Dropping Dish for Starlink?

[Dricamper]

Our coach came with in motion satellite, which so far has only worked on the side of our house. It seems wherever we camp, which so far is off grid, we don’t get a line of sight. I was considering the starlink set up for several reasons, we can position the dish for a line of sight, and most importantly I can use my phone in Wi-Fi as often we camp remote where my cell doesn’t work, and owning a business and being cut off takes a lot of the joy out of camping.
I would assume we will have streaming capabilities as well.
Curious to know what others have experienced?

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Many threads on that subject

 

[Scotttkd2]

To answer your question, yes it works with the caveat of you have to be willing to do things differently. The Starlink requires a much larger view of the north to north east sky, like 110 degrees worth. One advantage is because it's designed to sit on the ground you have a variety of mounting options. Streaming TV is available multiple ways with multiple vendors and in over a year of use now I wouldn't go back to regular sat TV. I have however left my entire sat system hardware on the roof of the coach for the next owner when we upgrade the coach in the future. The more you research the more you will find its a great option for RV life that has to stay connected to the internet.

 

[Buly]

Drycamper, we have abandoned the Dish. The coach came with a satellite dish on the roof, but the programming was next to useless. Starlink with Firestick gives are endless number of current shows and movies. Also if there is no cell service, we use WiFi calling. Overall it is a better choice.
Another benefit is that you can turn it off for the months it is not needed.

 

[Dricamper]

Thanks all for the replies. I will leave the dish on the roof, for the next owner.
And pull the trigger on starlink.

 

[Neal]

The landscape appears to be moving to streaming, even for home TV as well, speaking for myself.

Cable (cord) cut...

Well, for the first time ever (brown paper bag nearby) I cancelled my TV service. I have gone Internet only at home, I spend most of my time watching YouTube and I need to spend more time reading instead of wasting life watching TV. Again, I rarely watch TV other than maybe DDD (Diners...

rvforums.com

 

[Joe Hogan]

We have canceled Cable TV, using Starlink for internet. We only stream TV content. We use Amazon FireStik.

 

[DennisT]

We actually went back the other way recently and read an article about people getting frustrated with all the services needed to get what they want.

Streaming was nice at the house since we had local channels etc and could watch what we like all through Hulu with live TV.

On the road, however, streaming became too much of a hassle for us. Many different apps needed on the Roku box to get all our channels we like to watch. No locals available from streaming when away (unless doing the vpn work around).

We bought the hardware and went the Dish route again in the coach.

All channels wherever we go, locals included. Did add up to about $80 more per month than streaming but worth it to us.

Overall it is pretty close to the price of Hulu with live tv but portable.

 

[Joe Hogan]

On the road, however, streaming became too much of a hassle for us. Many different apps needed on the Roku box to get all our channels we like to watch. No locals available from streaming when away (unless doing the vpn work around).

This is a good point. What service works for your needs depends on what you like/want to watch.
Managing many apps, can be expensive but more important a hassle.

We have very limited needs and therefor a basic internet connection is sufficient for us.

For those that want specific programing, sports, entertainment, local news, etc. a prepackaged solution, i.e Dish or similar, might be a better solution.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

This is a good point. What service works for your needs depends on what you like/want to watch.
Managing many apps, can be expensive but more important a hassle.

We have very limited needs and therefor a basic internet connection is sufficient for us.

For those that want specific programing, sports, entertainment, local news, etc. a prepackaged solution, i.e Dish or similar, might be a better solution.

I'm with you! Saundra would watch old movies, and reruns. I would only accompany her for a companion thing. We used a smart TV to do this and only if it was free. We found years ago that dish wasn't much better than paying to watch reruns so ditched the dish.

Now that Saundra is gone, I have the TV in storage waiting for it's ultimate fate!!!

Saundra could always find something new to watch, but even still after the professional ballers bent the knee, I have found no reason to give them my attention!!! Starlink offers everything I need!!!

 

[Rustymayes]

I never activated a DTV box or account for the system that is mounted on the coach because I figured I would have connectivity issues in the woods and canyons that we are likely to camp in and around. I went with star link and will use a mobile stand instead of mounting to the coach so that I can optimize antenna placement wherever we go. I justified the Starlink as a back up for the house when our ISP is out of service.