Elon Musk’s new satellite broadband service for maritime has launched and Motor Yacht Loon is the first superyacht to try the advanced technology.
Starlink Maritime offers high speed, low latency internet with up to 350 mbps download out at sea, with significantly reduced monthly costs compared to standard superyacht VSAT connections.
During the official launch Elon tweeted, "Starlink Maritime allows you to connect from some of the most remote waters in the world”.
Motor Yacht Loon decided to put the high-speed connection to the test during their recent Atlantic crossing from the Mediterranean to Fort Lauderdale.
“We upgraded to Starlink the day the maritime set up became available. It was operational for around six weeks before we set off at the end of August for the Atlantic crossing from the Mediterranean to Florida”, Captain Paul explained.
Sharing insight into how good the service really was, Clarke went on, “We used to get 40-80 mbps for $10,000 per month. We now get consistent speeds of 150-200 mbps and the monthly fee is $5,000 which is a lot less expensive than our previous internet service provider.
“With Loon set to cross the Atlantic it was a good test to see if it was going to work throughout the crossing and it doesn’t. But I contacted Starlink support, and they said they plan to have the full crossing covered by November this year.
“We’re on the way to Florida now and plan to spend the next four to six weeks in Fort Lauderdale just making sure the annual maintenance of the boat is covered off. Then we’ll head down to the Caribbean before shooting back over to the Mediterranean during May of next year.
“Loon will be a good test for the Caribbean as well. Historically VSAT has been patchy in places. We have an onboard videographer who creates guest videos and films for our social media channels, so we need reliable upload speeds as well as great download speeds for when guests want to watch streaming services.
“In Europe we already saw vast improvements, I honestly think it’s great. We are very happy with it in the early days. We can now stream multiple channels in high definition whereas before we’d struggle with one maybe two streams going. Every TV on the boat can be playing Netflix and live sports without issues. I think Starlink is going to be a total game changer.”
With the official @motoryachtloon Instagram account holding more followers than any other superyacht globally, and Loon crowned the most instagrammed superyacht to date, the social media platform is the best place to keep up to date with everything Loon.
For charter enquiries please email info@yachtloon.com, contact a superyacht charter broker or message the yacht via their @motoryachtloon profile on Instagram.
