Starlink is now officially here for RVs, 4x4s and overlanders!

Starlink is a very high speed, satellite Internet access system which works in many parts of the world, and will eventually offer worldwide coverage, similar to satphones. It was originally designed for fixed locations, but some early adopters like me travelled with it anyway, and simply changed the service address to our current location, even if that was out in the bush somewhere.

This video explains Starlink, but the part about needing to change the service address is now outdated, and this blog post is the update.

A few weeks ago Starlink began to offer a Roaming option – you can pay an extra $35 per month on top of the monthly charge, and then Starlink will officially allow you to use the system in different locations without needing to change the service address. This flexibility was welcome, but the extra cost wasn’t…although considering how amazing it is to be on a remote beach and get far higher speed Internet than you can in most captial cities, it’s still quite the deal.

Now Starlink has released Starlink for RVs:

So, no more service location changes, and no more one-off additional fee. But as the text says above, speed may be limited. However, you do get:

OK, now the above is a lot of information. Here is the advice, as of the date of this blog post. We all have different needs; some people travel a lot, others have no need for Internet access at their home when they travel, some do..all depends. Here’s some ideas:

• If you live out in the bush where normal Internet services are non-existent or very slow, and you don’t travel in remote areas, then Starlink as it is now will work for you – check the avaiablity map on starlink.com. You can use 5G modems for Internet access if you do travel, or hotspot your phone.
• If you travel full-time and visit remote locations, then Starlink RV is what you need. However, it’s not yet available everywhere, yet, and you are likely to find reduced speeds when you’re in areas where there are lots of other Starlink users, such as capital cities. However, ‘reduced’ probably still means way faster than home broadband, and in any cases you’d almost certainly find 5G data works anywhere Starlink reduces its speed. If Starlink RV isn’t available, you can still use Roaming, or just service address changes in the meantime.
• If you travel part-time then my suggestion would be keep your home broadband Internet access, and buy Starlink RV when it is available in your area. You can then also join the Starlink and home broadband using some advanced WiFi modem/routers so you get benefit from Starlink when not travelling, or you can simply pause the service. You could also keep a normal Starlink account and add roaming…assuming that option will continue to exist in the light of Starlink RV.

I will write further on this as more information comes to light. One question I have asked Starlink is whether I can convert my Starlink to the RV plan – I think it’s the same hardware, just a different plan.

Watch this to see how Starlink works in a valley with no phone reception: