Passengers on the Columbia state ferry now have free Wi-Fi service under a pilot program that, in addition to allowing things such as streaming Netflix holiday specials, means travelers can check out the summer ferry schedule that was also just unveiled.

The Columbia is the first ferry to provide internet service to passengers as the Alaska Marine Highway System works to bring online connections to other ships in the fleet. The connections are via low-Earth orbit satellite technology to ensure access in mountainous areas such as the Inside Passage, officials announced this week.

All of the ferries already have limited Starlink service used by crew, said Sam Dapcevich, an AMHS spokesperson, in an interview Friday. But “rolling out the passenger Wi-Fi service is a bit more complicated.”

“Basically you’re trying to offer internet inside a Faraday cage,” he said, referring to equipment designed to exclude electrostatic and electromagnetic influences. “You’ve got a lot of steel walls and steel floors, which requires many access points to get the Wi-Fi distributed throughout the ship.

Passenger Wi-Fi on the Columbia is available in areas including the solarium, lounges, staterooms and bar, according to an AMHS press release that states the system had more than 450 users during its first week.

A $5 million federal grant from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is intended to provide passenger Wi-Fi service for the AMHS fleet, Dapcevich said. However, the installation aboard the Columbia was a state-funded pilot project that cost about $400,000 and was performed while the 51-year-old ship was receiving a year-long overhaul before recently returning to service.

The next AMHS ships scheduled to get passenger Wi-Fi, using federal funds, are the Aurora and LeConte, although it’s not certain when the service will be available, he said.

Installing the Wi-Fi service on the Columbia “required overcoming significant technical and logistical challenges,” according to the AMHS press release.

“Unlike older systems, Starlink’s direct, vertical satellite positioning avoids signal interference caused by terrain,” the release notes. “However, distributing secure wireless access throughout the steel-constructed Columbia posed additional hurdles. The project required running thousands of feet of cable, strategically placing 37 access points, during the vessel’s overhaul in the Ketchikan shipyard. The team’s detailed planning and execution ensured robust coverage for passengers and crew alike.”

Summer schedule released; no cross-Gulf sailings for at least two more years

The summer 2025 schedule released Dec. 23 again omits sailings across the Gulf of Alaska since the Kennicott ferry — the only vessel currently capable of such sailings — is in the shipyard for a lengthy overhaul including the replacement of generators and emissions upgrades, Dapcevich said. When that ship returns to service it will sail the route between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska as the Columbia again returns to the shipyard for what’s expected to be a yearlong replacement of its propulsion system.

“Because of that, there won’t be cross-Gulf service in 2026 either,” he said. “So the earliest that it’ll be back online is 2027.”

The federal infrastructure bill is providing hundreds of millions of dollars to the ferry system for facility and vessel upgrades, including new ships. Dapcevich said the first new vessel, which would replace the Tustumena that serves Southcentral and Southwest Alaska, is scheduled to be complete by 2028.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.