Used to work as an IT support engineer. One of our customers operated several container carriers. A piece of software on board needed a hotfix. Sent them a link to download it. They came back and informed me that they would not be able to install it for another 3 weeks. Being curious and having no idea how ships are operated I asked why they couldn’t download it on board. The guy then explained that while the ship technically _does_ have internet access, it is satellite based and slow af, to the tune of about 10 USD per MB at the time. (This was 10+ years ago). Therefore anything beyond emails was out of the question. So what they did is they usually mail a flash drive to the next port with any software updates and other bulk data required by the crew or the company to be copied over. Because of potentially unreliable internet access where the ship was. (And probably because postage is cheaper than data volume, I imagine.) He mentioned one exception, where something needed to be downloaded that could not wait. Apparently someone had forgotten to put the required data on the last drive that was mailed. That ended up being a 5000 USD download…

When I was on an aircraft carrier I had a job with open access to internet. They said I was the number 2 user of the most data. An admiral onboard was number 1.

The real reason why most ships still don't have internet is due to lousy regulations. Seafarers are always marginalized because they are out of sight and therefore out of mind.

Watching this on a cargo ship at sea with free, unlimited wifi 😬

At the risk of repeating myself. Chief MAKOi you are a credit to your profession.

A happy crew is more productive and safer, it’s about time some companies learn this and treat crew properly

Missed you brother! Much love from Atlanta, GA USA. You’re a one of a kind teacher and a blessing to anyone who hears you.

That sucks for you guys. When I was in the US Navy all of our ships had internet via a DOD intranet. It was extremely slow, was down often, and was monitored by someone. It was great being able to check email and FB, and stay in touch with family and friends. We also had these sea phones that looked like pay phones but they never worked

There you go again! Getting to the heart of the matter and truly caring about your shipmates . . . setting a dangerous precedent!

In 1984 I was working for a tech company and they received a contract to evaluate LOWES (Low Earth Orbit Satellites). The estimate was 1,200 communication satellites to service the entire world. The objective was inexpensive worldwide communications. Spacex has begun to place small, inexpensive satellites into orbit. The system is called Starlink and the operational system will have approximately 4,000 satellites. The first test will be this year. If it is successful, then cell phone and internet services will be available anywhere. The cost? I don't know.

You should get in touch with my Grandmother.. She "installs" and "deletes" internet from her PC twice a day :D

I'm a Land lubber and I work in land transportation but Chief you come off as a kindred brother. Thanks for getting the word out about you folks and I hope you make your trade better for yourselves . I'll be sharing this video. Thanks Chief.

From my experience, keeping in touch with loved ones at home while being away actually makes things worse, you miss them even more...

During my time, i don't even have a personal mobile phone onboard. The only option is the payphone booth near the ship gangway or at the seaman's club, but were ridiculously expensive. Brings me back old memories.

I work for a bush airline in remote Alaska. Your living conditions are like a palace compared to the sh*t we put up with. Love your channel man. Great content.

Yes I agreed with you, I’ve worked in FIFO construction industry (land based) for years and having free internet should be compulsory on all ships, it’s hard enough being away from home at all but for extended periods of time affects the mental health of some of us, so I think its a real health issue, you are a good man Chief MAKOi 👍🇦🇺

Hi Chief great video! i can assure you that things are getting better in this sector, several companies like Intellian Iridium Inmarsat has launched systems that dropped the prices for global fast speed internet and several companies that have the "quality of life" in mind and installing VSAT systems on their fleet. they even offer free initial cost for the owners and a "pay as you go" plan. Couple of years ago we had only some expensive allocated data size for each crewmember but nowadays most of our ships have free data package for each crewmember, i know its not perfect but things are improving. Fast!

Let’s setup a petition for just a small change “Crew men are to have access to US Standard internet speeds for no cost. No data is to be recorded or logged by the company or ship and all information is protected.”

Good to see that a senior crew member are speaking up for the junior crew.

To get internet according to shipping companies, follow these steps (ARRRRR Matey): 1. Plug in modem. 2. Wait for the sound to stop (khhhh khhhk kreeeee oweeeee khhhhh khhhhh ...) 3. Wait for the other sound: "You got Mail!!!" 4. Wait for 3 days for a KZfaq video to stop buffering and start playing, only to stop again to buffer in 30 seconds. 5. Repeat steps above because you were disconnected 30 seconds into your KZfaq video. 6. You can't call tech support, as there is none. 7. Pay $20 per 1 kb of data. 8. Expect DSL-level internet access in about 100 years (when the rest of the world will have achieved and will have evolved from quantum internet). 9. Make sure your "state of the art" MS-DOS x86 machine is powered down after the standard 15 minute shutdown time has expired.

Surveyor here in new orleans. Ive seen a crew member almost jump off ship with my phone when his best friend answered his wifes phone.

We’re living in 2020. Internet is necessary like the air. Company must put internet conexion in the ships. All of us have family and friends, we should have a social life. I’m engineer and I’m working in my country Uruguay right now so I’ve internet.

Okay but can we talk about the irony of stretching this video out to be 5 times as long as it needs to be?

These people are too valuable to everyone to be treated this way. And this is such a perfect video for this type of sponsor. I didn't skip ahead out of respect.

You would think that smart companies would offer good WiFi and internet access in the hopes of attracting better crew members. A high paid crew member might even be willing to take a small pay cut if it meant that they had 24/7 internet access. It seems like a no brainer to me.

This really doesn't surprise me since I've been on several cruises where internet access was slow and high priced. In my case we're talking about a ship with over 3000 passengers and close to 1000 crewmembers. A ship like that has economies of scale where they could spread out the cost, but it was still high priced compared to back home. Compare that to a freighter which has probably under 100 crewmembers and I could see where ship owners would be hesitant to spring for internet service.

From the thumbnail I thought "sim 4 crew" was a ship simulator and got excited! 🤣🤣🤣 Edit: Giving free or cheaper internet access seems like a really easy way to boost moral!

You are a great spokesman and educators for your fellow seafaring workers. I was able to work for the U S Coast Guard for 22 years. You do an excellent job educating the public. Great video also. Thank you.

I was a seafarers in the 19 60s we only had TV when we were within 20 miles of land .No ship to shore phone .we still had morse code .we could send a telegram but it was prohibitively expensive and not always reliable. Seafarers today have got it easy . I hope it improves more it's a hard life but I never regreted a minute of it .

Starlink will be global soon. I hope this will make a difference for the better for remote workers everywhere.

I've been on Starlink for nearly a year. It works so well! It'll be cool to see it working on ships.

I work in maritime industry of Information Technology department and I'm QA engineer in it. I always required some knowledge of it and boom your videos appear. Thank you for sharing knowledge and it also helps me in understanding my applications as well. My Request is next time please do a video on BQS and IRI. Once again thank you for knowledge.

we are so lucky that our ship has unlimited Internet access for free ❤️

I believe Elon Musk's "Starlink" will change everything. Having no internet at sea will be a thing of the past.

Before it was expenssive for installing internet onboard because it involves sattelite broadband services are expenssive. But today we already have starlink global internet satellite provider which is cheaper. It also benefits the owner because if you have internet onboard it improves the communication between top management and the vessel, our office can even have access on our cctv camera, and machineries onboard in real time without communicating the captian. Because mostly our vessel is equip with IOT devices, they even know the real time concumption of fuel and load of main engine and rudder in real time. Thats the benefit of having internet onboard for the company

Retired Bosun here. All or nearly all US flag ships do have internet for the crew, usually via wifi network with multiple WAPs. When I started going to sea, not only did we not have internet, but internet wasn't even invented yet. I was on one ship, a RORO sailing between US East coast and Northern Europe for 7 years and the first time I brought a computer onboard, the Capt asked "what the hell are you bringing that thing on my ship for?" I told him that some day there would be not one, but probably 3 or 4 of them in his office. "Yeah, right.". A couple years later, he came back from his time off and was delirious about his new computer. He's telling me about how much paperwork it would save. I explained to him that actually it would just create MORE paperwork and he didn't believe me, at first. Before I left that ship for good, we lost our Radio oFficer. No more RO's. And we had full GMDSS with SITOR, etc and SAT PHONE. Suddenly the Capt was no longer isolated from the company while at sea. THey could bother him for this document or that invoice or give him micromanaged instructions that he couldn't ignore. ANd then, EMAIL!!! Somehow that was all my fault and I spent a lot of time fixing and replacing busted keyboards that he would bash with his fist when he got pissed at shoreside management and others. Fast forward a few years. Our unions negotiated for crew access to email, and new union contracts contained a clause requiring the company to ensure that crew could send and receive emails. On some ships a crewmember had to give his outbound email to the 2nd Mate or the Capt on a floppy disk. On NO ships was crew email private. I started using PGP to encrypt the body of my emails and the Capt (I was on a prepositioned military ship in DIego Garcia) one day told me I had to stop encrypting my emails. I told him that he had given his solemn word that he did NOT read crew emails, so how could he possibly know? Well, that started a huge argument. And so I started only emailing home when I went ashore in the evenings. HIs revenge was to not let me go home. We had 6 ABs aboard. I was sailing AB. The Bosun had gone home so I was the default Bosun. I wasn't getting the pay, but the C/M came to me when he wanted to discuss what work the crew would be doing, and the ABs and Ordinaries came to me for their work assignments. I was told I was no longer a watchstander but when I asked if I was now the Bosun and would be getting the money I should have been getting, I was the troublemaker. But I started taking Saturday and Sunday off. I didn't care about the overtime. I still got 4 hours OT every weekday. Now the Capt is really pissed. My rotation date comes and goes, and no relief. I start asking him every day just to piss him off. I call my union. It is getting close to the holidays and nobody wanted to go to a DIego Garcia ship. Then, one day the Capt comes to me with two problems and a big smile and let's be friends now. First, I had full GMDSS maintainer certification and also 2nd class radiotelegraph, general radiotelephone, and ship radar (repair, not observer though I had that too) endorsement on my FCC license, and our one working radar had a fried power supply. They couldn't get a tech to come before we were supposed to have a visit by a bunch of high ranking Navy guys. (The navy was our customer, we were chartered to Military Sealift Command) and would I pretty please, have a look at it? The Chief Engineer came up with that idea because he remembered when I was studying for my FCC licenses that I needed to sail as Radio OFficer, before the end of the Radio Officers. I explained that since I was not even officially the Bosun, I sure as hell wasn't going to be the R/O for AB pay, even for a minute. He looked hurt. Now he mentions that he notices that my Z card (what we U.S. mariners carried instead of a continuous discharge book back then... looked sort of like a drivers license) was about to expire, and he had already spoken to the Coast Guard and it would be no problem for me to renew it from the ship. Of course I told him that I would renew it when I got home. He said but I was NOT home and I reminded him that I was supposed to already be home two months ago. Argument time again. He broke stuff. I broke stuff. We broke a lot of stuff that he said i had to pay for and I told him talk to my union. Well, he was stuck. He couldn't keep me any more without paying huge fines for an undocumented seaman aboard the ship. We got a visit from the brass and the CM was ordered to keep me out of sight. I didn't stay out of sight. Some highly placed officers in MSC got an earful when they innocently asked me how things were going, and did I miss my family etc etc. HAHAHAHA! SPOILER: Capt was on the company's SH*T list after that and I don't know if he ever got another Capt job or not. Anyway I mentioned how a crewmember was removed after trying to commit suicide because his emails to his significant other back home, had been read, discussed by the Capt and several officers, and laughed about, humiliating the guy, and now it is no big deal but on US flag ships there WERE no gay guys in Deck or Engine department. It was okay in Steward department but absolutely not Deck or Engine. It was the ultimate shame at the time. Because there was no private email. We talked about internet access and yeah, laying at anchor we could log on with our phones, usually, and SIM cards from the island, which was actually a British possession. Oh, and my relief status, but that's not so important. INcidentally, the pay difference between AB Unlimited and Bosun, for the months when I was de facto Bosun? I got a very nice check a few months later from the company. A very pleasant surprise. Anyway, I got a solemn promise from someone "pretty high" in MSC, and i can't say who, that MSC chartered ships anchored at Diego WOULD have private email and very soon, free internet for the crew, and that "i will look into that personally" on my repatriation. I was the ONLY passenger on a very large C-17 flying off Diego 29 December, 1999. The fairly attractive female pilot invited me to sit in the cockpit, which was pretty cool as i had never sat in the cockpit of any multiengine plane before. I tried to get her interested in initiating me into the "mile high club", but she wasn't having any of it. Anyway so I was gone. I swore I would never return to Diego Garcia but I did, a couple years later. SHipping was slow and I needed a job. Every ship had ship's internet for the crew. I like to think that maybe I had a small part in making that happen, as well as disgracing a Capt so bad that the only job he could get was a Pre-Positioned ship in Diego Garcia. And very soon after that, all new contracts as they were negotiated between Union and Company demanded internet for the crew, accessible from every crew cabin. Generally, in achieving improvements in living conditions aboard, it is the unlicensed unions that fight the fight, and the officer's union's then add a "me, too!" in their contract, so they are always cheering us on when we win something like that. Keep fighing the good fight, Chief. Support your black gang, and in fact all unlicensed crew. Encourage them to organize. Collective bargaining is the ONLY way to keep life tolerable aboard, and guarantee wages that a man can support a family on and have a decent pension when he retires. The unions are the seaman's best friend. WIthout unions, seafarers would still be slaves, for all practical purposes. Seamen historically are one of the most abused and exploited groups of workers in the world and without unions, everyone would still be sleeping together in a leaky, drafty, smelly, vermin infested focsle and working for less than a fast food worker makes ashore. Your union or your unlicensed crew's union will prevail, eventually. Seamen are more and more isolated, as port nations put more restrictions on crew going ashore or being repatriated, ship schedules are tighter, crew size reduced, paperwork increased, I tell you I am glad I finally retired cause it is just getting worse. Only strong unions can make a real difference. Governments don't do shit. IMO doesn't do shit except make our jobs harder. Support your union. Support ALL unions. You will get your internet, and you should. I have seen several of your videos now. Great work. No BS, and most other guys' videos about life at sea are full of BS by guys who don't have a clue, never been over the hill and seen the critter, and wouldn't make a pimple on a real sailor's ass. Very factual. And it is nice to see that conditions on at least most foreign flag ships are more and more comparable to what US seamen enjoy. I have visited foreign flag ships in the past where conditions were horrible. IN fact my first two deep sea ships were foreign flag, and on the first one well that's a story for another time. One last word. You have probably heard this but most of your non seagoing viewers, not. The difference between a sea story and a fairy tale? A fairy tale begins with "Once upon a time" and ends with "and they all lived happily, ever after". A sea story begins with "Now, this is no shit", and ends with "and he ain't been right, since".

It sounds like the ship owners wrote the labour regulations themselves.

watching using sim4crew 😊

It really is crazy how ship owners don't really seem to care that much about employees, leaving them stuck in the ocean, etc. Huge ships that traverse the world should have internet for free. The ocean can be lonely and people need and want to stay in touch with the world these days. Thanks to all the people that sacrifice time with their families and even potentially risking their lives to keep the world economy working! I doubt my S10+ would be in my hands without a cargo ship bringing them.

Seems to me that people look down on crew. I just want to say that I lift up crew, because without you, nothing moves. Thanks for all you do Chief, and the great videos. God Bless you all.

You couldn't have said that any fairer & impactive than you did there, nice one. Let's hope that the upper echelons of Companies realise that a happy crew.....is an efficient crew!

Many of us dream to work on ships like yours... The environment the crew family just amazing that one can only find on sea voyage... Sir could you show us the ways to join a cargo ship irrespective of the post???? Please do reply sir. I have been watching your videos since last 7 months and i just love the way you show and explain the everything.....

We used to have on board movies which were swopped with new ones next port of call. gramophone records was our only music in the 60s. We survived fine but I remember when the first tape recorders were introduced by Akai and how excited we all were. The problem with records was that they could only really be played in port as otherwise the needle would slide every time the vessel moved. Some crew members found the reel to reel tape players in Japan and boy that really transformed our entertainment. What’s internet ? On cruise ships we used to play sunset bugles on the bridge gramophone and bring all the flags down simultaneously.

I love that you sponsor these videos with companies that help you. Great video, as usual

Hi Chief, I think it would be a big boost to morale and therefore overall safety to allow internet access on all ships so the seafarers can keep in touch with their families and work in comfort. I'll bet the shipping companies think it would reduce productivity, thinking everyone would be on the internet instead of doing their jobs. That would be a wrong assumption. It can be turned on and off at certain times if necessary and special allowances made for emergency use. Other ships have internet access, maybe you could do a video on how they handle the issue? I'm a new subscriber and want to say I really enjoy the videos you share, thank you so much.

May nabasa ako na dapat ang internet sa barko dapat kaparis ng sa bahay mo. Saka kaya naman daw talaga lagyan ng ganong klaseng lakas ng signal lahat ng barko. Ayaw lang ng mga prinsipal kasi baka puro net na lang daw atupagin ng mga crew. Susmaryosep sa totoo lang kung malakas lang sana internet edi mas madali sana dumating mga instruction sa barko. Saka makakatulong din yon lalo pag nagto-trouble-shoot titingin na lang kayo sa net. Saka ang katamaran nasa crew yon. Kung tamad talaga isumbong mo. Kunan mo ng video para huling-huli di ba? Madali na kasi mag-communicate. Sobrang laking tulong ng internet sa seaman sa totoo lang. Sa pangungulila at sa trabaho sigurado mapapadali yan lahat lalo sa opisyal pag paper works laking ginhawa sa kanila net.

Many years ago my group at The US Naval Research Laboratory were the world leading researchers of communications. We were the first to miniaturize the antenna systems to bring very high speed Internet to ships, mainly US Navy ships. At one point the ship I was on, USS Anzio, had the largest bandwidth available of any ship at sea. We had more bandwidth than an entire battle group combined. When we were not active in ship communications we would allow the sailors to use the workstation we set up in a recreation area. Those sailors were the first ever to be able to video conference with their loved ones at home. Back in the day it was Real Player that was dominate, wow I’m old.

The only Internet access option for ships at see is by satellite which is very expensive and slow. Hopefully, the new satellite network , Starlink, will change that.

Just a sugestion, it might be better to chnage your current transitions to something new, just because the sound of the static isn't that nice. JUst my opinion. Love your videos anyway and you're actually the reason I decided to study Marine Engineering in the NMCI in Ireland

I'd imagine you guys are pretty excited about starlink. Soon ships will be able to have several hundred megabits of super low latency internet. I've had it at my rural home for a while and it's absolutely incredible. It will be really interesting to see how well the phased array does tracking satellites with the pitch and roll of a ship.

Some of what drives the cost is the fact its satellite internet. Not a lot of providers in that market yet and most of those who are are not cheap yet. Starlink is on its way to change that so there is hope on the horizon for this.

WOWZERS! IDK what I'd do without being able to access the internet when I wanted/needed to look something up!

Chief Mak..long time no look..nice to see a vid again..🇵🇭

I can feel the pain in Chief's voice 😂

Found this channel over Christmas somehow. Very cool channel.

All of that stuff adds up. For a ship at sea you need a satellite tracking antenna that is Gyro stabilized to compensate for roll pitch and Yaw. That's about 2 to 3 grand USD. And no company seems to be in any hurry to combine Sat TV and internet. So usually you need a separate set of equipment for that...another 2 to 3 grand. for global access you need special packages around 400 per month plus overage charges. I was on a ship that paid between 900 and 1500 each month for internet and around 300 a month for the TV package... but they had to switch out Sat receivers between different parts of the world. I think when Space X Star link comes online it might really make the prices more competitive. A shipping company can just buy a few dishes and routers ($499)per ship and the crew can share the connections. ($99 a month)

I stopped my sea life many many years ago (I'm a Sparkie) During my life at sea, use of SW (SSB) phonecall from ship to shore would be the only way to contact my family except mail! And it's really really expensive...remember make a call back to HK on North Sea cost US$6/Min. If Wi-fi facilities able to connect internet provided onboard ship during ocean going = the ship owners needs to rent private line on satellite communication????? For my understanding, may be only passenger liner's usage could afford this?

That's really a mess! How awful this must be. As I myself am sometimes on sea with a sailing yacht I know what this means. Great pleading for unlimited Internet access onboard vessels!

You are very good to point this out. Our captain only lets me and one other crew member use the internet if we please him in other ways.

I have lived in areas with no cell phone services. When I moved to my new place, the only real option for the internet was Starlink, Low Earth Orbit Satellites. Currently, the satellites have to beam down to a ground station within a few hundred miles. If they get the satellite to satellite lasers working, this may be a real change for people, such as ships crews having real high-speed, reliable, low-cost internet no matter their location on the planet. For $99USD, I get around 200Mbps with no data limits. This is better than the cable internet I had in a bigger town. And I use it as a software developer, and my wife uses it to make calls and do her work, all while my kid's homeschool using online lessons. Starlink (Elon Musk) has talked about having a dish put on things like Trucks, but on a ship, in a weather-protected dome, this could be the answer for ships and airplanes. Starlink did just announce a Business grade service for a much higher price, but not only giving internet access to crews this could make communications possible for business reasons that would justify the expense. Even if it only worked closer to land right now, the cost and benefit would make it worth it.

Luckily i watch watch this movie after watch in my cabin through WiFi. All my offshore vessels were equipped with wifi

What do you think about shipping companies making you pay for drinking water? they tell you that you can drink the ship's water but the crew always advise against it so you have no choice but to buy it.

I totally agree with you my friend ! People of the sea rarely see their families and loved one's , it's only fair the companies will provide Wi-Fi onboard for all of their crews .

Star link will be a game changer when the constellation is complete. People in the northern USA are already beta testing it. The hardware is $500 and it’s $100/month. They’re currently getting around 100mbps with low latency.

In a few years, Starlink will set you, and other people in remote areas, free with a $200 receiver. Starlink will crush those a$$holeS. All hail Elon!

When the competition for mariners becomes heated, then you will see the perks installed. Supply and demand.

Can you try to test Starlink on board?

So, what about satellites? No signal to a ship, but there is signal to Mars? LMAO

This should be one of the priorities regarding MLC revisions, the mental health of a seafarer is of utmost importance.

What a load of BS. You would think a happy crew would be a more productive crew. A sailor stressed out about not being able to contact his family would just be distracted, I know I certainly would. Thanks for the illuminating video, Chief 👍

I've been watching your videos lately. You really had a full life! More power to you boss, watching here in Bukidnon, Philippines.

I agree, internet access should be available to seafarers, it's now an essential service, really. I used to work on oil rigs, where, at the start of my career, at best, we had 10 minutes of satellite phone time per person, per month. Then, as internet access grew more widespread, it changed the whole work culture, because before internet, people would watch TV, or videos together, or would do some other communal activities in their off hours. Once internet was available, and more and more people had their own laptops, etc, this communal spirit died off a lot. the TV room was usually empty, and "off-shift" people were nowhere to be found, except maybe in the gym.

Si Ivana alawi talaga for the entertainment using internet. 😂 🤣 Alam na this

If anyone saw what complete wireless satellite internet cost , they would know why ships don’t have it. If it was cheap and easy to facilitate, it would be in the shipping companies interest to have it onboard for logistical reasons. However, satellite internet is far from cheap.

Maersk Tankers, provide internet onboard since 2008, this year they increase the alloted bandwith for each crew to 600MB per 24 hours...plus unlimited internet access to maersk public computers located at ecr, ccr, conference room, crew smoke room.

We sometimes buy local sim card using entertainment money.so, all of crew will get a sim card when the ship arrive at any port .

0:31 ang ganda ng entertainment mo chief!!

When Elon Musk gets starlink up and running availability shouldn’t be an issue.

Starlink will revolutionize this. It has reasonable speeds and currently has no data cap, so unlimited data. it cost 99 usd a month to use which is a little higher than normal.

Starlink should be able to offer Internet for an Atlantic passage at reasonable price and with low latency. Just adding a router, or better a proxy server and few access points on the bridge and the cabins area, it would be fast and cheap when shared among all seamen onboard...

Starlink is comming ..

Kindly receive my downvote for putting adverts on half of the video. Thank you so much.

You become more and more Powerful,go on, not bad Chief Makoi!

I can confirm that SIM4Crew offers better and cheaper conditions of service than the previous international roaming one I was using (I forgot the name, but they sold their SIM only with the "mobile WiFi hotspot" device, and even the card had expiration date, not only data packages.) The new revision of ILC's MLS should _require_ satellite Internet access, free or at most at cost, with no markup. In the case of Starlink that's $100 a month for the whole crew, with at least 100Mb/s down-link speed, probably much more, because you are likely to be the only or one of very few users a particular satellite "sees" at any given time. When Project Kuiper and others becomes operational, the prices will drop even further.

You mean the captain can't goggle you on youtube, chief MAKOi 😲

This will eventually become a recruitment issue for ship lines. As the crews start declining postings to unfriendly lines, the ship owners will realize it’s cheaper to eat the cost for internet access than to have to pay higher wages to incentivize crews to sign. The same thing has happened in the trucking industry. Companies have realized that including auxiliary power units, ESPAR heaters, inverters and internet access via their logging and dispatch system is a low-cost way provide benefits.

what ive seen is mostly bulk carriers wont have crew internet cause the poor ship doesnt make as much money from Transporting Soya when compared to Crude Oil so the vessel owners dont have money to install descent internet for crew members except for the captain (emails only)

A follow up video would be great?.. Especially with systems like Starlink floating around.

I work on US rivers. My company, as well as the other 'decent' companies on the rivers have wifi on our vessels. Our data isn't limited, but streaming video is blocked for the most part. Although signal is very bad or non existent in many areas, I'm very grateful for what we have. Interestingly, we just recently got satellite TV on our vessels, including all staterooms. Wifi came way before that. I'm so used to not having TV, I've never turned on the one in my room...lol. Personally, I'd rather have access to streaming video than satellite TV, but I'm thankful for the internet that we have. I usually just download KZfaq videos that I may want to watch over my own 4g while we're in major harbors with good signal. I mostly just use the wifi to keep up with family at home. I hope a reasonable internet solution comes along soon for my blue water brothers!

Almost two years later, we are a year or two from Starlink providing world wide roaming internet, even over the ocean (rough time estimate).

Aa a senior communications network engineer this may change when Starlink goes mobile world wide. Ships will be able to have a Starlink dish in a dome & cabled into say the rec room or similar. Cableing any communications on a ship after the fact is an absolute nightmare.

Navy Sailor here. We don't get Wi-Fi, especially since recently Wi-Fi and Bluetooth has been used to track and locate vessels from shore. My first ship did have hard-line internet access through provided computers and phones for prepaid card use. My second ship only had provided computer access and no phones. Personal computers and phones only work in port after hunting good Wi-Fi.

the most important stuff is to have good provision + excellent chief cook, first!

The emergence of low earth orbit internet systems like Starlink will mean that ships will have pretty much broadband internet speeds pretty much anywhere on earth. Given how exorbitant existing satellite internet is for ships it would probably be massively cheaper too.

I'm not usually for big tech but in this case Starlink would come in handy if individual fees keeps being super expensive and the companies keep refusing this service to their employees.

It's not just commercial ships getting screwed. Sailors/cruisers get hosed by all the satellite data companies too, once out of range of shore based cell plan on paying 100 bucks a month for a few text messages per day.

Thank for this - I’m a ship agent in the UK and sim4crew could really help us to get sum cards to crew when they ask

That looked like Cape Town's Table Mountain profile on those on deck shots.

High chief/ Superman. I love the way you really deliver your sponsor you take the time and you explain what they offer and you do not just do it in 10 seconds you completely incorporated into your video. Shows respect to who is sponsoring you. I watch and follow other KZfaqrs and when they have sponsors they do this short little five second segment about who's sponsoring them and then it's all about them you slow down and you actually sell it you should be a Salesman a documentary you have a very good vocabulary and you explain everything anyways just my opinion Joe Dirt NorCal

You’re such a kind humble passionate man Chief.