Starlink RV

[saflyer]

On 6/14/2022 at 8:43 PM, JDCrow said:

I ordered the new Starlink RV. I’ll get it Thursday and get it installed I think on Friday. 
 

I ordered the pole mount, and will attach it to the ladder. Will post pics 
 

We have Starlink at home, and love it. 

Several months ago, before the announcement of Starlink RV, there was a picture of a possible phased array antenna for Starlink. Never heard anything more about it. This latest mobile antenna seems kind of bulky. The new series of Starlink satellites are much larger than the originals. Wonder if they are more powerful so the antennas can be smaller.

I have Starlink at home. Is there a lower cost add on option for the service for home customers?

[Guest Ray Davis]

2 hours ago, JDCrow said:

Well, in a nut shell, it’s satellite internet service, fast, and covers a good part of the globe, and now is mobile.

$600 for equipment, you own it. It’s  $135 a month, but you can suspend/renew anytime with no penalties or turn on/off fees.  
 

You can stream TV, surf net, make video calls or zoom meetings. 
 

We have Discovery * steaming (no commercials). Also allows us to access our iTunes purchased movies and watch anytime. Just bought Magnum PI episodes 
 

If you have iOS (apple) you can FaceTime, WiFi call and iMessage, all without cell service 

hope that helps  

Yes, it absolutely does help,  thanks.

[cbr046]

5 hours ago, saflyer said:

I have Starlink at home. Is there a lower cost add on option for the service for home customers?

That's where we're at - needing interned home and away at the same time.  Plus the Starlink map isn't showing good coverage in the SE . . . for now.

- bob

[Bob Blackmon]

6 hours ago, BigNick said:

Interesting, you guys are the brain trust of this joint and its coming with a thumbs up 👍... but... I guess you permanently mount the antenna to keep folks honest??

It's a boat anchor to anyone but you. I'm on a Facebook group for Starlink RV and mobile users. There are 28,600 members and this question is asked 3 times a day. No one, No one has ever reported one being stolen while camping it's worthless to the thief. As of today there are 400,000 in use in the world.

As for bandwidth, I am not kidding, You can have Amazon on a 4g movie, Netflix on a 4g movie and 2 phones active on wifi calling in Bath New Hampshire with no cell service.

5 minutes ago, Thomas Brown said:

No there is not I got the Starlink and it did not work.

Please explain

[Rocketman3]

37 minutes ago, BigNick said:

So why attach it to the coach instead sticking it out in field next to the coach?

Probably (at least in my case), Starlink needs good vision on the northern sky. Any trees, poles, anything…., will cause a signal loss from the satellite. By putting the dish on the roof the sky view is often better. I also got the 150’ cable in case I need to put it a bit away. 

I have been thinking of adding a pole mounting option to my ladder too, but we will see how it goes. 
 

Also, if someone does take it - it’s useless to them… but I would still need to buy another. 
 

For me on roaming, Speed tests vary - at night it’s super screaming! During the day from 20Mbps to 100Mbps. But here is the practical aspect, a few days ago, My wife was on a Zoom video call and I was remote working on the vpn - no problems- other than once in a while, she might have a half- second pause as the satellites switched ( it was only noticed a couple of times during several hours of video calls. Plus no bandwidth limits!

[Tom Wallis]

56 minutes ago, BigNick said:

So why attach it to the coach instead sticking it out in field next to the coach?

I have the base it came with so I can put it on the ground a table or anywhere on the roof. But I'd rather have it on the pole if the sky is clear there. The extra height helps and I don't have to worry about damage from kids, dogs, wind, bad drivers or whatever.

[Jim McGarvie]

I was excited about the immediate availability of Starlink for RVs and nearly pulled the trigger, but then our particular reality struck. We cannot justify (read: afford) adding Starlink to our motorhome in addition to the $110/mo. subscription to our cable Internet service at home. It only pencils out if Starlink replaces our cable service.

But if we use Starlink for RVs, as I understand it our priority will be lower than Residential Starlink everywhere, including the 95% of the time we are home. I don't think I can live with that performance degradation.

So I spent the $99 for the deposit for Residential, and I will just have to wait for however long it takes in our area (described on the Starlink map as "expanding in 2023"). I can accept the delay; we have good Internet service at home, and most of the time acceptable service on the road via cellular.

My question to those of you who are using Starlink both at home and on the road has to do with your installation at home. Have you discovered a reasonable way of installing the system at home so that it is fairly easy to remove the dish from your house? I don't think there is a spot in our yard where I would have reception if I didn't mount the dish on the roof.

And how do you route the cable into the house so that it is removable to take with you? Or can you just buy a second cable to keep in the motorhome and leave the other cable at home?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Jim

[Tom Wallis]

52 minutes ago, Jim McGarvie said:

I was excited about the immediate availability of Starlink for RVs and nearly pulled the trigger, but then our particular reality struck. We cannot justify (read: afford) adding Starlink to our motorhome in addition to the $110/mo. subscription to our cable Internet service at home. It only pencils out if Starlink replaces our cable service.

But if we use Starlink for RVs, as I understand it our priority will be lower than Residential Starlink everywhere, including the 95% of the time we are home. I don't think I can live with that performance degradation.

So I spent the $99 for the deposit for Residential, and I will just have to wait for however long it takes in our area (described on the Starlink map as "expanding in 2023"). I can accept the delay; we have good Internet service at home, and most of the time acceptable service on the road via cellular.

My question to those of you who are using Starlink both at home and on the road has to do with your installation at home. Have you discovered a reasonable way of installing the system at home so that it is fairly easy to remove the dish from your house? I don't think there is a spot in our yard where I would have reception if I didn't mount the dish on the roof.

And how do you route the cable into the house so that it is removable to take with you? Or can you just buy a second cable to keep in the motorhome and leave the other cable at home?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Jim

It is very easy to unplug the dish form the mount it comes with. If you do a pole mount on the motorhome and buy an extra cable it should be fairly easy to move just the dish and router back and forth.

[Jim McGarvie]

Just now, Tom Wallis said:

It is very easy to unplug the dish form the mount it comes with. If you do a pole mount on the motorhome and buy an extra cable it should be fairly easy to move just the dish and router back and forth.

Thanks for that info, Tom. I am leaning toward a pole mount on the motorhome, and maybe even at the side of the house so I can lower the dish without climbing on the roof. Sounds feasible.

[Tom Wallis]

8 minutes ago, Jim McGarvie said:

Thanks for that info, Tom. I am leaning toward a pole mount on the motorhome, and maybe even at the side of the house so I can lower the dish without climbing on the roof. Sounds feasible.

If all you need in the house is Wifi and your motorhome is parked by your house, you may not even need to take it out of the motorhome.

[Jim McGarvie]

18 minutes ago, Tom Wallis said:

If all you need in the house is Wifi and your motorhome is parked by your house, you may not even need to take it out of the motorhome.

The WiFi in the Starlink router is that strong? That would be nice. Although the RV is in a separate building so I don't think it would get the satellite signals through the roof.

Edited June 17, 2022 by Jim McGarvie

[Tom Wallis]

Yes, the wifi is excellent but that's not going to work if the motorhome is inside.

[JDCrow]

2 hours ago, Jim McGarvie said:

The WiFi in the Starlink router is that strong? That would be nice. Although the RV is in a separate building so I don't think it would get the satellite signals through the roof.

Yeah their router will go through a wall or 2. There is an cat Jack out their router for hardwired if you want. I added a net gear router and now have all 2 ac in WiFi. 
 

The pole mount didn’t make it, so have to postpone the install. Don’t know when I can get back up to the coach

[Jim McGarvie]

10 minutes ago, JDCrow said:

There is an cat Jack out their router for hardwired if you want.

Is that the original router? I've heard the new ones don't have an Ethernet jack.

[Scotty Hutto]

Sorry folks.  We had someone created fake account and spoof us. Their comments have been deleted. 

[JDCrow]

11 hours ago, Scotty Hutto said:

Sorry folks…

LOL When the one guy said to the effect we were “smart” I knew something was off 😂

11 hours ago, Jim McGarvie said:

Is that the original router? I've heard the new ones don't have an Ethernet jack.

Ooo I don’t know. Yes I can on the original. I guess I’ll see when I open the new box 

[BigNick]

It was my kid that thought it was funny.  He's been talked to and is a good kid and smart.  I have his back no matter so whatever the mod does, thats up to him. .Sorry for the disruption.

[JDCrow]

3 minutes ago, BigNick said:

It was my kid that thought it was funny.  He's been talked to and is a good kid and smart.  I have his back no matter so whatever the mod does, thats up to him. .Sorry for the disruption.

Give him an account if he wants to learn. Heck he could probably teach me a lot on the electronic side. If he’s smart with the wiring, solar, etc, I’m all ears. 

[Tom Wallis]

The Starlink Gen I router apparently has an ethernet port. The Gen II Starlink router does not and if you need one you can order an ethernet adapter cable from them for an extra $20.

[JDCrow]

35 minutes ago, Tom Wallis said:

The Starlink Gen I router apparently has an ethernet port. The Gen II Starlink router does not and if you need one you can order an ethernet adapter cable from them for an extra $20.

Well considering it cost Elon $1500 to make the set up and sold it for $500 at the start, I figured he’d find a way to recoup some cash. 

[Jim McGarvie]

9 hours ago, Tom Wallis said:

The Starlink Gen I router apparently has an ethernet port. The Gen II Starlink router does not and if you need one you can order an ethernet adapter cable from them for an extra $20.

Thanks for that info, Tom. I think I will do that.

[Rocketman3]

Here is how I store the Starlink when moving. I had to modify the old tv area to get the blinds to work, and the Starlink fits just right. 

 

This is how I attach the Starlink to my rig, there is a 1x2 that I attach to the solar mount. I have a spot on the rear and the front.  I just run the wire to the passenger side window and then I added a board  to get the wire in  The router lives in an upper cabinet  

 

[JDCrow]

10 hours ago, Rocketman3 said:

Here is how I store the Starlink when moving. I had to modify the old tv area to get the blinds to work, and the Starlink fits just right. 

 

This is how I attach the Starlink to my rig, there is a 1x2 that I attach to the solar mount. I have a spot on the rear and the front.  I just run the wire to the passenger side window and then I added a board  to get the wire in  The router lives in an upper cabinet  

 

I think I’ll end up with a hard mount like yours. The in motion is coming.

So got the Dish up here and working. Waiting on some clamps to get it mated to the ladder. 

[BigNick]

On 6/16/2022 at 6:59 PM, Tom Wallis said:

It is very easy to unplug the dish form the mount it comes with. If you do a pole mount on the motorhome and buy an extra cable it should be fairly easy to move just the dish and router back and forth.

I wonder about the ladder mount, it seems the Starlink needs a 2.5" receptacle for its mount so I'm thinking I need an adapter for my ladder which is 1" and then a 2.5" pole. (maybe one that will fit in the useless sewer drain line stowage pipe.  Then I wonder about the cabling, which cable is needed? RG7 or what?

[Tom Wallis]

The cable is proprietary, you need to get it from Starlink. I've seen several different variations of the pole mounted to the ladder. There may be some pieces you can buy but mine is home made and my pole stays mounted to the ladder permanently.