Forum Discussion
- I got the same email. Wondering why I couldn’t use this for both home and RV use?
- Think you can.. just have to pay the $25 per month fee for the time you are away from your service location.
At least that's my understanding.
Mike - Here's good summary of Starlink for RVs.
- Got the same email. The price has jumped significantly. For those who are on the waiting list, the monthly fee was $110(Cdn) per month to $140. Cost of equipment went from $649 to $759. Now an additional $50 for hub converter.
For RV plan, it's $179(Cdn) monthly + equipment $759. If you want both RV and Home you have to buy two dishes and pay for two plans per month, $179 for RV and $140 for Home. That's $319/ month for internet. The difference with the RV plan is $30 a month more attributed to mobility. There is no guarantee of service availability or speed pending Home Plan congestion in the area. You may not be able to connect or be bumped and service is not guaranteed. You can just buy the RV plan for home use..But..if you live in a congested area and are on the waiting list you will not get service. You will have to drive/ move the dish to a remote area for service defeating the loophole of just one Dish and monthly plan.
Basically think of the 4G/5G data plans except reversed, remote area no signal or only 2G. Big city 5G.
It's turned into a rich man's service in remote areas, not an affordable high speed Internet connection to support unserviced rural areas at a comparative cost to lower income families. blawless wrote:
Got the same email. The price has jumped significantly. For those who are on the waiting list, the monthly fee was $110(Cdn) per month to $140. Cost of equipment went from $649 to $759. Now an additional $50 for hub converter.
For RV plan, it's $179(Cdn) monthly + equipment $759. If you want both RV and Home you have to buy two dishes and pay for two plans per month, $179 for RV and $140 for Home. That's $319/ month for internet. The difference with the RV plan is $30 a month more attributed to mobility. There is no guarantee of service availability or speed pending Home Plan congestion in the area. You may not be able to connect or be bumped and service is not guaranteed. You can just buy the RV plan for home use..But..if you live in a congested area and are on the waiting list you will not get service. You will have to drive/ move the dish to a remote area for service defeating the loophole of just one Dish and monthly plan.
Basically think of the 4G/5G data plans except reversed, remote area no signal or only 2G. Big city 5G.
It's turned into a rich man's service in remote areas, not an affordable high speed Internet connection to support unserviced rural areas at a comparative cost to lower income families.
Which is exactly what I figured out when "starlink" was announced and was claimed to cost a mere $80 US per month only a few short yrs ago..
But yet folks still believe that is going to be cheap and stay cheap, I have some ocean front in Arizona to sell to those folks..
It is only going to get much, much more expensive as they add more and more satellites to the sky..
It costs a lot of money to not only launch but track and control each and every satellite and not even Musk can reduce the cost to maintain each individual satellite flight pattern.
There are actual Satellite "flight centers" which are manned 24/7/365 with real live people who do nothing else but to track and adjust every single satellite launched into orbit. Nothing is 100% "automatic" and every single sat is a potential space junk hazard if not tracked and maintained.
More sats flying = higher cost of operation = higher cost to the end consumer.. Yesterday $80, today $120, future $200 and higher per month..- It started out addressing the rural connectivity needs.
Then RVers started to ask/clamor/call for it to be available to them. So, that's a new need, and the business model adjusted accordingly.
Doesn't mean they aren't still addressing the rural need. One could argue whether $105 a month for high speed internet is "reasonable" or "cheap". Yes, upfront investment is surely high and may not be affordable for everyone.
While not necessarily cheap, for me, it's my only source of high speed internet. Im rural and I had to game the system to get connected.
End of the year, fiber will supposedly be in my area. We shall see. Until then, it's a great option.
Mike - ^^What Walaby said. It isn't turning into rich man's service in remote area, it has added a portable/RV option for those that are asking. And they charge you for it, but that's a business addressing a demand. I think the logic is you take your dish with you when you RV, not buy 2 different setups and 2 different plans. The dish easily separates from its mount and unplugs, you need to have a base or mount for your RV and bring the starlink router with. You'll need another connection cable as well, now that I think about it. Unless your home one is easily taken with, mine would not be. Now if part of the family stays home and needs internet while the other travels in RV and needs internet, then you're talking about 2 full setups.
My home Starlink had the $10/mo increase which is a bummer, but it is my best source of high speed internet as well. - My summary:
• Includes boats, etc
• $135/month, equipment $599 plus shipping
• Fixed address not required
• Available now, service can be paused
• Pay for a full month even if paused for part of the month
• No activation or pause fees
• With no fixed address Starlink for RVs is lower priority on the network, can be rather slow in some areas especially wait listed areas for standard Starlink Residential (not RV)
• Not allowed for RV inmotion, they are working on inmotion capability
• Can be used instead of Starlink Residential but with lower priority.
• Cannot switch between Starlink Residential and Starlink for RVs, this may change but for now you could have both services.
• Starlink continues to evolve with future options and cost. - Here's another good summary on the subject: Starlink for RV'ers
- Doesn't Starlink still require a 180 degree view of the sky? If so this would kind of limit one's camping options.
Dave
