SAN JUANS.TODAY EXCLUSIVE: Free WIFI trial to start soon on Bremerton route – WSF working with Starlink

Sunday, November 24, 2024
by Jeff Noedel

FOLLOWING IS ADDITIONAL REPORTING FROM LAST WEEK’S FIX OUR FERRIES LEGISLATIVE SUMMIT. SanJuans.Today was the only media at the summit, and the only service to provide a free live stream for the public.

Eight years ago, Washington State Ferries (WSF) said goodbye to the Boingo Wi-Fi service, which provided Internet access on vessels for customers who paid $21.95 per month (the equivalent of $28.87 in 2024 dollars). The Seattle Times reported only 2 percent of WSF’s customers used the service when the plug was finally pulled. And many who had tried the service found it slow and unreliable. Boingo went into service on WSF vessels in 2008.

For the past eight years, customers have used their smartphones to read emails or browse the web, but anything more than that requires setting up a hotspot for one’s laptop. Not impossible, but not convenient either.

And some routes have dead spots where even phones don’t work. For T-Mobile customers on the San Juans route, about 15 minutes of sailing between Anacortes and Decatur Island can be expected to go into SOS mode, meaning no internet access in any way.

At last Saturday’s Fix Our Ferries legislative summit, a WSF customer from Bremerton brought up the subject of Wi-Fi in the presence of four state legislators and one senior leader of WSF.

She said, “Wi-Fi on the boat! That way I can work on the boat and reduce or combine my commute time with my work time. That would be excellent.”

Senator Marko Llias, chairperson of the Senate Transportation Committee answered, “I just want to say that we are in active conversations with WSF leadership about getting Wi-Fi — and ideally free Wi-Fi — on the boats and they are bringing forward… It’s going to cost money. Like nothing’s free in life. But we’re talking about how do we scale and scope that and get that implemented.”

John Vezina, WSF Senior Director, External Relations, added details.

“If you’ve ridden a long time, you might remember Boingo, said Vezina.  “The service that people paid for and they pulled out because people wouldn’t join their system because it was so lousy, so. Our IT person, we were talking anyways on Wednesday night… we’re looking at Starlink. And on the Bremerton run specifically.

“We know when the Chimicum’s there. If those of you who haven’t been on the Chimicum, the windows were treated to solve a problem of the seats getting discolored and disfigured by the sun. That treatment means you don’t get cell service… So Bremerton has a boat every 2-1/2 hours. And when we have to assign that boat there, they can’t do any work. And it’s debilitating. So we’re working on that issue.

“We are working with Starlink. We’re about to pilot it. One of the things we’re talking about is piloting it on the Bremerton route, to expand it. It’s expensive. But, you know, Senator Llias wants to work on that because I think in 2024 or 2025, there is a reasonable expectation that you can work on the boat, especially if you only have one every 2-1/2 hours.  That your employers are thinking, well okay, you can work on the way there and back.”

If the priority is on long routes with long waits between sailings, the San Juans routes are comparable to the Bremerton route in crossing times and time between sailings. So perhaps if the Bremerton test is successful, free Wi-Fi may be rolled out to the San Juans not long after.