In this week's Grand Adventure we're going to update you on
Starlink satellite Internet for your RV for 2023.
Starlink is rapidly evolving and a lot has changed
even since our own videos on Starlink produced only a year ago.
We'll share everything you need to know about Starlink,
including what's good, what's bad, and whether Starlink in your RV is for you.
So stay tuned!
So what is Starlink?
It's a satellite-based Internet service run by Elon Musk's company SpaceX,
whereby users connect to a constellation of over 2,700 satellites
in low earth orbit above the world, with tens of thousands of satellites planned.
The moving green dots on this map represent the satellites.
Satellites then relay the signal to ground stations connected to the Internet backbone,
the stationary orange dots on this map.
It works virtually everywhere in North America,
even in places where there is no cell phone service.
Those satellites orbit about 342 miles above the Earth,
far less than the 22,000 miles that geostationary satellites orbit at.
That means lower latency.
Latency is the time it takes for a packet of data to go
from the user to the satellite, back to the user
and it's a fraction of that time using low earth orbit satellites,
which means faster Internet.
Starlink has also introduced service dedicated for RV use
and coming up in the very near future Starlink plans to use its Starship launch vehicle
rather than the Falcon launch vehicle,
which will enable the company to launch many many more satellites per launch.
So who is Starlink for?
Anyone who needs high-speed Internet service virtually anywhere in North America,
and that can include remote workers like ourselves who work from our RV,
folks who want to stay connected while they're in their RV,
or folks who have kids who want to.
It's available for those in rural areas for their residential service where high-speed
Internet is very difficult, if not impossible to come by.
And even for folks who may not be so worried about Internet service
but want to have cell phone service anywhere that they camp.
So where exactly does Starlink work?
The answer is virtually anywhere in North America
where you have a clear view of the northern half of the sky
and that includes the polar regions and many regions in Alaska
that were only recently added to Starlink's coverage map.
Any of the areas that aren't shown in grey on this map.
So what makes Starlink special?
Higher speeds, lower costs, and more data than other satellite providers
like ViaSat or HughesNet ,or even your cell phone carriers.
So how do you sign up for Starlink?
You simply head on over to their website at starlink.com.
Now there are two primary versions of Starlink that we're going to talk about in this video.
One is for residential use, and the other is dedicated for RV use.
Now there are other versions available as well for businesses and commercial enterprises,
for boats out at sea, for motorhomes while you're traveling down the road,
but quite frankly those come at a substantially higher cost
and we're not going to dedicate any time in this video to those versions.
We're going to focus on residential and Starlink RV.
So what does Starlink cost?
Well, residential service goes for $110 per month
and if you want to use that in your RV there's a $25 per month upcharge for portability.
Now you can turn that upcharge on and off, but the total is $135
which not coincidentally,
is the price for Starlink RV service. $135 per month, including portability.
We said that data transfer on Starlink is unlimited
and that's true, but with one minor caveat that's coming up fairly soon.
And that is Starlink has announced that they are
going to institute a soft cap of one terabyte of data per month.
What that means is that if you're a residential customer you receive prioritization
on that first one terabyte in your area over other users like Starlink RV
that receive service on a best effort basis.
If you happen to exceed that one terabyte cap you can buy more priority data
or you can simply be served as best effort along with everybody else in your area.
Now a couple of thoughts on that.
One, it's really only affecting Starlink residential customers
because Starlink RV is always provided on a best effort basis anyway.
Number two, you really have to be an extreme power user
to even come close to one terabytes' worth of data
That's a lot of data!
Now, Starlink initially announced that they were going to institute this soft cap in December
then they bumped it back to February.
Now they're saying it will be instituted at the earliest sometime in April.
So what are the advantages of Starlink?
Well, for one thing it works absolutely anywhere in North America
including areas that have no cell service whatsoever.
It's also far more cost effective than other satellite internet providers
or even cell phone companies providing internet data with their cell phone plans.
Yet the speeds are comparable to really good 4G or 5G LTE Internet service.
So what are the downsides to using Starlink?
Well, for one thing the dish and the router
combination uses about 35 to 40 Watts at 120 volts AC
so that's a consideration while you're out boondocking
because anytime you have the dish and the router powered up
it's going to be consuming, we've found in our testing, about 35 to 40 Watts.
Now for another thing, you have to have a clear view of the northern half of the sky.
Even a single tree will cause momentary obstructions
and therefore momentary interruptions in your service.
So it's important that you have that clear view of the northern sky.
For that reason we've chosen to route our Starlink Internet
signal through our Pepwave MAX Transit Duo router
where we have SIM cards for both Visible and AT&T
to serve as a backup Internet source anytime we're under a substantial tree canopy.
So how do you use Starlink?
You don't have to be tech savvy because honestly, it could not be any easier.
You simply set the dish out, plug the cable into the dish,
plug the cable into the router, and plug the router into power. That's it!
The dish is able to actually find and detect the satellites and aim itself entirely on its own.
Now for convenience we run the cable from the dish to the router into our storage bay
up through the hole, the same hole that we pass our water hose through,
and then we leave the router in the bay where it broadcasts wirelessly
to every inch of our trailer and all the areas surrounding our trailer.
So we can now camp virtually anywhere and still work from the road.
If we're in an area that doesn't have any cell service
we simply connect our cell phone to the Wi-Fi provided by Starlink
and then enable Wi-Fi calling on our phone.
That allows us to make and receive phone calls just like we're on cell service
even though the nearest cell tower may be 50 or 100 miles away.
So which version of Starlink should you buy?
If you happen to be in an area where your address is available as a service address to order now
(anywhere in the light blue areas on this map)
we recommend going residential.
Even if you're a full-time RVer and you happen to be in the same spot for a few months
you will get priority service if that spot you're spending a few months at is your service address,
and then while you're traveling it works the exact same as if you purchased Starlink RV.
Now if you're in an area where residential Starlink is now on a waiting list
(those are the medium blue areas on this map)
you can still sign up for Starlink RV now and
be up and running in just a few days after placing your order.
Now there are very few things in life that really earn the descriptor "game-changer".
However, in our opinion Starlink definitely fits that category.
We're now able to camp virtually anywhere that we want to,
in boondocking sites that we used to have to pass up
because there wasn't adequate cell service for us to work from that location,
are now available to us to be able to camp and enjoy.
Even weekenders will find that if they want to be
connected to the rest of the world while they're out there
(and listen, I understand some people when they go
camping they want to disconnect and get away from everything).
However, if you want to be connected Starlink is absolutely the way to go,
both for price, for speed, and for the amount of data that they allow you to transfer.
We hope that you found the information in this updated Starlink episode for 2023 useful to you!
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