Starlink portability is now available

D

dan1000

Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Messages
9
Fluid Motion Model
C-24 C
Non-Fluid Motion Model
Aspiring RT owner 31CB owner
Vessel Name
Sea Spirit
I opened my email this morning to find that Starlink has announced "portability" as an add-on feature for $25/mo (on top of the existing $110/mo fee). I've been a Starlink user for about 6 months, and the service rivals at-home Internet in terms of speed and usability. The only downside (other than the cost) was that you could only use it at one "service address", and if you moved away from one to another, you might be waitlisted for service if the other place had too many Starlink users. According to the email I received this morning, this limitation has now been removed, and Starlink will now simply apply "best efforts" level of service to your Starlink connection when you move away from your guaranteed service area. I don't know what "best efforts" will result in, but am optimistic.

Worst downside of Starlink for boaters (and RVers): the terminal draws about 60 watts -- enough to require about 2 extra solar panels if left on all day! Still, a game-changer for those of us whose cruising (and/or RV-ing) is limited by the need to attend Zoom meetings, and so on.

Perhaps will see some of you at TrawlerFest later this month.

Dan
 
I agree, this is great. There is one downside, at the moment. You can’t use starlink while in motion. The FCC has not yet approved it. I assume rocking at the dock is fine, trolling for salmon, probably not. On the hook might be in the grey zone. This has been enabled unofficially for a couple of months and there are many reports of people using it with great results. Also, due to current limitations, starlink will not work in open ocean. That is supposed to be fixed in a year or so.
 
The Pacific NW (San Juan Islands and Puget Sound) are all "waitlisted" while the surrounding area is "available".
This tells me it's a capacity problem, not a coverage problem.

https://www.starlink.com/map
 
I saw this as well. I've been running with Starlink for about a month now on the Hood Canal and it's worked perfectly without having to register a new location. I suspect I simply haven't gone far enough afield yet but it did work well at Alderbrook, Pleasant Harbor and Kingston. Very good speeds and pretty stable even with some chop while on an outside side-tie.
 
Submariner":2j89d159 said:
The Pacific NW (San Juan Islands and Puget Sound) are all "waitlisted" while the surrounding area is "available".
This tells me it's a capacity problem, not a coverage problem.

https://www.starlink.com/map
Click to expand...
I can talk about this with some... first hand authority.

There is a massive Starlink / SpaceX team just outside Redmond. Most of the area is "oversubscribed" because you're so close to the mothership. I think they work on 8km by 8km cells.
 
Have been at Trawlerfest at Anacortes for the last few days and met a fellow today who shared this link:

https://svrenaissance.com/musings-about-starlink/

I've mounted my dish to top rack and am now looking at wire routing options for the cat5 cable (with weird proprietary connectors). The double conversion thing has been bothering me so may well look into the POE and 12V conversion.
 
Couple of updates, you can now order starlink fo RV’s. I think you can now order it even if your area is waitlisted, but please read the exceptions, fixed stations have priority.


Also an example of an install

[https://youtu.be/GHHCK6aARn0/url]
 
Yep, my area is filled, just ordered the RV version and they are accepted the order.
 
I just installed my high gain Mobility 42G LTE antenna up on my mast today. (it was not a family friendly day on the dock)
I can run LTE while I'm doing 25 knots and it uses less power than Starlink.
 
True. Until they enable in motion use, Starlink is a bit limited. In the future it does look promising
 
Submariner":3alraa9f said:
I just installed my high gain Mobility 42G LTE antenna up on my mast today. (it was not a family friendly day on the dock)
I can run LTE while I'm doing 25 knots and it uses less power than Starlink.
Click to expand...


The power usage is an issue. With your Mobility LTE Antenna what is the range gain. Our issue when cruising is being in Rural areas where cell service is not available or limited. We had an At&t hotspot while we were Cruising. Even with an antenna the cell service was limited or zero. Traveling down the river system Tenn Tom we went two days with limited cell service. Just enough to text. No Data at all. The Starlink from what I have read once dialed in will give service no matter where you are. I talked to a Doctor in Mississippi who lives in a rural area north of Gulfport. He is also a Cattle farmer when not replacing knees and Hips. He said he has never had good internet or cell service in the 20+ years of running a full time business in Mississippi. Tried everything available but his fast speeds where slightly better than Dial up! Last month the area that he lives in Starlink became available. The speeds he is receiving is better than what he has at the hospital. Granted this is opinion based and not factual. From the little I now about cellular communication and what I have read about starlink as a novice at best I think this will be the answer to good internet on board no matter where you are at. I will wait and see reviews from others before jumping in but when I see enough reviews positive I'm on board.
 
BB marine":14af89j7 said:
Submariner":14af89j7 said:
I just installed my high gain Mobility 42G LTE antenna up on my mast today. (it was not a family friendly day on the dock)
I can run LTE while I'm doing 25 knots and it uses less power than Starlink.
Click to expand...


The power usage is an issue. With your Mobility LTE Antenna what is the range gain. Our issue when cruising is being in Rural areas where cell service is not available or limited. We had an At&t hotspot while we were Cruising. Even with an antenna the cell service was limited or zero. Traveling down the river system Tenn Tom we went two days with limited cell service. Just enough to text. No Data at all. The Starlink from what I have read once dialed in will give service no matter where you are. I talked to a Doctor in Mississippi who lives in a rural area north of Gulfport. He is also a Cattle farmer when not replacing knees and Hips. He said he has never had good internet or cell service in the 20+ years of running a full time business in Mississippi. Tried everything available but his fast speeds where slightly better than Dial up! Last month the area that he lives in Starlink became available. The speeds he is receiving is better than what he has at the hospital. Granted this is opinion based and not factual. From the little I now about cellular communication and what I have read about starlink as a novice at best I think this will be the answer to good internet on board no matter where you are at. I will wait and see reviews from others before jumping in but when I see enough reviews positive I'm on board.
Click to expand...

The Mobility 42G antenna offers the following gain per frequency range.
Note, 3dBi of gain doubles the power.
2.7dBi: 617-960MHz
5.2dBi: 1710-2700MHz
4.9dBi: 3400-4200MHz
6.7dBi: 5000-6000MHz

I have a more detailed write-up at my website. I also updated all the pictures of the install up on my mast from yesterday and today. I've still got the actual Peplink Max 5g router to install inside the cabin. But that's the easy part compared to taking my entire mast apart to drill a couple holes to run 8 cables down. All in all.. 4xLTE, 2xWIFI, 1GPS and 1 Sirius XM antenna is what I ran this weekend.

I have a T-mobile and ATT sim card in my 5g router. I've seen it benchmark at over 300mbs of Internet. T-Mobile with their Band71 (600mhz), should really extend the reach of this thing. Having the antenna mounted up so high should also help immensely also. Having WIFI (2.4ghz and 5ghz) is great for catching marina guest WIFI and acting as an amplifier for the boat. Lets me piggy back off marina guest WIFI and save my LTE data plans when I'm near a dock.

Detailed write-up.
https://www.letsgochannelsurfing.com/lte-wifi-tech-talk

Photo's of installation of the antennas on the mast.
https://www.letsgochannelsurfing.com/internet-for-the-boat
 
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