RV internet and streaming

2,519 Views | 20 Replies | Last: 1 mo ago by Mr President Elect
IslandAg76
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AG
Too many choices.
Any one have recommendations for system for RV internet and TV streaming connections. Fast, reliable, easy to setup?

Thanks
lb3
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AG
A few years ago there were several options for cellular WiFi routers, mobile hotspots and data plans. signal boosters and the like.

It's much easier now and the only word you need to know is Starlink.
Koko Chingo
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Starlink Roam - Its made for Rv's, boats, etc.

I have not used it, only the fixed residential Starlink. I imagine it would be good, regular Starlink is great.

GLiNet makes cellular routers that work really well.

Each has their pro's and cons. Being remote or in areas that do not have cell service rules out a cellular option. Being covered and not having line of site to the sky rules out satellite. I guess you could do both and spend a good chuck of change on an actual bridge (not something marketed as one) and combine then two for more speed or fall back to one with if the other is offline.

I am joking on the bridge they can cost $1500+ and you have to have two data subscriptions. But if you spend most months versus a few weekends in your RV it becomes a more sane option.


https://www.starlink.com/roam

https://www.gl-inet.com/



boy09
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Koko Chingo said:

Starlink Roam - Its made for Rv's, boats, etc.

I have not used it, only the fixed residential Starlink. I imagine it would be good, regular Starlink is great.


It's the same equipment, you just pay a different monthly rate to be able to use your equipment away from your home address. $120/mo at a fixed home address, $165/mo for Roam (or $50/mo for 50gb).
IslandAg76
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Thanks, looking for something to use in RV on football weekends and maybe a couple of week long trips thru the year.
the Wifi in the park is a pain.
FunnyFarm14
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Starlink. You can do the Roam or get a residential and switch it to RV mode (ups the monthly fee by $30) but you can turn it on/off if you know you won't need it for XX months. By far the best way to do it.

FWIW my starlink has yet to have an issue in storms.
Lots of oilfield folks use starlink on equipment that moves almost daily. Power it up and it works. Pretty dang simple.
EMY92
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I have several coworkers who are full time RVers. We all work remotely. Starlink is their choice, but, it's far from perfect. Most actually have cellular as well. Starlink suffers where there are nearby trees. This can be an issue at many campgrounds.
cruiserag2020
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I have Starlink Roam and love it. Been all over the middle of nowhere, Big Bend, and the desert southwest with it. Super easy to set up and I love being able to pause it in between trips.
IslandAg76
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Thanks for input.
finally decided to at least start out with Travelfi. Might add to our change later but have to start somewhere
BourbonAg
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TravelFi has worked fine for our very limited RV needs.
Nagler
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Starlink.

We've got it at the house. Wife works from home with a lot of video conferencing. All of our TV's are streaming only.

Only issue I've had was a cable go bad and they don't have customer service you can talk to. Ended up buying a new cord waiting for them to respond. They credited a month and sent me a new cord and said hope that helps. I said it didn't and they credit me another month.

As far as service goes works great. It used to go down some during really heavy rain storms but I haven't noticed that recently.
satexas
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boy09 said:

Koko Chingo said:

Starlink Roam - Its made for Rv's, boats, etc.

I have not used it, only the fixed residential Starlink. I imagine it would be good, regular Starlink is great.


It's the same equipment, you just pay a different monthly rate to be able to use your equipment away from your home address. $120/mo at a fixed home address, $165/mo for Roam (or $50/mo for 50gb).

AND, you can TURN IT OFF whenever you want on your app... and turn it back on whenever you want... saving RV owners tons of money.

Very key point to the ROAM package.

Pay for what you use.
ChoppinDs40
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Starlink RVer here. Best thing to come to RVing. We use YouTubeTV so just log into our accounts. Fire up Starlink and good to go.

Great for football season too either way multi view on YTTV.
IslandAg76
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Only a couple days into trip but Travelfi seems to be working well. After initial setup, phones auto connect and just turn on the TV.
BUT, just a sample of a few days.
ChoppinDs40
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AG
I should also mention we went the Starlink route because we camp places with 0 cell reception. Not ideal or possible for remote work.
RangerRick9211
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EMY92 said:

I have several coworkers who are full time RVers. We all work remotely. Starlink is their choice, but, it's far from perfect. Most actually have cellular as well. Starlink suffers where there are nearby trees. This can be an issue at many campgrounds.
Or snow.

We've had Starlink on our van for a year. Trees and heavy snow have doomed us a few times. The internal dish heater keeps up to clear snow, but snow will build up around it causing outages until you sweep the roof.

Beyond that, wild times that we can be in the middle of nowhere with 200mbs down of internet.
Mr President Elect
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Going to do an adventure of dispersed camping (mixed with some rv parks I'm sure). Could I go down to baja and put my home country as mexico and order from there? It looks like it is $1,650 pesos / mo ( ~$84/mo usd) for the mx unlimited roaming. Also, is there much of difference between the mini and standard, I'm guessing it is something like 100mbps instead of 200? I was just thinking that I might get more utility after the adventure ends of having the mini instead of the standard.
Mr President Elect
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Any of you guys compared mini to standard? I see Starlink is running a promotion for mini for $299. Thinking of getting that, but I will need decent internet when RV'ing. It seems all the talk originally was to stick with standard if you needed reliable and fast internet, but seems mini is becoming more of an option now.
InternetFan02
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Just switched to starlink mini after battling bad signals with the AT&T hotspot on a family RV vacation . Game changer. Wow. It's so portable and simple. We'll be bringing it along for all vacations now to use as needed, not just RV trips and I'll probably throw it in for business trips also just in case it's needed. Will be canceling the $50 a month AT&T hotspot and using the $50 a month starlink roam plan.
Mr President Elect
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AG
I purchased the mini a few weeks ago when they were on sale. I need to activate it in the next few days, but I realized I maybe should have ordered the kit with someone's referral code for a free month of roam-unlimited. Anyone know if I can still just activate the service with someone's referral code to get a free month? I haven't gone through setup yet, so i am not sure if it will even ask or have the opportunity.

edit: according to grok I can't

edit #2: attempted to speak with customer service to retroactively apply it so that I don't have to return it and re-order it, and the bot had no problems with me cancelling... bluff called

edit #3: Don't be me, use a referral code when you order so that you can get a free month. Can't retroactively add it after odering. Here is a referral code if you don't have one (I believe it works for the residential and unlimited roaming, but not the 50gb roaming): https://www.starlink.com/residential?referral=RC-3740819-38562-71
Mr President Elect
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I've been using starlink mini for a couple of weeks now and it has been great. Speeds vary between about 50mb/s to 350mb/s. At first I was a little nervous b/c during setup it wasn't connecting and indicated there were too many obstacles (trying to point it to the sky between trees), but I have learned to just set it up when I arrive and it will work by the time I need to use it. If you do need to use it immediately, then typically a really large opening is needed as it looks to collect the data from about a 120 deg slice of a sphere and anything within that can prevent it from immediately connecting. But if you don't need it for about 30+ minutes, then if you have any kind of break in the trees or other obstacles, it will usually be able to make a connection. However, if the opening is on the small side you might experience some drops or drops in speed.

As far as mounting, I bought the mount from starlink for rv roofs for ~$22 but haven't mounted yet as I would rather not add screws to my roof (it does come with a sealant for the screw holes), also it lays pretty flat on the roof, so if you can't position your rv in an opening then you are screwed. I bought a short 1.25" metal pipe that I screwed into my gray-tank vent pipe and then attached the pipe-mount that came with the starlink. This allows me to rotate it in the direction of any opening around the rv for more flexibility. I think the ideal connection would be if you had a ladder mounted to your rv and run a pole along the side of it (or they even have 3rd party kits for small connectors) and then you could rotate the starlink from the ground, and potentially raise and lower it so you lower it below the wind-profile when traveling. I currently take it down for traveling, except for very short and slow speed moves. I'm nervous about the starlink to the starlink pipe-mount when driving, it seems a little loose when seated in, and I accidentally twisted it off when using screwing in the pipe to the gray-tank pipe (using the mount+starlink for additional leverage) and so I am a little worried I might have slightly compromised the mount. It did keep signal the one time I drove with it, but it was very slow travel and zero overhead obstacles. I think as long as there are no obstacles, it should keep signal at nearly any driving speed. I think I am leaning towards mounting the roof mount and keeping it there and then when I need directional pointing, switch it to the vent mount.

I went with the mini over the standard for a few reasons, and so far not regretting it.
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