Starlink Portability Official! $25/mo Add-On for RV & Boat Use
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 30 июн 2024
- Just yesterday we reported that SpaceX was likely on the verge of officially rolling out a paid Portability feature, allowing Starlink customers to roam.
And last night - the feature officially launched.
And - unsurprisingly - it comes with a price tag attached: $25/mo.
And as portability rolls out, the current automatic and free roaming is coming to an end in June.
Starlink's updated FAQ and terms of service reveal a few other interesting details too - including a major change related to in-motion usage now being grounds for canceling your account.
For the full story:
www.rvmobileinternet.com/star...
--------------------------------
The Mobile Internet Resource Center is dedicated to helping mobile travelers (RVers, cruisers, nomads, etc.) keep connected!
This channel is part of the Mobile Internet Resource Center, and you'll find even MORE content (guides, news, courses, reviews, forums, gear and more) on our website: www.mobileinternetinfo.com.
We are funded by our premium members, who allow us to make this niche topic our focus and offer a ton of free content (like this channel) to the public! Our members get a bunch of extra access to our Q&A forums, in-depth guides, product reviews, courses, insider tips and webinars.
Interested in helping keep us funded to continue creating content? Want to go deeper? Want more interactive guidance?
Consider becoming a member at: www.mobileinternetinfo.com/mem...
The Mobile Internet Resource Center is brought to you by Two Steps Beyond LLC, the consultancy run by Cherie & Chris of Technomadia.com (full time tech nomads since 2006 by RV & boat).
© Two Steps Beyond LLC 2022
See our website for our full terms of use disclaimer:
www.rvmobileinternet.com/term...
AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and weBoost partnership program. We earn from qualifying purchases on Amazon and weBoost. All other links are not affiliate links - we forgo affiliate relationships whenever possible, and instead ask vendors to pass along bigger savings to our premium members. 
Наука
Thanks for the update
Finally! I’ve been waiting for this since I signed up last year. I got the email this morning. Dishy is being moved to the van today.
Received Starlink kit 3 weeks ago. We are MIRC’s most technically incompetent member, yet for the past 5 years have successfully worked remotely following MIRC’s suggestions (redundancy, redundancy, redundancy). So far we have only moved about 250 miles, Starlink seems to be incredible, beyond belief. Following the redundancy rule, we have our 2 proven systems with Starlink in test. Maybe in a few months we may drop one of the proven systems bringing Starlink as the preferred. In a couple months we will be in a National Park, that will be the test, actually being able to stay in the more remote areas of the parks with service will be a game changer. As always Thank You
Thanks for the quick reporting on this. Now if it could be used to camp in wooded areas…. Gogogadget 50 foot pole!
Good information
Not perfect but just one more tool we can use - great info. Thanks.
Tried it out this past weekend. I was 200 miles away
great video, thanks! what are the downsides to going without portability and simply changing the service address as needed? can i change the address every day? does it change instantly? i only use starlink when i am way out in the middle of nowhere and there is no cell service. i don't use starlink at home where i'd risk losing my spot.
The downside is there may not be open capacity where you want to change your address to.
At first I was ready to be mad at "another price hike" but after sleeping on it, and waking up to this being the reality, i'm ok with it. I still think it's overall too pricey to meet the original purpose that the FCC allowed the "leases" (is it even just that? Space in space??) Which I thought was to bring options to isp devoid rural ppl...
BUT, at least this move tells us they're unlikely to pull the rug out from under all of us trully mobile users. So hurray?!?
25$ is not bad… just received the email about it this morning.
Kind of a bummer for me as someone who can't use StarLink at home, I think $135/mo is far too much on top of my existing cellular plans especially when it's not guaranteed and there's no reserved capacity for portable users.
I'm sure they will after the phase two version of the satellite array is complete as they can communicate to other satellites to off set the data load on the earth bound data centers
With most wired internet your performance varies based on the capacity/usage of the network regardless. And it doesn't take long to exceed $135/month on a cell plan where you're probably paying $5/GB after exceeding a ~40GB monthly data cap if you want usable internet. Starlink (with no cap AFAIK) is a MUCH better value for this level of data usage (around ~60GB per month or more), provided the de-prioritized Starlink experience is better than de-prioritized cellular data and is sufficient for basic web-browsing most of the time (TBD?).
@@quixoticPrancer And that's kind of what gets to the crux of things. You *might* manage to get to $135 with overage on a cell plan but that's for data you were able to use. With StarLink you have to pay that up front and hope you're able to get usable performance, or even a usable connection at all. I still thing it's a great deal for a lot of people, but for my use case where I have plenty of LTE data already and can't use StarLink at home it's probably fine.
@@AlexConner Right, so the key questions are: 1) Do you use enough data to help make Starlink more economical than the alternatives, and 2) How usable will de-prioritized Starlink service be for how much of the time compared with the alternative? (Anecdotally from what we've seen so far, it seems to be measurably "more" usable, which is of course subject to change as more subscribers come online)
would be great but i ordered mine from another cell that was open .Still waiting for mine from feb 21 . Only issue i must of gave them a dead email address i use to use. They took my 900 got the dish in 5 days but cant update or use all the functions . So i activated that email again and sent in a tickit to support for password. Still nothing been week and half. so dont cheat the system lol but it works on roam right now
Is there a special antenna/pole setup with servo motors that you have to buy as well?
No, Dishy comes with a pole/mount and is phased array.
A while before it gets to us in Queensland Australia 🇦🇺
I can get everything on it, like directv or comcast
I want to believe SL is what I need. But it hasn't been performing up to expectations. I have moved 4 times. The last two I have had to use park wifi. The SL signal constantly drops. I have reset my system several times. I wrote to SL for help and they opened a ticket, but that was a week ago and I haven't heard a thing since. Is there any other way to contact them for assistance?
Guess I might as well keep my hotspot.
$30 extra for those in Canada. So if you want portability as a Canadian subscriber, it's $170 + tax
This needs to be available for cruise ships. I can’t even explain to you how terrible the Wi-Fi experience is on a cruise ship because of the traditional satellite Internet it is so disgustingly bad and they charge so damn much.
Does it work with a moving/rolling platform like a boat in terms of locking onto whatever satellites it needs? Last I heard on this channel it didn't.
@@quixoticPrancer well now with the portability add on it opens up the capability for it to be used on cruise ships in a commercial way.
@@Starwarsgames66 It's one thing if Starlink worked in other cells besides the home cells. It's another thing to be able to support starlink connections on a moving platform and have the dish be able to adjust, especially in rough sea conditions. It's only clear from the video that the first of these problems have been solved, I didn't see anything specifically mentioned about the second problem being solved as well.
Using Starlink while in motion is currently cause for termination of service, they don't yet have an FCC license for that. Also, Starlink currently doesn't work more than 10-12 miles off shore. They are working on global and mobile options in the future.
Hi, we have two dish's one at home and one for camper. Here in Wisconsin we camp maybe 5-6 months a year, with a home address not seemingly as important, can I just stop service for 6 months and restart in spring?
You can definitely stop service. Hard to predict if you'll be able to restart service next spring - so much will depend on capacity at your home, how Starlink evolves, etc. There's no official suspend option right now.
As a snowbird, Canadian resident, I was very interested in getting Starlink, but after reading more of the limitations and emailed tech support, it’s not a workable solution at this time. If you purchased the kit in Canada, then headed down to the USA for the winter, enabled the portability feature, you only get 2 months, after that 2 months you have to change your service address. But, you can’t change it to a USA address because the kit is registered in Canada. Supposedly, the kits have different certification for USA and Canada, tech support confirmed this. So I’m assuming this same policy works for USA citizens wanting to travel in Mexico or Canada for over the 2 month period. They would be unable to change their service address as they are trying to register in a foreign country.
It would be nice if the mobile internet resource centre could confirm my findings.
Yes, confirmed in the article and guide that goes along with this video.
This really sucks!
Finally made the call to sell our Starlink Gen2 to another nomad, just too many small outages to rely on it as full time remote workers traveling full time. I found myself relying purely on my Verizon PUDP plan to ensure Zoom calls were not interrupted so the idea of camping outside the bounds of LTE service was really not tenable, I had little faith Starlink would not have several micro outages per day, logged by my Peplink's Event Log with a VERY lenient outage health check.
I can say that modifying TMHI for an RV has proven quite the fun experiment as a second plan with access to N71/5g
Thanks for commenting. That’s helpful to know. I’m looking for the best options right now as well be traveling to the southeast later this summer. Has your Verizon plan worked well? Do you have a jet pack? Do you use WeBoost at all? We’ll be working FT as well, so I’m freaking out a little bit about which options we should go with. My husband kind of wants to pair a Visible plan with a Verizon jet pack and a WeBoost.
Very welcome! We rely on a MIMO antenna instead of boosters, we prefer the throughput for upload/download + carrier aggregation. Boosters basically can't benefit from the increased bandwidth when more than 1 tower is available to you.
You can absolutely pair the speed limited Visible plan, once activated in a phone, within a hotspot but my preference is a Pepwave device for many reasons (all covered on our website.)
I try to cover everything we use, now 3.5 years on the road, with many thanks to the team here who helped me get started:
www.boondachshunds.com/connectivity-on-the-road
Hi Meghan - here's our collection of resources for working remotely on the road: www.rvmobileinternet.com/working-remotely
Gotta pay for Twitter somehow.
Still, here in Oz this is gamechanger for remote area use. SatPhones are expensive.
I work on cargo vessel and internet is our main problem in the middle of ocean.which one do you think should i get so we can stay connected on internet?
At present time, Starlink hasn't enabled service in the middle of most oceans. When they do, the Maritime service will include it, or you can add on data per GB to other plans.
$135 a month seems tough to justify compared to other solutions. Plus the initial hardware purchase...
If you have options . Starlink is for those who don’t have decent Choices. Where I live there is only Hugh’s net
I pay $120/mo for a Verizon hotspot with 150GB of data that barely works at rural campsites. If I can pay $135 and get unlimited data usage, and better accessibility, it IS worth it.
@@thomashendricks33 might be worth it for you, but not me. I can get at&t hot spot, and have plenty of options to go camping, and save a bunch of $$$.
I agree - $700 up front plus another $135 per month and don’t forget the electric bill as Starlink needs a lot more juice then a MiFi or similar LTE based solution. Still, it really depends on your needs and your budget. Like everything else.
I have a Dish and used it for 4 months, but I just moved to a new home, I'm still using the old address because the new area I moved to has a wait time of 2023. Can I sign-up in that cell, set up at my home location, and pay the portability option fees until there is an opening in my 'home cell' and update the address then and discontinue roaming?
If you can move your service address to your actual location, you would not need to pay the Service Portability fee and would have high priority. But if you can't, Service Portability would be your only option, but eventually your priority will be much reduced as per their FAQs.
I am so conflicted on whether to pull the trigger now or wait for the truly mobile version. We plan on doing a lot of boondocking and my wife and I both work remotely. What would everyone suggest?
There's no predicting what the future mobile option will be. Only you can choose what is right for you.
You appear to be on a boat sitting in a marina. I currently have an inactive KVH TRAC FONE antenna as well an inactive Dish antenna. It appears to me that a LTE booster won’t work far from shore and not at all for 5g. A while back I had an analog booster it worked well but Verizon showed up at my boat in Annapolis one day complaining about my signal. I’m now considering a monthly Iridium Go rental with uVerizon for offshore use but it would be more expensive with data limitations. Right now, what is the offshore range for Starlink? Would it work 50 miles offshore? Would it work in the Exumas? On the internet, some boats are using Starlink as they travel on their boats. Will Musk try to discourage this use because of their restricted license?
From reports in marine groups, Starlink shuts off about 10-12 miles off shore. Service is not yet enabled in the Bahamas.
Yes, very anxious to know if (or when) it will work offshore or in the Exumas and Bahamas. I know Starlink reports that the Bahamas isn't supported, but given it's close location to Florida, where it IS supported, I wonder if it might pick up the satellite from Bahamas? If not, is there a timeline for the Bahamas and islands further south?
Useful information. But there is one part that may not have been covered. I'm still waiting to get service for my home address, they are saying towards the end of 2022. Since they won't let me get a dish until I can get service, does that prohibit getting a dish for roaming. Could I get on the roaming and just use it at home until I can change the service address back to my home.
If your only/primary location will be your home address, it's best to wait - as you'll continue to be bumped down the priority list if you can't update your address. If you're purchasing for RV/boat use and portability - then it shouldn't matter too much.
@@MobileInternetResourceCenter Thanks, my current Internet service is only 30 Mbps Down 10 Mbps Up, so even being deprioritized might be a lot faster than what I have now.
How much does it cost for your three cellular plans? Would you call that pricey? You should keep things in perspective
We actually keep several plans on each carrier - as we have test this stuff to share hands on notes with our members so they can make informed choices. That's our job in running in this resource center.
But without plans on all options, we would not be able to jump on a story like this. When we filmed and uploaded this video, we were in a location with no Verizon or T-Mobile signal. If we didn't have AT&T or Starlink, we would have needed to move to a different location to even know this story had broke. For us, it's essential to have as many options as available to enable our mobile lifestyle and sharing this content.
For others, that may not be their needs and they can make choices otherwise. It is all about perspective.
How far from your home base can you go before it’s considered portability?
Generally a cell has been about 10-15 miles wide.
I wish it wasn’t so expensive it would be great to just add it to the RV only and keep our service that we have at home but if they’re going to charge 135 to be a customer and move our Starlink around here we go hunting a better solution
Hope we can use starlink on a sailing boat.
Starlink just released their Maritime version .. $10k equipment and $5k /mo service fee.
Portability sounds great but with the FAQ offering a conflict of information regarding moving between countries and continents. Has anyone confirmed if you can move your Service Address from a country in one continent to a country in another? Asking as we sail from North America to Austrailia for example.
You can only move within your home continent.
@@MobileInternetResourceCenter ok. So I would buy starlink in US and a second in Austrailia. Can i sell starlink kit to a new user? As far as I can see, the only way to get an account is to purchase a kit direct. Effectively killing the second hand market
Starlink allows you to transfer service, all covered in our linked guide: www.rvmobileinternet.com/starlink
What about crossing oceans on a sailboat (US to Europe)?
That's not a feature currently supported, but they have that as a goal in time.
This is good news but Starlink not telling us exactly how long we can use portability in one place before we are required to change our registered address is a bit concerning because if it automatically switches you might not be able to get your original service address back again
Yup, definitely a concern and we'll be watching to see how things are enforced.
How long can one be "portable" at one spot before risking one's permanent location being changed? For example, I travel to southern AZ during the winter and can be at a spot up to 2.5 months - will my permanent address change from my original registered permanent address while I'm snowbirding in AZ?
They have not defined what is considered an extended prior of service before a service address needs to be updated.
My wife is a teacher and I’m retired so we still have a sticks-n-bricks home base. We travel for the entire summer. Can you turn on mobile and turn it off a few months later? Will there be a cut-off and turn-on fee? Would like to have Star Link at home and take it with us when traveling for a couple of months at a time.
Yes, you can switch portability on/off as needed - at present time, no additional fee for that.
@@MobileInternetResourceCenter thanks.
Oof. Couple of thoughts:
- There is no apparent additional operating cost to SpaceX for portability; its the same service with network management (for which the hardware is already in place for business vs residential plans). I do wonder what SpaceX's justification for a 23% increase in residential service fees is for those wishing to frequently move location.
- What is the length of time that a customer has to be "stationary" in a new location before they're required to permanently move their service address? If its in the 2, 3, or 4 month range, this may well catch a lot of snowbirds. And, what happens if - say, after 3 months snowbirding in Benson, Arizona - a customer is required to move their permanent address, but there are no slots available? Do they stay on roaming until a slot is free? Or, is their service simply cut off because they've been stationary too long? And, will a day trip with Dishy to another cell an hour away reset the "stationary" clock?
- As a Canadian... two months in a foreign country (i.e. the USA) before being required to permanently change my service address is awkward and undesirable.
- More of a curiousity... but, what counts as "same continent"? "America"? Just "North America" (not only Canada/USA/Mexico, but does this include down to Panama)? What about the Bahamas or Puerto Rico? (Note: yes, this is more of a future-question where a mesh network and "space lasers" are a reality)
Elon is greedy
There actually is a cost, as service is intended for fixed locations and they can control capacity. To offer service to transients, they do have to reserve some capacity to provide it.
Length of time is not defined, so we'll have to wait and see on that. But terms do say if service address is not updated, priority continues to diminish.
BTW - Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are covered now as part of North America. The various Caribbean nations and Central America haven’t had service turned on yet - but presumably they will also count as North America too.
Think of it more as real estate, rather than "operational cost". Total bandwidth is limited, so they want to avoid everyone roaming by imposing a cost. Even if they are saying it's best-effort service only, they would still presumably want the roamers to have some internet albeit a little slower, which would require having only limited number of them and/or allotting some extra bandwidth for buffer. With residential services, they can just sign up fixed number of customers. With roaming, anyone can travel to anywhere making it harder to manage the bandwidth allocation.
@@BrotherCheng But I could understand if they had a free tier portability, and you got what bandwidth was left over, with low priority. And then if you wanted, you could pay the extra 25 dollars. But to have to pay 25 and still be a lower priority is not cool.
That would, unfortunately, cost me approximately 12% of my monthly income.
Well it was a great idea while it lasted.
Thanks for the update on the latest :)
Always appreciated.
If you have roaming on, destination is reached and now you’re ready to turn it on - what is the next step?
Once you've enabled portability, you should be able to connect as normal.
We have moved three times. All we did was set the system up. Turn it on and waited. The system connected all by itself. Never made a change to our service address. Roaming was already built into the system. My feeling this is nothing more than a price increase. On those of us who travel. Just because StarLink is excited about it. Does not mean the customer should. Let me repeat. Roaming was already built into the system. StarLink does not have to spend additional money on a upgrade. Given that fact I am surprised by the number of people. Who are happy with the price increase.
@@igowhereimtowed6839 My sense is that the people who buy and stick with Starlink are not too price sensitive to begin with. So an extra 25 a month isn’t going to make any real difference to them. But I agree overall.
Question here, what is the difference between Roaming and Portability? Im a full time Rv'r
Portability is the official word that Starlink is using for branding/marketing. Roaming is the diagnostic screen indicator that you're away from your service address.
RV'r here. This doesn't seem like a good choice for me. Too expensive and not yet reliable.
Nope. Initial outlay plus waiting list plus steep monthly costs plus risk of crappy service, and potential to lose your home spot if you transfer. Like many others, we'll be changing our location every 2 weeks over 3 winter months. No benefits visible to me yet. This is like the early days of cellular. I'll wait until there's enough satellite coverage that third parties can lease service and resell it to nomads like us. I won't be an early adopter.
Not for nothing but I pay $50 a month for T-Mobile home internet for my house and bring the router camping with me all the time and it has worked perfectly everywhere thus far. And it’s unlimited.
It is an option if you have solid T-Mobile signal, and assuming T-Mobile doesn't eventually enforce their terms of use for only being intended for a fixed single location.
T-Mobile coverage leaves a lot to be desired unfortunately - particularly in the more remote or off beat locations that RVers and other travelers typically inhabit or wander through. Also they could enable geo-fencing on the Home product at any time locking your router to home location. They probably won’t but they certainly could.
@@curtispavlovec yes I agree. I bought it for home use and love it. So for me I already have it. I thought they would GEO lock it but they haven’t. When they do I will still will keep them. I will say the router has worked way better then my cell phone when camping. It obviously has better antennas. Plus I have a mimo antenna I can hook up but haven’t needed to.
There were a lot worse possibilities than $25 / month.
Is anyone having issues like me. I signed up for portability the day they announced it. My first two locations were fine. It has been crap since. Starlink constantly drops the signal. Is there a fix or something I should look for to repair this issue?
Here's our guide to Starlink: www.rvmobileinternet.com/starlink with information on using it. If you're a member, feel free to open a thread in our forums so our team can help troubleshoot.
@@MobileInternetResourceCenter Thank you. I found a small gash/cut in my cable. I am guessing this could be the cause of my angst. I ordered a new 75 ft cable, but it won't be shipped till June. Are there alternatives for the cable until it arrives? Or, can it be spliced?
It is a shielded Ethernet cable with proprietary ends - someone comfortable making custom Ethernet cables should be able to repair it. SpaceX is WAY behind in shipping out spare parts.
I don't get it Starlink, you charge $25 (extra on top of $110) then put limitations? What am I paying extra for then?
You're paying extra for portability - the ability to travel to different locations and stay connected. If you don't pay the $25, then you only get service at your registered service address.
I’m within 30 days I think I might send mine back now
Great news, but I need a phone anyway and it covers all of our data needs. I can picture this being useful if/when we sail to the South Pacific, but then this is bounded by the continent... where I already get cell coverage in most places we need it. I’m sure there’s a place for this (maybe for RVs more so than boats), but for me it’s not there yet.
After being stuck with Viasat for 15 years, my Starlink is staying where it belongs. At home.
Well that makes it completely useless for us. It isn't the price... it is the fact that it isn't really portable. Glad we waited to see what the "real deal" was going to be.
Starlink needs competition.
Project Kuiper and OneWeb are also contenders. More on our satellite industry update: www.rvmobileinternet.com/satellite-resources
It’s portability not on the move . If you use it on the move the warranty is voided !
And as covered in the video - also now subject to having your account terminated.
why does it have to cost so much they should make something for the non rich too
The small print is never good news.
its 140$ a month not 25$ add on...
Portability is a $25 add-on to the base $110/mo rate for residential service. Just launched yesterday (after this video came out) is their new RV service for $135/mo.
@@MobileInternetResourceCenter it was not an add on for me I already have residential it only let me order another satellite for 680$ I guess service is in that too. But I have an rv that stay on my land 100miles away I stay at sometimes ill use. 0 service there.
this doesnt seem good with boondockers with no address?
Boondockers can update their service address to match their current location (it can be GPS coordinates, not an actual mailing address)... or turn on portability if away from where their service address is set.
Its illegal to have it on anything moving. Boats or rvs. Get ready for fcc fines and termination....
It's not illegal to have it on something that can move, just to use it while in motion.
Sorry I disagree with this price increase. The whole premise from the beginning is it would be portable. There was talk they were going to develop a system. That would be mobile with your vehicle. Now that people are moving their system. StarLink wants to charge those of who move more money. It's not like they have to send someone out. To set the system up. After all roaming was already built into the system. So they don't have to do some kind of upgrade. Really this is nothing more than a price increase for those of us who move.
No, the residential service this is based on was never intended to be portable. The truly mobile version is still in development. In order to provide for transients in a cell, Starlink has to reserve unsold capacity in each - that has a cost associated with it. We always anticipated that a mobile/portable option would be higher priced than the residential for that reason (plus rural subsidies that are funding some of residential service.)
Even if the authors comment was not valid, I think they are being quite fair given the other options which in no way compare for marine and RV users. I subscribed and I would given the freedom it provides pay $500 or more. To me it’s a bargain and is saving me money and providing more data than I could access using 4/5G service in Mexico for instance. I now can actually work in remote areas and spend more time there often at anchor. Given slip rates this alone cost justify it.
The whole starlink thing pisses me off. They took preorders from people, then without ever delivering them service or equipment jacked the equipment price and service fee, all while using those people's money as a no interest loan. Now to top it off they can miraculously squeeze in some extra people through the RV program, squeeze $25 more per month and give less service. You have to be a sucker to signup with these a-holes.
Anyone who signs up for this scam with the "RV Starlink" should not be aloud to complain in the future. What this is doing is getting customers to voluntarily accept paying $25 more per month than residential customers while agreeing to no minimum standard of speeds or service.
Starlink is quite clear about the terms of this service.
were fooling outselfs if we dont think starlink is a good service and well priced this small fee is nothing
companys like inmarsat are chargeing 1000s dollars a month for a few gb magnitudes higher than starlinks fees
I’ll wait until the streamline their equipment. Still looks really primitive to me………….