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Hey folks. I’ve had Starlink (standard service) mounted on my van for the last three months travelling around Australia with roaming off. Has been a game change

Hey folks. I’ve had Starlink (standard service) mounted on my van for the last three months travelling around Australia with roaming off. Has been a game changer for working remotely and helping build Gitpod. It works just fine even when driving [1] or at techno bush doofs [2]. [1] https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSdXwqGrP/?k=1 https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSdXwqGrP/?k=1 [2] https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSdXwbq2b/?k=1 https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSdXwbq2b/?k=1 Happy to answer any questions.

treelovinhippie 4y ago
pkaye 4y ago
How long after the van stops moving does the connection get established?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- ghuntley 4y ago
  Starlink at 110km/h works fine if you are going in a straight line. It's when one does a whole bunch of turns navigating around suburban streets when service isn't great so have it configured as a primary link with my 4g array (https://ghuntley.com/internet https://ghuntley.com/internet) as the fallback for those type of scenarios. After the van stops moving it takes about 1 minute at max to relock and be functional as max speeds. Essentially what happens when lock is lost is the dish goes flat and looks right up (even when driving), finds a satellite and provides marginal connectivity, about a minute after that point it slants and provides exceptional connectivity.
  - pavon 4y ago
    From what I understand, in the US the FCC licensing for fixed location transmitters, relocatable transmitters, and transmitting while in motion are different (sorry can't remember the official terms). These stations may not be approved to transmit while in motion, and so Starlink may put technical restrictions in place to prevent use while moving. The license applications they put in for ruggedised terminals, intended for marine use and the like, requested ability to transmit in motion, but I think these are standard terminals (certainly not gimbled or gyro stabilzed) and aren't covered by that license. We'll have to wait and see until people start receiving stations and testing them out.
girvo 4y ago
This will be a game changer in terms of ensuring I have high-speed 'net access when my partner is doing locum work in the middle of central QLD and other places. Any surprises using this in rural aus?
- ghuntley 4y ago
  I've used it all over Kangaroo Island (SA), on the salt lakes of tyrrell (VIC), a Westfield carpark (NSW) and in the middle of nowhere in remote central QLD. According to the service coverage maps anything north of Rockhampton won't work (haven't been that far north yet) and there's a straight line to Katherine (NT) and anything above that doesn't work so it isn't a complete solution for doing 4wd red-dirt exploration but it's the best thing available for remote work in Australia and knocks the socks off LTE :)
  - girvo 4y ago
    Ah that's awesome to know! Can't wait to get into it when we eventually start doing locum work. Would be awesome to be able to go out to those areas with my partner and still do my job: LTE is rough for a lot of what I need, but I'm also easily able to be 100% remote!
- worthless-trash 4y ago
  I have a mate using it about 100km west of gc, it works well. Looking for my parents to get it in FNQ daintree. Should be no surprises. Whats wrong the the DSL out that way ( IIRC most of central queensland has DSL2+ ) ?
  - girvo 4y ago
    > Whats wrong the the DSL out that way Nothing, other than we're never going to be in one place for long, and being reliant on whatever Wifi happens to be wherever we are staying is a bit of a pain. And LTE chokes and dies with the sort of bandwidth I need from it for work, sadly
    - 4y ago
oxplot 4y ago
Nice! I took Starlink with me on few road trips so far with my Model 3 and rigged it up to work off my car's battery. I did have to change my service address prior to arriving at new locations but it worked fine nonetheless. With the new roaming option, that's even easier now. I wrote about it on my blog for those interested: https://blog.oxplot.com/powering-starlink-on-the-go-with-tesla-model-3/ https://blog.oxplot.com/powering-starlink-on-the-go-with-tes...
- ghuntley 4y ago
  Haven't yet had to change my service location. It's still using my residential address circa 2,344km away from me. From time-to-time the app displays "not in service address" for a couple moments then it disappears. Roaming is disabled / wasn't even an option when first started doing this.
  - oxplot 4y ago
    Interesting. What I noticed was that without changing service address, it would be in search mode for hours without going online. After the change, it would come to life in minutes. I did my trips late last year. I'm sure things are changing fast week to week as more satellites (and thus more bandwidth) is put into orbit.
- madengr 4y ago
walrus01 4y ago
I have a first gen terminal, what real world load in watts are you seeing, assuming you've put it on a wattmeter and it's a v2 rectangular?
- ghuntley 4y ago
  About 25w-50w. Nothing really.
  - dotancohen 4y ago
    Wow, so even in non-ideal conditions at mid-latitudes, a standard 250W 1m^2 solar panel with small battery could power the receiver. Nice.
  - driverdan 4y ago
    50W is not nothing when running off of batteries. It's not a lot on its own but it all adds up quick. 50W for Starlink, 20W for a laptop, add in lights, a fridge, phone, etc and suddenly it's more than you thought it'd be.
throwaway742 4y ago
That TikTok voice is actually painful to hear. Surely there must be some better way to narrate your videos.
- walrus01 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - rajamaka 4y ago
    For anyone who read above, I just searched Uighurs on TikTok and there was plenty of content condemning the CCP at the top of the search results
    - comboy 4y ago
      I don't think facts are relevant for this type of discussions ;)
    - micromacrofoot 4y ago
      Does it have any algorithmic weight? if you start watching anti-CCP videos will more get served to you? This is a big part of the problem with opaque algorithms, IMO. They can downrank content secretly without outright banning it. I don’t think it’s as bad as op made it out to be, but it does seem like “the only way to win is not to play” situation. Generally tiktok’s more blatant censorship seems to be regional (so anti-ccp content is blocked on tiktok in china). Russia and Ukraine seem to get served dramatically different war content, etc
  - hackernewds 4y ago
    Not to mention how rich the facial recognition data collection must be through TikTok for the CCP
  - vetinari 4y ago
    I don't see any difference wrt western sites here. Try talking about topics that irritate western establishment on youtube/twitter/facebook and see what happens. In the end, it boils down to "us" (or "our guys") vs "them" (or "their guys").
thelittleone 4y ago
Great idea. Opens up so many opportunities. For me the idea of working with my clients while sailing a yacht around is perhaps finally within reach.
- dzhiurgis 4y ago
  Been dreaming about this for years, but sailing is so involved that I don't think it's really possible to have enough focus.
  - thelittleone 4y ago
    True, it is involved, but any more than living in a city? Maybe sail a few days then stop in port for a week or more.
  - russellendicott 4y ago
    Yeah, I had no idea how involved it was until I went on a week long YT solo sailing across the <insert body of water> binge. Mad props to those people.
  - swader999 4y ago
    Working on vacation isn't as glorious as you'd imagine either.
    - dzhiurgis 4y ago
      Your family is on vacation meanwhile you maintain boat, plan, organise visas & paperwork, cook and also make moneys...
      - swader999 4y ago
        And rig their gear.
- nicwolff 4y ago
  From the photos I think you still have to set the antenna somewhere stable to use it, so it won't work at sea or maybe even at anchor. Don't get me wrong, it'd be cool just to be able to sail around and have low-latency high-bandwidth access in every port!
kstenerud 4y ago
The biggest question they don't answer is: How much does it cost? How much up front, and how much recurring? Also, does it need to have a completely unobstructed view (i.e. can it be set up right beside the RV if the area is a little sketchy?) How much do overhead trees interfere?
- supermatt 4y ago
  You can download the app and test your location. It needs a specific chunk of sky depending on your location. Price wise, the kit is now about 700 EUR and service is 100 EUR a month.
- mlindner 4y ago
  The cost varies by country. They give the order link right there. You punch in address and it shows you the price. So yes, it's answered.
  - kstenerud 4y ago
    I usually search for things like "price", "costs", "check for service" etc. Things that indicate "this is where you find the price". Hiding it behind the "order" button is just silly because I'm not going to order before I know how much it costs!
    - peripitea 4y ago
      This may be intentional. For example, if demand for their service is still exceeding supply, they may be targeting customers who are less price conscious.
    - pmontra 4y ago
      I agree. They should turn the Order now button into Get price and order now. Plenty of space for that. Btw, the quote I got is Hardware €644.00 Shipping & Handling €75.00 Service €124.00 /mo Due Today €719.00 That's for an address in Italy. Four times as much as I'm paying for a truly unlimited 4G connection (some 30 Mb/s maximum, I'm far away from the base station.) I'm paying 7.95 for the 4G SIM in my phone, capped at 90 GB per month, similar speed at home, different base station.
WhompingWindows 4y ago
What is a techno bush doof?
- monocasa 4y ago
  Australian outdoors techno focused rave.
- robocat 4y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doof https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doof In my experience in New Zealand, a doof is a private party in a rural location that you need an invite to or contacts, usually with music DJs and drugs involved. I wouldn’t call large festivals Doofs, as the Wikipedia article does, although perhaps the word has been co-opted by larger events, or has a different meaning from the little I have used the word. I would guess the word derives from doof doof music, named after a heavy bassline sound. Rhymes with boofhead, or poofter, or woof in NZ (sorry, I couldn’t think of better words with the correct sound, Aussie & NZ English have some unique vowels, and English dialects have wayyyy too many different vowel sounds to easily cross reference). Someone says doof in this Aussie vid, which has the right atmosphere to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iavVc_23-NM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iavVc_23-NM
  - walrus01 4y ago
    In north American slang to "boof" is to consume an illicit drug or mind altering substance by inserting it into the rectum.
    - robocat 4y ago
      I believe that’s called “shelving” in NZ - however drug culture really isn’t my thing though, so I could be entirely wrong. Doof rhymes with German luft[1] although maybe the vowel is stretched more than in luft. Doof doesn’t rhyme with roofie. [1] https://forvo.com/word/luftballons/ https://forvo.com/word/luftballons/
UberFly 4y ago
Your vids seem like weird commercials
agentwiggles 4y ago
All of a sudden I understand why the guitar guy from Fury Road is called the "Doof Warrior". Learn something new every day.
mentos 4y ago
Hey for what its worth I went to check out Gitpod and followed the 'Try Now' button, logged in and was presented with an empty Workspace with no suggestion/direction of how to make use of the service. If you could provide a sample project (maybe just a Hello World) to demo the power of Gitpod I think that would go far in converting random people like myself who stumble across the service.

treelovinhippie 4y ago

pkaye 4y ago

How long after the van stops moving does the connection get established?

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
ghuntley 4y ago
Starlink at 110km/h works fine if you are going in a straight line. It's when one does a whole bunch of turns navigating around suburban streets when service isn't great so have it configured as a primary link with my 4g array (https://ghuntley.com/internet https://ghuntley.com/internet) as the fallback for those type of scenarios. After the van stops moving it takes about 1 minute at max to relock and be functional as max speeds. Essentially what happens when lock is lost is the dish goes flat and looks right up (even when driving), finds a satellite and provides marginal connectivity, about a minute after that point it slants and provides exceptional connectivity.
- pavon 4y ago
  From what I understand, in the US the FCC licensing for fixed location transmitters, relocatable transmitters, and transmitting while in motion are different (sorry can't remember the official terms). These stations may not be approved to transmit while in motion, and so Starlink may put technical restrictions in place to prevent use while moving. The license applications they put in for ruggedised terminals, intended for marine use and the like, requested ability to transmit in motion, but I think these are standard terminals (certainly not gimbled or gyro stabilzed) and aren't covered by that license. We'll have to wait and see until people start receiving stations and testing them out.

girvo 4y ago

This will be a game changer in terms of ensuring I have high-speed 'net access when my partner is doing locum work in the middle of central QLD and other places. Any surprises using this in rural aus?

ghuntley 4y ago
I've used it all over Kangaroo Island (SA), on the salt lakes of tyrrell (VIC), a Westfield carpark (NSW) and in the middle of nowhere in remote central QLD. According to the service coverage maps anything north of Rockhampton won't work (haven't been that far north yet) and there's a straight line to Katherine (NT) and anything above that doesn't work so it isn't a complete solution for doing 4wd red-dirt exploration but it's the best thing available for remote work in Australia and knocks the socks off LTE :)
- girvo 4y ago
  Ah that's awesome to know! Can't wait to get into it when we eventually start doing locum work. Would be awesome to be able to go out to those areas with my partner and still do my job: LTE is rough for a lot of what I need, but I'm also easily able to be 100% remote!
worthless-trash 4y ago
I have a mate using it about 100km west of gc, it works well. Looking for my parents to get it in FNQ daintree. Should be no surprises. Whats wrong the the DSL out that way ( IIRC most of central queensland has DSL2+ ) ?
- girvo 4y ago
  > Whats wrong the the DSL out that way Nothing, other than we're never going to be in one place for long, and being reliant on whatever Wifi happens to be wherever we are staying is a bit of a pain. And LTE chokes and dies with the sort of bandwidth I need from it for work, sadly
  - 4y ago

oxplot 4y ago

Nice! I took Starlink with me on few road trips so far with my Model 3 and rigged it up to work off my car's battery. I did have to change my service address prior to arriving at new locations but it worked fine nonetheless. With the new roaming option, that's even easier now. I wrote about it on my blog for those interested: https://blog.oxplot.com/powering-starlink-on-the-go-with-tesla-model-3/ https://blog.oxplot.com/powering-starlink-on-the-go-with-tes...

ghuntley 4y ago
Haven't yet had to change my service location. It's still using my residential address circa 2,344km away from me. From time-to-time the app displays "not in service address" for a couple moments then it disappears. Roaming is disabled / wasn't even an option when first started doing this.
- oxplot 4y ago
  Interesting. What I noticed was that without changing service address, it would be in search mode for hours without going online. After the change, it would come to life in minutes. I did my trips late last year. I'm sure things are changing fast week to week as more satellites (and thus more bandwidth) is put into orbit.
madengr 4y ago

walrus01 4y ago

I have a first gen terminal, what real world load in watts are you seeing, assuming you've put it on a wattmeter and it's a v2 rectangular?

ghuntley 4y ago
About 25w-50w. Nothing really.
- dotancohen 4y ago
  Wow, so even in non-ideal conditions at mid-latitudes, a standard 250W 1m^2 solar panel with small battery could power the receiver. Nice.
- driverdan 4y ago
  50W is not nothing when running off of batteries. It's not a lot on its own but it all adds up quick. 50W for Starlink, 20W for a laptop, add in lights, a fridge, phone, etc and suddenly it's more than you thought it'd be.

throwaway742 4y ago

That TikTok voice is actually painful to hear. Surely there must be some better way to narrate your videos.

walrus01 4y ago
[flagged]
- rajamaka 4y ago
  For anyone who read above, I just searched Uighurs on TikTok and there was plenty of content condemning the CCP at the top of the search results
  - comboy 4y ago
    I don't think facts are relevant for this type of discussions ;)
  - micromacrofoot 4y ago
    Does it have any algorithmic weight? if you start watching anti-CCP videos will more get served to you? This is a big part of the problem with opaque algorithms, IMO. They can downrank content secretly without outright banning it. I don’t think it’s as bad as op made it out to be, but it does seem like “the only way to win is not to play” situation. Generally tiktok’s more blatant censorship seems to be regional (so anti-ccp content is blocked on tiktok in china). Russia and Ukraine seem to get served dramatically different war content, etc
- hackernewds 4y ago
  Not to mention how rich the facial recognition data collection must be through TikTok for the CCP
- vetinari 4y ago
  I don't see any difference wrt western sites here. Try talking about topics that irritate western establishment on youtube/twitter/facebook and see what happens. In the end, it boils down to "us" (or "our guys") vs "them" (or "their guys").

thelittleone 4y ago

Great idea. Opens up so many opportunities. For me the idea of working with my clients while sailing a yacht around is perhaps finally within reach.

dzhiurgis 4y ago
Been dreaming about this for years, but sailing is so involved that I don't think it's really possible to have enough focus.
- thelittleone 4y ago
  True, it is involved, but any more than living in a city? Maybe sail a few days then stop in port for a week or more.
- russellendicott 4y ago
  Yeah, I had no idea how involved it was until I went on a week long YT solo sailing across the <insert body of water> binge. Mad props to those people.
- swader999 4y ago
  Working on vacation isn't as glorious as you'd imagine either.
  - dzhiurgis 4y ago
    Your family is on vacation meanwhile you maintain boat, plan, organise visas & paperwork, cook and also make moneys...
    - swader999 4y ago
      And rig their gear.
nicwolff 4y ago
From the photos I think you still have to set the antenna somewhere stable to use it, so it won't work at sea or maybe even at anchor. Don't get me wrong, it'd be cool just to be able to sail around and have low-latency high-bandwidth access in every port!

kstenerud 4y ago

The biggest question they don't answer is: How much does it cost? How much up front, and how much recurring? Also, does it need to have a completely unobstructed view (i.e. can it be set up right beside the RV if the area is a little sketchy?) How much do overhead trees interfere?

supermatt 4y ago
You can download the app and test your location. It needs a specific chunk of sky depending on your location. Price wise, the kit is now about 700 EUR and service is 100 EUR a month.
mlindner 4y ago
The cost varies by country. They give the order link right there. You punch in address and it shows you the price. So yes, it's answered.
- kstenerud 4y ago
  I usually search for things like "price", "costs", "check for service" etc. Things that indicate "this is where you find the price". Hiding it behind the "order" button is just silly because I'm not going to order before I know how much it costs!
  - peripitea 4y ago
    This may be intentional. For example, if demand for their service is still exceeding supply, they may be targeting customers who are less price conscious.
  - pmontra 4y ago
    I agree. They should turn the Order now button into Get price and order now. Plenty of space for that. Btw, the quote I got is Hardware €644.00 Shipping & Handling €75.00 Service €124.00 /mo Due Today €719.00 That's for an address in Italy. Four times as much as I'm paying for a truly unlimited 4G connection (some 30 Mb/s maximum, I'm far away from the base station.) I'm paying 7.95 for the 4G SIM in my phone, capped at 90 GB per month, similar speed at home, different base station.

WhompingWindows 4y ago

What is a techno bush doof?

monocasa 4y ago
Australian outdoors techno focused rave.
robocat 4y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doof https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doof In my experience in New Zealand, a doof is a private party in a rural location that you need an invite to or contacts, usually with music DJs and drugs involved. I wouldn’t call large festivals Doofs, as the Wikipedia article does, although perhaps the word has been co-opted by larger events, or has a different meaning from the little I have used the word. I would guess the word derives from doof doof music, named after a heavy bassline sound. Rhymes with boofhead, or poofter, or woof in NZ (sorry, I couldn’t think of better words with the correct sound, Aussie & NZ English have some unique vowels, and English dialects have wayyyy too many different vowel sounds to easily cross reference). Someone says doof in this Aussie vid, which has the right atmosphere to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iavVc_23-NM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iavVc_23-NM
- walrus01 4y ago
  In north American slang to "boof" is to consume an illicit drug or mind altering substance by inserting it into the rectum.
  - robocat 4y ago
    I believe that’s called “shelving” in NZ - however drug culture really isn’t my thing though, so I could be entirely wrong. Doof rhymes with German luft[1] although maybe the vowel is stretched more than in luft. Doof doesn’t rhyme with roofie. [1] https://forvo.com/word/luftballons/ https://forvo.com/word/luftballons/

UberFly 4y ago

Your vids seem like weird commercials

agentwiggles 4y ago

All of a sudden I understand why the guitar guy from Fury Road is called the "Doof Warrior". Learn something new every day.

mentos 4y ago

Hey for what its worth I went to check out Gitpod and followed the 'Try Now' button, logged in and was presented with an empty Workspace with no suggestion/direction of how to make use of the service. If you could provide a sample project (maybe just a Hello World) to demo the power of Gitpod I think that would go far in converting random people like myself who stumble across the service.