Starlink for Boats Reviewed in 2025

Starlink for Boats: Reliable Internet at Sea

Compared to other marine internet solutions, Starlink is nothing short of revolutionary. Products in the same price category (less than $250 per month), such as the Garmin InReach or Iridium Go! and Go Exec, are limited in capability and don’t truly give you internet at sea.

Generally, these devices can only handle texting, email, and some very limited text-weather downloads at excruciatingly slow speeds. Their advantage, however, is that they are designed to work at sea and can double as a life-saving communication device.

On the other end of the spectrum, traditional satellite providers that offer internet while sailing offshore have astronomically high equipment and plan costs, well outside the budgets of most cruisers. These plans are generally $5,000 or more monthly and are geared toward charter yachts, superyachts and commercial ships.

Starlink’s Key Features and Functionality

High-speed satellite internet is not new, but providers like Hughes Net, Iridium, and KVH are nothing like Starlink.

Starlink speed was originally promised to be 100 Mbps for downloads. They’ve changed their pricing structure to include Priority Data and Standard Data, Standard Data being the best-effort service.

Starlink satellite technology works completely differently than any other satellite provider.

The reason for that is the array of satellites sent into orbit by Space X. It gives Starlink an advantage over other providers.

From the start, Starlink was designed to deliver “high-speed, low-latency internet.” Latency is the classic problem with typical satellite internet—even if the connection is fast, the lag between the request and results is too much.

A typical satellite service will have a few satellites in geosynchronous orbit. Your dish must be pointed directly at a satellite to work, and that satellite is far away—about 22,000 miles. Even at the speed of light, the time for information to travel there and back again is long.

Starlink works on a network of thousands of fast-moving, low-Earth orbit satellites. The phased-array antenna in the dish remains stationary, receiving the signals as different satellites pass overhead. Since the satellites are much closer (only about 340 miles), lag time (called latency) is low.

The results are a data connection about what you’d expect from an LTE or 5G cellular connection.

When Starlink began operating, it was limited in geographic area because of the number of satellites in service. The company launches more satellites all the time, and now it offers truly global coverage. The map of satellite coverage says it all.

Check out the Starlink map to see the difference between inland and ocean. Blue hexagons are inland, while black ones are ocean zones.

Priority Data is required to operate the dish while in motion, and the only approved dish for this is the Flat High Performance. However, Starlink defines “in-motion” as speeds over ten mph (16 kph). Therefore, most sailboats and many powerboats aren’t “in motion” when swinging at anchor or traveling at hull speeds and can use Standard Data and even the Standard dish most of the time.

Here are the US subscription models for boaters as of February 2024. Standard and Priority plans are not included since these are for use at a fixed location (i.e., a “land home”). Check Starlink Service Plans for current offerings. Pricing varies depending on your home country. 

Mobile — Regional ($150 per month) or Global ($200 per month). It is marketed towards “RV, campers, and nomads,” which also describes many boaters. It provides unlimited inland data fast enough for home use, including video calls. For offshore use, you can purchase Priority Data for $2 per GB—even if you have the Standard dish.

Mobile Priority — Plans are priced based on how many GB of Priority data you use, starting at $250 per month for 50 GB of Priority data. If you have a Flat High-Performance dish and want to use it offshore or at speeds above ten mph, this is the plan you would choose.

Starlink Installation and Setup

For boaters, there are two ways to install a Starlink dish. You may keep your unit portable or mount it permanently on your vessel. Your choice will depend greatly on which dish you purchase and if you want to use it off your boat. Many boaters also keep RVs, which can also benefit from Starlink’s global coverage.

With so many use cases and different dish models, your Starlink installation will be a custom-tailored solution. Some boaters simply use the Standard Dish with its supplied stand and bungee it to their deck or sit it in their cockpit. When not in use, it can easily be tossed below. That’s a good option if you’re a delivery skipper or charterer who switches boats often.

If you want to mount the dish on your boat, Starlink sells several pole-mount adapters for various uses. Combined with a simple stainless fishing rod holder, you can make a pretty robust boat rail mount. It can also be mounted to existing arches or radio towers.

The dish needs the clearest view of the sky with the least obstructions, which means mounting it above large structures. Masts and rigging on sailboats usually won’t affect it too much, but every obstacle causes some amount of outage. A one-second outage might not be noticeable when streaming video, but it might be troublesome during a video chat. The better your installation location, the better the service will work overall.

Several after-market modifications can be made to the dish to make it mount flat or improve its functionality. There are even some companies that will convert the dish to run on 12-volt DC power. Of course, making these changes will void your warranty.

There are currently three different dishes available. 

Standard Actuated Dish — This rectangular dish mounts on a pole and is designed to self-align for the best connection. The self-alignment function isn’t great for boats, but it does work. This dish is not designed to be used while “in motion.” The Standard dish retails for $599 in the US. 100º field of view; uses 50 to 75 watts. This older dish was phased out in the US in February 2024.

Standard Dish (New) — Not yet available in all regions, the new dish lacks the self-aligning motors. It’s flat and designed to be even more portable, about the size of a laptop. 110º field of view; uses 75 to 100 watts.

Flat High Performance — The high performance has a larger, square footprint and a larger view of the sky, which means a better connection. It’s the only dish approved for use in motion (more than ten mph). The Flat High Performance dish sells for $2,500 in the US.  140º field of view; uses 110 to 150 watts.

The company has made the Starlink installation process as easy as possible. Each dish has a long cable, a router, and a power supply. Find the spot with the clearest view of the sky, set up the dish, plug it into the router, plug the router into a power outlet, and voila, you should be online within a few minutes.

The biggest problem for sailors looking to upgrade to Starlink is its power consumption. None of the dishes come ready for 12-volt power—all are 110/220-volt AC powered. Starlink recommends a pure sine wave inverter of at least 500 watts to run a Starlink.

Of course, boaters being boaters, many folks have hacked their systems. The internal hardware runs on 48-volt DC power, so with some basic ethernet wiring skills and a DC-DC converter, it can be made to run off of 12 volts. Kits can even be purchased online to make the conversion easier.

Many boaters also bypass the Starlink-supplied router to use one that runs on 12-volt power or has cellular connections as a backup.

Starlink for Boats Pricing and Subscription Models

Starlink has tinkered with its subscription models from day one, resulting in a lot of confusion as time passes. Starlink Maritime pricing was first introduced for superyachts and ships. It now also includes Starlink for boats, with more favorable pricing for small recreational vessels. At one point, there was an RV option, but this was changed to Roam and is now called Mobile. While separate pages on the Starlink website exist for Starlink Maritime, Starlink for boats, RVs, and Roam, they all now point to Mobile pricing.

Starlink has also added a Standard Data and Priority Data rate plan structure. Priority Data plans get the best service available, regardless of location, including on the ocean. Standard, or “best-effort” service, may be slowed down during network congestion and only works in “inland” service areas.

A Real-World Example of Pricing and Experience

($599 for Hardware and $150/month)

So, what does Starlink cost for most sailors and boaters? There are the facts, but how is it used in the real world? On Dulcinea‘s trip down the ICW and to the Bahamas this year, I noticed that many serious cruisers had a Starlink dish, if not most.

The system performs as advertised. From my experience, Standard Data service routinely delivers between 30 and 150 Mbps, sometimes more. Upload speeds are slower, usually between 5 and 15 Mbps, while latency is usually between 30 and 80 milliseconds. Service is comparable to using a 5G cellular data connection. We routinely do video conference calls without problems, even while motoring or swinging on anchor.

Like me, most small recreational vessels use the Standard dish and Mobile-Regional service. The dish sells for $599, and the US service plan is $150 monthly. The North American “region” covers you in the US, Canada, Bahamas, and most of the Caribbean, for that matter.

For $2 per GB, you can activate Opt-In Mobile Priority Data in the Starlink app and get online offshore, too. This is the perfect choice if most of your boating is near land or if you only plan to use Starlink at a dock or in a calm anchorage.

Larger motor yachts, faster boats, and those making frequent offshore passages should opt for the Flat High Performance dish with the Mobile Priority plan. This dish has better performance overall, but it comes at a price—higher power consumption.

My Standard Gen 2 Starlink uses between 40 and 60 watts. While this doesn’t seem like a lot, it totals up over the day, and I find myself rationing Starlink use. The Flat High-Performance dish uses twice as much power. This isn’t an issue for generator-running power vessels or boats with larger solar arrays like many catamarans, but it’s worth noting for off-the-grid users like myself.

Is Starlink a Must-Have Game-Changer?

Despite its amazing capabilities, Starlink is not perfect for every boat. The dish is large and power-hungry, making it troublesome on small boats. Many boaters who stay closer to home can likely find cheaper plans from cellular internet service.  It is also not an appropriate emergency communications device since—especially the Standard dish—can’t be counted on to connect in a timely manner when offshore and has such demanding power requirements.

But Starlink is an excellent choice for those sailors who work from their boat or just want fast, unlimited internet wherever they go. It frees them from getting new SIM cards in each country and means that data limits are a thing of the past. It also means connecting where you never could, from the most remote anchorage to hundreds of miles offshore.

If you’re a boater looking for better internet connectivity at sea, it’s hard to beat what Starlink offers. Check out the Starlink website for boat rates and equipment options available in your area.