Beginning this month, we will begin a forum of questions and answers in this field. All yacht industry professionals are welcome to follow along, ask questions and contribute their experiences for the benefit of us all.
Please keep remarks pertinent to the topic. Any inappropriate comments will be deleted and authors may be banned.
In keeping with the simple requests of several captains, the first question is:
What is the best service for my boss who has a budget of $5,000 a month and he wants the highest speed data he can get and two VOIP lines?
Dear Sir,
For $4700.00/month you can get 256/1.2 meg service with includes 2 VOIP lines.
Mark Mitchell
Service manager
Voyager Maritime
954-770-3350
Just north of the Berry Islands in Route to Nassau, then on south. Enjoying the new mini VSAT from MTN. Even have Pandora streaming at the moment. Derik are we on the same satallite all the way to SXM?
This is a very simple question that I believe has no simple answer. Here is my version of the answer.
An amount like US$ 5000,- will provide you with a decent service. First choice is dedicated vs shared service. For dedicated to pay off you really should be needing the bulk of the bandwidth around the clock, like a cruise vessel. There is also the question of buying the antenna equipment or leasing it as part of the 5000 $, leasing reduce cash investment expenditure, but increase monthly fee.
The company I represent - Ship Equip, makes the SEVSAT system which is optimized for what I would call normal usage. It is shared but modestly so that all users would be within +- 30% of contracted bandwidth at any time, and on average over 24 hours always have the contracted bandwidth available. We provide cost efficient and quality telephone lines as part of the service, a satellite switcher and a 24-7 manned NOC with experienced support personnel. If you want to know more we have offices in Houston, Seattle, Singapore, Reykjavik, Oslo, Aalesund and London.
regards Arnfinn
1. Where will the antenna live? Once installed will it have a full range of motion and line of site for satellite acquisition or are there obstructions that may require dual antenna installations, advanced satellite tracking capabilities, enhanced antenna positioning with a built-in GPS and/or an NMEA0183 interface?
2. How much data will be exchanged each month? Do you need internet, TV and phone service? Where will the vessel be traveling? Wolrdwide, Mexico & the Carribean, Europe, Asia or just in US/Canada waters?
3. Who will use the services provided? Do you want the system to be user friendly or one that only a trained technican can use?
Once we know the answer to these questions, providing advice will be easier and you may find the answer pleasantly surprising. Satellite Communications are becoming less expensive rapidly due to the advances in technology.