It seemed timely to include this testimonial from David Jean Jean, the General manager of M/Y Christina O, as she has arrived in Palma to begin filming series 5 of “ The Crown”, the BBC’s award winning drama series. E3 Systems are very proud to have been closely involved in supplying the yacht’s guest communication and TV requirements, whilst on charter in the Caribbean earlier this year.
The beautiful, historic vessel M/Y Christina O has had a busy and successful 2020/21 charter season in the Caribbean and still turns heads wherever she sails.
In preparation for the season, we, e3 Systems, supplied the yacht with one 3G/4G contract comprising six BIG DATA Caribbean SIMs connecting with three Pepwave MAX Transit Duo LTEA devices, each with two modems, therefore two SIMs in each. We also supplied the satellite TV service, DirecTV Caribbean, to the yacht.
Each SIM provides complete coverage of the Windward and Leeward islands, the ABCs and all of the USA and Mexico. In most locations it connects to a number of networks then selects the strongest signal, thus keeping the charter guests connected at all times.
The yacht cruised St Martin and St Barths during December and January with an average of 20 guests on-board at any time. The guests had expressed a need for good connectivity from the moment they arrived on-board for both business and entertainment purposes. They were making Zoom calls as well as using YouTube and Netflix. During that period, they were consuming over a Terabyte of data each month.
David commented that during the season the connectivity met the guests’ expectations, and they did not need to use the VSAT at all, as the yacht was always located in reach of a GSM mast the range from which was now enhanced by the use of the new Pepwave equipment.
He added that, from their point of view, the data connectivity which they were able to provide this year with the e3 solution was much better than anything they had previously experienced. The DirecTV Caribbean satellite TV service also worked without a hitch.
When asked what his experience had been working with the e3 team, he complimented them as being very helpful and offering support whenever it was required.
Finally, we asked David what improvements to the connectivity we could make for the future, and he answered, “It would be great to provide 5G connectivity for their guests!!”.
Watch this space!
Photos are courtesy of the yacht.
