Satellite Internet Bahamas?

[SV Tom Crean]

Starlink is working in some parts of the Bahamas. Not reliable but improving week by week.

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by SV Tom Crean

Starlink is working in some parts of the Bahamas. Not reliable but improving week by week.

Which parts? Specifically interested in the Abacos. Thanks.

[michaeld]

We are in Marsh Harbour. Anything, even semaphore, would be better than BTC. At the moment, I'm lucky just to reply to your post.

[SV Tom Crean]

Originally Posted by redneckrob

Which parts? Specifically interested in the Abacos. Thanks.

Working at andros and mangrove but not at West end so real hit and miss. You need the RV option on your sub which allows you to roam within a continent but with less performance.

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by SV Tom Crean

Working at andros and mangrove but not at West end so real hit and miss. You need the RV option on your sub which allows you to roam within a continent but with less performance.

Thanks!

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by michaeld

We are in Marsh Harbour. Anything, even semaphore, would be better than BTC. At the moment, I'm lucky just to reply to your post.

If you're able to get a Island WiFi box (https://myislandwifi.com/) they have much better service at least at GTC. It's cellular based but somehow manages much better speed and reliability than either Aliv or BTC. I am able to work for a week at a time with regular zoom calls using it with no issues. Unfortunately I had to sit on a waitlist for several months because they are apparently limited in how many boxes they can have on the network. I am hoping Starlink starts working in the Bahamas before they get cut off altogether as we have no wire options.

[Carolyn Phillip]

Originally Posted by michaeld

We are in Marsh Harbour. Anything, even semaphore, would be better than BTC. At the moment, I'm lucky just to reply to your post.

Michaeleld Carolyn here. See other reply re Andros some reception, W End spotty, Abaco questionable. We will try for shortwave radio for Wx as recommended if internet & BTC towers reception unavailable.

[SV Tom Crean]

Starlink now has coverage over all Bahamas. No restrictions but you must have the RV option.

[Carolyn Phillip]

oh thank you so much Tom Crean for the update that the Bahamas now has Starlink. We and many others are delighted for that.

[michaeld]

BTC finally got their systems working. It's now works as well as ATT in south Florida. However, the International Data Plan is $150 above my normal monthly bill. [emoji3525]

[Off Trail]

Now that the thread has drifted...

We've been very pleased this year switching to Google Fi. Solid connectivity all through the northern Caribbean and Bahamas with no need for local simm cards.

Not normally a Google fan, but this has been a big improvement over our previous practice.

[wsmurdoch]

We just got back from our 13th trip to the Bahamas. irish-eyes-to-the-bahamas.blogspot.com

This year we were quite happy with a BTC SIM card first in a Asus phone then later in a Google Pixel 6 coming from Miami to North Rock to Andros to Highborne Cay to Big Farmers Cay back to Conch Cut over to Rock Sound up to Egg Island across to Little Harbor then Elbow Cay, Marsh Harbour, Green Turtle Cay and off the banks at Mantilla Shoals on our way to the St Mary's River with Alex behind us and a cold front ahead of us.. We also had a T-Mobile card in another Pixel 6 which operated on the same BTC network. At times when a tower was not in sight (like Warderick Wells), we hoisted the antenna of a Wilson booster on a flag halyard to the spreaders to see a bit farther out. We could do the same thing using one of the cell phones in a dry box raised to the spreaders as a hotspot. The service was as good as in the US.

We have a SSB subscription with Marine Weather Center and listen daily recording the forecast whether from HF on 4045 or on 8137 or the internet depending on the situation. Or, if we overslept, we download the broadcast forecast from the website later. Chris and Stormy started talking about Alex while it was in the Pacific and named Agatha. That was plenty of warning.

Nick reads the Bahamas Met Office Marine Forecast on the BASRA net on 4.003 MHz every morning at 0720 and Carolyn reads it again on 7.268 on the WRCC net just after 0745. In fact ZNS has the marine forecast just before "Wake Up Bahamas" around 0610 on 1540 AM read by whichever Met Office forecaster is on duty. And of course, it is on the internet as well. https://met.gov.bs/

NOAA has been nice enough to divide the Bahamas into two forecast zones this year. There is a synopsis for the area. https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/fore.../am/amz101.txt A forecast for the northern Bahamas. https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/fore.../am/amz080.txt And, a forecast for the central Bahamas. https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/fore.../am/amz080.txt In addition to the internet that synopsis and those forecasts are available on HF from NMN and NMG every six hours on several frequencies. Just look it up and listen. Record what you hear.

And then there is Winlink for those with an amateur radio license... And Predictwind and ............

There is no shortage of weather information in the Bahamas.

[Jamscarey]

Originally Posted by SV Tom Crean

Starlink now has coverage over all Bahamas. No restrictions but you must have the RV option.

Good day, can you kindly advise if the RV unit can be activated within the Bahamas or will it need to be Activated in the USA?

[Jamscarey]

Originally Posted by Carolyn Phillip

oh thank you so much Tom Crean for the update that the Bahamas now has Starlink. We and many others are delighted for that.

Good day, have you used the Starlink Service in the Bahamas?