SpaceX's Starlink launches $135-a-month internet service for RVs

[trailrydr]

We have the "grandfathered" Verizon Unlimited Plan and got 5 bars (boosted) of 5G (enhanced 4G basically) this past week with my cell hotspot RV system from a 2 bar 4G signal.

I use this same system at our lake house and which is surrounded by hills and is on the cusp of a 4G area, which it gets consistent 4 bar (boosted) on a 1 bar signal.

Both, using a directional Yagi, are good enough to get a VPN service for work and streaming at the same time. Neither are effected by rain fade, and only effected by capacity usage at the tower/network only.

Given all the new cell tower and market driven enhanced capacity improvements, wont be switching over to any orbital related service any time soon.

[jjbbrewer]

So, I got my Starlink RV the other day and I just planted the antenna in my backyard amidst a bunch of houses and trees.



I plugged it in and after 20 or so minutes, this is what I was seeing. I'm in a waitlisted cell, so I might be getting deprioritized.



My main purpose for this, though, will be boondocking in some pretty remote regions, so I'm looking forward to trying it there.

[xxn5ac]

If you're camping somewhere that cellular is available, especially 5G, you're likely to have good speeds. My issue is that I often camp in the middle of nowhere and there's not a cell tower that will get me a signal. For what I'm trying to do (work remotely at least part of the time while camping), I'll need regular service so Starlink gets me that. For most folks, anything over 100Mbps is just bragging rights and everything from 10-100Mbps is really just faster downloads when you need to download a big file / install software. Netflix, for example, says 5Mbps will get you 1080P content and 15Mbps will get you streaming 4K content.

[jjbbrewer]

Here are some preliminary power numbers that I'm seeing at home using a 110V in-line wattmeter

Idle (no traffic) - 45w
Speedtest on 1 phone - 50-60w
Streaming youtube 4k on 2 devices - 60w spiking to 85w

This is all with the snow melting feature turned off.

I'll see if I can force the antenna to re-aim and watch the power when that's happening.

[JM0397]

Unfortunately, I don't have an unlimited grandfathered cell data plan. [emoji3525]

Checkout https://www.visible.com/
I'm testing a phone now and will move cell to them shortly. They are a subsidiary of Verizon, so all Verizon towers & reliability, but without the data caps.
The one downside is, for now, you can only use the phone hotspot, no MiFi devices are available yet, so this limits speeds a bit.
You can only connect one device per phone, but no sweat to just get a small router or use the Winegard for this.
I spoke with customer service a few months ago and they swear no data caps until into the 200+ range.

[MoonShadow_1911]

Checkout https://www.visible.com/
I'm testing a phone now and will move cell to them shortly. They are a subsidiary of Verizon, so all Verizon towers & reliability, but without the data caps.
The one downside is, for now, you can only use the phone hotspot, no MiFi devices are available yet, so this limits speeds a bit.
You can only connect one device per phone, but no sweat to just get a small router or use the Winegard for this.
I spoke with customer service a few months ago and they swear no data caps until into the 200+ range.

I need the internet for work. Visible is great (I was piloting them to see if it would work), however, there were a few places that we went that Visible didn't have a solid signal, T-Mobile was poor as well, but AT&T was solid. I cannot afford to have 3 different hotspots and unlimited data on all three to cover every instance. We were looking at Nomad Internet since they now offer AT&T as an option, then I saw the article on Starlink RV; that settled it for me.

As a network engineer in a previous life, I understand and can live with deprioritization, as long as I have been 3 and 5 mbps down. I can at least access my servers via RDP through the VPN.

I do have a Verizon hotspot with a 200 Gb cap and a 10 Gb T-Mobile hotspot that we will keep active just in case. The Verizon one is from an MVNO and costs me $55.00, the T-Mobile one doesn't cost me anything.

[xxn5ac]

Here are some preliminary power numbers that I'm seeing at home using a 110V in-line wattmeter

Idle (no traffic) - 45w
Speedtest on 1 phone - 50-60w
Streaming youtube 4k on 2 devices - 60w spiking to 85w

This is all with the snow melting feature turned off.

I'll see if I can force the antenna to re-aim and watch the power when that's happening.

I actually powered mine up on solar and saw about 85W on power-up (as I recall) and then down to 45ish idle. After that I think I never saw more than about 60W. So similar numbers to what you’re reporting.

[kingbird]

This is being discussed over on the Escapees forums, too - including by several folks who have Starlink already. The fine print on the Starlink web site lists all the restrictions and prioritizing for Starlink RV subscribers. One Hughes Net user said that the Starlink caveats and slow speeds during storms makes his Hughes Net setup look pretty good. With the already-saturated cells (wait listed) and weather interference, it doesn't sound like any better deal for us wanderers than my grandfathered unlimited VZW hotspot plan (for $50/month!). I'm sure things will change down the road (no pun intended).

Rob

LOL....and I thought I was the only one that still had the VZN unlimited hotspot plan.

[jjbbrewer]

Latency comparison (wirelessly connected in my house)

Starlink RV


Xfinity cable

[jjbbrewer]

I actually powered mine up on solar and saw about 85W on power-up (as I recall) and then down to 45ish idle. After that I think I never saw more than about 60W. So similar numbers to what you’re reporting.

I kind of repeated your experiment today by taking my system over to where my 349M is stored. I saw almost exactly the same. When powering up, 88w, then down to 45-60w depending (I think) on traffic.

I'm pretty sure I moved to another "waitlist" cell (my home cell is waitlisted). Acquisition was stupid simple, just power it up and wait 7 minutes. I had the antenna sitting on my truck's tailgate. I have the Winegard Air 360+ with the GW-1000 gateway & it all hooked up to the Starlink modem just like any other WiFi.

I realize this solution isn't cheap, but after struggling with Verizon's pathetic 4G LTE throttling, I'm really looking forward to having full bandwidth anywhere I go.