When something fails in a boat’s connectivity, the first half hour almost always goes on working out who to call. Is it the terminal? The installation? The service plan? The network configuration?
That confusion is not accidental: a Starlink installation aboard involves three distinct responsibilities overlapping, and each has its own warranty, its own point of contact and its own timescale. Understanding them before you sign is what stops you losing connectivity mid-passage while arguing about whose fault it is.
The three overlapping warranties
1. Hardware warranty — from SpaceX
Covers manufacturing defects in the terminal and router. If the antenna stops working with no external cause, the claim goes to SpaceX through the app or web portal.
What it does not cover:
- Water damage from a badly sealed connector
- Corrosion from exposure the design did not anticipate
- Impact, drops or storm damage
- Electrical failure from an undersized power supply
An important note we already covered in our article on who can install Starlink: this warranty is not voided by having a third party install it. But nor does it cover you if that third party did it badly.
2. Workmanship guarantee — from the installer
This is the one most people forget to ask for and the one most needed. It covers the fitting work: that the deck penetrations do not leak, that the mount holds, that the cabling does not chafe, that the electrical connection is properly protected.
What should be stated in writing:
| Point | What to demand |
|---|---|
| Term | 12 months is the reasonable standard in marine electronics |
| Watertightness | Explicit cover for the deck penetrations made |
| Mounting integrity | Mount, fasteners and cable fixings |
| Travel | Who pays for it within the guarantee period |
| Exclusions | Listed, not implied |
One detail that makes the difference: a 24-month guarantee that excludes watertightness is worth less than a 12-month one that includes it. The term catches the eye, but the scope is what gets used.
3. Service and coverage — from your Starlink plan
This is not a warranty, it is a contracted service. Starlink does not publish an availability SLA with compensation for its maritime plans, in the same way no satellite operator guarantees 100%. Coverage is what it is, and it is verifiable in advance on the official map.
What is worth being clear about: if the boat sails outside the coverage band, that is not a fault and nobody is going to compensate you for it. It is a planning decision made before you sign up.
“24/7 support”: what it really means
It is probably the most repeated and least understood claim in the sector. Worth unpacking.
In the marine world, real 24/7 support is remote. It means there is a channel open at any hour to:
- Diagnose a configuration problem
- Talk you through a restart or reconfiguration
- Check terminal status remotely
- Confirm whether the incident is equipment, network or coverage
That is genuinely useful and resolves most incidents. What it does not mean is that a technician is willing to come aboard at three in the morning, or that if you are 300 miles out someone is going to reach you.
The questions that separate real support from the slogan
- What gets resolved remotely and what requires a physical visit? There should be a clear answer, not a “we’ll see”.
- What is the committed response time? Distinguish response (they get back to you) from resolution (they fix it).
- Which ports can you attend without a travel charge? Almost every installer has a working radius. Outside it, travel is billed.
- Who handles it if the boat is outside Spain? The key question if you make passages.
- Is the support from the installer, or do you refer me to Starlink? Many incidents are installation issues, not product issues. If they always refer you to SpaceX, you have no installation support.
What to ask for depending on how you sail
Not every boat needs the same thing, and paying for cover you will never use is as bad as not having it.
Coastal and seasonal sailing. A 12-month workmanship guarantee with watertightness included, remote support in working hours, and a service radius covering your home port and the two or three where you usually winter. That is enough.
Ocean passages. Here the priority changes. What matters is no longer the physical visit — nobody is reaching you mid-Atlantic — but the quality of remote diagnosis and how well the installation was documented. Ask for the handover record to include the cable route diagram: if you have to intervene yourself mid-passage, knowing where the cable runs is the difference between fixing it and not.
Boats with professional or charter activity. Here a written commitment with concrete timescales is worth having, because a connectivity outage has a direct cost. And keep all the installation documentation: your insurer will ask for it if there is ever an equipment-related claim.
The documentation is the guarantee
This is the hardest thing to get across and the most important point in this article: a guarantee without documentation is a conversation, not a right.
If a leak appears at a deck penetration in eight months, the difference between it being repaired without argument and an exchange of recriminations is having the photographs of how that penetration was executed before it was sealed.
That is why we insist so much on the handover record and acceptance testing. It is not bureaucracy: it is the only thing that turns a verbal promise into something enforceable.
The minimum you should keep:
- Photographs of every deck penetration before sealing
- A dated baseline speed test
- The obstruction check
- A diagram of the cable route and electrical connection point
- A signed handover record, with the term and scope of the workmanship guarantee
Keep it all together, aboard and in the cloud. The day you need it you will not have connectivity to go looking for it.
How we approach it
At InternetenelMar we coordinate the installation with a certified naval communications integrator, and our specific role here is twofold: making sure the warranty and support terms are in writing before anyone steps aboard, and being your single point of contact if something fails, so you do not have to work out yourself whether the problem is the terminal, the fitting or the configuration.
The advice is free and the final price is the same as going direct.
Want to review the warranty and support terms before signing off an installation? Tell us about your case: we will go through what you are actually being offered and what is missing — whether or not you go through us.