decade.
Starlink specs:
- Equipment cost: $350 Standard dish, $500 Mini
- Plan cost, monthly: $50 Roam 50GB, $165 Roam unlimited
- Download speeds: > 50 Mbps, usually > 100 Mbps
- Coverage: Global (ocean coverage costs extra)
Cellular Data
The mighty 4G/5G cellular connection is your best friend, especially if you want to ditch Elon. We used a cellular hotspot everywhere between Chesapeake Bay and George Town, Bahamas, for extensive video conferencing. There are gaps, of course, but they get fewer and fewer every year. We used to get no service on T-Mobile throughout eastern North Carolina, but we have had great 5G coverage in the last few years.
Using it in the Bahamas requires keeping close to settlements that have towers. Populated islands have service, but the islands away from towns do not (makes sense, if you think about it). You can get reliable 4G/LTE service up to about five miles away from a tower, so there are some places where you can sit next to a deserted beach with excellent cellular service and still be all by yourself.
One solution is to get a cellular booster for your boat. You can get portable units that work in any vehicle or a hard-wired solution with a nice external antenna. These will allow you to travel a few extra miles from cell towers, but more noticeably, they improve the quality and reliability of your connection. With a cell booster (antenna on the mast), we usually keep a decent connection as far as 12 miles from the tower.
The trick, however, is finding a cheap data plan with no data limit. Most cell companies have a ‘fair-use policy,’ meaning you only get X gigabytes each month before you are cut off or slowed down (throttled). We had good luck looking for companies reselling prepaid data without a contract (i.e., not the major wireless companies, but secondary companies like Mint, Ting, or Cricket).
Another key is to look for mobile hotspot devices, which make connecting many devices to one cellular connection easy. This way, your laptop, tablet, and phone can all connect to the hotspot’s Wi-Fi with cheap data. Since you’ll mainly be using the cheaper data device, you can save money by reducing the plan on your phone.
There’s also the T-Mobile 5G Home Internet device, which is simply a 5G hotspot with unlimited data marketed for use in a landhouse. It may have limitations on mobility, but if you spend most of your time in a marina slip, it could be an excellent and inexpensive option.
4G/5G Cellular specs:
- Equipment cost: ~$100 for a simple 4G wifi hotspot, ~$500 for 5G hotspot (for better prices, shop Amazon Renewed)
- Plan cost, monthly: ~ $100 for ~ 100-150 GB (see examples below)
- Download speeds: < 15 Mbps on 4G, usually > 50 Mbps on 5G
- Coverage: 5G ~ 5 miles from a tower, 4G ~ 10 miles. Increases slightly with a booster.
Example hotspot plans as of February 2025:
- Cricket Wireless (AT&T network) $90 for 150GB
- T-Mobile Prepaid $50 for 50GB
- Verizon Prepaid $100 for 150GB
- Straight Talk Wireless (Verizon network) $50 for 100GB
Starlink to Cellular
T-Mobile and Starlink have partnered to offer satellite phone service directly to your cell phone. The service is currently in beta testing for limited customers with the latest iPhones. It’s also currently limited to texts and voice calls, but eventually, it will include photos and web browsing.
Traditional Satellite Providers (KVH, Viasat, Iridium, HughesNet, Telesat, Inmarsat)
Several satellite internet providers have been available for homeowners for several decades, but most of these networks do not support mobile use.
In the marine sector, companies like KVH bundle services offered by satellite companies and provide equipment for use at sea. KVH bundles VSAT and 5G worldwide cellular data in one device and monthly plan.
These services are usually appropriate only for commercial vessels and luxury yachts because of their price point. Many plans are available: some reasonable options for voice calls or texting, some pricy plans for slow-speed connections, and some insanely expensive plans for high-speed internet. Data caps are essential to factor in prices because most are very limited.
Note that KVH bundles and resells services from other companies, including Iridium and Starlink. Most of their plans include cellular data for near-shore operations and satellite options when out of range.
Traditional satellite systems perform differently from Starlink and LEO (low-earth orbit) systems because of latency, which is the lag between making a request and receiving a response. Basically, the lag in these traditional systems makes them seem slower than the download speeds suggest.
Traditional Marina Satellite specs:
- Equipment cost: > $8,000–$25,000 (complex, gimbaled dishes must track satellites from a moving boat)
- Plan cost, monthly: Rates not published, figure > $1,000–$5,000 per month
- Download speeds: Depends on your service plan and equipment
- Coverage: Global
Iridium Go!
We had Iridium Go! satellite hotspot for a few seasons but ditched it in 2018. It was extremely underwhelming, and that’s being kind.
For boaters, Go! is most commonly combined with a PredictWind subscription. PW is a weather and routing software package. It’s very nice but can easily be replaced by cheaper alternatives, in my opinion.
Since then, they’ve released a new version called the Iridium Go! Exec that is marketed as 40 times faster. The fine print says it’s rated up to 22 kbps transmit and 88 kbps download. Now, in 2025, everyone I know measures things in MEGAbits per second (Mbps), not KILObites per second. So, in 2025 English, this product will give you 0.022 Mbps uploads and 0.088 downloads.
If we assume that Starlink and cellular connections have a download speed averaging about 50 Mbps (that’s to be kind to Iridium; it’s usually double or triple that these days), then the Iridium is giving you a connection that is 0.18 percent as fast. And this is the new, improved version!
To me, Go! is closer to a messaging device than an internet device. It’s like an InReach or Spot, but it adds the ability to access weather graphics.
You cannot use your own email or browse any website with Go! It has a minimal, mainly text capability through its own apps. Even at that, speeds are snail-like. It would take 20 minutes or more to download my PredictWind weather with the original. With the new one, I’d guess it can do it in 10 minutes or so.
The biggest thing to realize is that you can’t use it to just go to Windy.com and check the weather like you usually do with your favorite boating apps. You need links directly to barebones black-and-white forecasts, like those you would get over a weather fax. Better yet, a subscription to PredictWind gives you more reliable functionality thanks to PW’s apps built specifically for the Go! (but at an additional cost).
Iridium Go! Exec specs:
- Equipment cost: $1600
- Plan cost, monthly: $179–210 (through PredictWind)
- Download speeds: < 0.088 Mbps
- Coverage: Global
- Note: You can still buy the original Go! for about half the price of the new Go! Exec.
Garmin InReach Messenger
InReach is a satellite messenger that does only texting and position tracking — nothing more. There are a few models, but we like our Garmin InReach Mini 2. The benefit is that it has global coverage, so it works in the middle of the ocean for the same price as it does on land. The position tracking is pretty neat and a much cheaper alternative to Go! + PredictWind.
With an active subscription, an SOS button can tell someone somewhere you’re in trouble. That in-between step worries me, so it’s not a replacement for a properly registered marine 406 EPIRB (which has no subscription fees, by the way).
A limited weather tool also shows you a simple forecast (with winds) for any point on Earth. It’s pretty handy if you are offshore. And it’s dirt cheap.
We’ve had the InReach Mini for a while but don’t keep the subscription active when we have Starlink. This is one thing I like about it because I could activate it whenever I was going on a long passage or hiking off the grid somewhere.
The Mini works well with your phone, but it has no connection for anything other than messaging and weather from its own Garmin apps. I’m also a big fan of it’s GPS functionality as a backup to my main instruments.
InReach specs:
- Equipment cost: $300–700
- Plan cost, monthly: $15–50
- Download speeds: n/a, text only
- Coverage: Global
Spot Satellite Messenger
Spot Messengers are similar to InReach (their direct competitor) in terms of functionality and price. However, I have no experience with them.
Spot specs:
- Equipment cost: $150–250
- Plan cost, monthly: $15–15
- Download speeds: n/a, texts only
- Coverage: Global
SSB Radios and Modems
If you just need communication for safety at sea and some limited weather reports, there’s nothing wrong with going old school. The reliable SSB (single-sideband radio) has been around for a hundred years and is still going strong. There are still weather reports available worldwide, and a weather fax (or app) will allow you to receive weather graphics anywhere in the world. Plus, there are voice nets for cruisers all over the world. And it’s all free once the equipment is purchased.
SSB is fickle, though. As a boater, you don’t need to have a HAM license to use it, but having some knowledge of this type of radio system helps.
Many older cruising boats were set up to have SSBs, so if your boat already has one, it’s worth figuring out how to work it. Don’t just sell or trash it because it doesn’t connect to the internet! It’s a valuable tool to have on a voyaging vessel.
You can also get a portable shortwave radio, like our Tecsun PL880, for about $150 and receive SSB channels. It’s handy to have aboard for offshore cruising and traveling The Bahamas, fun to play with, and a good introduction to the fickle world of shortwave comms. It’s receive-only, but when paired with an app like HF WeatherFax, it will receive weather faxes offshore for free.
SSB Radio specs:
- Equipment cost: ~ $1500 pick it up used! ~$5,000 for a complete, new system
- Plan cost, monthly: $0
- Download speeds: ~ 0.005 Mbps (maybe)
- Coverage: Global, but subject to interference
Starlink Alternatives and Direct Competitors
Right now, Starlink has no real competitors. All of the other options have limitations that Starlink doesn’t, from the price of KVH, the location limits of cellular, or the limited connection options of Go! or InReach.
Amazon’s Project Kuiper promises great things but at some undisclosed later date. They leak photos of their equipment occasionally to spike interest, but they don’t have many satellites up and are years away from offering a product to the public that competes.
Eutelasat’s OneWeb is a direct competitor, but it’s tricky to get pricing information from their website. Currently, OneWeb is limited to underserved remote areas like Alaska. They are sold through dealers like KVH.
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