In this video
I will tell you everything you need to know before ordering your Starlink satellite internet service.
Hello everyone my name is Dan from Molly Mish our family of five and two cats have been
driving around the world full time going on 15 years, across four continents and 41 countries.
We just returned after four years of exploring Europe, Africa, and Asia in our Sprinter van.
Since we've been back we have been traveling around the Western U.S. One of the most
exciting things has happened to rvers in recent years is the launch of Starlink
satellite internet service, which we have used extensively this past summer. Perhaps
you have been considering purchasing the service for your own adventures,
but before you do let me tell you all there is to know about the current state of starlink.
Starlink is a low earth orbit satellite service from SpaceX that is designed for high speed
and low latency to compete against traditional land-based networks. Currently there are about
3,000 satellites 340 miles above sea level zooming around the earth at around
17,000 miles per hour. The entire constellation will eventually top out at about
12,000 satellites offering global coverage at a competitive price. As of November 2022 there are
several plans to choose from, two consumer plans, residential and RV and three commercial plans,
business, Maritime, and Aviation. We will focus only on the cost-effective consumer plans,
residential and RV. So let me cut straight to the chase, you're going to want to buy Starlink for
RV. Why? The short answer is, Starlink residential requires a home address and has a long wait list
for most areas. Startlink for RV and residential are virtually identical but the only difference
is being the service priority and billing options. They use the same hardware that cost 5.99 plus tax
and shipping and a monthly fee is also the same at 135 dollars per month for users that wish to
travel with it. The benefit for RV is that you can pause the service and not pay any monthly fees for
those months when you're not traveling. RV speeds are only offered at best effort which means it can
be throttled when there's congestion. Residential can also throttle when you're traveling the
fastest speeds are guaranteed for the first one terabyte of data when you're using it at home.
Not everyone needs satellite-based internet service. If you spend most or all of your time
in places where 4G and 5G networks are available it is far more convenient and cost effective to
just use the mobile networks, but since you're watching this video you might be looking into
Starlink as a way to stay connected when those services are not available. If you spend a lot
of time boondocking in remote areas or if you just like to have a backup option for when the cellular
networks become congested Starlink might be right for you. Even though Starlink promises to have
service globally there are certain limitations. For example, it's very dependent on having a clear
view of the skies tree branches and foliage can cause intermittent dropouts of your connection.
The Starlink dish sees multiple satellites at any given time as seamlessly switches from one
to another as they come in and out of view. Each satellite comes in and out of the dishes field
of view roughly every four minutes. When trees or buildings are in the way you might still be
able to connect to fewer numbers of satellites but expect your connection to be unstable. That's not
a big deal for reading web pages or even streaming videos but for video chats and gaming dropouts can
create a significant challenge. Another problem an RV user might face is Network congestion. Because
the service is only offered at best effort during peak traffic times connection can be throttled if
there are a lot of Starlink users in the area. Currently in North America eastern states with
higher population densities are experiencing much slower connections than users in the vast
openness of the West. Although people have reported speeds as fast as 200 plus megabits
early on it can drop well into the single digit megabits when the network is heavily managed.
This is why I recommend that Starlink not be the only internet service for anyone on the road if
having connectivity is critical. Having a fallback cellular based connection can be very helpful. As
of November 2022 Starlink has officially announced a new optional larger dish for the RV service that
allows permanent mounting of the antenna on the roof of a vehicle and operates while on the go.
While the monthly service cost is the same the new larger roof mounted dish is able to
connect to more satellites at the same time as the standard dish and a cost at a whopping twenty five
hundred dollars before tax and shipping. Unlike the standard dish which has internal motors that
rotates and tilts as needed to point to a specific part of the sky the in-motion dish does not move
once it is installed. While it is possible to modify the standard dish by removing the Tilt
Motors and flat mounting them to your vehicle's roof it is an advanced DIY project for most and
obviously voids any kind of warranties. You will also experience more dropouts since it can no
longer tilt towards the best part of the sky with the most satellites. Starlink has also officially
limited the in-motion capabilities of the standard dish to only slow low traveling speeds,
so if you're considering making this mod do so at your own risk. Although in motion satellite
internet service might seem like the Holy Grail of the go anywhere RV internet connection there are
still some factors to consider to see if it is right for you. First is the high hardware cost,
the dish is also about twice as big as a standard dish and requires permanent mounting,
so it is less ideal for small RVs with limited roof space. Secondly, being twice the size it
also consumes about twice the amount of power when it is on. And lastly because it is always
ready to go it is more likely to be constantly used which will lead to even more power drain.
So how much power does Starlink consume? Our experience with a standard dish is that
it consumes about 30 to 50 watts of average constant draw. That's roughly the same power
draw as running two fantastic or Max Air fans at medium speeds. It varies depending on whether your
connection is idling receiving sending or both. Over a period of 24 hours expect to consume about
a kilowatt hour of electricity or roughly a 100 amp hour lithium batteries worth of power. At
the moment Startlink also only officially works from an AC connection using the standard dish,
so in order to power from an RV you also need to use an AC power inverter which can also consume
anywhere from five to fifteen percent more power due to efficiency losses. For most RVers we're
looking to use the standard Starlink dish while in remote locations without electric hookups expect
to increase your solar panel array by roughly 200 watts and a battery capacity by a minimum of 50
amp hours. Be mindful of idle power consumption, turn off Starlink when you don't need it and most
definitely turn it off at night to conserve power to avoid waking up to low batteries.
Because a sheer number of satellites required to run such a global network there are very
few companies able to compete against Starlink. Being a subsidiary of SpaceX it can launch and
deploy satellites at a much lower cost than its competitors as of today there's practically no
alternative to low-cost low earth orbit consumer satellite internet service available. Amazon's
project Kuiper is the closest to Starlink yet their service is not expected to be running
for another four years. Oneweb is another newcomer in the satellite internet world,
however it is targeting only businesses with a fraction of the planned global coverage.
Traditional satellite internet service like HughesNet and Telesat are expensive and slow
with nearly no mobility option making them not suitable for travelers. That means the
only real alternative to Starlink is traditional mobile internet service. While they have their
own limitations cost and mobility make them a better alternative. As of now Starlink service
is limited by the number of satellites orbiting the Earth with new launches occurring every month,
the location of ground stations that they communicate with, and the legality of the
service in each country. Refer to the coverage map on starlink.com for specific launch dates
for each country. Starlink RV users may also use the service outside of their home country as long
as it is located on the same continent and does not exceed 60 days. To go beyond that time and
our geographical limit a new home address in that new location must be updated to the account. In
the latest update to its terms of service a transcontinental add-on service was briefly
mentioned but did not provide any further details, it is possible that users traveling to other
continents might soon be officially supported. Although potentially at an additional cost.
So what does that mean for those of you looking into purchasing Starlink for your next adventure,
it does indeed works as promised and for many previously unconnected remote areas that has
been truly a game changer. We no longer worry about the dreaded no service icon on our phones
when we head down the dirt road to find the ultimate boondocking spot. If you decide to
order Starlink you will have 30 days to trial the service and return for a full refund if
you're not satisfied and if you decide to keep it Starlink is currently offering a free month
of service for new RV subscribers if you order before the end of 2022. While it is not a total
replacement for traditional cellular based internet service for us it has been a great
addition to our connectivity arsenal. I hope you guys have found this video useful and feel
free to ask me any questions that you might have about Starlink in the comments below. I will do
my best to try to answer every single one of them hope you're having a great day and happy travels.