Starlink for RVs

[Matt Hixson]

For those of you who have Starlink already, have you gone with the smaller dish with the motorized base that you can setup anywhere on the ground, or did you go with the in-motion version that mounts atop your rig? I'd love to hear your experiences with either version.

Starlink

High-speed internet. Available almost anywhere on Earth.

www.starlink.com

 

[OTH Overland]

For those of you who have Starlink already, have you gone with the smaller dish with the motorized base that you can setup anywhere on the ground, or did you go with the in-motion version that mounts atop your rig? I'd love to hear your experiences with either version.

Starlink

High-speed internet. Available almost anywhere on Earth.

www.starlink.com

No input as we have not made the jump to Starlink, but are thinking about it for better work on the road options, so will be watching this thread, also noticed that we are almost neighbors, We are from Camano Island so about half hour away..lol

 

[Prerunner1982]

I've got Starlink for home but I would choose the ground (or pole) mount with a 150' cord. That way you don't have to park the vehicle in the open to get a good unobstructed view.
If you are just checking email or surfing Facebook or something some obstruction may not be much of an issue, but if you are streaming or trying to conduct business it will be troublesome.
Guess it depends on what you plan on using the internet for. In the not too distant future I plan to be full time on the road since I work remotely, it will take some planning though since i will have to have connectivity via either Starlink or cell/hotspot.

 

[Alanymarce]

What's the situation now on having to re-register every time you move?

 

[Prerunner1982]

What's the situation now on having to re-register every time you move?

Don't believe that is necessary with the RV Service.

 

[Prerunner1982]

Is the 'in-Motion' capability worth the additional $1900 equipment cost to you?

 

[trail_runn4r]

For those of you who have Starlink already, have you gone with the smaller dish with the motorized base that you can setup anywhere on the ground, or did you go with the in-motion version that mounts atop your rig? I'd love to hear your experiences with either version.

Starlink

High-speed internet. Available almost anywhere on Earth.

www.starlink.com

This might help:

NEW Starlink Flat - Internet on the Move ANYWHERE

 

[Alanymarce]

This might help:

NEW Starlink Flat - Internet on the Move ANYWHERE

Very helpful, thank you.

 

[K12]

For those of you who have Starlink already, have you gone with the smaller dish with the motorized base that you can setup anywhere on the ground, or did you go with the in-motion version that mounts atop your rig? I'd love to hear your experiences with either version.

Starlink

High-speed internet. Available almost anywhere on Earth.

www.starlink.com

I have had mine for a few months. It has not been rigorously tested but it is lite, easy to mount and dismount from the RV and has worked in the city and out on the one adventure ive gotten to take it on. Worth the money imo, when i go full time at the end of the month ill be able to give more insight. (dont know how well it outperforms old model)

 

[Matt Hixson]

I have had mine for a few months. It has not been rigorously tested but it is lite, easy to mount and dismount from the RV and has worked in the city and out on the one adventure ive gotten to take it on. Worth the money imo, when i go full time at the end of the month ill be able to give more insight. (dont know how well it outperforms old model)

And which version do you have, the motorized mount or the larger one that's designed to be mostly permanently roof mounted?

 

[Matt Hixson]

Is the 'in-Motion' capability worth the additional $1900 equipment cost to you?

I'm not sure how much I'd use that feature, but I'm wondering if the larger dish size reduces the need to position the dish just so. If I could just leave it mounted to my roof and have a connection whenever I need it, yes, that'd be worth the additional cost to me.

 

[Prerunner1982]

I'm not sure how much I'd use that feature, but I'm wondering if the larger dish size reduces the need to position the dish just so. If I could just leave it mounted to my roof and have a connection whenever I need it, yes, that'd be worth the additional cost to me.

Sounds great for the desert SW US or going down the highway but forget parking under any trees.

 

[SixOverland]

We have Residential w/Portability and used ours during our journey up the 395 through the Sierras into Oregon for Expo PNW then back down the California coastline with zero issues. Having the ability to move it into an open area with even just the 75’ cable was critical though. Wouldn’t have had the same experience if it were permanently mounted. Real quick setup/tear down. Only had one spot in five weeks that took it about 30 minutes to latch on to the birds. We were doing FaceTimes and livestreams on IG.

 

[nickburt]

I've been using Starlink RV for a while now in the UK and Europe.
Does exactly what is says on the tin - internet, at decent speeds and low latency every time. (Bear in mind, I'm in the UK and Europe, where usage density is no-where near as high as in the States, therefore usage a lot less, for now!).
I was asked in another topic, to post some pics, give some real life usage info and what sort of costs are involved.

I work mainly from home, but also need to either; keep an eye on what's going on at work (check and respond to emails, circulate documents, or log into internet based operational apps etc...), or have the means to work full time, while away from home. This has always been possible, given a half decent 4G cellular signal, but it does need to be a fairly good signal, otherwise speed/bandwidth/latency become a bit restrictive.
In the past, I've tried various antennas, boosters etc.. etc... and found most to be pretty ineffective, without spending a fortune, and even then, a booster can only boost if there's a source signal available. So once out of range of any of the "normal" cellular data transmission methods, contact with the outside World becomes either impossible, or results in travelling around to either find a signal, or some sort of WiFi somewhere (MacDonalds/Starbucks etc...) which is usually pretty poor (at least, it generally is in the UK/Northern Europe).

Having used an internet connection provided by a friend's Residential Starlink deployed in a (fixed) location with very poor cellular service a couple years ago, I was quickly aware that this could be the solution to my problem for internet reception while travelling, but, Portability and RV weren't a thing back then, so it didn't quite provide the solution.

Fast forward a year or so, and not only was there Residential with Portability, but RV became available. I did some research and "Googling" and RV looked to be the solution I was looking for.

The advantage of RV is that the monthly billing can be stopped when not needed and turned back on whenever needed (but is billed in full monthly cycles).

I purchased back in July '22 for £584 for the hardware and the first monthly bill was £114. This reduced to £95 per month, and at the moment, there's a UK limited time offer on to purchase the hardware for £300 and the monthly bill is now down to £75.

In use, across Europe last year, it never missed a beat, even when it didn't have a completely clear view and was warning of obstructions, I carried on working without a problem.

It really is a game changer for those who work while travelling. No more struggling with poor cellular signal, or looking for free, or paid, WiFi. Just plug it all in, wait a few minutes, and it's on line.

At the moment, I power it via an inverter, but it is possible to run it off a 12v system using a (48-56v) POE injector, although it does mean chopping the cable to the dish and doing a bit of a wiring mod. Check out Tucks Truck - Starlink for Overlanders for a lot more info.

Some pics:
Mounted on the rook rack using a Starlink pivot mount, In this one, it was partly obstructed by the trees, but I still managed a Teams meeting on the laptop with no drop outs.


This one was taken in the mountains in the North of Greece, miles from anywhere, with no phone signal. We watched the Queen's funeral on the Ipad (ignore the rough and ready solar panel mounting, it was thrown up in a rush to get some battery charging on quickly!).



Some screen shots of speeds:



All in all, as a work tool, it's more than paid for itself and gives me the real luxury of being able to work while travelling away from home.
I have been looking at doing the 12v conversion, but, for now, there's no real need. It's power consumption is pretty minimal, and as long as I have either good solar power, or on an electric hook up, no real issue running it off the inverter. But if you were going to be completely off grid for any length of time, the 12v conversion would be worth considering, although it would mean invalidating any warranty, if still covered.

 

[Akicita]

There are third-party vendors and suppliers that offer retrofit kits to make the standard receiver into a flat-mount in-motion receiver for under $500 USD. . . I wouldn't spend the $2500 on the in motion option.

 

[El-Dracho]

I've been using Starlink RV for a while now in the UK and Europe.
Does exactly what is says on the tin - internet, at decent speeds and low latency every time. (Bear in mind, I'm in the UK and Europe, where usage density is no-where near as high as in the States, therefore usage a lot less, for now!).
I was asked in another topic, to post some pics, give some real life usage info and what sort of costs are involved.

I work mainly from home, but also need to either; keep an eye on what's going on at work (check and respond to emails, circulate documents, or log into internet based operational apps etc...), or have the means to work full time, while away from home. This has always been possible, given a half decent 4G cellular signal, but it does need to be a fairly good signal, otherwise speed/bandwidth/latency become a bit restrictive.
In the past, I've tried various antennas, boosters etc.. etc... and found most to be pretty ineffective, without spending a fortune, and even then, a booster can only boost if there's a source signal available. So once out of range of any of the "normal" cellular data transmission methods, contact with the outside World becomes either impossible, or results in travelling around to either find a signal, or some sort of WiFi somewhere (MacDonalds/Starbucks etc...) which is usually pretty poor (at least, it generally is in the UK/Northern Europe).

Having used an internet connection provided by a friend's Residential Starlink deployed in a (fixed) location with very poor cellular service a couple years ago, I was quickly aware that this could be the solution to my problem for internet reception while travelling, but, Portability and RV weren't a thing back then, so it didn't quite provide the solution.

Fast forward a year or so, and not only was there Residential with Portability, but RV became available. I did some research and "Googling" and RV looked to be the solution I was looking for.

The advantage of RV is that the monthly billing can be stopped when not needed and turned back on whenever needed (but is billed in full monthly cycles).

I purchased back in July '22 for £584 for the hardware and the first monthly bill was £114. This reduced to £95 per month, and at the moment, there's a UK limited time offer on to purchase the hardware for £300 and the monthly bill is now down to £75.

In use, across Europe last year, it never missed a beat, even when it didn't have a completely clear view and was warning of obstructions, I carried on working without a problem.

It really is a game changer for those who work while travelling. No more struggling with poor cellular signal, or looking for free, or paid, WiFi. Just plug it all in, wait a few minutes, and it's on line.

At the moment, I power it via an inverter, but it is possible to run it off a 12v system using a (48-56v) POE injector, although it does mean chopping the cable to the dish and doing a bit of a wiring mod. Check out Tucks Truck - Starlink for Overlanders for a lot more info.

Some pics:
Mounted on the rook rack using a Starlink pivot mount, In this one, it was partly obstructed by the trees, but I still managed a Teams meeting on the laptop with no drop outs.
View attachment 254837 View attachment 254838

This one was taken in the mountains in the North of Greece, miles from anywhere, with no phone signal. We watched the Queen's funeral on the Ipad (ignore the rough and ready solar panel mounting, it was thrown up in a rush to get some battery charging on quickly!).

View attachment 254839

Some screen shots of speeds:

View attachment 254845 View attachment 254846 View attachment 254847 View attachment 254848

All in all, as a work tool, it's more than paid for itself and gives me the real luxury of being able to work while travelling away from home.
I have been looking at doing the 12v conversion, but, for now, there's no real need. It's power consumption is pretty minimal, and as long as I have either good solar power, or on an electric hook up, no real issue running it off the inverter. But if you were going to be completely off grid for any length of time, the 12v conversion would be worth considering, although it would mean invalidating any warranty, if still covered.

Thank you for this detailed insight and real life report. I am sure that this answers many questions members have about it and helps. Great.

 

[shrdt]

There are YouTube videos that show how to convert them to flat mount in motion type. One guy even has made a 3d printed mount and you can download the files for free. Others show how to convert to 12 volts and get rid of the wireless router and replace with your own. These changes will void your warrantee though.

Roof Mount:

 

[nickburt]

You need to watch converting to in motion. Starlink tracks the speed of movement. Some have had them shut down, others have got away with it. All to do with licencing.

 

[nickburt]

I've been using Starlink RV for a while now in the UK and Europe.
Does exactly what is says on the tin - internet, at decent speeds and low latency every time. (Bear in mind, I'm in the UK and Europe, where usage density is no-where near as high as in the States, therefore usage a lot less, for now!).
I was asked in another topic, to post some pics, give some real life usage info and what sort of costs are involved.

I work mainly from home, but also need to either; keep an eye on what's going on at work (check and respond to emails, circulate documents, or log into internet based operational apps etc...), or have the means to work full time, while away from home. This has always been possible, given a half decent 4G cellular signal, but it does need to be a fairly good signal, otherwise speed/bandwidth/latency become a bit restrictive.
In the past, I've tried various antennas, boosters etc.. etc... and found most to be pretty ineffective, without spending a fortune, and even then, a booster can only boost if there's a source signal available. So once out of range of any of the "normal" cellular data transmission methods, contact with the outside World becomes either impossible, or results in travelling around to either find a signal, or some sort of WiFi somewhere (MacDonalds/Starbucks etc...) which is usually pretty poor (at least, it generally is in the UK/Northern Europe).

Having used an internet connection provided by a friend's Residential Starlink deployed in a (fixed) location with very poor cellular service a couple years ago, I was quickly aware that this could be the solution to my problem for internet reception while travelling, but, Portability and RV weren't a thing back then, so it didn't quite provide the solution.

Fast forward a year or so, and not only was there Residential with Portability, but RV became available. I did some research and "Googling" and RV looked to be the solution I was looking for.

The advantage of RV is that the monthly billing can be stopped when not needed and turned back on whenever needed (but is billed in full monthly cycles).

I purchased back in July '22 for £584 for the hardware and the first monthly bill was £114. This reduced to £95 per month, and at the moment, there's a UK limited time offer on to purchase the hardware for £300 and the monthly bill is now down to £75.

In use, across Europe last year, it never missed a beat, even when it didn't have a completely clear view and was warning of obstructions, I carried on working without a problem.

It really is a game changer for those who work while travelling. No more struggling with poor cellular signal, or looking for free, or paid, WiFi. Just plug it all in, wait a few minutes, and it's on line.

At the moment, I power it via an inverter, but it is possible to run it off a 12v system using a (48-56v) POE injector, although it does mean chopping the cable to the dish and doing a bit of a wiring mod. Check out Tucks Truck - Starlink for Overlanders for a lot more info.

Some pics:
Mounted on the rook rack using a Starlink pivot mount, In this one, it was partly obstructed by the trees, but I still managed a Teams meeting on the laptop with no drop outs.
View attachment 254837 View attachment 254838

This one was taken in the mountains in the North of Greece, miles from anywhere, with no phone signal. We watched the Queen's funeral on the Ipad (ignore the rough and ready solar panel mounting, it was thrown up in a rush to get some battery charging on quickly!).

View attachment 254839

Some screen shots of speeds:

View attachment 254845 View attachment 254846 View attachment 254847 View attachment 254848

All in all, as a work tool, it's more than paid for itself and gives me the real luxury of being able to work while travelling away from home.
I have been looking at doing the 12v conversion, but, for now, there's no real need. It's power consumption is pretty minimal, and as long as I have either good solar power, or on an electric hook up, no real issue running it off the inverter. But if you were going to be completely off grid for any length of time, the 12v conversion would be worth considering, although it would mean invalidating any warranty, if still covered.

As an update to this, being an RV, or Regional Roam account, as it's now known, my account has been off since just before Christmas.
Today I re-enabled it.
Within 1/2hr, it had not only come on line, down loaded and done all it's updates, but established a fully operational connection.
There's been a few tales of them not coming back on line properly after being off for a long time, but in this case, not so.
Getting in excess of 200 Mb/s down and 30+ up.

 

[nickburt]

Have been doing a bit more messing around with SL and trying to reduce the overall power consumption/load on the aux batteries.

In the past, I've just used SL and it's own wifi router powered by an inverter. Mainly because for short durations off grid, power usage isn't a problem (batts recharged when driving, or by solar (not always good here in the UK, especially in the Winter, but great in Southern Europe most of the year)), or on grid with elec hook up (mains or generator) battery charge really isn't an issue.

But, now looking to consolidate all to 12vdc power supplies only and do away with SL wifi router in favour of a Unifi outdoor AP for better wifi range.
To do away with the SL router, and as a part of the 12vdc conversion for SL, there are a few different options which I'm happy with.
By doing away with the SL router, another router is needed, so I've settled on the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter-X, which is 24vPOE and has a pass through capability to power the AP. It's also very small, and low power consumption.
To do this, I've been looking at an EdgePower supply, which will provide 24v POE for the router (and therefore) the AP. The beauty of the EdgePower supply is that as well as mains, it can also be powered from a 12v battery - designed for fail over purposes, but suits what I'm trying to do.

But, it would be good to find a POE power supply that can be 12vdc powered (in the same way as the EdgePower) but provide two POE outouts at different voltages (1 at 24v for the router and AP, and 1 at 48vdc for SL).

The attached diagram is where I am at the moment (although ?I haven't bought the EdgePower supply yet. If I can't find a POE power supply that can do the two outputs at different voltages that I'm after, I'll just go with the 24v EdgePower supply and one of the SL conversion (probably this one).

So - open to suggestions please for POE adapters, with 2 configurable outputs at 24 and 48v, with a total power capability of around 50 - 60w, maybe a bit more - my calcs don't take into account the SL snow melt current draw.