Starlink advice

[agesilaus]

Thinking seriously about getting starlink. Looking for any suggestions by those that have it. Probably looking at RV stationary antenna the white plates I see hooked to the RV by a cable. I understand there is a noble version but we do not need it.

What is the delivery time after you order it.? Any accessories needed? Any other advice or suggestions?

[Vladimir]

I am surprised that no one has answered your post.  So here goes.

I bought and own both the Generation One and Generation Two dish.

The Generation Two dish works real well for RV'ing.  The box is well designed for travel.  It is fairly small.

I installed the Generation Two at my vacation home business.  It was a residential install.  A couple of weeks ago, I took it on the road and switched to the mobile account.

The install at the vacation home has wiring, router, etc. totally set-up that when I need to have the dish with me I just remove the dish.  I have an extra router than works well at the vacation home, but I take it on the road so I don't have to remove it.  I did get another modem cable to take on the road.

The extra router made a huge difference in coverage at the vacation home. 

I ordered the Generation One dish when there was a waiting list.  The Generation Two dish was a warranty replacement for the Generation One dish.  I don't know what current waiting times are today.

I understand that residential use is still limited in certain cells.  You can get a mobile account right away, but when I switched plans I was warned that I might not be able to reinstall the dish at my residential local except as a mobile device.  The speed did go down now that I am in the southwest.  I don't know why that is, but it might be the greater number of dishes in my southern location.

The biggest issue I have had is the StarLink web sites.  They are awful.  No voice support.  Everything goes through the internet.

Once you find where you need to be it is simple to change services.

I was in Bakersfield, when the campground wanted me to sign up for their internet service.  I thought that it might be a good time to set up my StarLink dish.  In less than five minutes, I had the dish setup and changed my account to mobile and StarLink told me that billed me $14 for the remainder of the month.  It took a bit longer for the StarLink to come totally on line.

I would start a StarLink notebook with passwords and other information.  It does make up for the lack of personal support.

Do change your phones to wifi calling.  In my view, this is one of the best reasons to switch to StarLink.  Phone service everywhere.  My next step is too go to a very cheap data and phone plan.  No point paying $65 per line now.  That helps take the sting out of buying the dish.

It is limited to three devices hooked up at one time per agreement.  I have never tried to hook four up at one time.

Hope this helps.

Oh set up instruction are there pictures!!!  Just hook everything up and DON'T DO ANYTHING else.  It will connect on its own!!  First time I tried to point it north, etc.  Don't.

 

Edited February 18 by Vladimir

[lappir]

Thanks for replying Vladimir. I don't have and could not help. 

I do find your post interesting as far as the internet/WIFI calling. I have yet to try that, but I do use my cell plan for my internet so it would have to be on someone else's WIFI. 

Rod

[Chad Heiser]

I have Starlink (gen 2).  It is on a residential plan with mobility (I’m not sure if they still offer this option).  I use it at my home and when I travel in the RV.  I have a second data cable and power plug that are permanently installed in my RV in my router cabinet.  The data cable (the cable that connects the dish to the router) is run from the cabinet out to my RV’s wet bay.  I leave the cable coiled up until I deploy the dish.  I then pull out enough cable to reach the dish.  I run the cable out the bottom of the wet bay where the water hose exits.  I usually install the dish on a Flagpole Buddy pole mount on the ladder of my RV.  The only pieces that move between the house and RV are the router and the dish.  I am considering buying a second router so that I will only have to move the dish itself between the house and RV.  
 

The service is great and has worked everywhere I have tried it so far.  It is especially nice when we get to an area that doesn’t have cell coverage or has weak cell coverage.  As mentioned above, we can use WiFi calling on our cell phones when they are connected to the network.  I have cellular networks at both my house and in my RV that are always on and act as backups to the Starlink.  I feed the Starlink data into my cellular router’s WAN port and pass it through when it is active so I don’t have to manually switch my devices between the two networks.  Everything connects to the cellular based network and then uses the data from either source (Starlink or Cellular) based on settings in my router.  I am very pleased with this set up.

Edited February 20 by Chad Heiser

[lappir]

Chad, 

What does your significant other do for internet when you are off to the east coast or other places without her? 

Rod

[Chad Heiser]

12 hours ago, lappir said:

Chad, 

What does your significant other do for internet when you are off to the east coast or other places without her? 

Rod

We have Cellular internet in both the house and the RV.  I have two old Miblies with the original AT&T connected car plan.  One is always on in the house and one is always on in the RV.  I don’t always bring the Starlink along in the RV, but if I do the house still has Internet.