The Alaska Marine Highway System, which connects coastal communities, on June 17 kept Paul Myers connected to work on his seven-hour ride from Skagway to Juneau.

Myers works as a shop foreman for Holland America Line and Princess Alaska-Yukon’s land operations. He sent emails and took business calls during the stop in Haines, where usually passengers lose all service. But low-Earth orbit satellite technology now allows access in mountainous areas.

“I think this is great,” he said. “This is a pretty long run from Skagway, right? I do a lot of business travel. As soon as you get up against this hillside, it’s nothing. Can’t even text. It’s really nice to have an opportunity to still work.”

The Columbia began piloting Wi-Fi in December 2024, making it the first Alaska state ferry to provide internet service. It’s free to passengers while the network continues to be refined.

Users later will need to pay a fee, similar to the cost charged by airlines, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Myers said it was his first time using Wi-Fi while traveling aboard the Columbia. For Kent Evans, it was his first time in Alaska. He was finally visiting from Rochester, New York, after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled his plans in 2020. On June 17, he sat in the dining room and used his iPad for entertainment.

He pulled up Google Maps to show where he wanted to go next in Alaska, a drive through the Brooks Range to Prudhoe Bay.

Meghan Ewers, a customer service supervisor, said she was surprised to be able to move from the solarium, lounges, staterooms and bar, all while communicating on Microsoft Teams and Outlook.

“I was kind of hoping it wouldn’t work well,” she said, laughing. An unopened book sat on her table. “We took the ferry up in 2022, and the Kennicott didn’t have any Wi-Fi, so it was very occasional cell service.”

Ewers was taking the Columbia to Bellingham, Washington state, for her move from Anchorage to the Lower 48.

While the experience looks seamless to users, distributing secure wireless access throughout the steel-constructed Columbia was challenging. All of the ferries offer crew members limited Starlink service, but implementing it for passengers was a different story. The project ran thousands of feet of cable, placing 37 access points during the vessel’s overhaul in the Ketchikan shipyard, according to a state ferry system press release.

The installation for the ship built in 1973, two decades before Wi-Fi was invented, was a state-funded pilot project that cost about $400,000. Future phases will expand Wi-Fi access across the fleet, starting with the Aurora and LeConte, utilizing $5 million in federal funding.

The state expects all of the ships will be outfitted with Wi-Fi in two years.