Starlink not working in Egypt anymore

Not great news – as we enter 2025, Starlink, after years of loyal service providing fast internet to all our kiters at sea, refused to work for our New Year Kite Safari trip. I got a notification on my Starlink web panel saying that „Use your Starlink in a country where the service is enabled“. That means that Egypt doesn’t allow Starlink to operate. Why is this happening?

Starlink can technically work all around the world (as long as the sky is clear) – it’s up to the countries to let Starlink operate or ask them to block their signal. And this is what I feel is happening right now.

WILL STARLINK WORK AGAIN IN EGYPT?

It’s possible, but not probable. At least not right now or in the immediate future. My guess is that in 3/4 years, Starlink will be able to operate worldwide – but right now Egypt is among those nations where it simply can’t work. Period.

WHAT CAN WE DO WITHOUT STARLINK?

We are back to 2021 – 4G routers, working poorly in most kite spots, and with very limited Gbs. Sim cards work badly in the middle of the Red Sea – we are too far from land. I’ve researched online and I’ve found a practical solution – to boost the signal that is coming from land, with a strong antenna. This would have 2 effects:

Better Cellular reception: all phones will be working better, so if you have an egyptian sim card or an E-sim, you should have decent reception. Not good enough for Netflix maybe, but strong enough for whatsapp/email, and basic slow internet navigation.
Better Router recention: my routers work with sim-card, so if my egyptian phone works, my router should work.

So I’m heading now to amazon.com to buy what is called an internet booster. In March I will test it during our Kite Safari to figure out if it works well or not.

THE BEAUTY OF BEING DISCONNECTED

I must admit it – I love to be connected at all time at high speed, and i’m used to it. For work, for fun, for no reason. That’s the way it is. But I can live with whatsapp and emails if the connection is poor. It’s a good occasion to reconnect with myself and to connect with new people, as it happens during a kite safari. Maybe this Starlink flop will be a good thing eventually…