Blue View - Internet Everywhere

When we were crossing oceans on Nine of Cups, one of the difficulties we encountered was maintaining communications with family and friends. We used both a high frequency radio (HF) and a HAM radio system, and by connecting with various shore stations, often thousands of miles away, we could send and receive short emails, obtain the latest weather reports, and catch up on the world news. Getting the weather forecasts was very important, of course, as was knowing where the latest pirate attacks were happening or discovering that the country we were headed for just had a coup d'état and was no longer welcoming Americans. We were also able to send our daily blogs to our niece Gentry, who would post them for us. The highlight of our day, however, was receiving newsy emails from friends and family.

We had a regular routine. We’d figure out what shore station had the strongest signal on any given day, which varied depending on distance and weather conditions, then what time of day would be best for communicating with that station. The best propagation time was usually during the night or early morning, and whichever of us was on watch at the time would tune the radio and antenna to the correct frequency, listen to make sure the station wasn’t busy talking with someone else, then sign on. All our outgoing emails and weather requests would go out first, then the accumulated incoming emails and weather reports would be delivered. The transmission and receive rates ranged from slow, if conditions were good, to verrry slow if conditions sucked. At times, conditions were so poor, we couldn’t complete a transmission. Other times, some idiot elsewhere in the world would start transmitting on top of us, totally garbling our transmission, and causing the shore station to hang up.

It could be quite frustrating, but things usually went well and more often than not, we successfully received our emails and weather reports. We’d savor the emails and closely examine the weather forecasts, then over the course of the next day, compose our outgoing emails and weather requests.

Satellite communication systems were available, but both the equipment and the ongoing fees were very expensive. In addition, except for the systems intended for ships, the satellite systems were almost as slow as our HF radio. We contemplated switching to such a system, but decided it wasn’t worth the cost.

Traveling in a van through the more sparsely populated areas of the USA and Canada has similar issues. In doing my homework on the Canadian cellular networks, Tellus seemed to have the best coverage throughout the parts of Canada we’ll be visiting, and we bought a SIM card with a data package for the Tellus network. Checking out their coverage map, however, it’s quite apparent that even Tellus only has coverage for the main highways and populated areas… stray even a few miles from the beaten path and there’s no coverage. As we travel through northern British Colombia, we’re finding that cell coverage is sporadic even on the major highways. BTW, in our experience, this isn’t all that different than the cell coverage in many of our western states.

So, while we’re traveling, we can usually find either cellular coverage or a wifi hotspot without too much trouble, but if we take a side trip or decide to camp in one of Canada’s wonderful provincial or national parks, we may be without internet for a day or two. This is just about the limit with which we feel comfortable being out of touch with family and friends. And while it’s pretty unlikely that there will be a coup in Canada this summer, we would like to keep track of the wildfires that might be on our path. Lapses in internet also make writing and posting our blogs more of a challenge. For the most part, we can compose them, relying on our notes and memories, and we can prep the photos we plan to use, but any research or fact checking, as well as uploading text and photos has to wait until we have internet again. Thus, we’re on a short leash.

That all might change with the latest satellite technology… which has improved significantly since our days of crossing oceans. Starlink, an Elon Musk company, has a satellite communication system that provides high-speed internet virtually anywhere on the planet. You buy a satellite dish, download an app to your smartphone, pay the monthly fee and you’re in business.

There are other satellite internet providers, like HughesNet and ViaSat for example, but what’s different about Starlink, is that it can be used in mobile applications like vans, RVs and boats, whereas all of the others are meant to be set up, aimed and aligned from one fixed location, usually requiring a technician. The reason Starlink can do this is that SpaceX, another of Elon’s companies, launched thousands of satellites into low earth orbit. At any given moment, no matter where you are, you will be in sight of several of those satellites, and the Starlink dish automatically aligns itself to get the best signal. HughesNet and Viasat, on the other hand, use a few high altitude, geostationary satellites in fixed positions over the equator to communicate with, and the sat dishes have to be precisely aimed to get the an acceptable signal.

The cost for a Starlink system is much less than when we were looking into satellite communications on board Nine of Cups, but it’s still not cheap. The satellite dish and wireless router costs about $600 in the U.S., plus tax and shipping, and the monthly fee is $120 for unlimited data at broadband speeds. There’s no contract, so the user can stop or restart  the service at the end of any thirty day period. (That also means, of course, that Starlink can raise or lower the rates at any time). From what I’ve read in the reviews and from looking at the coverage maps, some areas are on a wait list and have been for a long time, so maybe the satellite network isn’t quite all there yet. On the other hand, the areas in North America on the wait list are also the areas most likely to have cell coverage.

The Starlink satellite map shows what an impressive net of satellites their system uses. BTW, Startink does state that as of November, 2022, they have full coverage in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, as their coverage map shows. Maybe the satellite map is outdated?

Had I discovered Starlink a few weeks prior to leaving Las Vegas on our Alaska road trip, I think we might have seriously considered it, but I didn’t learn about it until a few days before our departure - much too late to order one. On the whole, however, we’ve been managing just fine with the hit and miss cellular connections we’ve experienced so far, along with the occasional public library that almost always has free internet access. And despite the fact that our old fallback, McDonalds, is becoming a rarity up here, that cities and towns are getting further apart, and that the Tellus coverage map looks even sparser over our planned route north through the Yukon and Northwest Territories, I remain optimistic that we’ll never drop totally off the grid for more than a day or two.

See you next week… hopefully.