There have been some questions about the efficacy of the tests given each phone was hitting different test servers... There are two reasons I think the different servers had little effect on the tests: First, those servers and the internet backbone from starlink ground stations are designed to handle MUCH faster traffic than the sub-100Mbps tests I was running. It might affect latency more than throughput but that wasn't what I was focused on. Second, you can see in the test I did at 19:18 (after changing the address on the portable service) that the same servers are still being used and the speed tests are identical. Which is even more proof the throttle was service address based. The test was not scientific nor perfect, but I do believe it was a fair test and proved Starlink Portable was throttled compared to the Residential (at residence) service.
Great job Chad, very helpful info. I will forward it to my friend a patriot, "Grey Wolf" whose traveling across the country bringing awareness to things going on in the government. He's a UA-camr as well.
one thing i noticed is when you tested you have the speed test set to different cities, So the tests will be different because of ping and how many hops you have to take to get to the test ISP. I would like to see both tests at the same time using Morris Broadband, LLC in Hendersonville, NC If you have time to post a video of that :) . You can manually set them in the speed test app. I have residential Starlink with portability here in Texas and my speeds are slower then what they where a year ago but still average 120 Mbps down and 15 Mbps Up. Thank you for the work you put in on this video awesome work i just feel the test wasn't fair by using different test sites.
I have portable and my guess is that when I set it up long term I get higher speeds. If I move it around a reset the location geographically it’ll be slow for a while. If I’ve been set up a week I think I get higher speeds. Just a thought on how prioritization May be affected by continuity of connection.
I get 80 on my mobile system at my home base so I’d do the test on your portable after it’s been set up for a week in the same location to make sure the prioritization does not change over time.
I put my Starlink dish in a backpack and hiked to the edge of the Grand Canyon where I hosted a live webinar for 2,000 people. I powered it with a Jackery battery pack. It worked great.
Ditto. Only did WebEx two way business broadcast. I also bought the factory Starlink backpack. Works very well. Used Bluetti solar generator (had portable solar panels, not needed. I have problem with his testing. 1.) dishys were too close to each other. Actually the residential will interfere with the RV dish slowing it down. 2.) his wifi was a problem. There was ton of co-channel interference on both of his routers. Even if he had limited to the Wifi 6 5ghz channels for both which have more channels (he was still using 2.4 in his mix which only have three limited speed clear of interference channels), there will be problems with the wifi side. 3.) The speed tester does not show the RF latencies and other related issues the would slow down not just the “speed” read out, but actual performance based on the RF (not TCPIP) old wifi packet limitations. This test was a mess. For former IT person, he is not familiar with WLAN stack. Otherwise he would have also tested the RF environment using license Air-Magnet (or equivalent). Or used two Ethernet adapters connected hardwired to say two laptops. Not using wifi at all. Then separated the dishy antennas. Which would not have impacted unequally their sky view (based on him showing the sky view on cam). This may have limited possibility of the interference between them being so close. In the end, the pure residential would have worked better. So to the RV system using traffic shaping QOS policies for that system (which could have shown slower speeds depending on two way dishy-sat-to sat(s)-ground station-to peered Starlink internet backbone). Depending on where he is, and if they are talking to version 1.5 sats (which have laser sat to sat com in order to extend reach to a ground station), we would want to make sure both dishy were using the same path to/from at the same moment of time. In fact, both dishy are able to make their own changes to their own possible unique pathway. That also adds variability. I appreciate this test. Understanding this has many issues to be accurate representation of the two systems.
On the speedtest app you weren't connected to the same end server, so that can be a major impact to speed. You need to force the same server for each "Speedtest app" test to be accurate.
I have one thing to say...WOW! I've been searching and searching for a layperson's instructional video on internet mobility options for RV's and I've found it in yours. It makes sense! THANK YOU. (most are inadequate or above my paygrade) We're not FT RV'rs but may be some day and we need affordable good connectivity for work. LIKED! SUBSCRIBED! Thanks again!
Hi Chad & Tara - This is a super important test you did, but kind of deflating for anyone on the RV option ☹ I was an early adopter of Starlink myself (did the whole put in address with availability & ship to a different address in April) and have even done a few videos on it, but this was before they offered the official RV option. I had an address I used about 30 minutes outside of Vegas that was actually the Boulder Municipal Golf Course as Vegas wasn't available, but Boulder was, and then had it shipped to my Las Vegas address. I added the Portability option and traveled throughout the west with it April - July and it worked great. I typically had speeds over 100 Mbps. I knew I was going to be at my place here in Nashville the next couple months catching up on editing and not traveling so switched my account over to the RV option so I could pause the service and not have to pay during the months I'm not on the road. Now I'm bummed to see your speeds. I haven't turned my service back on, but am super curious to see what the speeds are. I also wonder if being out west helped the speeds too earlier in the year and there wasn't as many people using it. The map still shows spotty service throughout the eastern side of the US so maybe that could be a contributing factor?? I think you said your cabin is near the TN/NC area. I'm planning to get back out on the road next week and plan to head to the east coast so will report back once I turn it back on and do some tests. Thank you for doing the tests and the video as it's really going to help people make the correct decision when ordering their Starlink. $700 isn't cheap for the hardware and as you pointed out, now that I've switched over to the RV option, there's no going back, so I'm stuck with the throttled speeds. I always knew the RV option would deprioritize me, but not to that extent. Anyways... keep up the great content and safe travels when you get back on the road 😀
Keep in mind prior to his testing here he showed us a bit of obstruction in the 100 degree line of sight needed. That's about what I had when I set the antenna on my deck, when I stuck it on a 14 ft pole the obstruction cleared and bandwidth more than doubled on average... I think with phase shifting when they say no obstructions they mean it. Which seems to be a negative factor over line of sight point to point wireless, unless you only camp in the dessert.
I have the RV version for about 6 months in california and get around 50Mbps regardless of location. I've never seen the super slow speeds shown in this video, but do get a little jealous of the 100+mbps some people are getting.
Great video and so easy to understand! We received our RV version a few weeks ago and tried it RV version and it worked great in an area where there was no cell service. We had roughly 45% of the view of the sky and did cut out quite a bit but not when watching streaming video. Tried the WiFi calling feature and worked well. When I lost signal, it kept the line open and sometimes it would go silent for the time it was down but when it came back, I was still connected to the person I called. Pretty cool! Thanks again, and I subscribed and rang the bell 🙂
Thanks for this update on Starling, one of the most positive of all we've watched. I didn't even realize that we were always being deprioritized! We really enjoy all your teaching videos, Chad.
Been gone a minute. What the hell is this cabin business? Back to the library to see what you've been up to. Great Starlink info. Elon has said speeds will improve and open sky requirement will decrease as the network adds more satellites and the laser capable satellites increase. We will see.
I believe he separated as a second class. But I concur completely, wife and I are both 5 years from retirement from the Navy and Chad/Tara as well as happily ever hanks have been our road map for planning our retirement.
You are saving my marriage and my sanity…she MUST have internet or her head will explode…at ME! I like being able to turn science/data/news on and off at will…I love to continuously learn, even when civilization is a million miles away. Seriously…Retirement + buying new home in the NW wilderness + seeing the country all while being mostly adequately ‘connected’ is an absolute necessity. For us, nirvana is having the ‘always on’ CHOICE of either being: a. hooked up to the bottomless information super-bucket b. knowing only what our current environment feeds us (sight/smell/taste/touch/hear/fear/want or need) c. b + a for those moments when we want to know more (about anything) where we’ve set up camp/planned a hike/drive or whatever’s got you scratching your head. The ultimate trick is how the hell do you do it without loosing your patience, mind and beer money. Your videos are by far the most informative, realistic and entertaining of the lot that’s always crying for attention…please don’t stop! You always carefully strike a great balance of simplicity and geek as you explain and guide us through the maze of ‘how to’…letting us decide how far down the rabbit hole we want/need to go. !! You actually answered pretty much all of my most important and pressing questions in this one single video…amazing…like you heard my pleas (screems). I feel like I can almost see the bottom of the hole and still find my way back out to sunshine. Thanks… Your friends at ‘Stone Horse’
I've had starlink for 2 months now, I live in a remote part of NH where there is no broadband, only DSl and I couldn't be happier, this is the fastest internet I've ever had, even partially obstructed by trees. You mentioned a website, I'd like to explore @3:27 but I can't find the link.? Thanks for the in-depth video.
My wife and I have been full-timers for going on 5 years. The first 4 in a Grand Design 5th wheel then we upgraded to a Tiffin motorhome 6 months ago. I've been using the Starlink since April of 2022 and turned on travel mode just for the month of July. But my speeds were crappy (for SL) in the 60 to 90 Mbps range download and about 10 Mbps up. So I turned off travel mode and have just been changing the service address to somewhere near our camping spot. Right now, it's targeted exactly on top of our campsite in Newport, Oregon and we've been getting between 150 and 225 download speeds consistently for the past month; about 15 to 25 up. Here's an update: 3 months later, we're consistently getting around 160 down using our residential starlink that we paid $500 for. I just don't see the need for the newer models.
This is so horrifying to hear that a person can’t just get the RV version and call it a day with perfect service. Always some damn struggle for us Nomads, but I guess I’m getting used to it. Going on 3 years now.
We will be on the north coast and am not excited about spending the hardware cost and 150 a month for ther ROAM package if I can only get 10mbps. Are you still getting those speeds?
As if the throttling in Urban areas wasn't enough, this morning, Starlink announced a $15 per month increase for RV'rs only. Now $150 per month ! Sending mine back
Hi Chad. We love watching your channel. We've definitely learned a lot from you and Tara and we'll keep watching as long as you're putting out content. I just bought my own Starlink setup (RV plan) and although it was easy to set up and get running I wish I'd seen this video first. However, based on my own research, I'm not sure I agree with trying to trick the system by using random addresses that actually have coverage...for a couple reasons. First, I read (on the Technomadia site, I believe) that Starlink is considering getting rid of the address loophole by requiring residential with portability users to connect within their home area occasionally, which might affect some people's ability to use their Starlink if they CAN'T connect within the area of the randomly chosen address they provided initially. Additionally, I believe the reason for getting deprioritized is because they (Starlink) don't want areas to get flooded with a ton of unexpected users (like RV'ers) which could cause the folks who actually live in that area to see degraded service. Starlink is trying to ensure everyone has reliably fast connections by ensuring their network doesn't get overloaded. They do that, in part, by ensuring residential areas aren't getting invaded by a flood of us nomads. Just wanted to give my 2 cents on this. I could be wrong here, so let me know what you think. Thanks, again, for all the great videos and keep up the great work!
So what do us Rvers do? Im in the market for some internet services for ours. I think most of the time we will have service at parks and such but need it for those times we dont. Are you saying Starlink will prioritize residential customers in an area over the Rvers that could be at an RV park or whatever? Edit, I think Im reading that right so for us starlinks initial setup fee and 150 a month now isnt worth it for those kinds of speeds. Im seeing people getting 10mbp or less when in populated areas. Thats almost unusable with running 3 phones, streaming, gaming and pc for work.
That is an interesting idea to change your address, especially if you go and stay a month or two in a place. My plan is to hang out in Cali near my kids during the winter, as Cali in the winter doesn't require me to own a winter coat, and I am thinking about buying some land to build a cabin in the redwoods eventually. I used to live in the redwoods. Then summers where I am from it is 110 in the summer and the fires/smoke affect my asthma horrifically and I end up with pneumonia. Therefore, Montana and Michigan and New England sound wonderful for me in the summer. I am autistic so I don't see myself moving fast at all. I think I will start off with a few hotspots from the majors and that router you have that chooses the best one. Then if I find myself in places where I need Starlink I can add it like you said. Residential and adding portability. Funny, I think I am going to be a reverse snowbird! Haha!
Great video, Chad! Took your recommendation: Ordered Residential where it was immediately available, shipped to where we are, added portability. Received the unit yesterday and followed these steps. Two quick questions (with apologies if they've already been answered): (1) You say one can turn portability off (and try to change one's service address) at any time, but that one won't see the extra CHARGE for portability dropped until the next billing cycle. That said, is the portability cancellation--and, therefore, the DEPRIORITIZATION--instant? (2) It appears that these changes get made within the Account Portal, which is accessed by clicking the "Manage" button from the "Your Starlinks" section on the Home page. Is this correct, and what is the proper sequence for making the changes? Is it, first, edit service address to your current location (and see if it "takes") then, second, remove portability? or vice-versa, or something completely different?
Not a moment too soon I stumbled on this highly detailed comparison between the residential and mobile Starlink units, and sir, I doff my hat with gratitude because I was really close to buying a mobile Starlink setup, and now realize that the internet speed and general reliability of the system are way better with the residential system at a fixed address. I would like to enquire whether that monthly $130 is still the monthly amount paid today in February 2023, or whether that figure has been reduced to a lower monthly bill as suggested by my preliminary research into this subject.
Wi-fi only! 😲 802.11 is fine for browsing the web and using apps on your mobile device, but 802.3 is still superior for reliability and max bandwidth. My TV, game console, desktop PC, and NAS are all connected to my home LAN via 1000 Mbps copper wire so that my only bottleneck is my gateway. My brother used to connect his PS4 with wifi, the AP is only about 16 feet away. Since running an ethernet cable from his AP to his PS4, his internet connection on the PS4 has nearly doubled.
Thank you for the good overview and comparison of services. Does Starlink RV has time limit for paused service. I’m just curious because I only found one thread on Reddit related to that. Unfortunately there is no enough information or technical specs about such subtle details on the official site.
Hi Chad, Great vid. Do you have any insight as to why vast areas of the US still do not have residential service? In Southern Indiana, we are right in the middle of a thousand-mile by thousand-mile sharply delineated non-available area on the Starlink map (starlink dot com/map). Now one has shown up showing all of Cal, Ore, and Was., again sharply delineated. Just curious and a bit frustrated, having applied a few days after preorders opened in Feb 2021 and no change since.
I ordered an RV version to use at my house and would love to know how to convert it to a residential dish once I'm able to find out how. My current area is not supported or is in a "Low priority zone" currently. If someone knows how to convert a Starlink RV to Starlink Residental, I would love to hear how to do it.
You can't convert RV to Residential it is absolutely not possible. You can convert residental to RV but it is a one way journey and you can't convert back.
Wow, lots to think about now. I thought Starlink was the cure for cancer but with throttling and all those disconnections, I'm not even sure I want it anymore. I'm a gamer and I'm not even sure I could play through the disconnections. Also, I like campgrounds with trees. Trees are nice and I don't want to live in the desert just so I can get internet.
As a ISP technician, the locations of the router matters. Is your cabin wood sided and your RV an aluminum siding? Your distance is also equal? Both of your phones should be stationary on the table during testing. I've seen others testing RV Starlink. Speeds were 10x higher than your results. Next time, both of your routers should be side by side where we can see them.
We started with the Residential and used an address from another location to get it. It supposedly would take another year or more for our area. We didn't have great service at our home due to the trees here in OH. Therefore we switched to the RV and love it. We haven't had much trouble with downloads but it is very handy money wise for us due to being able to close it out. So very worth our money as our Verizon using cell towers was almost just as expensive and was a month charge. Not for everyone, but we love it. Especially for Duane watch the Buckeyes play... Deana
I am holding on puchasing SL until I see the test with your Pepwave. I have a Pepwave and hope it can be utilized with SL. Looking forward to your next test vid. Thanks for doing these tests. You are the RV Geek communities hero!
We noticed the same results. Was using portability and changed the service address to our new location and it was a big difference. I also noticed much lower ping. Will be exciting at v2 Starlink satellite come online to see if the traffic shaping will be needed. My understanding the current bottle neck is at ground link and not with the satellites. If that is the case it would be able to redirect your traffic to a less busy downlink station using the laser links. Amazing technology. You will find moving to Ethernet also improves over all stability. The router is kinda hot garbage.
We just sold our house and moved into our Airstream 30' Classic. We are living at Cliffside Park in Whidbey Island Naval Air Station I just got my Starlink. I picked an available area (Concrete, WA) and shipped to my area (not available). We are loving it since we our cell service was bad and internet was worse. Plus it was open internet and we stared getting a lot of Spam. Starlink is up and running on portability. Do I change my service address in the app, website, or some other place?
We’ve been shocked at the poor performance of the RV version. I personally would not rely on it by itself. We’ve used it in several states and find it really is sub par everywhere we’ve been.
Nice video, thanks. 10x throttling seems excessive. Wondering if you would see similar results on different days or different time of day. I have found it's critical to have zero obstructions if you need a stable connection for zoom, etc. I would get those frequent 3-15 sec dropouts with just a slight obstruction from trees, which is enough to drop a zoom call. But with no obstructions, I normally see 100% uptime and no drops in connection..... maybe a couple 1-2 seconds in a 12 hour window. I have a residential service and have not traveled with it yet, so I haven't looked into options for changing service address etc to get it to connect. Anyone have success recently with traveling without adding mobility or changing to RV?
Hey Chad, No matter how hard you tried NOT to GEEK out, a ton of this video was sky hi over my head, but you tried darn hard. And I now have the video to go over and over again until I understand it. Great job. We live in south-eastern Washington state, about 1/2 a mile from the Idaho boarder, so I think it will be a while before I give this a try. The residential with portability added does look like the best option for us. Many thanks for your due diligence!
We go on 2 trips to the Nevada Desert. One in April and one in May. Can I pay for mobile just for 2 months and then go back to the $110 a month for the rest of the year?
Great breakdown. One additional variable that folks might be interested in is the choice between the standard and high-performance antenna. Once it is available with RV service, I plan to sign up for an RV account with the high-performance antenna for use while traveling in fairly remote areas that see very high daily temperatures. Plus there is anecdotal evidence that the high performance antenna works better in the rain as well. Pretty sure it's not worth the $2k upcharge from the regular antenna for most people..but I'm willing to pay the premium for my particular use case once I can get it. The ability to turn off the RV service when not in traveling season would eventually pay for the upgrade versus just getting residential service and paying monthly with no ability to pause billing. Hopefully it won't be too long of a wait :)
Out of curiosity, why can't the residential service be stopped and restarted at any time? Is there a cancellation or reactivation fee or anything else?
@@BillAnt The terms of service specifically state "Service Activation and associated billing cannot be paused under the Standard Plan." In practical terms, cancelling your account as a means of pausing would mean forfeiting the activation fee. There is also the lag from the time that you put in the order to the time that service is available. There is no guarantee that new service are available to be provisioned depending on current capacity metrics. And finally, since it would be obvious of what one was doing, and the fact that it runs counter to very specific verbiage in the terms of service, it is my opinion that one would risk having the very expensive equipment permanently blacklisted. Musk is a petulant man-child and I think such a response is likely.. and good luck fighting that in arbitration. So while it might be possible to game the system, I don't think it would last very long and likely would eventually prove to be quite expensive with the loss of the purchased equipment.
@@garycox7508 - Hmm... well, it makes sense that you might lose your "spot in the waiting line" if you deactivate them try to reactivate later. But I can't see why that would blacklist your equipment, after all you've paid for it in full. Also I don't really get the so called "activation fee", it's a self sign-up/provisioning service with your existing equipment, noone even has to come out to install anything. Sound like a cleverly disguised "contract" of sorts. heh When I'm on the road a few times a year, I use a prepaid Tmobile and Verizon sim card in my mobile router which covers 99% of places I go to without having to tell them where I'm going to be using the service. Each costs $50/month with no contract and I can reactivate the service any time without any extra fees. Of course Starlink is great for areas with no cell signal on any carrier.
Thabks so much for the video. We are looking at getting Starlink for our home and was hoping to take the unit camping when we go a few times a year. Can I use the residential dish. I hate to buy a 2nd one for just a few weeks out of the year. Any help appreciated.
Enjoyed your presentation on Starlink. We have been debating using this service. Just curious, has Starlink offered you a system being an influencer? We have a remote cabin and do some RVing, and doesn’t hurt to ask a company if you intend to use their product which might be mutually beneficial. I don’t see any way of contacting them for influencers. Thanks!
You should download from the same source. There can be quite a difference between sources when downloading. Not saying the priority is not a huge difference, I just know the source an also be.
Showing something thats very simple to understand. you're really good at making it complicated. Doesn't make sense to compare both sides by side dude. 😅 idiotic waste of time. Its two different use cases. And both are excellent in their particular use cases. Folks don't waste your time with these monetizing UA-camrs.
I just purchased a Starlink because they are offering the basic kit for $199 for Canadians, I ordered it through Best buy so I got free shipping and I don't have to activate it until I want to use it. I am not going to be traveling until next year and the price might not be the same by the time I'm ready to use it. If you order it from Starlink you will pay shipping and you have 30 days to activate it or they will automatically start charging you for the service through the card you purchased the kit from. Read the prompts and small print to save you some money if you don't want to activate it right away.
I don't like WiFi, can I make it Wired (Cat-6 RJ45)? Thank you! Exactly the questions I had were answered!!! One of my concerns was answered too! One World Internet; "You will take what we give you, for the price we want, eat bugs, and be happy." - Klaus Schwab internet philosophy
I get what you're saying but, there are two reasons I think the different servers had little effect on the tests: First, those servers and the internet backbone from starlink ground stations are designed to handle MUCH faster traffic than the sub-100Mbps tests I was running. It might affect latency more than throughput but that wasn't what I was focused on. Second, you can see in the test I did at 19:18 (after changing the address on the portable service) that the same servers are still being used and the speed tests are identical. The test was not scientific nor perfect, but I do believe it was a fair test and proved Starlink Portable was throttled.
My new RV came with a Winegard Connect 2.0 pre installed, but I haven't tried it yet. Is this Winegard Connect 2.0 any good, or would you recommend Starlink? BTW we're not full-time RVers, just a weekend camper at this time. Thanks
If you know "boat and plane people" you'll know that $150k startup and $25k a month are less than they spend on hookers, blow, and beer.... At least the yacht folks think that way. Container ships again it's a drop in the bucket. I *AM* very curious what exactly they give you for $150000 startup or if that's just Elon being cocky to his fellow wealthy friends.
I have T-Mobile 100GB of 5G service and pull around 100mbps download and 80mbps upload and around a 40-60 ping with 4 out of 5 bars of service. I don't notice any throttling for $50 a month.
I have had Starlink RV for 6 months. I was just cleared waiting list for Starlink Residential. Should I purchase residential service are just stick with Starlink RV. Our Cabin is a second home but also a AirBnB. What are your thoughts?
Wait a minute did I hear that correctly? The Rv version is always de-prioritized? The Rv mobile version is what I’ll be using because I wanted the reliability on the road. How is that logical if I’m paying 130$ a month for something that’s deprioritized? That’s certainly not going to fly.
Notice you show the 2 StarLink dishes close to each other, 1 yard, 1 metre about. Anything under 40cm or 1 and half feet can/will cause high frequency interference between the antennas slowing the speeds to 20% or so. Same issue with WiFi access points. Interference exponentially drops off the further the distance is. To see this effect easily oneself the one can put your mobile touching a WiFi antenna and do speed test, typically then but 1Mbps due to overdriving the devices frequency amplifiers between the mob and access point antenna, cheers daily WiFi installer Netherlands
I noticed during the first test you were routed through NC and GA - during the second, they were both through NC. VPN on? iPhone privacy settings? I bought the larger antenna, and the only issue I'm finding is the higher power usage. I have an Airstream, so I go from router to router. Thank you, brother.
I'm disappointed with Starlink's mobility speeds. I imagine the speeds are highly variable based on location, time of day, and number of starlink users in the area. What state are you testing in? Can you perform a similar test with Tmobile, ATT, Verizon data plans? It seems more and more like starlink is no longer the RV darling, especially when you consider the rising costs/fees of service, necessity of no tree cover, and now deprioritized access.
Oh bugger I just bought the RV version purely so I can shut down the whole service to save $. I can’t believe the residential has such better priority that’s not good. Possibly I should have gone residential and added the portability but the problem then was I could only pause the portability option. I live in my RV but 3/4 of the time I have general cheaper internet without having to use Starlink. I bought it purely for safety in the outback (Australia). I’m guessing though but will ask with the lower speed on the RV version it still means I would have plenty of speed in a safety situation. I’m assuming the higher speeds are more for video and gaming. Just out of interest mine is running at 204 on the Starlink as we speak. Thanks for the video.
120ms Jitter is is catastrophic vor VoiP Calls or Live Apps like Zoom. If you plan to have zoom calls or ordinary phone calls with Voice over IP please dont cut the motot from the starlink :-)
Hello how has your starlink working, I’m asking because I’m working remote and would like a secure internet connection. Thank you ! I became a Full time RVer this year. Finally bought my own it’s exciting to know all these hacks I find your here. Thank you
Lol. Your test is not scientific at all, but it is nice to see the difference in your two subscriptions. Bottom line is you can get as much speed as you want as long as you are willing to pay for it. Both Business and Mobility offer a priority service. Perhaps their service offerings have changed in the past year. You can clearly see on your Speed tests that you are connecting to two different ground stations. One in GA and one in NC.
Starlink isn’t on my Christmas list after being on it waiting list since February 2020 , two messages changing my expected delivery date, price hike and still looking at end of 2023. Sucks
I was order hmm never recive hardwear but recive a bill . Trying contact to starlink but on web is any contact. Rubbish service. Trying to refund all costs about 600 pounds ! on his poor web only show me not avalaible service WTF is that
The fast one is pinging from NC and the slow one is pinging from GA . A big difference from pinging states. Also you have two different phones. Switch phones and give it another try.
Starlink is fantastic for those that need a connection and have no other option but not very good for people that have other options. It's a terrible deal to pay so much for speeds that are only "So-So". If you can get the same or better speeds for less money from one of the other options, that's the way to go. But if you're in a place where Starlink is the only option, then it's worth every penny.
Awesome work man, thanks for the info. Also love all the videos you have put out as they have helped me a ton as i am new to RV world. Just one issue on your head to head testing using the 3rd party application. Your results will be wildly different since the capacity of the servers your testing to are different. On your Cabin connection that latency is lower and it's connecting to Morris Broadband, LLC, in Hendersonville, NC, and performs better. Your RV is testing to Truvista Communications Toccoa, GA, with over 100ms in latency, and way lower performance. If you want to get a true head to head on your 3rd party app you must make sure your testing it to the same Speed test server. Just looking at the side by side, you have 63ms and jitter of 16ms on the cabin, and 111ms and 32ms of jitter on your trailer, the jitter would also make a large difference too. To get a fair test could you run it again, but with both pointing at Morris Broadband, then again both pointing at TruVista. I think you might be surprised that they are closer in performance than you think. I have been testing Starlink for months now as we are considering using them for deployment for my place of work.
I get what you're saying but, there are two reasons I think the different servers had little effect on the tests: First, those servers and the internet backbone from starlink ground stations are designed to handle MUCH faster traffic than the sub-100Mbps tests I was running. It might affect latency more than throughput but that wasn't what I was focused on. Second, you can see in the test I did at 19:18 (after changing the address on the portable service) that the same servers are still being used and the speed tests are identical. The test was not scientific nor perfect, but I do believe it was a fair test and proved Starlink Portable was throttled.
Hello, and thanks for this video. What if I have Residential setup and suddenly run out of funds on my card for half of a year. Obviously my service will be stopped. Can I restore it later? Will it cost something? Should I have then to pay for a past half a year?
Glad I cancelled my deposit on Starlink a year ago. Utterly sad to see residential speed down to barely even able to get 50 mbps when the "promise" at the beginning was to be over 200 mbps. They also promised to NOT have multiple tiered service, which they also lied.
We are thinking about getting starlink for a 4 month camper adventure in the pacific north west. We work remote. When you did your test, did you have the internet switched off on the residential (cabin) starlink? Or was it on, but you weren't running the speed test? I'm trying to figure out what service will be better for us. Do you have any updates on how it's been going with changing addresses? Is there a limit, do they require proof of residency or something to change it?
So, the real question becomes... why are we paying more for the RV/mobility service using the same hardware yet being penalized for not being geo-fenced?
For a few thousand dollars and about $400-500/mo I can do my remote work from anywhere. Sadly still an area were service providers continue to gouge folks.
i have a question if someone can please answer it if i bought a starlink divce from the U.S but i haven't used it or subscribe to it can i take it and use it in Germany ? and dose it come with a subscription plan ? and if it come with a subscription plan can i take it and use it in Germany without any problems???
So then you left out the price... and the speed of the other services that weren't the home fixed residence services. You left out the speed of all of them.
This guy needs to be more research before posting videos. As an installer in Eastern NC we consistently hit 100 to 150 and 200 to 250 mbs on roam Rv accounts
Havent referenced you since companies stopped grandfathering tethering your phone as a modem and companies were switching to hardware to use as hotspots and charge for them and the service. So I havent followed your life and relationship but everyone seems to be saying you need to ditch the “wifey” because she is the problem and you need to reconfigure your two hot dishes (sorry Tara).
I see an aditional error in your testing. With speedtest.. it ran the test using diferent servers. YOu should hand pick the same servers in both tests. Their could be traffic congestion from the servers... Either way... I still think its a vast difference..
Will I be able to put the router into bridge mode and use my own router with the ethernet dongle? Second question, if I'm not able to use my own router, will I be able to still use the ethernet dongle and connect to a switch and use my own access points? Thank you!!
There have been some questions about the efficacy of the tests given each phone was hitting different test servers... There are two reasons I think the different servers had little effect on the tests: First, those servers and the internet backbone from starlink ground stations are designed to handle MUCH faster traffic than the sub-100Mbps tests I was running. It might affect latency more than throughput but that wasn't what I was focused on. Second, you can see in the test I did at 19:18 (after changing the address on the portable service) that the same servers are still being used and the speed tests are identical. Which is even more proof the throttle was service address based. The test was not scientific nor perfect, but I do believe it was a fair test and proved Starlink Portable was throttled compared to the Residential (at residence) service.
Great job Chad, very helpful info. I will forward it to my friend a patriot, "Grey Wolf" whose traveling across the country bringing awareness to things going on in the government. He's a UA-camr as well.
Good comparison. Saw similar speed gains when changed from portability to service at actual service address (cell).
one thing i noticed is when you tested you have the speed test set to different cities, So the tests will be different because of ping and how many hops you have to take to get to the test ISP. I would like to see both tests at the same time using Morris Broadband, LLC in Hendersonville, NC If you have time to post a video of that :) . You can manually set them in the speed test app. I have residential Starlink with portability here in Texas and my speeds are slower then what they where a year ago but still average 120 Mbps down and 15 Mbps Up. Thank you for the work you put in on this video awesome work i just feel the test wasn't fair by using different test sites.
I have portable and my guess is that when I set it up long term I get higher speeds. If I move it around a reset the location geographically it’ll be slow for a while. If I’ve been set up a week I think I get higher speeds. Just a thought on how prioritization May be affected by continuity of connection.
I get 80 on my mobile system at my home base so I’d do the test on your portable after it’s been set up for a week in the same location to make sure the prioritization does not change over time.
I put my Starlink dish in a backpack and hiked to the edge of the Grand Canyon where I hosted a live webinar for 2,000 people. I powered it with a Jackery battery pack. It worked great.
Sick!!!!!!! 🙌
Sounds like it was worth it! Awesome!
Sold !!!! Lol. I didn't have cell reception at the south rim. So that means starljnk is legit !!!
Ditto. Only did WebEx two way business broadcast. I also bought the factory Starlink backpack. Works very well. Used Bluetti solar generator (had portable solar panels, not needed. I have problem with his testing. 1.) dishys were too close to each other. Actually the residential will interfere with the RV dish slowing it down. 2.) his wifi was a problem. There was ton of co-channel interference on both of his routers. Even if he had limited to the Wifi 6 5ghz channels for both which have more channels (he was still using 2.4 in his mix which only have three limited speed clear of interference channels), there will be problems with the wifi side. 3.) The speed tester does not show the RF latencies and other related issues the would slow down not just the “speed” read out, but actual performance based on the RF (not TCPIP) old wifi packet limitations. This test was a mess. For former IT person, he is not familiar with WLAN stack. Otherwise he would have also tested the RF environment using license Air-Magnet (or equivalent).
Or used two Ethernet adapters connected hardwired to say two laptops. Not using wifi at all.
Then separated the dishy antennas. Which would not have impacted unequally their sky view (based on him showing the sky view on cam). This may have limited possibility of the interference between them being so close.
In the end, the pure residential would have worked better. So to the RV system using traffic shaping QOS policies for that system (which could have shown slower speeds depending on two way dishy-sat-to sat(s)-ground station-to peered Starlink internet backbone). Depending on where he is, and if they are talking to version 1.5 sats (which have laser sat to sat com in order to extend reach to a ground station), we would want to make sure both dishy were using the same path to/from at the same moment of time. In fact, both dishy are able to make their own changes to their own possible unique pathway. That also adds variability.
I appreciate this test. Understanding this has many issues to be accurate representation of the two systems.
@@johnross6314... very well explained and pointed out the flaws on the test!
On the speedtest app you weren't connected to the same end server, so that can be a major impact to speed. You need to force the same server for each "Speedtest app" test to be accurate.
I have one thing to say...WOW! I've been searching and searching for a layperson's instructional video on internet mobility options for RV's and I've found it in yours. It makes sense! THANK YOU. (most are inadequate or above my paygrade) We're not FT RV'rs but may be some day and we need affordable good connectivity for work. LIKED! SUBSCRIBED! Thanks again!
Hi Chad & Tara - This is a super important test you did, but kind of deflating for anyone on the RV option ☹ I was an early adopter of Starlink myself (did the whole put in address with availability & ship to a different address in April) and have even done a few videos on it, but this was before they offered the official RV option. I had an address I used about 30 minutes outside of Vegas that was actually the Boulder Municipal Golf Course as Vegas wasn't available, but Boulder was, and then had it shipped to my Las Vegas address. I added the Portability option and traveled throughout the west with it April - July and it worked great. I typically had speeds over 100 Mbps.
I knew I was going to be at my place here in Nashville the next couple months catching up on editing and not traveling so switched my account over to the RV option so I could pause the service and not have to pay during the months I'm not on the road. Now I'm bummed to see your speeds.
I haven't turned my service back on, but am super curious to see what the speeds are. I also wonder if being out west helped the speeds too earlier in the year and there wasn't as many people using it. The map still shows spotty service throughout the eastern side of the US so maybe that could be a contributing factor?? I think you said your cabin is near the TN/NC area. I'm planning to get back out on the road next week and plan to head to the east coast so will report back once I turn it back on and do some tests.
Thank you for doing the tests and the video as it's really going to help people make the correct decision when ordering their Starlink. $700 isn't cheap for the hardware and as you pointed out, now that I've switched over to the RV option, there's no going back, so I'm stuck with the throttled speeds. I always knew the RV option would deprioritize me, but not to that extent.
Anyways... keep up the great content and safe travels when you get back on the road 😀
From what I read, it seems there is a lot less (maybe none) deprioritization out west, in available coverage areas.
Keep in mind prior to his testing here he showed us a bit of obstruction in the 100 degree line of sight needed. That's about what I had when I set the antenna on my deck, when I stuck it on a 14 ft pole the obstruction cleared and bandwidth more than doubled on average... I think with phase shifting when they say no obstructions they mean it. Which seems to be a negative factor over line of sight point to point wireless, unless you only camp in the dessert.
I have the RV version for about 6 months in california and get around 50Mbps regardless of location. I've never seen the super slow speeds shown in this video, but do get a little jealous of the 100+mbps some people are getting.
Sadly Portability for Residential is no longer an option.
Great video and so easy to understand! We received our RV version a few weeks ago and tried it RV version and it worked great in an area where there was no cell service. We had roughly 45% of the view of the sky and did cut out quite a bit but not when watching streaming video. Tried the WiFi calling feature and worked well. When I lost signal, it kept the line open and sometimes it would go silent for the time it was down but when it came back, I was still connected to the person I called. Pretty cool! Thanks again, and I subscribed and rang the bell 🙂
Thanks for this update on Starling, one of the most positive of all we've watched. I didn't even realize that we were always being deprioritized! We really enjoy all your teaching videos, Chad.
Been gone a minute. What the hell is this cabin business? Back to the library to see what you've been up to. Great Starlink info. Elon has said speeds will improve and open sky requirement will decrease as the network adds more satellites and the laser capable satellites increase. We will see.
Thanks Chief for all your content. My family and I are also retired navy and you and your wife have helped us out a lot as we full time.
I believe he separated as a second class. But I concur completely, wife and I are both 5 years from retirement from the Navy and Chad/Tara as well as happily ever hanks have been our road map for planning our retirement.
@@tripnick3 I retired as a CM1 in 2011 and my wife did 8 years and had enough. We love our veterans
This was an excellent teaching tool. I am running SL some of the times and this explained so well why I have some issues. Keep ‘em coming!!!!
Would love to see you do the test again..... July 2023 and see if there is a difference. 👍😎
Can the residential be used as a portable on a campervan temporarily?
You are saving my marriage and my sanity…she MUST have internet or her head will explode…at ME!
I like being able to turn science/data/news on and off at will…I love to continuously learn, even when civilization is a million miles away.
Seriously…Retirement + buying new home in the NW wilderness + seeing the country all while being mostly adequately ‘connected’ is an absolute necessity.
For us, nirvana is having the ‘always on’ CHOICE of either being:
a. hooked up to the bottomless information super-bucket
b. knowing only what our current environment feeds us (sight/smell/taste/touch/hear/fear/want or need)
c. b + a for those moments when we want to know more (about anything) where we’ve set up camp/planned a hike/drive or whatever’s got you scratching your head.
The ultimate trick is how the hell do you do it without loosing your patience, mind and beer money.
Your videos are by far the most informative, realistic and entertaining of the lot that’s always crying for attention…please don’t stop!
You always carefully strike a great balance of simplicity and geek as you explain and guide us through the maze of ‘how to’…letting us decide how far down the rabbit hole we want/need to go.
!! You actually answered pretty much all of my most important and pressing questions in this one single video…amazing…like you heard my pleas (screems). I feel like I can almost see the bottom of the hole and still find my way back out to sunshine.
Thanks…
Your friends at ‘Stone Horse’
I've had starlink for 2 months now, I live in a remote part of NH where there is no broadband, only DSl and I couldn't be happier, this is the fastest internet I've ever had, even partially obstructed by trees. You mentioned a website, I'd like to explore @3:27 but I can't find the link.? Thanks for the in-depth video.
It's linked in the description... ua-cam.com/video/qs2QcycggWU/v-deo.html. 👍🏼
My wife and I have been full-timers for going on 5 years. The first 4 in a Grand Design 5th wheel then we upgraded to a Tiffin motorhome 6 months ago. I've been using the Starlink since April of 2022 and turned on travel mode just for the month of July. But my speeds were crappy (for SL) in the 60 to 90 Mbps range download and about 10 Mbps up.
So I turned off travel mode and have just been changing the service address to somewhere near our camping spot. Right now, it's targeted exactly on top of our campsite in Newport, Oregon and we've been getting between 150 and 225 download speeds consistently for the past month; about 15 to 25 up.
Here's an update: 3 months later, we're consistently getting around 160 down using our residential starlink that we paid $500 for. I just don't see the need for the newer models.
This is so horrifying to hear that a person can’t just get the RV version and call it a day with perfect service. Always some damn struggle for us Nomads, but I guess I’m getting used to it. Going on 3 years now.
We will be on the north coast and am not excited about spending the hardware cost and 150 a month for ther ROAM package if I can only get 10mbps. Are you still getting those speeds?
As if the throttling in Urban areas wasn't enough, this morning, Starlink announced a $15 per month increase for RV'rs only. Now $150 per month ! Sending mine back
Hi Chad. We love watching your channel. We've definitely learned a lot from you and Tara and we'll keep watching as long as you're putting out content. I just bought my own Starlink setup (RV plan) and although it was easy to set up and get running I wish I'd seen this video first. However, based on my own research, I'm not sure I agree with trying to trick the system by using random addresses that actually have coverage...for a couple reasons. First, I read (on the Technomadia site, I believe) that Starlink is considering getting rid of the address loophole by requiring residential with portability users to connect within their home area occasionally, which might affect some people's ability to use their Starlink if they CAN'T connect within the area of the randomly chosen address they provided initially. Additionally, I believe the reason for getting deprioritized is because they (Starlink) don't want areas to get flooded with a ton of unexpected users (like RV'ers) which could cause the folks who actually live in that area to see degraded service. Starlink is trying to ensure everyone has reliably fast connections by ensuring their network doesn't get overloaded. They do that, in part, by ensuring residential areas aren't getting invaded by a flood of us nomads.
Just wanted to give my 2 cents on this. I could be wrong here, so let me know what you think.
Thanks, again, for all the great videos and keep up the great work!
So what do us Rvers do? Im in the market for some internet services for ours. I think most of the time we will have service at parks and such but need it for those times we dont. Are you saying Starlink will prioritize residential customers in an area over the Rvers that could be at an RV park or whatever? Edit, I think Im reading that right so for us starlinks initial setup fee and 150 a month now isnt worth it for those kinds of speeds. Im seeing people getting 10mbp or less when in populated areas. Thats almost unusable with running 3 phones, streaming, gaming and pc for work.
Thanks Chad I totally agree with all of your findings. I love my Starlink and know it is not without its own issues.
It's a big deal if you're playing a video game, though I'll tell you that much it's actually unacceptable
That is an interesting idea to change your address, especially if you go and stay a month or two in a place. My plan is to hang out in Cali near my kids during the winter, as Cali in the winter doesn't require me to own a winter coat, and I am thinking about buying some land to build a cabin in the redwoods eventually. I used to live in the redwoods. Then summers where I am from it is 110 in the summer and the fires/smoke affect my asthma horrifically and I end up with pneumonia. Therefore, Montana and Michigan and New England sound wonderful for me in the summer. I am autistic so I don't see myself moving fast at all. I think I will start off with a few hotspots from the majors and that router you have that chooses the best one. Then if I find myself in places where I need Starlink I can add it like you said. Residential and adding portability. Funny, I think I am going to be a reverse snowbird! Haha!
Love you idea. We have kids in SoCal, too. We want to chase 70° weather and want to go up the east coast too. Hope to see you on the road
Great video, Chad! Took your recommendation: Ordered Residential where it was immediately available, shipped to where we are, added portability. Received the unit yesterday and followed these steps. Two quick questions (with apologies if they've already been answered): (1) You say one can turn portability off (and try to change one's service address) at any time, but that one won't see the extra CHARGE for portability dropped until the next billing cycle. That said, is the portability cancellation--and, therefore, the DEPRIORITIZATION--instant? (2) It appears that these changes get made within the Account Portal, which is accessed by clicking the "Manage" button from the "Your Starlinks" section on the Home page. Is this correct, and what is the proper sequence for making the changes? Is it, first, edit service address to your current location (and see if it "takes") then, second, remove portability? or vice-versa, or something completely different?
I just got a residential Starlink with portability for my RV. It works great!
Hi.. I have an Rv and am trying to find out if starlink has a way to use one at home then when you travel but only pay one subscription…
Not a moment too soon I stumbled on this highly detailed comparison between the residential and mobile Starlink units, and sir, I doff my hat with gratitude because I was really close to buying a mobile Starlink setup, and now realize that the internet speed and general reliability of the system are way better with the residential system at a fixed address.
I would like to enquire whether that monthly $130 is still the monthly amount paid today in February 2023, or whether that figure has been reduced to a lower monthly bill as suggested by my preliminary research into this subject.
Wi-fi only! 😲
802.11 is fine for browsing the web and using apps on your mobile device, but 802.3 is still superior for reliability and max bandwidth. My TV, game console, desktop PC, and NAS are all connected to my home LAN via 1000 Mbps copper wire so that my only bottleneck is my gateway. My brother used to connect his PS4 with wifi, the AP is only about 16 feet away. Since running an ethernet cable from his AP to his PS4, his internet connection on the PS4 has nearly doubled.
Nice explanation as always Chad. Hope your family is staying safe and healthy.
Thank you for the good overview and comparison of services. Does Starlink RV has time limit for paused service. I’m just curious because I only found one thread on Reddit related to that. Unfortunately there is no enough information or technical specs about such subtle details on the official site.
Hi Chad, Great vid. Do you have any insight as to why vast areas of the US still do not have residential service? In Southern Indiana, we are right in the middle of a thousand-mile by thousand-mile sharply delineated non-available area on the Starlink map (starlink dot com/map). Now one has shown up showing all of Cal, Ore, and Was., again sharply delineated. Just curious and a bit frustrated, having applied a few days after preorders opened in Feb 2021 and no change since.
I ordered an RV version to use at my house and would love to know how to convert it to a residential dish once I'm able to find out how. My current area is not supported or is in a "Low priority zone" currently.
If someone knows how to convert a Starlink RV to Starlink Residental, I would love to hear how to do it.
You can't convert RV to Residential it is absolutely not possible. You can convert residental to RV but it is a one way journey and you can't convert back.
@@paulg0 Unfortunate
Thanks for this video. Can you do a comparison between the high performance antenna vs regular antenna?
Great video. Good to hear there is an RV-only option. Like you comment about weed-eater engines.
I'm from Kansas. It's so nice to hear that some people still know where Kansas is. Love your videos.
The business rates were ridiculous. The maritime rates were just stupid. Thank you for the review.
Maritime rates are about 1/10th other options...so incredibly cheap!
This timely, I am ordering mine this week. Thanks for the content.
I install Starlink, you did a fantastic job at explaining this. Better than many professionals
Wow, lots to think about now. I thought Starlink was the cure for cancer but with throttling and all those disconnections, I'm not even sure I want it anymore. I'm a gamer and I'm not even sure I could play through the disconnections. Also, I like campgrounds with trees. Trees are nice and I don't want to live in the desert just so I can get internet.
Thanks Chad. Very useful information. We just ordered Starlink for our RV. We are looking forward to trying it out.
As a ISP technician, the locations of the router matters.
Is your cabin wood sided and your RV an aluminum siding? Your distance is also equal? Both of your phones should be stationary on the table during testing.
I've seen others testing RV Starlink.
Speeds were 10x higher than your results.
Next time, both of your routers should be side by side where we can see them.
We started with the Residential and used an address from another location to get it. It supposedly would take another year or more for our area. We didn't have great service at our home due to the trees here in OH. Therefore we switched to the RV and love it. We haven't had much trouble with downloads but it is very handy money wise for us due to being able to close it out. So very worth our money as our Verizon using cell towers was almost just as expensive and was a month charge. Not for everyone, but we love it. Especially for Duane watch the Buckeyes play... Deana
I am holding on puchasing SL until I see the test with your Pepwave. I have a Pepwave and hope it can be utilized with SL. Looking forward to your next test vid. Thanks for doing these tests. You are the RV Geek communities hero!
I show using starlink with our pepwave in our last internet video, using wifi as wan... 👍🏼 ua-cam.com/video/23DQ3LOmrmM/v-deo.html
We noticed the same results. Was using portability and changed the service address to our new location and it was a big difference. I also noticed much lower ping. Will be exciting at v2 Starlink satellite come online to see if the traffic shaping will be needed. My understanding the current bottle neck is at ground link and not with the satellites. If that is the case it would be able to redirect your traffic to a less busy downlink station using the laser links. Amazing technology.
You will find moving to Ethernet also improves over all stability. The router is kinda hot garbage.
We just sold our house and moved into our Airstream 30' Classic. We are living at Cliffside Park in Whidbey Island Naval Air Station I just got my Starlink. I picked an available area (Concrete, WA) and shipped to my area (not available). We are loving it since we our cell service was bad and internet was worse. Plus it was open internet and we stared getting a lot of Spam. Starlink is up and running on portability. Do I change my service address in the app, website, or some other place?
@@JohnnyLawBMC you change the service address on the website. Under account settings.
We’ve been shocked at the poor performance of the RV version. I personally would not rely on it by itself. We’ve used it in several states and find it really is sub par everywhere we’ve been.
it's great here in Canada.
Which states?
You connected to different test servers and that kills the validity of the test. You have to control your variables my dude.
New mini comes with $50 for 50GB + $1 per GB after versus $150 but deprioritized
Guess it almost makers sense to pay per gig for travel
Nice video, thanks. 10x throttling seems excessive. Wondering if you would see similar results on different days or different time of day.
I have found it's critical to have zero obstructions if you need a stable connection for zoom, etc. I would get those frequent 3-15 sec dropouts with just a slight obstruction from trees, which is enough to drop a zoom call. But with no obstructions, I normally see 100% uptime and no drops in connection..... maybe a couple 1-2 seconds in a 12 hour window.
I have a residential service and have not traveled with it yet, so I haven't looked into options for changing service address etc to get it to connect. Anyone have success recently with traveling without adding mobility or changing to RV?
Thanks for the great info. Pretty hard to keep up with what you were saying. You did a great job explaining. It is somewhat hard to comprehend.
Hey Chad, No matter how hard you tried NOT to GEEK out, a ton of this video was sky hi over my head, but you tried darn hard. And I now have the video to go over and over again until I understand it. Great job. We live in south-eastern Washington state, about 1/2 a mile from the Idaho boarder, so I think it will be a while before I give this a try. The residential with portability added does look like the best option for us. Many thanks for your due diligence!
The best part was the outtake at the end. ‘Don’t understand kids these days with these loud mufflers on lawnmower engines’. Classic Dad line. Love it.
I call those farty cars!
We go on 2 trips to the Nevada Desert. One in April and one in May. Can I pay for mobile just for 2 months and then go back to the $110 a month for the rest of the year?
your methodology is wrong. In speedtest app you should choose the same server.
Great breakdown. One additional variable that folks might be interested in is the choice between the standard and high-performance antenna. Once it is available with RV service, I plan to sign up for an RV account with the high-performance antenna for use while traveling in fairly remote areas that see very high daily temperatures. Plus there is anecdotal evidence that the high performance antenna works better in the rain as well. Pretty sure it's not worth the $2k upcharge from the regular antenna for most people..but I'm willing to pay the premium for my particular use case once I can get it. The ability to turn off the RV service when not in traveling season would eventually pay for the upgrade versus just getting residential service and paying monthly with no ability to pause billing. Hopefully it won't be too long of a wait :)
Out of curiosity, why can't the residential service be stopped and restarted at any time? Is there a cancellation or reactivation fee or anything else?
@@BillAnt The terms of service specifically state "Service Activation and associated billing cannot be paused under the Standard Plan." In practical terms, cancelling your account as a means of pausing would mean forfeiting the activation fee. There is also the lag from the time that you put in the order to the time that service is available. There is no guarantee that new service are available to be provisioned depending on current capacity metrics. And finally, since it would be obvious of what one was doing, and the fact that it runs counter to very specific verbiage in the terms of service, it is my opinion that one would risk having the very expensive equipment permanently blacklisted. Musk is a petulant man-child and I think such a response is likely.. and good luck fighting that in arbitration. So while it might be possible to game the system, I don't think it would last very long and likely would eventually prove to be quite expensive with the loss of the purchased equipment.
@@garycox7508 - Hmm... well, it makes sense that you might lose your "spot in the waiting line" if you deactivate them try to reactivate later. But I can't see why that would blacklist your equipment, after all you've paid for it in full. Also I don't really get the so called "activation fee", it's a self sign-up/provisioning service with your existing equipment, noone even has to come out to install anything. Sound like a cleverly disguised "contract" of sorts. heh
When I'm on the road a few times a year, I use a prepaid Tmobile and Verizon sim card in my mobile router which covers 99% of places I go to without having to tell them where I'm going to be using the service. Each costs $50/month with no contract and I can reactivate the service any time without any extra fees. Of course Starlink is great for areas with no cell signal on any carrier.
What if i ordered the old starlink kit for RV and how can i exchange it for the high performance dish? I never opened my old starlink box kit
I have watched a lot of rv/internet videos and this has been the most helpful by far. Thank you!
Thabks so much for the video. We are looking at getting Starlink for our home and was hoping to take the unit camping when we go a few times a year. Can I use the residential dish. I hate to buy a 2nd one for just a few weeks out of the year. Any help appreciated.
Wow.... what a great video. So basically Pay MORE and get LESS when it comes to Starlink Roam. 😡😡😡😡
Enjoyed your presentation on Starlink. We have been debating using this service. Just curious, has Starlink offered you a system being an influencer? We have a remote cabin and do some RVing, and doesn’t hurt to ask a company if you intend to use their product which might be mutually beneficial. I don’t see any way of contacting them for influencers. Thanks!
You should download from the same source. There can be quite a difference between sources when downloading. Not saying the priority is not a huge difference, I just know the source an also be.
Thank you for making this video! I hope to make the right decision for my situation when the time comes.
My fiber at home is like 900 download and 500 upload . Starlink will never come close to that .
Showing something thats very simple to understand. you're really good at making it complicated. Doesn't make sense to compare both sides by side dude. 😅 idiotic waste of time. Its two different use cases. And both are excellent in their particular use cases. Folks don't waste your time with these monetizing UA-camrs.
I just purchased a Starlink because they are offering the basic kit for $199 for Canadians, I ordered it through Best buy so I got free shipping and I don't have to activate it until I want to use it. I am not going to be traveling until next year and the price might not be the same by the time I'm ready to use it. If you order it from Starlink you will pay shipping and you have 30 days to activate it or they will automatically start charging you for the service through the card you purchased the kit from. Read the prompts and small print to save you some money if you don't want to activate it right away.
I don't like WiFi, can I make it Wired (Cat-6 RJ45)?
Thank you! Exactly the questions I had were answered!!! One of my concerns was answered too! One World Internet; "You will take what we give you, for the price we want, eat bugs, and be happy." - Klaus Schwab internet philosophy
What is the difference for the hardware between the residential and portable? are the hardware the same and the only different thing is the plan?
You should choose the same server for internet test.
I get what you're saying but, there are two reasons I think the different servers had little effect on the tests: First, those servers and the internet backbone from starlink ground stations are designed to handle MUCH faster traffic than the sub-100Mbps tests I was running. It might affect latency more than throughput but that wasn't what I was focused on. Second, you can see in the test I did at 19:18 (after changing the address on the portable service) that the same servers are still being used and the speed tests are identical. The test was not scientific nor perfect, but I do believe it was a fair test and proved Starlink Portable was throttled.
My new RV came with a Winegard Connect 2.0 pre installed, but I haven't tried it yet. Is this Winegard Connect 2.0 any good, or would you recommend Starlink? BTW we're not full-time RVers, just a weekend camper at this time. Thanks
You're the best, very understandable and accurate. Thank you.
If you know "boat and plane people" you'll know that $150k startup and $25k a month are less than they spend on hookers, blow, and beer.... At least the yacht folks think that way. Container ships again it's a drop in the bucket. I *AM* very curious what exactly they give you for $150000 startup or if that's just Elon being cocky to his fellow wealthy friends.
I have T-Mobile 100GB of 5G service and pull around 100mbps download and 80mbps upload and around a 40-60 ping with 4 out of 5 bars of service. I don't notice any throttling for $50 a month.
A youtuber was in Ecuador with the RV service, and he was getting close to 200mbs
I have had Starlink RV for 6 months. I was just cleared waiting list for Starlink Residential. Should I purchase residential service are just stick with Starlink RV. Our Cabin is a second home but also a AirBnB. What are your thoughts?
Wait a minute did I hear that correctly? The Rv version is always de-prioritized? The Rv mobile version is what I’ll be using because I wanted the reliability on the road. How is that logical if I’m paying 130$ a month for something that’s deprioritized? That’s certainly not going to fly.
Notice you show the 2 StarLink dishes close to each other, 1 yard, 1 metre about. Anything under 40cm or 1 and half feet can/will cause high frequency interference between the antennas slowing the speeds to 20% or so. Same issue with WiFi access points. Interference exponentially drops off the further the distance is. To see this effect easily oneself the one can put your mobile touching a WiFi antenna and do speed test, typically then but 1Mbps due to overdriving the devices frequency amplifiers between the mob and access point antenna, cheers daily WiFi installer Netherlands
I noticed during the first test you were routed through NC and GA - during the second, they were both through NC. VPN on? iPhone privacy settings? I bought the larger antenna, and the only issue I'm finding is the higher power usage. I have an Airstream, so I go from router to router. Thank you, brother.
I'm disappointed with Starlink's mobility speeds. I imagine the speeds are highly variable based on location, time of day, and number of starlink users in the area. What state are you testing in?
Can you perform a similar test with Tmobile, ATT, Verizon data plans? It seems more and more like starlink is no longer the RV darling, especially when you consider the rising costs/fees of service, necessity of no tree cover, and now deprioritized access.
Oh bugger I just bought the RV version purely so I can shut down the whole service to save $. I can’t believe the residential has such better priority that’s not good. Possibly I should have gone residential and added the portability but the problem then was I could only pause the portability option. I live in my RV but 3/4 of the time I have general cheaper internet without having to use Starlink. I bought it purely for safety in the outback (Australia). I’m guessing though but will ask with the lower speed on the RV version it still means I would have plenty of speed in a safety situation. I’m assuming the higher speeds are more for video and gaming. Just out of interest mine is running at 204 on the Starlink as we speak. Thanks for the video.
120ms Jitter is is catastrophic vor VoiP Calls or Live Apps like Zoom. If you plan to have zoom calls or ordinary phone calls with Voice over IP please dont cut the motot from the starlink :-)
Hello how has your starlink working, I’m asking because I’m working remote and would like a secure internet connection. Thank you ! I became a Full time RVer this year. Finally bought my own it’s exciting to know all these hacks I find your here. Thank you
Lol. Your test is not scientific at all, but it is nice to see the difference in your two subscriptions. Bottom line is you can get as much speed as you want as long as you are willing to pay for it. Both Business and Mobility offer a priority service. Perhaps their service offerings have changed in the past year. You can clearly see on your Speed tests that you are connecting to two different ground stations. One in GA and one in NC.
Starlink isn’t on my Christmas list after being on it waiting list since February 2020 , two messages changing my expected delivery date, price hike and still looking at end of 2023. Sucks
What a great comparison! Thanks for doing this and enlightening us. This helped drive my decision about Starlink for now.
I was order hmm never recive hardwear but recive a bill . Trying contact to starlink but on web is any contact. Rubbish service. Trying to refund all costs about 600 pounds ! on his poor web only show me not avalaible service WTF is that
The fast one is pinging from NC and the slow one is pinging from GA . A big difference from pinging states. Also you have two different phones. Switch phones and give it another try.
Starlink is fantastic for those that need a connection and have no other option but not very good for people that have other options. It's a terrible deal to pay so much for speeds that are only "So-So". If you can get the same or better speeds for less money from one of the other options, that's the way to go. But if you're in a place where Starlink is the only option, then it's worth every penny.
Awesome work man, thanks for the info. Also love all the videos you have put out as they have helped me a ton as i am new to RV world.
Just one issue on your head to head testing using the 3rd party application. Your results will be wildly different since the capacity of the servers your testing to are different. On your Cabin connection that latency is lower and it's connecting to Morris Broadband, LLC, in Hendersonville, NC, and performs better. Your RV is testing to Truvista Communications Toccoa, GA, with over 100ms in latency, and way lower performance. If you want to get a true head to head on your 3rd party app you must make sure your testing it to the same Speed test server.
Just looking at the side by side, you have 63ms and jitter of 16ms on the cabin, and 111ms and 32ms of jitter on your trailer, the jitter would also make a large difference too.
To get a fair test could you run it again, but with both pointing at Morris Broadband, then again both pointing at TruVista. I think you might be surprised that they are closer in performance than you think. I have been testing Starlink for months now as we are considering using them for deployment for my place of work.
I get what you're saying but, there are two reasons I think the different servers had little effect on the tests: First, those servers and the internet backbone from starlink ground stations are designed to handle MUCH faster traffic than the sub-100Mbps tests I was running. It might affect latency more than throughput but that wasn't what I was focused on. Second, you can see in the test I did at 19:18 (after changing the address on the portable service) that the same servers are still being used and the speed tests are identical. The test was not scientific nor perfect, but I do believe it was a fair test and proved Starlink Portable was throttled.
Hello, and thanks for this video.
What if I have Residential setup and suddenly run out of funds on my card for half of a year. Obviously my service will be stopped. Can I restore it later? Will it cost something? Should I have then to pay for a past half a year?
Glad I cancelled my deposit on Starlink a year ago. Utterly sad to see residential speed down to barely even able to get 50 mbps when the "promise" at the beginning was to be over 200 mbps. They also promised to NOT have multiple tiered service, which they also lied.
We are thinking about getting starlink for a 4 month camper adventure in the pacific north west. We work remote. When you did your test, did you have the internet switched off on the residential (cabin) starlink? Or was it on, but you weren't running the speed test?
I'm trying to figure out what service will be better for us. Do you have any updates on how it's been going with changing addresses? Is there a limit, do they require proof of residency or something to change it?
So, the real question becomes... why are we paying more for the RV/mobility service using the same hardware yet being penalized for not being geo-fenced?
For a few thousand dollars and about $400-500/mo I can do my remote work from anywhere. Sadly still an area were service providers continue to gouge folks.
This is the best video I've seen on this topic. Thanks, brother!
Did anyone ever try Starlink residential with an US address with POTABILITY and ship it to Bocas, Panama ?
i have a question if someone can please answer it if i bought a starlink divce from the U.S but i haven't used it or subscribe to it can i take it and use it in Germany ? and dose it come with a subscription plan ? and if it come with a subscription plan can i take it and use it in Germany without any problems???
So then you left out the price... and the speed of the other services that weren't the home fixed residence services. You left out the speed of all of them.
This guy needs to be more research before posting videos. As an installer in Eastern NC we consistently hit 100 to 150 and 200 to 250 mbs on roam Rv accounts
Thank You for your education and sharing this with us, I appreciate you guys
Havent referenced you since companies stopped grandfathering tethering your phone as a modem and companies were switching to hardware to use as hotspots and charge for them and the service. So I havent followed your life and relationship but everyone seems to be saying you need to ditch the “wifey” because she is the problem and you need to reconfigure your two hot dishes (sorry Tara).
Need residential + Portability + Central America?! Need to take it to Nicaragua, Will it WORK?!
I see an aditional error in your testing. With speedtest.. it ran the test using diferent servers. YOu should hand pick the same servers in both tests. Their could be traffic congestion from the servers... Either way... I still think its a vast difference..
Heya Chad, we are looking at doing Starlink as we embark on our full time. Has anything changed on your recommendation in the last year or so?
Thanks
Will I be able to put the router into bridge mode and use my own router with the ethernet dongle? Second question, if I'm not able to use my own router, will I be able to still use the ethernet dongle and connect to a switch and use my own access points? Thank you!!