I was hesitant to get starlink at first because of the cost. Then I realized the price of the dish is less than the new 5g netgear hot spot and the same price as the rv WeBoost. So I ordered it. Three days after I received my dish it seriously saved my bacon. I was trying to boondock lakeside in flaming gorge and got my truck camper buried up to the back axle in sand in an area with zero cell signal. I was on the verge of panicking when I remembered I had starlink. I popped it up on the camper and a few minutes later I had internet. I was able to use wifi calling to call for help.
After fighting to find a usable cell signal last year around Quartzite, the wife and I moved to an area near Tucson. Decent cell signal, but if we went too far into the hills to camp, no cell signal. When we were staying off Silverbell RD in Marana AZ, we noticed someone near us had Starlink when it appeared on our cell phones as an available network. I ordered it then. Been using it ever since and its a game changer. We are no longer limited to camping spots with cell coverage. Halleluja!
I love my Starlink. It is an absolute must for us boondocking Nomads that have a digital business. We no longer have to stay near the highways and towns.
We currently have Wild Blue/Exede/Viasat at our country cabin in south central Ohio and it basically sux. We looked into DSL and Fiber, since our cabin is quite a bit off the road it would cost at least $800 to run cables or fiber to the cabin. I'm seriously considering Starlink, but we do have a lot of trees, maybe when they get more satellites up that might not be as much of a problem. Oh yea, last point, cell service at our cabin is almost non-existent.
Thanks for this review! My husband and I have a two year plan to become fully nomadic. We have an 11 year old daughter and her generation is lost without the internet lol. Not to forget we need internet for her schooling plus I plan on working remotely. We are in the educational part of our plan so I have been "attending" RU-vid university. You helped inspire this dream although I have always been a nomad at heart and in my soul my whole life! Also a fun side note, we saw Starlink satellites being launched into the sky last fall while camping in our home state of beautiful Kentucky. Bless you Bob for all you do and I hope to meet you one day!
I have been on Starlink in very rural western North Carolina for 2 months and LOVE it! Been able to move to Full Time remote work so now ready to map out a road trip to the south west, then north to Glacier then back to the Carolina’s. love the ideas here!
I just wrapped up a two month vanlife tour of the northeastern corner of North America (VT, ME, NH, MA, NY, NJ, OH, IN in the US), (Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, Newfoundland, New Brunswick in Canada), Starlink worked everywhere. It was absolutely fantastic. I have a Verizon cellphone and connected via voice over wifi and made crystal clear calls everywhere. Holy smokes it was fantastic to be able to run my business from the road like that. I own an IT company in New Jersey, which I've been running remotely from the US Virgin Islands for almost five years now. Starlink is a game changer for the Digital Nomad.
@Hannah-if3cn no, I set it out whenever I need it. Starlink needs a clear view of the sky. It doesn't work well or at all thru trees. I have the 75ft cable. This allows me to park under shade trees and put the Starlink in an open area
One if these days maybe. But it's a bit pricey for what I'd need it for. But it sounds great for most people's needs. I always enjoy your reviews Bob. Thanks so much.
I watched another RU-vidr person talking about Starlink - he said West Coast is excellent, East Coast not very good yet - they need more satellites up in the sky. So right now your locations are important. And they say having trees around can be a problem or mountains. I am in Anacortes and a van dweller was staying 2 blocks from my place said it was fabulous. He was very happy with his and had just set it on the ground outside - no anchors. Winter time we have lots of winds - so would need more to keep it secure. And he said it was better the more remote he was. All things to consider
I have a rhino rack with two sunseeker awnings in mini van. I bought the roof swivil mount about $50. Mounted it on sunseeker with L brackets. Not permanent but solid
Bob, as adding third party sat antenna on boat, you can fix the antenna on roof of RV, then DIY a dome over it, like a large home depot bucket, or something to make it aerodynamic. I only have a jeep, while the current starlink is still to big, otherwise I'd have been testing this idea already. Thanks Bob, learnt a lot watching your channel! Best!
If you get Starlink for RV, you don’t need to be at your “home address” to activate Starlink. I’ve got my antenna up on a mast with a little extra hardware, and it’s working great!
Another awesome video as always, Bob. We love how you explain things & you are very articulate & prefessional. Keep up the excellent work. Cheers from California.
It should work fine in mountain valleys. I ran mine in the high Sierras for weeks with no issues. I did bring it inside when the winds started to howl.
Great info Bob! Thanks as always for sharing your knowledge and perspectives! I'll be looking forward to your remote testing on this system. Could be a game changer for those of us that love to get remote but also enjoy the conveniences of using the internet.
I've been using steady for four months now at locations all over CA, OR, NV, UT, CO and AZ. It has worked perfectly every time and has allowed me to camp in my Jeep in the most remote locations while maintaining a (more than) full time corporate tech job. Love it and would pay twice the current price if I had to.
If you put it on the ground just put sandbags on the feet of the Starlink device for a windy area. The more wind the more sandbags ;-). Create your own sandbags: just use old linen bags filled with sand.
Or mount it to your roof rack. That's what I've done and no amount of wind is going to get it loose. I still bring the legs in case I have to park under obstructions but they can be staked down directly through the holes at the ends without the wood in between.
The diy stores had the sand bags for less than .50 in the past just fill sand or dirt. Permanently mounting any type satellite devices on a roof may require parking in the hot sun to get any reception.
@@marcushennings9513 I would never permanently mounting Starlink on a RV roof. I will make one construction at the ladder that I can put the dish on a pole and the second choice is to put the dish anywhere with sandbags. On a open land it doesn't matter where you park your RV and you can put it on the pole construction. But if there are trees it's easier to move the dish only instead of moving the RV back and for. There are different pole solutions to find on RU-vid but far to expensive. Maybe I will use a kind of Telescope Pool Pole. I will put two pipes at the ladder. Both between 5" and "10 long and just big enough for the pool pole. 10" pipe closed on the lower site and clamped at the bottom end of the ladder and the 5" pipe circa 20" above the 10" pipe. Now you can put the pole from above trough the 5" pipe into the 10" pipe. .... or just take one long enough pipe... that keeps the pole tight enough
Hey Bob, how many people can be on this at a time? This may sound crazy but the thing that popped in my head as you were talking as you pull into a camper. You put an external antenna on top of your rig and then you sell Internet access to those around you and the camp. You sell it by the hour because a lot of people just need an hour to catch up on emails do a little work whatever you can even have a half day package and a holiday package as well. What an incredible income supplement that would be if it’ll work. That would be something I would really be interested in myself if I was doing van life. I’m looking forward to your update videos on Starlink. This is something I’m very interested in. Thanks, Bob.
One of our sons has got it, here in NZ, and he’s absolutely over the moon with it! Far faster than broadband, for which he was paying almost half of the cost of the Starlink charges. When I visit there’s four of us using it and there’s nil drop off in performance! Notice you’re using a rectangular dish. The one here is a very small round dish.
Looks good, but I'd still like the monthly nomadic charge to be less. Maybe it will go down further with time. It's expensive to put satellites up there and likely that monthly fee is paying for that. Hardware costs look reasonable So if they can get the monthly cost down to half of what it is, I'd jump at it. You bring up a good point, if you caravan with a group, a group can share the cost and then if folks go into town, they can leave other campers behind to mind the equipment. How many connections can you reasonably get with one unit?
That was one of my big questions Bob is how do you have a video base business been on the road with what I would imagine to be very very slow Internet almost all the time. Now I may be making some big assumptions just like a very good point you made that star link is some wild and crazy idea which I guess it is an away let’s launch 42,000 satellites and put them in order around the earth I mean how could anyone else Roger rocket in space with that many satellites are on the Earth that’s just one thing that popped in my mind. But I digress looking forward to watching the rest of this video.
Very interesting but I have a few questions as follows: - What are the running cost, monthly subscription fees if any ? - Are there any download limits or is it unlimited up and downloads ? - Are there different speed plans like they have with the land based system ? - You have to have an address ?? Crazy ! What if you don't or if I come over for a year as a tourist etc etc ? Sorry Bob to bombard you with so many questions but I think a few of us would have these and be great if you could cover that in one of the next vids. Thanks
If you get the rv version you don't have to have an address. I had it shipped to my friend in FL and then she forwarded it to me where I was in MT at the time. I fired it right up with no problem and didn't have to change any address information. There's no Data limits. Speeds will depend on if you're in a congested area or an area with obstructions. It needs a clear view of the northern sky.
There are some people who are still on the waiting list in the USA, it's not available everywhere yet. Elon Musk has recently. launched another 2,600 satellites, sources say he's selling his starlink for 110.00 a month at a loss. I have not read one bad review. I live in rural America and broadband is not available to me, only DSL, so starlink is a great option.
People can order the "RV" service in an open area and get it shipped wherever they want. There should be no block to getting it immediately other than production / shipping delays. "Residential" orders that have been in wait list status can be cancelled.
For RVer: You can order it right way and will get it in one or two weeks. You have to find an open cell for your FIRST connection and than you can send it to any address in the US. BUT for the first connection with Starlink you have to go to the 'connection address'! For example in my area in Florida I have to wait 1-2 years but next month I will pick up my RV in Kentucky where is an open cell. I ordered Starlink for the address in Kentucky but the deliver address was my address in Florida. After 10 days Starlink arrived at my address in Florida. I can NOT use it in Florida, yet. I have to drive to Kentucky for my first connection with Starlink to the satellites.
The monthly fee is $110. If U want Elon Musk’s StarX(?) the rate increases to $135/mo. This sounds like a costly venture but I understand why people who travel in those remote areas would want this system. The other advantage is if U travel in a group & share it.
If you are working online uploading and downloading video, or otherwise using a lot of data, a lot of people have to pay a similar amount for enough un-throttled gigs on a cell network. For Verizon I believe it's 80$ for 150gb, and I've heard of people having 2 plans or even more so then the starlink price starts to make more sense.
@@haskinsian sure but if you live in town then you don't need starlink. It's for people that live too rurally, or in this case too nomadically for cable internet
I think putting satalite s all over sky is very expensive. As musk puts into cars and cell phones. It will become more affordable but nice to have and i can sit down if i don't need most of year. I got as replacement of gps sos service with minimal features and can cost allot
Bob, Some WIFI phone plans will allow you to connect to Starlink, However I have not been able to connect my Visible Wireless phone through my Starlink in my area. I have been able to use my Google FI cell phone with the Starlink dish.
Hi Bob. Maybe do a semi permanent mount on your vehicle that is on hing type config that you can pull a pin, dismounting it and then stow it. Also, did you have any conversation with support asking if once every satellite is up will that long searching issue go away?
If you don't care to go up the ladder it's one of the best and cheapest solution! I don't want do it because I don't want drill any wholes into the RV roof.
Maybe worth the wait for new hardware specifically designed for rvers. fcc is now allowing star link to be mobile. As in while you're moving. Today's antenna is not going to be very good for that.
Bob this is really worth you going all in testing every possibility you can so people can see if they can afford it and if it lives up to Musk's mission statement
Wait... I was wondering why not Solar recharge battery with unit Mr. Musk? Seems to me like primitive "set-up" besides anywhere internet. But $700. Unless you're a Content maker.
🌞 Hey Bob thanks for sharing as you do with all of us out here 🌞. I'm hoping folks out there can enlighten me as to how I can meet up with other nomads in the flour bluff Texas area. Besides the usual getting online in some capacity. I'm hoping there's some sort of a Park rec center type possibilities to meet in person several different people and have an exchange of ideas of how we could help one another in different projects to help keep us going in strength. 🇺🇸 📜 📖 🐸 🙏 🙏🐸 WWGOWGA.🐸🙏
I appreciate the video but not only would I need fast reliable internet- I deal with sensitive information (legal) and secure private internet connection. Will this work for that?
Hi Sherry. You'll want to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service, either provided by your organization or a third party service. There are many available, with different prices and offerings. You would need to do this whether using Starlink or any other wireless variety of internet connection, whether WiFi, cellular, or another satellite service. Any wireless network is vulnerable and you should use a VPN. However, once you do that, you should be secure on any type of network. I do sensitive financial software work and my entire organization operates remotely using a VPN for security - along with plenty of other security processes, policies, and tools, as you might imagine. I would further refer you to the Electronic Frontier Foundation for much more information on security and privacy on the internet. Just search for their name, it'll come right up.
Many of us can attest to companies throttling our use. Endless calling and complaining getting the runaround with this person and that person back and forth in and out of the store just endless milking of our time energy , and money 🧐 😠 😤 🤬.
What's wrong with some old fashioned small boulders or rocks on the corners of the plywood, or better yet, as you're in the desert, a sandbag on each leg of the base, just make sure you don't scoop up any of them tastey desert tortoise when you're putting sand in the bag 😂
