Starlink RV installation and use

[gsgriffin]

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

Where do you get that they don't intend to sell to address in cities? All I have seen is that they don't intend to market to people in cities, but expect to have some users in urban areas?

I suggest watching this interview with Elon Musk from last March listen to his statement at the 3 minute mark.

Yes, I watched this last March shortly after he gave this. I suppose we have different interpretations of what he said. Perhaps others will watch it and give their perspective of what he was claiming Starlink direction would be.

He was making statements that they are not intending to compete with Telcos (other ISP and telephone). He states that they are focusing on the 2-3% of people that are in the hardest to reach areas, mostly rural he said. He said that they may go from "low to medium scarcity areas."

In cities, the density is too great and would overwhelm the capacity of the satellites. Yes, he did say there will be a "handful of people in LA", but not anyone that wants it in LA...he didn't give any clarification as to who or why anyone in LA would get it. Could be that a handful of people in the hills or canyons may qualify.

I just Googled "starlink only for rural areas" and got tons of results. Here are some.




https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/wi..._up_address.3F
"- Will Starlink be available in dense urban areas/cities?
Elon: "We'll have some small number of customers in Los Angeles but we can't do a lot of customers in Los Angeles because the bandwidth per cell is simply not high enough" also "I wanna be clear, it's not like Starlink is a huge threat to telcos. I want to be super clear. It is not. In fact it will be helpful to telcos because Starlink will serve the hardest to serve customers that telcos otherwise have trouble doing with landlines or even with cell radio stations, cell towers."

https://www.pandasecurity.com/en/med...musk-starlink/

https://www.satelliteinternet.com/providers/starlink/

In the end, I still haven't heard any comment about the RVer community, but I'm hoping that they will be included in the rural and least served areas, as many of us tend to end up in locations like that. I could imagine the problem being that if you live in a city and bought this, what happens when you get rid of the motorhome? If there are ton's of people in the urban areas around a city with motorhomes, would that become overwhelming when they are all home and choose to keep using this? Just don't know how they will figure it. For now, I used one of my rural addresses and was able to get in the beta. My urban address (only about 15 miles away) did not get an invitation. Luck? I don't know for sure. But, it could possibly be the case that RVers with a rural address may be able to get this (now or after beta) and then traveling with it will still remain a question, but hopefully this can be possible since the satellites will basically be everywhere...just a matter of base stations, which Starlink predicts someday could reach a million or more (that is way, way in the future with the buildout of their future satellites).

[Mudstream]

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

Where do you get that they don't intend to sell to address in cities? All I have seen is that they don't intend to market to people in cities, but expect to have some users in urban areas?

Just as soon as the low latency possibilities of Starlink became known, there was an immediate buzz about high frequency trading firms using it to get an edge on competitors. These are not rural customers and I expect they would pay a LOT more than 99 bucks a month to get access.

Would big dollars from special customers that need the speed be tempting? It would to me. I can even see special ground stations sitting on top of the stock exchanges (or at least next door.)

If you don't think this is big business read Flash Boys by Michael Lewis.

[Isaac-1]

True, but that feature for high frequency traders will not work until the next generation of satellites start being launched with satellite to satellite laser links.

[Florida Rang]

I think for the time being I will just keep my Inmarsat Satellite phone for phone service when my cell phone has no service. And Yes, the monthly bill is less than my cell phone bill. And it will connect any time I have a 10 ft circle clear view of the sky.

[litzdog911]

Mobile Internet Resource Center update on Starlink's answers to recent questions, including mobile applications ....
https://youtu.be/Yk-IyKGYFZY

[smiller]

Originally Posted by litzdog911

Mobile Internet Resource Center update on Starlink's answers to recent questions, including mobile applications ....
https://youtu.be/Yk-IyKGYFZY

Sounds like any hopeful purchases for mobile use are really jumping the gun at this point and the current hardware may never be compatible, or at least optimal, for mobile use. Hopefully some better news by next spring or summer, including maybe some second-gen hardware.

[rarebear.nm]

Clearly StarLink drives this show. IMO- sit back and wait for the correct product announcement. If you've got the money to burn and got to try it, well go for it. If there's a market and need it will be filled as soon as infrastructure is ready. The mobil market should be very large to let it go by.

[docj]

Originally Posted by smiller

Sounds like any hopeful purchases for mobile use are really jumping the gun at this point and the current hardware may never be compatible, or at least optimal, for mobile use. Hopefully some better news by next spring or summer, including maybe some second-gen hardware.

A couple of days ago, the Starlink team made it clear that mobility is coming in the future and its availability is dependent on having more satellites in orbit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/co...thing/gd3qsmx/

[gsgriffin]

Originally Posted by rarebear.nm

Clearly StarLink drives this show. IMO- sit back and wait for the correct product announcement. If you've got the money to burn and got to try it, well go for it. If there's a market and need it will be filled as soon as infrastructure is ready. The mobil market should be very large to let it go by.

Fortunately, at this time, nobody can get the hardward for the BETA unless you already live in an underserved area....not even remote urban areas can get it. So, if you are able to get the BETA...it will be a fantastic option for your home. It also comes right now with a tripod stand that takes seconds to plop on the ground, and it automatically connects and works.

So for those living in cities or urban areas where you have decent internet options for your home, most likely you will not even be able to get the beta equipment. If you are remote and want to join up, whether or not this will work for your remote travels, it will work for your home. If you are on the road a lot of the year, this may still work fine as there is not indication that the hardware will change or needs to change for mobile use.

The real curious side of this is that Elon doesn't seem concerned about the need and having to expand to more markets. Again, this is not a US service. This is truly GLOBAL...his market potential is not 300+ million people. It is 7 Billion people. They appear more interested in limiting the access as they seem confident they will max out the capacity of the network with just those people that are underserved. We'll have to wait and see if they consider RVers in US choosing to go in remote locations as a part of that group. We're all guessing and speculating at this point.

Once again, if any of you have received a BETA setup and are planning on being mobile, please share your setup, what you decided to do and how to plan to mount it (if you will).

[docj]

If you are wondering what's inside that $500 Starlink receiver, some folks have torn one apart to take a look: https://hackaday.com/2020/11/25/lite...rlink-antenna/

[Don/Lou]

Info on Canadian price & more
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...cing-1.5817966

[litzdog911]

Originally Posted by docj

If you are wondering what's inside that $500 Starlink receiver, some folks have torn one apart to take a look: https://hackaday.com/2020/11/25/lite...rlink-antenna/

Fascinating! Thanks for posting this.

[Jerryss2]

I received my beta invitation. I’m full-time and considering it. Does anyone here actually have it running? Are you geo-fenced to one location?

[litzdog911]

Originally Posted by Jerryss2

I received my beta invitation. I’m full-time and considering it. Does anyone here actually have it running? Are you geo-fenced to one location?

Check out this video from the Mobile Internet Resource Center. Starlink is not ready for mobile RV'ers yet .....
https://youtu.be/Yk-IyKGYFZY