Starlink RV installation and use

[RedneckExpress]

Originally Posted by tnedator

I'm in a waitlisted area, and I tested this weekend, and saw the same speed fluctuations as you.

Same, we're still in the Residential queue, been there since it opened up in the first place, just got tired of ViaSat and the lack of any other options where we keep our fifthwheel/home, so I forked out to get the RV Option while remaining on the residential queue because even deprioritized low latency internet is still better than ViaSat.

[Billett Bee]

Here's what I screen shotted from sl website help pg.

[gsgriffin]

Originally Posted by Billett Bee

In higher traffic areas with lots of congestion residential will be prioritized over rv. I'll look for it

What we will all be able to test and report back is how much deprioritization for each. They do state that the RV option will be the lowest priority of all, but by how much? They also state that the residential with portability will be high priority when at your service address, but might be a little lower priority when portable. Doesn't say by how much, but seems to be worded as still higher than the RV only option.

At least that is the way I read all of it. Perhaps others understand it differently?

[kershman68]

Serious real world Starlink RV test…we watched the extended LOTR Fellowship of the Ring movie straight through with no hiccups last night. That’s crazy for us and the first time in 8 years living in our rural house that we were able to stream an HD movie like this without serious buffering and pausing.

This was in peak hours, in a waitlisted area, with Speedtests showing single to low double digit Mbps downloads.

So, even deprioritized, there is enough capacity to be our best internet source over our hotspots.

Of note, in my experience obstructions and satellite locations have more impact to real world use vs deprioritization. You can use Starlink.sx to determine based on your location which satellite is in range and providing your link. When I have a high quality connection, my speeds are higher, vs lower quality connections.

[jondrew55]

We just joined the legion of Elon minions and got our Starlink for RV yesterday. Ordered on June 2nd it came on June 14th. Out of the box it is exactly as simple as all the unboxing videos show. Plug it in, connect the app and wait. It took about 15 min to fully connect. I suspect it may have something to do with my home location in Orlando being in a "waitlisted" area and more likely the tree cover in my yard. I was not able to find an "ideal" location without maybe crawling up on the roof as I have a large tree in the north end of my yard. But once I connected I was getting around 135 down/ and 15 up. More than sufficient for our needs and as good or generally better than I get from Spectrum who is my S&B provider.

We're not retired yet so most of our travels are in Florida State parks which usually represents a problem with heavy tree cover. I'm frequently fighting to find a hole in the trees for my Pathway X2 sat dish. However we do have some beachside parks we frequent with no tree cover which will be ideal. The plan is to get 14 day blocks of reservations and just leave the Airstream out there with my wife and I telecommuting. I do a lot of Skype calls, but would be fine defaulting to cell audio and dealing with following charts. But she does a lot of zoom calls during the day and needs a more solid connection. When we get back into the fall, we can do the same thing and just tag team between the trailer and the house since our daughter is still in school.

Now working on mounting solutions. There is a feed thru behind our battery box that the connector will fit thru. Hopefully I can find a way to snake the wire into where the AV stuff is in the overhead cabinet. I'm thinking of buying a Wilson Electronics telescoping antenna pole and attaching it with some clamps to my trailer power jack post. That will be a convenient spot for most obstruction free spots and not required a ladder to get the antenna up on a roof mount. I have the 150' cable so there's a good chance I will be able to get the antenna in some sort of acceptable location.

[Nwcid]

Originally Posted by gsgriffin

What we will all be able to test and report back is how much deprioritization for each. They do state that the RV option will be the lowest priority of all, but by how much? They also state that the residential with portability will be high priority when at your service address, but might be a little lower priority when portable. Doesn't say by how much, but seems to be worded as still higher than the RV only option.

At least that is the way I read all of it. Perhaps others understand it differently?

There is no set way to test this because it will vary from second to second. In most cases that is what data does on your cell phone right now. You have XX amount of data and then once you have used that amount you are deprioritized to users who have not exceeded their limit.

There is only so much bandwidth. If all of the bandwidth is being used by residential users both portable and RV users will have low or no bandwidth. If most of the bandwidth is being used by residential users then portable will have next priority of use, followed by RV.

This is over simplified but hopefully a reasonable analogy. Think about it like a highway in a urban area. Sometimes there is plenty of room and everyone is able to do the full speed limit (bandwidth). Other times it is rush hour (peak times) and the HOV lane (residential users) are able to maintain speed. During that rush hour portable users are like cars that can use any lane and RV users are like the truckers stuck in the right hand lanes. As you know from traveling like this, even during rush hour speed varies and sometimes there is enough bandwidth and everyone is going "fast" and other times you are moving at a crawl.

[Billett Bee]

nice explanation

[docj]

Originally Posted by Nwcid

This is over simplified but hopefully a reasonable analogy. Think about it like a highway in a urban area. Sometimes there is plenty of room and everyone is able to do the full speed limit (bandwidth). Other times it is rush hour (peak times) and the HOV lane (residential users) are able to maintain speed. During that rush hour portable users are like cars that can use any lane and RV users are like the truckers stuck in the right hand lanes. As you know from traveling like this, even during rush hour speed varies and sometimes there is enough bandwidth and everyone is going "fast" and other times you are moving at a crawl.

To add onto this excellent analogy, the traffic on the highway isn't really annoying until it gets bad enough that you can't maintain a decent speed.

There have been quite few posts here and elsewhere about Starlink speeds having fallen significantly from the 100-300 Mbps that I was experiencing back in November. And, sure those lighting fast speeds were great if you were downloading a very large file.

But for many of us, our most data-intensive activity is streaming video and all you really need for that to be reliable is ~>5 Mpbs. In my experience my Starlink speed has always been enough to support streaming.

As for drop-outs, if you have a router that can display data usage, try watching a video with a specific length, such as a movie. You'll notice that the video usage goes to nearly zero several minutes before the end of the show. That's how how much buffer is being stored which is why you rarely notice drop-outs when watching pre-recorded material.

The bottom line for me is that even a year ago I was thankful to get 5 Mbps on my cellular connection at my home. Now my cellular connection has gone to ~40-50 Mbps and my Starlink usually is in the 50-100 Mbps range. I'm not going to complain about no longer having >200 Mbps! I have more than what I had before and more than I really need!

[jondrew55]

Originally Posted by docj

The bottom line for me is that even a year ago I was thankful to get 5 Mbps on my cellular connection at my home. Now my cellular connection has gone to ~40-50 Mbps and my Starlink usually is in the 50-100 Mbps range. I'm not going to complain about no longer having >200 Mbps! I have more than what I had before and more than I really need!

What was that saying? "Some people will complain the rope you use to hang them with was not new"

[Aquaadverse]

I've been using SL RV at work for the last couple of weeks in the Pensacola , Fl area. I'm seeing 20-50meg consistently with occasional spikes to 150meg and dips to 17meg , however that is from 6am-2pm'ish. No obstructions and clear view North. My current RV campsite is too tree obstructed for use and I wanted to use it during the 30 return window.

[brandss]

Long Wall Mount Question - I can't tell by looking at this on the website but I would like to mount this halfway up an outside wall and wonder if the mount is long enough to let the dish turn on, lay horizontal, then adjust as it does. I obviously don't want the dish to hit the side of the wall when it first turns on.

[gsgriffin]

Originally Posted by Nwcid

There is no set way to test this because it will vary from second to second. In most cases that is what data does on your cell phone right now. You have XX amount of data and then once you have used that amount you are deprioritized to users who have not exceeded their limit.

The analogy is good way for us to discuss. What we don't know (unless you know someone who wrote the algorithm for Starlink), is how priority works for them. Cell phones may have a monthly limit and throw you into the bike lane, we have seen that even residential users show signs of slowing and RV option are still doing pretty well. It could be that Starlink is being more fair and slowly everyone down to help even those in the slowest lane move fast enough. More like a highway with a 100 lanes and they can shift the load and push people and groups into any lane. Sure the left may be going a little faster, but that could be only by a few miles an hour...so to speak.

This is where each of you on the thread traveling with your setup will provide interesting results...even if they are at different times of the day and areas. This is not a scientific study but a broad collection of experience. If the RV option testing shows that just about everywhere they go they always have a minimum of 15md down, most people will be more than fine. Perhaps we don't care how fast their neighbor is?

If two of you parked next to each other both test your speeds at the exact same moment (RV and Portability) and do so several times a day....I would love to see those results! Look where you park at other RVs and see who has Starlink. Run some tests, if they are willing. Report back so we can gain more understanding.

[gsgriffin]

Originally Posted by jondrew55

Now working on mounting solutions. There is a feed thru behind our battery box that the connector will fit thru. Hopefully I can find a way to snake the wire into where the AV stuff is in the overhead cabinet. I'm thinking of buying a Wilson Electronics telescoping antenna pole and attaching it with some clamps to my trailer power jack post. That will be a convenient spot for most obstruction free spots and not required a ladder to get the antenna up on a roof mount. I have the 150' cable so there's a good chance I will be able to get the antenna in some sort of acceptable location.

You may be fully aware already, but in case not...

The Wilson telescoping is designed for small, light antennas, not the much heavier and larger wind surface of the Starlink Dishy. With a rated wind load of something like 35mph for light items, you should be thinking about where you will be and if this is a problem. If you are just trying to raise it to the top of your trailer and secure it to the trailer, you should be fine. If thinking about getting up 25' to get above trees, you may want to got with a stronger option.

I'm waiting for guy wire and anchors to come for mine before really raising it up high. I need to get above some pines and have the capacity now to reach 25' above the top of the RV. A much more expensive option, but the winds here at times are blowing over pine trees and I need to get a lot more height for clear view. These beefy fiberglass tubes not only avoid making a lightning rod but will still fit in the basement when traveling. There is a tilt base to the hitch so I can install and set the Dishy and then tilt up into position. Then I can extend all section from the roof easily. Was told by the engineers that I can extend about 25' without guy wires, but I will be pushing this to a total of about 35' from hitch with anchors.

In case anyone else out there is considering options. This all came from Max Gain Systems and was calculated based on loads. They provided an exact listing of pieces for exactly what I needed. Each pole is a custom setup. You order each piece for what you want to achieve. Came very quickly.

[jondrew55]

Thanks. I assumed as much as far as stability. I really don't want to dork around with guy wires. Plus, living and camping in Florida (aka the lightning capitol of the word) I'm not sure I want to be putting up a giant lightning rod I need to constantly be raising and lowering. In most cases, a 25' rise would not get me much above the trees in state parks anyway. I'm thinking of maybe 6-8 feet of high pressure PVC pipe that fits the starlink pole mount and clamping that pipe to my power jack.

I wonder how big an RC blimp would be required to float a SL antenna?

Originally Posted by gsgriffin

You may be fully aware already, but in case not...

The Wilson telescoping is designed for small, light antennas, not the much heavier and larger wind surface of the Starlink Dishy. With a rated wind load of something like 35mph for light items, you should be thinking about where you will be and if this is a problem. If you are just trying to raise it to the top of your trailer and secure it to the trailer, you should be fine. If thinking about getting up 25' to get above trees, you may want to got with a stronger option.

I'm waiting for guy wire and anchors to come for mine before really raising it up high. I need to get above some pines and have the capacity now to reach 25' above the top of the RV. A much more expensive option, but the winds here at times are blowing over pine trees and I need to get a lot more height for clear view. These beefy fiberglass tubes not only avoid making a lightning rod but will still fit in the basement when traveling. There is a tilt base to the hitch so I can install and set the Dishy and then tilt up into position. Then I can extend all section from the roof easily. Was told by the engineers that I can extend about 25' without guy wires, but I will be pushing this to a total of about 35' from hitch with anchors.

In case anyone else out there is considering options. This all came from Max Gain Systems and was calculated based on loads. They provided an exact listing of pieces for exactly what I needed. Each pole is a custom setup. You order each piece for what you want to achieve. Came very quickly.