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Starlink’s (SpaceX) ultrafast satellite broadband service has finally responded to complaints from small boat owners about the company’s recent restrictions on international roaming, which threatened to make the service untenable for those who sail around different parts of the world – sometimes for months. But a new Personal Maritime Plan may be the answer, albeit with caveats.
According to Starlink, the new Personal Maritime Plan is aimed at the sort of active small boat owners that we highlighted above and will set customers back $185/month (£136), excluding applicable taxes. For that you’ll get unlimited data and use in territorial waters worldwide; Ocean Mode available beyond 12 nautical miles for $6/GB (i.e. for when you’re travelling beyond the coast and in international waters) and no 30-day Roam international travel limit (except in extremely rare cases when required by local regulations).
However, the high cost of $6 per GigaByte on Ocean Mode is likely to disincentivise serious use while travelling over the open ocean away from land (this also used to cost $2 per GB on general roaming plans), which is far from ideal. But this isn’t the only significant caveat of the new plan.