Is Starlink Worth it for RVers and Travelers? - RV Life
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ธ.ค. 2023
- Starlink Roaming internet service is expensive but it allows internet connectivity virtually anywhere. But is it worth it for RVers and travelers or is there a better option?
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Had SL for two years. No issues. It comes with 70-75’ of cord. Never had a problem with trees. It always sits on the ground without issue so no climbing on the roof for us.
It does draw about 70w of power, but with 400AH of battery and 1600
on the roof we never had a power issue.
100% reliable for us.
We even share the password with others, I believe you can have 120-140 devices connected at the same time.
fully agree
We are living in an RV traveling all over central Mexico (been over a year, now). We purchased Starlink while in Jalisco and the cost of the equipment AND service is about 1/2 the cost of what it is ordering in the U.S. Our equipment ARRIVED ONE DAY AFTER WE ORDERED IT, too! We are in parks almost all of the time so shore power to run it....
We have used Starlink as our primary Internet for more than a year. We live winters in a rural 55+ RV park with no access to cable Internet. Cellphone hotspot service would throttle us most of every billing period. Starlink has been wonderful. During the summer we take Starlink with us. Setup is fast. It just works. Unless there are trees.
I thought the wife was practicing her John Wick moves before you mentioned a gun range.
Yeah, I thought it was Roe doing something crazy in the background. :)
David
Thank you for sharing, I like your third choice "being rich and just don't care I want one".
I enjoy hearing from you two, this video was very informative for me. At age 73 I learn something each day watching videos.
Have a Blessed New Year.
If you travel or plan to travel much getting the 150ft cable is likely wise. I am using 150ft now to get around one tree to a zero obstruction. One does not need zero obstruction but its nice.
Great use for us full timing is Wi-Fi calling when we are camping in our preferred boondocking areas away from cell towers. That seamless constant connectivity to family and friends and emergency services is worth the price!!!
I converted 1 of my SL receiver to 12v. It draws about 30-40watt per hour. I have a 100Ah LiFePo battery dedicated to the SL, with its own 200watt panel and charge controller. Basically my SL runs indefinitely. During the day, the battery is always full.
After Hurricane Ian in FL, I got Starlink for ALL backup communications. My Comcast Internet, landline, and cable TV was down for 6 weeks. My Verizon cell service was down for 2 weeks... then I could drive to a temporary cell tower for service... in other words - useless. Starlink is going to be my backup for ALL comms after the next Category 5 Hurricane. WORTH EVERY PENNY!
Wow that's a really interesting reason to have starlink! They make it so easy to pause and start your service then why not have it for backup if you live in an area prone to outages?
Thanks David, great having you back!
You can get a 12 VDC adapter now for starlink that allows you to cut out inverter losses.
WHERE?
Where? 8)
I asked where is this 12 volt adapter can be bought@@leroifox
I know, LOL. I was joining in. :) @@james-rd4dq
it still uses about 70 watts of power even if you wire it to 12 volts
Thanks for the information, David!
Thanks David. I was wondering about this.
Very thoroughly covered. Thanks this info will help!
Welcome back! Good to hear from you again! Wish you all the best ... and safe travels...
Great informational video. A very good comparison of both.
This video is great! A review by someone using both is great!
Thanks for the video, you made some great points and appreciate your insight.
Beautiful dog...
Sounds like a fun 2a area! I like to boondock as well, and love the idea of Starlink but my fear issues in the tall trees of Northern AZ
Didn't know you could pause the T-Mobile hotspot. Good info
Great video 📹 we use the Hotspot method...which is great 😊
I bought a $1200 pep wave, VR 2 road warrior package and I also have Starlink and Starlink has blown it out of the water. I have Internet where there is nothing.😊 so the upfront cost is totally worth it
Most people dont realize that the internet they get in a house is being rented monthly on your bill as well. so add that up and yes starlink is a little more but its still worth it.
The pole system comes with suction cups now if you want to go that route...
Man the puppy has really grown since you first found it!
Well balanced…we are retired and cannot justify Starlink for work. That said, we stay inside a lot of National Parks with zero signal…during those times, the inability to reach family or get online to book our next stay…that’s when Starlink looks so seductive. We’ve resisted the temptation so far!
It's priceless! I run my hvac business when boondocking in Colorado. Pay for one month and shut it down when vacation is over. Wifi cell calling is a must.
We had StarLink and loved it for a while last year but the service seemed to go down hill. Great internet speeds then it would just loose connection. Sometimes hourly. Now we use a T-Mobile hotspot and it was literally like $50 a month, unlimited data, and no contract can cancel or pause anytime. Didn't even have to buy a router or anything, they just send you one as part of the service. Geez I sound like a commercial. I relize the Tmoble may not work everywhere but right now in rural north wyoming its working perfect!
I have a T-Mobile hotspot and it sucks
@@james-rd4dq yes some areas it will I’m sure. When we move to areas like that I will pause service on it. But currently where we are it’s better than Starlink.
Only lost connect one time in two years for about 10 minutes and this was because of a bad thunderstorm
@@james-rd4dq really? Thats great. We were in Rural Montana with open clear skies. It was quite frustrating when it happened. But some days zero issues. My only issue was it wasn’t consistent. But that was about a year ago so maybe it’s better.
I use Verizon. I have service nearly everywhere. $35 a month for 160GB a month.
I have a pole I am going to put my dish on it. I will put it up about 25 feet up and would avoid some of the obstruction.
5G home internet router maybe better with an unlimited data plan. I do believe both T-Mobile and Verizon both have them. I wish Spectrum Mobile had 1
Good video, thanks.
Even people who think 500 bucks is beer money also think twice about spending it, LOL. I'm gonna get one for the van though, the whole Alcan in Canada has extremely limited cell service. Same with Alaska in the fun places. And you can find somewhere with enough sky. I don't play games or do Zoom or anything like that. Less than ideal coverage be fine.
You did not mention that you can use the starlink as a phone signal soure in "dead spots" We doa LOT of boomdockimg and have been places where there is nothing. Starlink is a phone source where there is no hotspot. Plus you can share your starlink with friends parked closeby. We ain't gonna give ours up on the near future. 🙏
Very helpful. A key take away is everything has trade-offs so you have to "layer" solutions. I work all the time when I travel, and have two cell phones from Verizon (1 personal 1 work) and then I added a hotspot from T-Mobile so I have multi-carrier layers. I still face the issue of no cell coverage at all, and like you, want to delve deep off-grid while still having to be on call for work. So Starlink is a key consideration and i am about to click "Buy." But before I do, can you help clarify the pause capability? Do I understand correctly that it is in monthly increments, so the pause or unpause is by month? Thanks! Great overview.
The problem with hot spots is that while in RV resorts the download speed is slow at peak times because of many users on that Cell tower.
Great info and video. Here’s my question, I don’t understand what you mean by “hot spot”? You have T-mobile service, however we have Verizon. Do you know if Verizon has a “hot spot” and what it is called? Thanks so much!
I think you should recheck this….. …Starlink plans have changed. Your information about a residential plan is out of date. Now the $120 plan has higher priority over the $150 and you absolutely can change your address with this plan. You can even move multiple times per day. You cannot use it while moving. You can setup the dish, connect, update your address, and a few mins later you are good to go. You cannot however put the $120/mth plan on hold.
Are you near Ben Avery? We’re at 74 & New River.
I have seen where people use the corner of the camper and mount the mounts in the strong corner.
mind is mount on the roof of my RV i don't use a pole which I've seen many on the ground after a high windy day.
which cellular hotspots would you recommend ? thanks great video !
I would say verizon as they have the best coverage. Also, if you get their top-tier data package for cell, it also gives you 50gb of hotspot free every month.
5:56 David you are misinformed, I have the residential service plan and I travel around the country all the time. You just update your service address online and next time you plug it works. Also the dish cost 599$ not $750!
The other thing is the more data you use the more power it consumes is not entirely true, plus if you have the self heating option enabled it will use more power vs disabling it only uses about 45 Watts per hour of power.
I travel full time on the road and i have the residential unit as will and i have never update my address, I just climb on my roof plug in the dish and it finds the NORTH sky and I have the internet in about 5 minutes. Not sure what you mean by updating.
Have you talked to any users of the new Starlink High Performance system? Obviously it is tremendously more expensive but is supposed to greatly eliminate the need for a lot of open sky.
Also . . the puppy was definitely helpful. When I saw him coming toward you I wondered how long you'd be able to ignore him. 😀
Aren't there restrictions on pausing Starlink? Like you have to reconnection occasionally to remain on the plan. For us, we would like to connect for only 4 to 6 months during those months we travel (summer and shoulder). Does TMobile have any similar rules regarding how long you can remain disconnected? Sorry if you mentioned this in the video. I'll rewatch a small section I missed (family distraction 😊). Thanks for this and all your videos. I like your informative and interesting content.
Hi David, you got your model no. On your T-Mobile hot spot
Thanks
Wow, 120USD/month for Starlink residential that's a lot. I thought I was paying too much here in the UK at £75 after I learned that customers in Portugal pay only 40 euros.
Hi David. On the Starlink. Can you do software / firmware updates on the unit when it is in “pause” mode?
Yes. You can plug it in every few months for about 30 minutes and it will do the firmware updates.
Sounds like you guys are in near new River
i think you should film somewhere else. my adhd cant make it through this video.
(edit) thanks for the video i made it to the end and its worth it maybe some timestamps would be helpful.
Conclusion: booster (not mentioned) and cell service blows Starlink away. Especially if you’re boondocking - which is of course the whole reason/time you’d need it. WeBoost is worth its weight in gold, and I don’t even need a separate hotspot. Just an Apple HDMI cable with no hotspot or I use my cell plan’s hotspot on the phone itself (120 GB total high speed - unlimited throttled - with my three devices). Or just the booster and use my iPad as the TV. Very simple, almost no power and no monthly cost. And no trees or other obstructions to worry about (I’m in the forest 80% of the time for shade).
That's all fine and dandy except when you're in an area with no cell signal.
No mention of Peplink routers, who pauses connection and switch to another, you can have a seamless connection switch from starlink to cell data with a peplink router, what do you think we're in 2012 or something? get updated.
so how big is your Battery bank ??
We go the 1.5 terabytes month
I’m a trucker and I have 2 hotspots and I’m always running out of data. I have my gaming pc and I stream a lot of videos. I can’t do this anymore just as expensive as starlink.
I now have ConnecTen cheaper - 4 US carriers 2 Canadian carriers - I connected to a cell tower that was 25 miles hills free router no caps unlimited 75mbps on average
I was thinking about ConnecTen until the last 2 stops we were at had no cell service. I have T-mobile, Verizon & Att
@@krappinkamper7222 What specific location were you in where there was no cell service? And the thing is this for the amount of times that there's no cell service. It's still not worth the price to get star link
One location was Key Largo the other was Rockhill NC. It could have been a cell tower issue. I didn’t worry to much at either location because I could still text. We don’t use Starlink.
yeah thats weird I stay at my friends place in Key Largo every year for a week - cell service for me is fine - are you on 3G 4G or 5 ?
brother always enjoy ur content but looks like uve lost weight take care n happy holidays
My fridge uses 80 watts - Netflix OR chill
🤔 am I reading this correct "your fridge uses 80 watts" question What does that have to do with Starlink?
Let me know I would enjoy hearing (reading) your answer.
@@michaelzorro2738 Are you that dumb?
I've been using Starlink for over a year, often in places where there is Zero cell service. Your characterization of the need for a 100% clear view of the northern sky does not match my experience. Sure, you have to take some care when placing it, and it doesn't work in deep canyons, but overall I've had very little difficulty getting a clear view.
I'm currently in Baja which has no cell service most places, without Starlink I wouldn't be able to work at all.
Love your little buddy :)
Was someone target shooting in the background?
I'm now at the point where he announced the shooting range lol ....
Sounds like it needs to come bullet proof in that area.
Is that gunfire in the background?
Yeah, we were camped near some shooting ranges.
Does Roe still have her own channel? Do you have a link to it?
She has her own entire life. Let it go David.
@@StratRider no reason to be salty, I was just asking a question, one that you apparently can't answer.
Is that Ro doing target practice in the background?
You know we all know about Starlink your a little behind I have had Starlink for 2 years ( I am just messing with you, I hope you love it as I do.) I know the cost but I love the idea we can go to twice as many places then with Cell. I am sure you have experienced that your self.
Agree,
How come you two don’t wear your wedding rings anymore
The upfront cost of SL is minimal compared to a new cell phone or hotspots
I can say by far Star link has been flawless in the 35 states we've traveled within this year. We have compared Star link to our three hotspots, Verizon ,AT&T, T-Mobil and there is no comparison to the speed and reliability of Star link. all three hotspot cost more. and we don't upload videos, this is where people like You Tubers say star link is slower. but i don't believe that BS. If you have a business from the road have your company pay the bill, or you write it off on your taxes, so what the problem.
Not a youtuber but I WFH using hotspots. Do you write it off on your taxes or just heard about that? Do you WFH? How does starlink work for zoom and teams calls a majority of the time? Curious to see if starlink is worth it for me.
i work from my RV and yes Starlink is great for ZOOM Calls never had an issue@@bobknob8440
Why in the HELL would anyone choose to camp near a shooting range?? This is not a good example of a nice, quiet, remote location far away from life’s annoyances. If you don’t mind camping near a shooting range you sure don’t need Starlink. Might as well camp in super crowded, noisy areas well within reach of cellular towers. The whole purpose of Starlink is to get as far away from this crap as possible and still have connectivity. SMH…
Did you not pay attention? He's not camping there, just passing through.
@@gstar7686 I watched and heard it all closely and don’t recall that at all. At what markers does he say that?
I thought you were in a war zone.
Tmobile sux
what;s wrong??? you came back to disappear again!!!!!!!!! your wife seems so out if it now!!!
Your a little late on this topic. Tons of videos already out there.