Starlink Costs

[orville99]

I wonder how long it takes for a cruise ship to eat through 5TB of data...😇

 

[Biker19]

RCI only cares that it's less than they were paying for O3B and SES networks.

[Charles4515]

9 minutes ago, orville99 said:

I wonder how long it takes for a cruise ship to eat through 5TB of data...😇

Likely they are getting a special rate  for cruise ships.

Edited May 11, 2023 by Charles4515

[orville99]

5 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Likely they are getting a special rate  for cruise ships.

I'm sure they are, but it does explain why RCL is gating the access speeds. Even at a "special" rate, how long would it take for one of RCL's cruise ships to max out that rate before Starlink kicked them to a higher rate.

[RedIguana]

9 minutes ago, orville99 said:

I'm sure they are, but it does explain why RCL is gating the access speeds. Even at a "special" rate, how long would it take for one of RCL's cruise ships to max out that rate before Starlink kicked them to a higher rate.

Look at the fine print. It is unlimited, the 5TB is just for priority. I suspect the gating is due to the routing and switching on the ship. Just a guess though.

[robmtx]

I'm sure all the participating cruise lines have negotiated contracts with Starlink for services rendered. This brochure is mainly for consumer use, so if you want Starlink on your yacht, this is for you.

 

Caps/Throttles would have less to do with managing total consumption, and be more about current bandwidth.

 

But like anything, buy in bulk + save. One 'dish' may be $5k/month, but how many of these are on a ship? I've seen several of them on ships. So the cost is definitely more than $5k a month, but probably negotiated down on a per/receiver basis

 

Great information sheet. thank you for sharing!

 

If I were Starlink, though, I'd probably be charging one ship $300,000 per month, or about $10,000 per day.  Let's say a ship has 2,000 'devices' at $15 per device per day, that's $30,000 in revenue, so I think Royal can afford this $10,000 per day bill.. Which makes me think Starlink charges even more lol

Edited May 11, 2023 by robmtx

[orville99]

20 minutes ago, RedIguana said:

Look at the fine print. It is unlimited, the 5TB is just for priority. I suspect the gating is due to the routing and switching on the ship. Just a guess though.

Once you reach the Priority limit, you shift to “standard” rates. It is in the accompanying documentation that contained this image.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

52 minutes ago, robmtx said:

If I were Starlink, though, I'd probably be charging one ship $300,000 per month, or about $10,000 per day.  Let's say a ship has 2,000 'devices' at $15 per device per day, that's $30,000 in revenue, so I think Royal can afford this $10,000 per day bill.. Which makes me think Starlink charges even more lol

I think you assumption of how many devices is WAY high.  That would be half the capacity.  Which means a cabin with three or four people in it are buying two packages.  

[robmtx]

32 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Which means a cabin with three or four people in it are buying two packages.  

I'm not sure what you mean? A package isn't a connection. There are 2, 3, 4 device connections.

 

Anyhoo, there are 92,508 berths in Royal's fleet. There are 112,993 when accounting for 3rd/4th berths. My estimate therefore equals 56%. I believe my assumption is within the margin of error. People love their interwebz! But I also know lots who prefer not to have it, which keeps the % from going even higher!

 

When dealing with macro numbers, I can't get more granular -- ships aren't always full, some people (like myself) will purchase two device connections (for themself). Some may buy connections for their 3rd/4th passengers in their cabin. Some cabins are solo cruises, messing up my numbers. Oh and don't get me started on Sky/Star class - they are non-revenue for their first internet connection anyway!

 

 

Edited May 11, 2023 by robmtx

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, robmtx said:

Oh and don't get me started on Sky/Star class - they are non-revenue for their first internet connection anyway!

You forgot the sizeable D/D+/Ps population on every sailing who are likely to get some Voom either free or very discounted.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

1 hour ago, robmtx said:

I'm not sure what you mean? A package isn't a connection. There are 2, 3, 4 device connections.

 

Anyhoo, there are 92,508 berths in Royal's fleet. There are 112,993 when accounting for 3rd/4th berths. My estimate therefore equals 56%. I believe my assumption is within the margin of error. People love their interwebz! But I also know lots who prefer not to have it, which keeps the % from going even higher!

 

When dealing with macro numbers, I can't get more granular -- ships aren't always full, some people (like myself) will purchase two device connections (for themself). Some may buy connections for their 3rd/4th passengers in their cabin. Some cabins are solo cruises, messing up my numbers. Oh and don't get me started on Sky/Star class - they are non-revenue for their first internet connection anyway!

 

 

My only point is I think your "2000 devices/day @ $15 each for every ship" is high.  I doubt they're selling that many.  That is ~50% of guests using a device. I could be wrong of course. 

[robmtx]

2 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

My only point is I think your "2000 devices/day @ $15 each for every ship" is high.  I doubt they're selling that many.  That is ~50% of guests using a device. I could be wrong of course. 

56% actually 🙂

And if you look around the main theater 15 min before showtime, you see about 56% of the people with a phone in their face...and the other 44% are trying to flag down a waiter for a drink. Purely not a Scientific figure!

 

40%, 50%, 56%, non-revenue connections, extra connections. no matter... Money is on the move!

[twangster]

Royal puts between 8  and 18 systems on each ship.  

 

Plus I doubt consumer conditions apply.  I'm sure they have negotiated a master contract that applies to all RCG ships.  

[taglovestocruise]

No matter how they work the numbers Elon Musk once again has a problem finding pockets big enough to hold his new found millions. 

[S.A.M.J.R.]

21 minutes ago, robmtx said:

56% actually 🙂

And if you look around the main theater 15 min before showtime, you see about 56% of the people with a phone in their face...and the other 44% are trying to flag down a waiter for a drink. Purely not a Scientific figure!

 

40%, 50%, 56%, non-revenue connections, extra connections. no matter... Money is on the move!

Those with a phone in their face could be using the app, playing a game, looking at pictures, or a lot of other things that DON'T require internet.  

[Tatka]

20 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

No matter how they work the numbers Elon Musk once again has a problem finding pockets big enough to hold his new found millions. 

 

I am OK with this. When I create something like this I will also demand nice amounts. 🙂

 

[Tatka]

What upsetting me is that my favorite ship Anthem which had the best quality of internet now has it so-so... (Enchantment surprisingly was good).

 

On Anthem it was really weird during Thanksgiving and in January. Connections were lost every couple of minutes during first several days.

[nelblu]

3 hours ago, Biker19 said:

You forgot the sizeable D/D+/Ps population on every sailing who are likely to get some Voom either free or very discounted.

And casino Prime and up discounts.

[BirdTravels]

Elon is a master of marketing. He gave all of the cruise lines a test ship when no one was using the system. At some point, all of that data from all of the ships and land uses has to hit an interface with the real internet on land. Those points will be the bottleneck. And the ability of his system to switch fast enough to get the data to multiple satellites simultaneously will be a bottle neck. And the conditions where there are many ship ls in port on a day and having to back haul to multiple ships from single satellites will be a bottle neck. 
 

The system looks wonderful… if you are the only one using it…. 

[neverbeenhere]

I don’t care the cost, the 30 something’s want high speed or they will not start cruising. They aren’t as interested in drink packages, they want gaming. Royal better see the light.