Share your Starlink RV install and experiences

[marc2912]

I haven't seen the best of Starlink connectivity here in Granby, CO and I'm not sure why. Today I decided to check the Starlink app and it still showed obstructions which was from the last time I used it in Fort Collins (yes, there was a tree). I tapped "Visibility" in the app and it did a scan for obstructions which took 24 minutes (as the app showed). After that completed I'm now seeing good speeds. I wonder if there is a bug in the system that remember it's degraded or something? Here is my speed test after the scan. I'll see if this changes much over time but I'll be using this as AT&T is not consistent here.

View attachment 14117

EDIT: Still unstable on speeds here. Not sure why, clear skies, no obstructions

I found RV mode to give you really unstable speeds over time as you're basically getting the leftover after the "local" traffic.

 

[lemondrop9344]

Marc2912,
Reading the 'fine print' regarding the RV plan, it appears you are getting exactly what they state you will. RV mode appears to be the lowest priority.
One would hope it will get better in time & some users have had outstanding results with the RV plan. For the time being, I'm holding out for the residential plan.
Thanks for providing the feedback. It's always beneficial to hear the 'not so good' as well as it's 'the best thing since sliced bread'.

 

[Neal]

I don't think that's the case or cause in my area, the population here is minimal and I bet the Starlink users are minimal as well. It's probably a capacity or some other cause, I don't know. We (me) have to keep our expectations in check, we are still early adopters on this new Internet provider.

 

[Neal]

I lost my Starlink Internet connectivity somewhere over the night. As AT&T is super fast here it's been my primary (5G) but I want to continue exploring Starlink. I had wondered how you replace the cable on the Dishy side if needed, today I learned that the cable on the Dishy is a USB plug just like going into the router side. With that said the connection had come loose. For those using flagpole type setups to get the Dishy above your roof you'll need to pay careful attention to the weight of or pulling the cable as it can easily come out of the Dishy side (or come loose). I'll likely be taping the dishy side to ensure this doesn't happen again. It was fine when installed yesterday, somewhere between then and last night the cable worked its way out slightly.

FYI

 

[Scotttkd2]

Starlink Plans in a nutshell: current as of Sept 8, 2020.

Residential - full priority and full capabilities, but must wait for Starlink availability.
Downside - Who knows when you will get your service in populated areas. Quoting 2024 in some areas now.

Residential plus portability - you have a "home" area with residential level service, if capacity allows you MAY have service elsewhere (away from your home cell), deprioritized behind the then local residential plans already in place where you happen to be roaming.
Downside - if Starlink decides there is not enough bandwidth you could be DENIED service in congested service areas. No guarantee of service if traveling with SL.

RV - you are allowed service in all areas, congested, or not, whether SL has a wait list for new users or not.
Downside - you are at lowest priority, and will not have their top speeds for that reason.

What works best for you will depend on how you need to use the service. Hope that helps those that may be kicking the tires.

 

[Buly]

We love our Starlink. Here in UP Michigan, too many areas have zero cell. Coverage.
SL had only one 30 min Global outage. Also our TV picture quality is excellent compared to the low res Dish TV.

 

[Neal]

I finally got my Starlink settled into it's permanent location where I can route the cable through the shore power bay using the grommet so as not to deal with the cable compressing against the edge of a basement door. While I have no issues with the cable compressing the grommet at a basement door, it's not my permanent desired solution.

Today I was going to knock out a chore which I bought parts for two months ago to add a 120V "smart" outlet in the power cord reel bay. The intent was to put the Starlink router in there and route the ethernet cable to this location. I then realized having recently learned how there is a USB plug connection for the cable at the Dishy, get the thought out of my head that we always have to make the cable connections at the router. I have several 120V outlets in my basement as I added two and if you have central vac and don't use it, you can use that plug as well.

So I decided to stow my router velcro'd to the wall along side of the central vac. The "prickly" side of velcro (not the fuzzy side) typically sticks to the carpet material Newmar uses on walls so I applied two strips of that to the back of the router. I ended up getting it wedged and not against the wall and it's not going anywhere so I'm leaving it as is. The router has a decent enough power cord length to reach an outlet so for me I plugged it in to my additional outlet between bays 1 and 2 passenger side. The ethernet cable that I use is routed to the adapter, non issue.

To route the cable as I did simply unplug the antenna cable from your connector at the router (or ethernet adapter). Now take this around to your power cord bay and push it over the top of the rear wall. Newmar just uses wooden "false" walls (sts) so you can easily route cables over top of them. Try to push it as far as you can and then go to the other side of that compartment and crawl in and find the cable and pull it through and route it to your router. Again going over any walls as necessary. Now you can route the wire into your coach using the rubber grommet shared with the power cord reel just like I do with the coax, etc. When stowing the dishy antenna you'll now unplug from the dishy side, coil your cable and stow. Done.

As you can see in the picture below I stowed the router such that I can view the white power light on the bottom to ensure it has power.

 

[Neal]

Seems like I do everything twice...so I moved my router to the forward most bay and put it on the shelf above the dometic cooler where I also have 120V outlets. As I'm using the ethernet cable option and also ran my Starlink antenna cable I don't need to be messing with the router and I tend to forget to unplug it when not in use. Probably not a big deal but I like it to be reset and powered on when the dishy is connected. It is also a power hog from what I've read so if boondocking it may be something to consider depending on your battery "horsepower". So I added an Amazon smart plug as I have Amazon echo "alexas" in my coach so it's easy to manage power to this router now. There are cheaper ones and you can get 2-4 for the price of one of these but I prefer the Amazon smart plugs.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089DR29T6/?tag=rvf01-20

 

[Neal]

If you drop your dish and find out how fragile it is, as I did, it's $250 for a refurb, $599 for a new dish. Fortunately mine still works. I'll consider a new dish when an upgraded version comes out. Support was timely in answering my question on cost for a new dish.

 

[marc2912]

If you drop your dish and find out how fragile it is, as I did, it's $250 for a refurb, $599 for a new dish. Fortunately mine still works. I'll consider a new dish when an upgraded version comes out. Support was timely in answering my question on cost for a new dish.

So I did one better. I put my dish on top of my wrangler in a wooded campground to get better signal. You already know where this is going don't you. Someone came and talked to me as I was prepping my site to go out in town for a bit. Forgot to remove it from the roof. As I drive away the spare cord stretches out and boom the dish foot drags across my hard top and the dish crashes to the ground. The back cover pops off and the foot (made out of cheap cast metal) breaks a leg clear off.

I did get very lucky, the cover snapped back on and I got a new foot on eBay for $50. The dish seems to work correctly though it does feel very loose.

Live and learn, it no longer goes on the roof of the Jeep.

 

[marc2912]

I will add to my last post that dropping this thing on it's head aside, one of the things I noticed is that these things just aren't made to be moved etc. There is a known problem of bad connections with the ethernet connectors and the dish definitely feels like it's not built in a way that expects the user to be putting this thing up and down regularly. I'm expecting us to see a much larger failure rate for Starlink in the RV community than in the homeowner one. I'm working on deciding how I'm handling on my wiring to permanently have all connections done. The goal is to open my storage bay, pull dishy out and that's it, I don't want to play with these connectors more than I have to.

 

[Neal]

Agreed and I hope we'll actually see a more portable friendly setup WITH 12V power and not requiring 120V. Something that is more sturdy and secure in its connections. We're only at the beginning of this new venture, I'm sure we'll see frequent upgrades and improvements in the road ahead.

 

[Buly]

Like Marc, I was tempted few times to put the dishy on the roof of my Honda. But I know better.
Have left few items on the roof before.
On the other hand, I. Pinched the wire in the slide couple of times. One of them this morning

 

[lemondrop9344]

For what it's worth........... I am using a tripod that I purchased from

Account Suspended

They have an option to select the components you want. I also purchased the Starlink pole adapter & Ethernet adapter from the Starlink store as well as the 150' cable........ just in case.
I'm using the residential plan with roaming or whatever they call in enabled. I set up the tripod in an area that looks like it might work (minimum to no possible obstructions) & turn it on. I am a firm believer Murphy is alive & well. I try to set things up so as to minimize him impacting my life.
Have not figured out how I want to permanently run the cable. For the time being I have it run through a window (yes, I know that's tacky).
In time I feel confident the 'aftermarket' will create a variety of devices to support this product. So far, I'm really happy with the performance of the Dishy with my Peplink device.
By the way, Peplink has a Starlink webinar on 10/19.

 

[Neal]

I have a tripod as well as outlined in this post. That is what I used first here and didn't get any signal probably as it was too close to the back of my coach thinking it only needed to see northwest. When I talked to another RVer here he said it works for him so I tried again. I figured it would be easier just to put the dishy on the roof and it would be if it didn't fall out of the sling that came with something, I think the pole mount adapter, don't know. Live and learn but yes, I have options and from now on will be using the flagpole buddy or one of the tripods (king or included four leg mount).

 

[Hoofaaa]

Use this thread to share how you setup Starlink in your RV and also share your experiences in your travels and how it's working for you and anything else you care to share. Be sure to include pictures as they always help to show an install or setup.

For sharing your Starlink Internet speed tests please use the Starlink Travel Log which is just like the Cellular Travel Log.

To order Starlink for RV's click here. If you are on the residential waiting list you may need to sign out and use a different email to order as it may show Starlink not available yet in your location which is not the case for the RV orders.

Starlink | Roam

Stay connected on the go, starting at $50/mo.

www.starlink.com

Setup was as easy as it gets. It was great at first, but the last month, it’s been terrible. Barely get to a download speed of 20 during the day

 

[ehochuli85]

Setup was as easy as it gets. It was great at first, but the last month, it’s been terrible. Barely get to a download speed of 20 during the day

Thank you, Hoofaaa, and everyone for the contributions to this thread. I'm on the verge of pulling the trigger, as we travel pretty much full-time. Your post says that recently, you "barely get to a download speed of 20 during the day" . . . but that gives you plenty of speed to stream TV without any buffering, doesn't it? I currently use a couple hotspots, and there are places in which the best I can get on either of them is 4 or 5, but I can usually stream without buffering at those speeds. Are you ever unable to stream TV without buffering using Starlink?

Thank you, Ed

 

[Scotttkd2]

Hi Ed, the generally recognized industry standard is 3-4mbps to successfully stream, but the senders end can cause issues as well, so their is no guarantees at any download speed. I have had as little as 5-6 down occcasionally on the Starlink and never an issue streaming. The latency is normally a lot higher on cellular than on Starlink, and that's can also affect the streaming capability on otherwise similar "speeds" of internet connection.

 

[ehochuli85]

Thanks everyone for all the great information. I bought the RV setup a week ago, and so far, it's working out good.

I'm looking for advice on the Starlink "Mesh". I have my router in one of the basement bays, but being in the bay is clearly costing me some signal strength inside the coach. (The floors are quite thick and well insulated on this coach.) Most of the time I get plenty of signal inside the coach, but at peak time, not so much.

My thought is to buy the Starlink Mesh, ($130), and use it inside the coach to relay the signal. I don't really want to run the dish wire in thru a window, or run a wire, or some of the very cool connectors some of you have installed . . . I have trouble making my coffee in the morning, much less setting up some of the stuff you folks do! (Besides, I have another use for the mesh - we spend 3 months in a casita next to our RV site in Gold Canyon, AZ, and I figure the mesh will allow me to use the Starlink there, instead of paying $180 for wifi coverage for the 3 months. It will pay for itself in 2 months).

Thoughts? Problems? Do any of you use the mesh to extend your signal?

Thank you, Ed

 

[Neal]

@ehochuli85 congrats on taking the plunge! These puzzles are always fun. I have no experience with the Starlink Mesh but I have run mesh wi-fi in my house so I'm familiar with them. My concern is that if the main router can't get a good signal to the mesh unit then how good is it really going to work?

Ideally it would be nice if you could get an ethernet cable run from the basement into the coach. You could then get the ethernet adapter for the Starlink setup and it could send its signal up the ethernet cable. You could then use another wi-fi router of your choosing or go with a Pepwave such as many here use.

In the end, it's not a big expense to try it out and see. Other options per above are all more expensive than that option typically.

I defer to anyone with Starlink Mesh experience and keeping in mind the barrier you describe.

P.S. I also suggest moving your Starlink router to different basement locations and see what results you have. You can still have the cables and plugs in the same place and just push wires over walls assuming that's possible like with Newmar and you may be able to find a more central and centered location.