Red Sea liveaboards with fast, reliable internet?

[terramar]

Does anyone have any recommendations for Red Sea liveaboards with fast and reliable internet?

Maybe a boat with Starlink?

Ready to go for a week, but also need to remain in contact with my company.

 

[Parlem]

I'm assuming you're enquiring about the Egyptian Red Sea.

If all you need is to check your email and do some light web browsing, I would just buy a data SIM card locally (telecom companies have kiosks at SSH & Hurghada airport), stick it in your phone and that should take care of it ... provided there is a telephone signal.

On BDE routes you only get a phone signal when you are sailing near the shore (basically, at the start and the end of the trip). Ras Mohamed national park has patchy coverage. Tiran is fine. Coastal dive sites off Hurghada are usually fine, but some areas in and around Abu Nuhas have blind spots.

Be advised that booking a boat that advertises fee onboard internet is no guarantee that when you actually get there their modem will be up and running. I speak from personal experience: stuff breaks down, etc. You don't always get what it says on the tin, in Egypt.

If your requirements go beyond email and basic web surfing, I honestly don't know what to suggest.

I hope this is of some use.

 

[Lorenzoid]

How many liveaboards anywhere have satellite internet? Curious.

 

[scubajasonr]

The closest I have seen was on Royal Evolution. They had a satellite phone that you could pay to use, I am sure it was very expensive per minute. One of the guests was using it most mornings to keep in touch with his work. No internet access with it, so not suitable for your situation.

As mentioned already if you pick a route that stays in sight of the shore you will generally get a phone signal. I would recommend using your own sim card rather than relying on the boat wifi as I have found the boat wifi will often have very slow/limited data limits.

 

[divezonescuba]

None of the three liveaboards that I have been on in the Red Sea have had reliable internet the whole time. Just in port in Sharm and sometimes passing by the Tiran Islands with Sharm on the other side.

Rent a sat phone for the week.

 

[scubadada]

How many liveaboards anywhere have satellite internet? Curious.

Nautilus Explorer had acceptable satellite internet for the entire trip to the Revillagigedos, $100. Seems like they could do that in the Red Sea after the initial investment if they wanted to, maybe someone has it? The two Aggressor boats do not have internet access.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Nautilus Explorer had acceptable satellite internet for the entire trip to the Revillagigedos, $100. Seems like they could do that in the Red Sea after the initial investment if they wanted to, maybe someone has it? The two Aggressor boats do not have internet access.

My guess is that boats with satellite internet are pricey, and the kind of customer they attract includes people who need to keep in contact with their work, which is of the kind that allows them to afford the pricey liveaboard. Red Sea liveaboards, by contrast, are among the most affordable in the world, and maybe they attract the kind of customer who doesn't need or want to think about work while on a dive trip.

 

[Christian]

My guess is that boats with satellite internet are pricey, and the kind of customer they attract includes people who need to keep in contact with their work, which is of the kind that allows them to afford the pricey liveaboard. Red Sea liveaboards, by contrast, are among the most affordable in the world, and maybe they attract the kind of customer who doesn't need or want to think about work while on a dive trip.

That's Europeans for the record. Cheap and with laws that force employers to give their employees minimum 5 paid weeks off every year

 

[jborg]

My experience is that you’ll struggle to find fast and reliable Internet ashore in Egypt. I’d be very surprised to see it on a liveaboard at sea.

 

[Sunn]

You may buy a local SIM card (vodaphone shops, for example) and you'll get 3G, 4G ... until you're too far from the antennas. Or else you decide to pay a nice invoice for roaming in Egypt, but the result will be the same.
I remember that at Brother's, some good phones placed on the top deck had sometimes signal....

Note that if you think about work while on a dive trip, it won't be a good trip.