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There is mention of having crew at the ready, so I was willing to give a teensy bit of benefit of doubt. But then I read that they gave them temporary phones with SIMs, but no data. No data? Really? Major accident like this, millions or maybe billions of dollars lost, but $DEITY forbid that we spend $1000/month (20 * what, $50 for unlimited data?) on keeping the crew happy.

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Not to minimize the experience, but don't the crew regularly "get trapped" on the boat weeks at a time without cellphone data? As in every time they do an ocean crossing.

I was reading an article here recently about the boats that fix the cables on the sea floor, they detailed that very situation and talked about how some ships are opting to add starlink but it's still very ship dependent.

Sure, and they've been cut off for almost double the time of the planned journey for no good reason.

Also when doing their regular jobs they’re not under investigation. For all their families know they may be sitting in a prison right now.

Further, it’s very likely that the crew are experiencing significant trauma themselves. Both the experience of being through what must have been a frightening experience as well as feelings of guilt because of what happened.

Or even cheaper, a portable WiFi access point with a SIM card on it.

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