Starlink RV roaming version, initial test (2 Viewers)

[MCtree]

Leave her in charge of the mobile internet solution - problem solved.

That was meant in jest, but could save you some headache. That sounds like an awesome trip.

Jesting or not, you are 100% correct there.
But somehow I don’t think I’ll be allowed to slip out of my home-IT-manager role on this one.

To add… I’m not sure I want the internet on my camping trips. I mean, I want the Starlink because it’s such a cool toy. But part of my enjoyment of camping is not being connected to the world. I worry Starlink is just another step to there being no “off the grid” anymore.

That said.. mine is not to reason why.
And if a toy like this gets me permissions to go on more such trips, it’s not all bad!

 

[MCtree]

Keep in mind that this is a wireless connection making handoffs to multiple satellites at 350 miles away. That being said, I had great connections while on a trip to Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico last summer. Obstructions should be avoided if you’re using it for video calls.

You can download the Starlink app even if you don’t have service and use it to scan for obstructions. Maybe try this while at home so you can get an idea of what it needs regarding the horizon and see if you think it will be ok in those valleys.

Depending on the intensity of your wife’s wrath this may not be worth the risk.

FWIW here is a screenshot of my latest outages of 0.1+ seconds. I’m in the southeast so it’s not exactly representative of what you will encounter on your trip, you should have better access than me. My dish is completely unobstructed. Maybe someone closer to your destination can chime in or share their outage info.

View attachment 3317854

Thanks!

And yikes! Is that as bad as it looks?
And is it always that bad or did you send a screenshot of the worst period?

I’ll get the app and try here.

And to ask a stupid question: are those times in seconds? (Though I can’t imagine what else they would be).
Seems like a zoom call would be impossible.

And my wife’s wrath can be prodigious.
What’s the expression? “Hell hath no fury like that of a woman kicked off of Pinterest.” Or something like that. (I kid!)

 

[Artie]

Jesting or not, you are 100% correct there.
But somehow I don’t think I’ll be allowed to slip out of my home-IT-manager role on this one.

To add… I’m not sure I want the internet on my camping trips. I mean, I want the Starlink because it’s such a cool toy. But part of my enjoyment of camping is not being connected to the world. I worry Starlink is just another step to there being no “off the grid” anymore.

Both these points hit close to home for me. Me having a telecom degree means I get all the tech questions from anyone remotely related to me, while annoying at times it pales in comparison to my wife’s role as a doctor… the questions she gets are far beyond what I care to know about from any relative or in-law.

As for the Starlink. Our main reason for having it while traveling to parts unknown are to check the weather and let loved ones we haven’t been eaten by mountain lions. We used it a hand full of times on a 3 week trip last year and each time we were thankful we had it. It was put away after that. It helps that my kids don’t get screen time so there’s no one asking for connectivity yet and we plan on staying the lame no device parents for as long as possible.

 

[Artie]

Thanks!

And yikes! Is that as bad as it looks?
And is it always that bad or did you send a screenshot of the worst period?

I’ll get the app and try here.

And to ask a stupid question: are those times in seconds? (Though I can’t imagine what else they would be).
Seems like a zoom call would be impossible.

And my wife’s wrath can be prodigious.
What’s the expression? “Hell hath no fury like that of a woman kicked off of Pinterest.” Or something like that. (I kid!)

Yes, those times are in seconds. For gaming and video calls it can be tough, streaming and surfing it’s fine. That image is for the last 12 hours for any outage over 0.1 second. Below is 2 or more seconds and a graph for your enjoyment. It needs to be noted that I’m still in an area where there isn’t full satellite deployment and there’s a waitlist for regular residential. I got my dish when there was a sneaky workaround with portability and some location hijinks. While out west it was a lot more stable so just keep that in mind… I’m just sharing data in the hopes of having something to compare against should others want to post their experience.

I’m in an area where my regular home ATT service is prone to bed pooping so we have the Starlink as a backup and for our travels.

 

[Fisher23]

Thanks!

And yikes! Is that as bad as it looks?
And is it always that bad or did you send a screenshot of the worst period?

I’ll get the app and try here.

And to ask a stupid question: are those times in seconds? (Though I can’t imagine what else they would be).
Seems like a zoom call would be impossible.

And my wife’s wrath can be prodigious.
What’s the expression? “Hell hath no fury like that of a woman kicked off of Pinterest.” Or something like that. (I kid!)

The times are in seconds, but there is BUFFERING involved.

SO on most (if any) of those you will not notice the blip.

 

[MCtree]

Thanks, all.
This information is good to have. Some stuttering on a zoom call is fine. Drop-outs would be bad.

In googling to find how long one can have a drop-out before zoom drops the call I don’t find much information.

But I did find this page:

Starlink RV Reality Check - Truck Camper Magazine

Fellow campers with Starlink share their experiences using the satellite internet system on the road. Is Starlink a game changer for RVers?

www.truckcampermagazine.com

Review number 7 is informative.
(If it’s not a paid advertisement by Starlink)

 

[Wafflroo]

Just to weigh in, we’ve had starlink on our sprinter for 9 months roughly now. Lived full time in it for a short time (5 months). My wife worked from it everyday with zero issues. She usually has a meeting or two a day and never had an issue in all of Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana that we traveled. The only time we ran into issues with connectivity was while parked and snow was coming down faster than the unit could melt it off.

 

[MCtree]

Just to weigh in, we’ve had starlink on our sprinter for 9 months roughly now. Lived full time in it for a short time (5 months). My wife worked from it everyday with zero issues. She usually has a meeting or two a day and never had an issue in all of Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana that we traveled. The only time we ran into issues with connectivity was while parked and snow was coming down faster than the unit could melt it off.

Perfect! Thanks.
That was exactly the type of info I was looking for.

 

[MCtree]

So… to give some more data points:

I’m here about 25 miles outside of Mason Texas (central Texas in the hill country) testing my newly arrived Starlink.
There is no cell service in this area.

I have been consistently getting 50mbps up and around 5mbps down via Starlink. (Edit: I flipped that. It was 50 down and 5 up)
Though there are trees obstructing my dish.

My wife and I tested FaceTiming each other while both on the Starlink router. It works very well. Certainly good enough for a work call.
You do get momentary glitches of the video of like a second, but nothing too bothersome. The audio never glitched.
Bottom line: you can easily do two FaceTimes while on Starlink.

I also streamed Tidal lossless for a while while she FaceTimed her sister. Again, no issues.


As for power consumption;
I’ve been running the Starlink off of an Ecoflow Delta 2.
Watching the AC power consumption on the Ecoflow app, the wattage jumps between 21watts up to 57 watts. Just eyeballing it, I would guess the average is about 35watts.

The Ecoflow app tells me that I should be good to power the Starlink for about 17 hours.
(My solar panels have yet to arrive.)

 

[Artie]

So… to give some more data points:

I’m here about 25 miles outside of Mason Texas (central Texas in the hill country) testing my newly arrived Starlink.
There is no cell service in this area.

I have been consistently getting 50mbps up and around 5mbps down via Starlink.
Though there are trees obstructing my dish.

My wife and I tested FaceTiming each other while both on the Starlink router. It works very well. Certainly good enough for a work call.
You do get momentary glitches of the video of like a second, but nothing too bothersome. The audio never glitched.
Bottom line: you can easily do two FaceTimes while on Starlink.

I also streamed Tidal lossless for a while while she FaceTimed her sister. Again, no issues.


As for power consumption;
I’ve been running the Starlink off of an Ecoflow Delta 2.
Watching the AC power consumption on the Ecoflow app, the wattage jumps between 21watts up to 57 watts. Just eyeballing it, I would guess the average is about 35watts.

The Ecoflow app tells me that I should be good to power the Starlink for about 17 hours.
(My solar panels have yet to arrive.)

Out of curiosity, what is your obstruction %?

 

[MCtree]

Out of curiosity, what is your obstruction %?

@Artie,
The Starlink app says “Starlink is still collecting data on obstructions. This will take another 3 hours.”

Does it normally take 5 hours to generate this information?

Also.. I notice the Starlink is in heating mode.
It’s 70 F here in West Texas!
I have it in automatic mode to detect if it need to melt snow. I guess I’ll turn that off. But how could it be so wrong?
Though even now it’s only consuming about 35w.

 

[awesomeissquid]

Turning off the heater should help with the power consumption. Should also help save the cable from destroying itself from too much amperage.

 

[gasman4u]

Turning off the heater should help with the power consumption. Should also help save the cable from destroying itself from too much amperage.

Is that a thing?

 

[awesomeissquid]

Is that a thing?

So I havnt experienced it first hand yet, but my friend who has a unit and works in the ICT industry has. He explained that the cable type they are using is only rated for so many amps and they are pushing well above that through it which causes it to burn up over time. It sounded like the cable spec they are using is the latest and greatest, but it’s just not designed for that much power and they need to develop a new cable type to handle more.

 

[Artie]

@Artie,
The Starlink app says “Starlink is still collecting data on obstructions. This will take another 3 hours.”

Does it normally take 5 hours to generate this information?

Also.. I notice the Starlink is in heating mode.
It’s 70 F here in West Texas!
I have it in automatic mode to detect if it need to melt snow. I guess I’ll turn that off. But how could it be so wrong?
Though even now it’s only consuming about 35w.

Idk how long it actually takes to get the obstruction data.. mine has said “12 hours” and been done on a couple. I was just curious on yours because you mentioned trees and no issues with FaceTime and I’ve had issues with FaceTime several times in the past. I’m beginning to lean toward router obstruction over Starlink signal issues. My camper is metal and may be acting as a faraday cage.

 

[gasman4u]

So I havnt experienced it first hand yet, but my friend who has a unit and works in the ICT industry has. He explained that the cable type they are using is only rated for so many amps and they are pushing well above that through it which causes it to burn up over time. It sounded like the cable spec they are using is the latest and greatest, but it’s just not designed for that much power and they need to develop a new cable type to handle more.

Thanks. Would this also apply to home based units? I am assuming so given the uniform equipment in comparison (best I can tell as a regular guy).

 

[awesomeissquid]

Thanks. Would this also apply to home based units? I am assuming so given the uniform equipment in comparison (best I can tell as a regular guy).

I don't have the knowledge to say confidently, but I would assume the issue is across the product line.

 

[gasman4u]

so you're saying I should turn off the automatic dish heater unless I need it to clear snow/ice?

 

[Artie]

so you're saying I should turn off the automatic dish heater unless I need it to clear snow/ice?

Yes. Honestly, I never have this feature on when at home either. If I need to clear snow I can use my hand. If your camping then I’d prioritize energy consumption over snow clearing.

 

[MCtree]

So after almost a week here in a very remote cabin in Wyoming, I can say that the Starlink is a smashing success.

We have used it for zoom meeting and FaceTime calls. Along with VPN emailing and voice calls.
Not a single drop-off.
Speeds have ranged from 50mpbs down to 150. And 7 to 15 up. With it mostly being rainy and cloudy.
Though we are in an open valley with no trees around the dish.

And, for what it’s worth, we have been powering it with an Ecoflow Delta 2.
And I have the 220 watt ecoflow solar panel to recharge the Delta 2. We haven’t put the panel out much but the combo of the two has been more than sufficient for our 6 day stay out here.