Waking up to radio silence
If you’re a New Zealand boatie who relies on Starlink for your onboard internet, you may have noticed an eerie quiet around 8am NZT this morning (Thursday 25 July). The normally robust satellite network went dark for roughly 2.5 hours, in what has been described as a rare, large-scale outage.
While service now appears to be restored, the impact was felt widely — with Starlink users in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, and other regions reporting sudden loss of signal.
Starlink acknowledged the outage in a brief update posted to X, stating:
“Starlink is currently experiencing a network issue. We are actively implementing a fix and will share an update when this is resolved.”
Another post confirmed that service had been restored approximately 2.5 hours later. As of midday, the network was back online for most users.
Starlink is currently in a network outage and we are actively implementing a solution. We appreciate your patience, we’ll share an update once this issue is resolved.
— Starlink (@Starlink) July 24, 2025
What it meant for boaties
For New Zealanders living, cruising, or working from their boats, the outage highlighted just how dependent many have become on always-on satellite connectivity. From receiving updated marine forecasts to running navigation tools, streaming weather charts, making calls, and staying in touch with the world — the disruption was more than an inconvenience.
Here at Boating New Zealand, we felt it too. This author, writing from a liveaboard yacht, experienced the outage first-hand — and was abruptly reminded how quiet a boat becomes when you can’t download weather or check messages with your morning coffee.
Whether you’re anchored off Great Barrier or moored in Whangarei, it’s a sobering reminder that even the most reliable tech can blink.
Did the outage affect you?
We’d love to hear from readers who rely on Starlink aboard.
Where were you at the time of the outage?
How long were you offline?
Did it impact safety, work, communication, or just your morning routine?
Your insights could help paint a clearer picture of how modern boaties are integrating satellite internet into their lives — and what happens when it suddenly disappears.
You can comment on the Boating NZ Facebook page or email: ahoy@boatingnz.co.nz
A sign of things to come?
Large-scale satellite outages remain rare — and this one appears to have been resolved quickly, without any public explanation yet for the cause. But the incident does raise important questions for boaties relying on satellite connectivity not just for comfort, but for safety and navigation.
As more New Zealanders equip their vessels with remote internet, whether through Starlink or other satellite platforms, resilience planning becomes part of the equation. Backup comms, redundancy, and offline capability are still essential tools in the modern boatie’s kit.
