Three situations, three different connections
Anyone sailing between Porto Cervo, Cannigione, Palau and the La Maddalena archipelago knows it: mobile coverage changes constantly. In port 4G/5G is excellent; at anchor behind a headland it halves; a few miles offshore it disappears. If guests on board work, stream in the evening and check cameras in port, you need a solution that handles all three situations.
4G/5G: the base, with the right antenna
A SIM inside a router with external marine antennas picks up far more than a phone in your pocket. With two SIMs from different carriers you use the best one in each port. It is the cheapest connection and, near the coast, often the fastest.
Starlink: offshore and everywhere
With the dish suited to use in motion and the right plan, Starlink gives a stable connection even miles from the coast, where 4G does not reach. It is the second leg of the solution: it does not replace the SIM, it completes it.
Peplink: who decides which one to use
The piece that holds it all together is a Peplink multi-WAN router. It continuously monitors the available connections and routes traffic over the best one; if one drops, it switches to the other in milliseconds without anyone noticing. For the most demanding uses there is SpeedFusion, which merges the connections into one tunnel: more bandwidth and no interruption even if one line degrades. On the marine connectivity page you can drag a boat and see what happens to the connection.
On-board Wi-Fi and entertainment
The connection reaches the boat, but then it has to be distributed: one access point per deck, cabling suited to the marine environment, a guest network separate from the crew's, IPTV and streaming in the cabins. This too is designed together.
What to prepare before the survey
- How you use the boat: moored, charter, long passages.
- Photos of the electrical system and the space available for antennas and router.
- Current SIMs or contracts, to see what to keep.
- How many people connect in season and what for.
With this information the on-board survey is quick and the quote accurate.
