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I lived out of an RV for about a year an a half, I found that Internet was the most challenging part of being on the road. We ended up planning where we were st

I lived out of an RV for about a year an a half, I found that Internet was the most challenging part of being on the road. We ended up planning where we were staying based on if there was coverage there or not, which surprisingly still allowed us to go where we wanted to go. What I did for internet was pick up a sprint hotspot from FMCA: https://www.fmca.com/index.php?option=com_fmcatechconnectv2&view=home https://www.fmca.com/index.php?option=com_fmcatechconnectv2&... they have special deals for members. $50 a month, and it does not have data caps. You do have to hold a membership though, which does have an additional cost. The hot spot worked well enough,The speeds I got were in the 1.2-3.4 mbps range, which works. If you are lucky enough to be on a cell tower without a lot of load, you can take advantage of around 34 mbps speed. I only managed to get that speed twice on our trip, first in Tucson when we stayed near the west part of Saguaro National Park, and again in Washington Just outside of Mount Rainier. There should be more spots like that, but we didn't stumble on them. Also, don't expect that you can get the same quality connection as you would get over fiber, scale back the resolution on your video streams :)

pradn 6y ago
Do you know if StarLink would help? Is it possible to set up a StarLink antenna on an RV?
- giobox 6y ago
  While you can move the dish today within a limited area around your registered address and it works, the design of the network doesn't allow you to travel greater distances and have your own dish reconnect yet. In a recent Reddit AMA the Starlink team have said the ability to travel and reconnect to the service for RV scenarios etc will be supported once network expanded out enough. If/when this happens, Starlink would likely become a fantastic option for RV use. > https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/jybmgn/we_are_the_starlink_team_ask_us_anything/gd3tway/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/jybmgn/we_are_the...
- iancmceachern 6y ago
  Starlink does not allow you to be mobile. You have to give them a service address and that address cant change (often enough for RV travel) Edited - spelling
  - pradn 6y ago
    Thank you. Is this for billing reasons or something technical?
    - Sebb767 6y ago
      I'd guess its about satellite load. On large assemblies (think burning man), it would probably break down their link all together and it's hard to quickly provision a satellite.
    - gamegoblin 6y ago
      They are currently doing a contract with the military to run Starlink on their airplanes flying around [1], so I assume it is not a fundamental technical limitation. In the early days, before the constellation is fully fleshed out, it may have something to do with capacity management. I could imagine that there is a relatively low density limitation right now, so if everyone drove their Starlink connected vans to e.g. Yosemite National Park on a holiday, that would be too much density to handle. [1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spacex-starlink-airforce/musks-satellite-project-testing-encrypted-internet-with-military-planes-idUSKBN1X12KM https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spacex-starlink-airforce/...
  - disabled 6y ago
    You have to give them a permanent address, but what you do with it is another story. People on boats are successfully using it: https://provscons.com/starlink-is-the-best-internet-for-boats/ https://provscons.com/starlink-is-the-best-internet-for-boat... However, it cannot be used extremely far off the coast, like on cruise ships. Starlink still requires base stations on land for use. They hope to solve this issue in 2-5 years, supposedly.
    - 6y ago
- mikeiz404 6y ago
  Starlink is effectively geo- locked (at least) right now. “Starlink satellites are scheduled to send internet down to all users within a designated area on the ground. This designated area is referred to as a cell. Your Starlink is assigned to a single cell. If you move your Starlink outside of its assigned cell, a satellite will not be scheduled to serve your Starlink and you will not receive internet. This is constrained by geometry and is not arbitrary geofencing.” [1] It looks like the service address can be updated. “If you have already ordered Starlink and your service address is changing please contact our Support team by logging into your account.” [1] 1. https://www.starlink.com/faq https://www.starlink.com/faq

pradn 6y ago

Do you know if StarLink would help? Is it possible to set up a StarLink antenna on an RV?

giobox 6y ago
While you can move the dish today within a limited area around your registered address and it works, the design of the network doesn't allow you to travel greater distances and have your own dish reconnect yet. In a recent Reddit AMA the Starlink team have said the ability to travel and reconnect to the service for RV scenarios etc will be supported once network expanded out enough. If/when this happens, Starlink would likely become a fantastic option for RV use. > https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/jybmgn/we_are_the_starlink_team_ask_us_anything/gd3tway/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/jybmgn/we_are_the...
iancmceachern 6y ago
Starlink does not allow you to be mobile. You have to give them a service address and that address cant change (often enough for RV travel) Edited - spelling
- pradn 6y ago
  Thank you. Is this for billing reasons or something technical?
  - Sebb767 6y ago
    I'd guess its about satellite load. On large assemblies (think burning man), it would probably break down their link all together and it's hard to quickly provision a satellite.
  - gamegoblin 6y ago
    They are currently doing a contract with the military to run Starlink on their airplanes flying around [1], so I assume it is not a fundamental technical limitation. In the early days, before the constellation is fully fleshed out, it may have something to do with capacity management. I could imagine that there is a relatively low density limitation right now, so if everyone drove their Starlink connected vans to e.g. Yosemite National Park on a holiday, that would be too much density to handle. [1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spacex-starlink-airforce/musks-satellite-project-testing-encrypted-internet-with-military-planes-idUSKBN1X12KM https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spacex-starlink-airforce/...
- disabled 6y ago
  You have to give them a permanent address, but what you do with it is another story. People on boats are successfully using it: https://provscons.com/starlink-is-the-best-internet-for-boats/ https://provscons.com/starlink-is-the-best-internet-for-boat... However, it cannot be used extremely far off the coast, like on cruise ships. Starlink still requires base stations on land for use. They hope to solve this issue in 2-5 years, supposedly.
  - 6y ago
mikeiz404 6y ago
Starlink is effectively geo- locked (at least) right now. “Starlink satellites are scheduled to send internet down to all users within a designated area on the ground. This designated area is referred to as a cell. Your Starlink is assigned to a single cell. If you move your Starlink outside of its assigned cell, a satellite will not be scheduled to serve your Starlink and you will not receive internet. This is constrained by geometry and is not arbitrary geofencing.” [1] It looks like the service address can be updated. “If you have already ordered Starlink and your service address is changing please contact our Support team by logging into your account.” [1] 1. https://www.starlink.com/faq https://www.starlink.com/faq