Starlink not working in Egypt anymore

Not great news – in 2025, Starlink, after years of loyal service providing fast internet to all our kiters at sea during our Kite Safari, 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 allow Starlink to operate in their area. If they don’t agree, they will ask them to block their signal.

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 almost worldwide – but right now Egypt is among those nations where it simply can’t work. Period.

WHAT CAN WE DO WITHOUT STARLINK IN EGYPT?

When we are talking about Kite Safaris & internet, 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 coming from land with a strong antenna. This would have 2 effects:

1. Better cellular reception: all phones will work better, so if you have an Egyptian SIM card or an eSIM, you should have decent reception. Not good enough for Netflix, maybe, but strong enough for WhatsApp/email and basic, slow internet browsing.
2. Better router reception: the 4G routers mentioned above work with SIM cards, so if my Egyptian phone works, my router should work.

While on paper this should work, I’ve tested this, and it doesn’t boost the signal enough. It’s just pointless.

PLAN B? C?

Using a local SIM card. The signal in 2026 got better – WhatsApp messages, emails, a bit of internet browsing – this works (not perfectly, not always). But it’s enough for me to work when I’m at sea, for example.

Using an eSIM (I explain it here).

THE BEAUTY OF BEING DISCONNECTED

I must admit it – I love being connected at all times 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 opportunity to reconnect with myself and connect with new people, as it happens during a Kite Safari. Maybe this Starlink flop will be a good thing eventually…

UPDATE 2026/2027

Some yachts have begun using Starlink, but with huge limitations – it works only for 30 days (then the Starlink device needs to be physically brought back to the country of origin to reset these 30 days), and it works only when the yacht is moving (that means just 2 hours, and not every day). So, no real updates: Starlink is still not the right solution for internet in Egypt.