SargeW
Site Team
After considerable thought about jumping into Satellite Internet for use in the stick house and RV, I decided to pull the trigger on a Starlink system when the "portability" feature was added to the service a few days ago.
Starlink is concentrating right now on "rural" areas first for their new customers. I have a place in AZ in Lake Havasu City. I made a deposit of $99 to get on the waiting list. Four days later I received an email that the unit was being prepared for shipping. A week later it was delivered. The set up kit contained a 19" X 12" rectangular dish with a mast attached, a four legged metal base with a hole for the mast, 75' of heavy cable, and the router.
I opted to go for the Starlink even though our T Mobile 5G router is working quite well in many populated areas. However, when you get away from a population center all bets are off. The Starlink set up is quick and easy, and taking the parts apart for transport is 2 minutes. For the set up the dish automatically searches and locates the satellites, so extended periods of aiming the dish (like Direct TV required) are eliminated. Plug in the dish, plug in the router and watch. Usually takes a few minutes to locate satellites and lock on.
I needed to find a route to feed the satellite cable from the inside of the rig to the dish. The cable that comes with the setup is a 75' heavy cable with plugs that look like mini USB plugs, but is a Starlink proprietary plug. The plug from the antenna is a straight connector, but the plug from the router is a "L" shaped plug. I located a pass through in my Aqua Hot bay that had a cable pass through to under the sink in my half bath. Several other cables and wires were already running through the opening, but I needed to be able to fish the Starlink cable easily through the opening as I move the dish and router from the RV to the house and back. Eventually I will purchase another cable to leave permanently in the RV.
For ease of installation I used a piece of 3/4" PVC pipe about 14" long. Working from the bottom Aqua Hot bay I slid the pipe up into the cable opening. To check the pathway first I used a strong flashlight from the bottom with the DW in the half bath with the under sink open. When she could see the light beam brightly, I replaced the light with the PVC pipe. With a little wiggling and upward pressure, the PVC pipe appeared in the sink cabinet opening. To route the cable to the bedroom where the router would sit on the dresser I used a spade bit to make two 3/4" holes in the cabinet, and the side wall into the bedroom.
Then working from the bedroom, routed the cable through the wall, in back of the toilet and into the sink cabinet. The cable slid easily through the PVC pipe and into the Aqua Hot bay. I pulled most of the wire into the bay, then coiled it up and hung the wire from the top of the cabinet. When hooking up the dish, I can feed as much cable out of the door to the to the dish location and plug it in.
Then just attach the other end to the router and plug it into a wall outlet. The dish goes from a stored vertical position, to a flat horizontal position when it starts to scan for satellites. A cell phone app on your phone allows you to monitor the progress of the setup as well as some other monitoring functions. Within 2-4 minutes the dish is on line and hooked up to the satellite array.
The dish worked well at the stick house, and my first trip was to Grand Canyon Caverns RV park in the mountains AZ. Nice scenic area, but zero cellular signal. I set up the rig and then put the dish out on the drivers side of the rig in an open area. The dish performed as designed, and for the next several days we had high speed internet for streaming, surfing, or making VOIP (voice over internet protocol) phone calls.
We paid $599 for the Starlink equipment, and monthly service is $110 a month for unlimited data with no throttling. Our average download speeds were 115 meg down, and 20 to 30 meg up. The additionally portability feature is good for anywhere in the country, and is an additional $25 a month. You can start and stop the portability feature within the app in seconds. I won't say the service is cheap, but if being connected about anywhere in the country is important, then it's worth looking into.
The downside to the service is the same as satellite TV. If you are in a heavily treed area or in a deep canyon, the dish may not be able to lock onto the satellites. And if you go to a major population center like LA, or Phoenix for example, the speeds you experience may be reduced do to congestion. That will improve though as more satellites are put into orbit.
Starlink is concentrating right now on "rural" areas first for their new customers. I have a place in AZ in Lake Havasu City. I made a deposit of $99 to get on the waiting list. Four days later I received an email that the unit was being prepared for shipping. A week later it was delivered. The set up kit contained a 19" X 12" rectangular dish with a mast attached, a four legged metal base with a hole for the mast, 75' of heavy cable, and the router.
I opted to go for the Starlink even though our T Mobile 5G router is working quite well in many populated areas. However, when you get away from a population center all bets are off. The Starlink set up is quick and easy, and taking the parts apart for transport is 2 minutes. For the set up the dish automatically searches and locates the satellites, so extended periods of aiming the dish (like Direct TV required) are eliminated. Plug in the dish, plug in the router and watch. Usually takes a few minutes to locate satellites and lock on.
I needed to find a route to feed the satellite cable from the inside of the rig to the dish. The cable that comes with the setup is a 75' heavy cable with plugs that look like mini USB plugs, but is a Starlink proprietary plug. The plug from the antenna is a straight connector, but the plug from the router is a "L" shaped plug. I located a pass through in my Aqua Hot bay that had a cable pass through to under the sink in my half bath. Several other cables and wires were already running through the opening, but I needed to be able to fish the Starlink cable easily through the opening as I move the dish and router from the RV to the house and back. Eventually I will purchase another cable to leave permanently in the RV.
For ease of installation I used a piece of 3/4" PVC pipe about 14" long. Working from the bottom Aqua Hot bay I slid the pipe up into the cable opening. To check the pathway first I used a strong flashlight from the bottom with the DW in the half bath with the under sink open. When she could see the light beam brightly, I replaced the light with the PVC pipe. With a little wiggling and upward pressure, the PVC pipe appeared in the sink cabinet opening. To route the cable to the bedroom where the router would sit on the dresser I used a spade bit to make two 3/4" holes in the cabinet, and the side wall into the bedroom.
Then working from the bedroom, routed the cable through the wall, in back of the toilet and into the sink cabinet. The cable slid easily through the PVC pipe and into the Aqua Hot bay. I pulled most of the wire into the bay, then coiled it up and hung the wire from the top of the cabinet. When hooking up the dish, I can feed as much cable out of the door to the to the dish location and plug it in.
Then just attach the other end to the router and plug it into a wall outlet. The dish goes from a stored vertical position, to a flat horizontal position when it starts to scan for satellites. A cell phone app on your phone allows you to monitor the progress of the setup as well as some other monitoring functions. Within 2-4 minutes the dish is on line and hooked up to the satellite array.
The dish worked well at the stick house, and my first trip was to Grand Canyon Caverns RV park in the mountains AZ. Nice scenic area, but zero cellular signal. I set up the rig and then put the dish out on the drivers side of the rig in an open area. The dish performed as designed, and for the next several days we had high speed internet for streaming, surfing, or making VOIP (voice over internet protocol) phone calls.
We paid $599 for the Starlink equipment, and monthly service is $110 a month for unlimited data with no throttling. Our average download speeds were 115 meg down, and 20 to 30 meg up. The additionally portability feature is good for anywhere in the country, and is an additional $25 a month. You can start and stop the portability feature within the app in seconds. I won't say the service is cheap, but if being connected about anywhere in the country is important, then it's worth looking into.
The downside to the service is the same as satellite TV. If you are in a heavily treed area or in a deep canyon, the dish may not be able to lock onto the satellites. And if you go to a major population center like LA, or Phoenix for example, the speeds you experience may be reduced do to congestion. That will improve though as more satellites are put into orbit.
