All things STARLINK

Let me start by saying I fully agree. I made a similar decision regarding flex vs "solid" solar panels. Sure they'll only last me 5 years but I intend to only travel for 5 years and that fits my use case just fine.

If you watched the video however, you would know that in 5 years time they are not going to get the constellation up, more than likely it will never get finished or go bankrupt before gen 2 is even considered. In any case, if the initial up front cost is worth it, enjoy it while it lasts, certainly!

-P

So, I pulled the trigger (booked the whole setup as a business expense, I need to be able to work for my customers now don't I? :P) and got the "square" dishy and all.

I intend to do proper testing in 2 weeks time when I leave for a month through europe (including way up north between trees) to see what's what. For now, I must say it is almost boring. You plonk the unit down, it whizzes along, jump through some setup hoops and it just works. I left it out last night (underneath an awning even) and it just works. according to the stats I had 30 seconds of downtime.

A few observations thus far, the box in which the entire thing came stated it was 14kg. Exclude some light packaging material and I guess 13kg is left :) This, for me, is an enormous amount of weight that I do not have the GVM for. Also, the proprietary connectors are a shame as is the lack of an ethernet port, though you can buy a dongle for that.

Should we drag this thing along I will probably modify it be removing the entire base and back of the unit, removing the motors etc. and ditching the starlink router for a "normal" UTP cable and POE supply to make it way lighter, fixed into/onto the roof and use my own much smaller router.

Looking forward to this experiment!

Cheers,
-P

The following info from a youtube vid with a vested interest in another product states---

"The paperwork in the states for "RV Starlink" says it will "de-prioritise" all RV internet for all other Starlink accounts."
also some concern over putting the mobile dish up and down every stop, apparently it comes with 81metres of cable?? maybe same dish as the other accounts? just on a stand with cable?

I really dont think that will be an issue in Uppkumbuctawest Australia...
ground stations might be though--
AFAIK starlink is still not using sat-sat linking even in the states, maybe this is in Version 2?

Testing in the Kimberley…..

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Certainly not 81 meters of cable, dang :) I believe it to be 75ft, it is long though. Have not rolled it all out and measured it, just played with the setup outside and left it out for a night.

Like I said, modifying the unit seems to be fairlt straight forward. The cable used is just cat5e cable with proprietary plugs and you could modify one for your specific use. Since the cables can be bought separately there is not much harm in "modifying" one.

The latency is workable but certainly noticeable. Admittedly I use gigabit full duplex fibre at home but a long latency site (like aulro for example) get's progressively worse over starlink. Nothing that would be a permanent bother though.

My main concern for now is the weight of the setup, before modifications and the coverage (like being deprioritized in busy area's). If I am to bring this along I need to be able to work and not be shoved down a few mbit pigeonhole or have to wait for hours for the dish to do it's thing and find coverage.

We'll see. :)

-P

I just spent the last 2 nights in a caravan park, parked under trees per photos and with the drenching rain of Southern NSW . I normally dont park under trees but I was stuck with that, Starlink worked through the obstructions,I did not notice any dropouts. My dish is embedded in the roof of my truck, I have it set up to work in motion , motors removed and flat mounted. Sure I was only getting 50mbps but it did what I need, typically get about 130-180 mbps on RV plan when parked out in the open

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We could travel quite happily at 60mbs, most days (between towns) it hovers around one, if anything at all...

Calls on Mobile Phones through Starlink, (without Starlink account or equipment) I though it was on the horizon but wow ,
So if your on T-mobile you can use your phone anywhere outside with a clear view of the sky

"TMobile said it will be included with their higher tier plans at no extra cost."

T-Mobile is a USA carrier , wonder which local provider will jump onto this game changer, probably be the end of traditional sat phones.

T‑Mobile Takes Coverage Above and Beyond With SpaceX ‑ T‑Mobile Newsroom

Note that it will require the local phone company to have rights to the necessary spectrum for each Starlink cell involved. Also, the total bandwidth per cell is going to be fairly small - meaning not much data per user, but texts and phone calls should be possible.

But the same applies to satphones, so as you say - end of satphones, at least within Australia, and potentially everywhere. But it will be a little while, and there is going to have to be a bit of sorting out of spectrum. For example, if Telstra has the right to use the necessary spectrum for their local tower, Optus users cannot use it for Starlink.

There are also likely to be legal issues - data is going to have to come back to Australia to allow the various legal requirements to be met (such as blocking banned websites and metadata retention etc).

And it will be at least next year - depends on Starlink 2 satellites, which are sort of dependent on the Starship booster, which has not yet flown to orbit and is having environmental issues with their launch site. (They can be launched on the F9 or falcon heavy, but apparently need modifications, which would be unnecessary expense if the Starship launches as planned, so probably won't happen.

Well... this causes me some doubts as to what direction to go in the interim for remote outback travel...

Satphone (expensive but not if Starlink is years away & not individually affordable for me) or iReach device in the interim... decisions... decisions.
I've got an old HV Radio in the shed but I doubt that is worth the $$ to fix/update, so in the interim - probably a Satphone until things change