SpaceX are now producing several different Starlink versions. Different types of user terminals and accounts. I have tried to summarise the key differences between them and considered the issues for Starlink RV use from an overlander’s perspective.
Update 1: High Performance Flat Dish (2/10/22)
Update 2: Aviation – On the 18 Oct 2022 SpaceX launched the Aviation version
Update 3: Flat High Performance for RV (27/10/22)
Update 4: Global Roaming, end of Portability and price changes in the USA.
Update 5: Starlink Service Plans (19 May 23)
Update 6: New dish revealed (17 Nov 23)
The Different Starlink Versions
Currently there are the four Starlink account options (US$ prices @ 24 Jul 2022):
Residential – High-speed, low-latency broadband internet in remote and rural locations across the globe for use at a registered address. $110/mo plus a one-time hardware purchase cost of $599 (in USA there is now also the option of a ‘high performance’ dish at $2500 which I believe is the Business dish). For an extra $25 per month, there is an option to add a ‘Portability’ facility to the account. With this SpaceX simply enable by software, a function allowing the Residential dish to be used at any location where Starlink service is available, away from its registered address (I’ll refer to this as ‘Residential/Portability’).
RV – High-speed, low-latency internet on an as-needed basis at any destination where Starlink provides active coverage. $135/mo with a one-time hardware purchase cost of $599. The RV account has the advantage that you can pause service while you are at home if you don’t need to use it. There is now the option to purchase the Flat High Performance dish or the Standard dish.
Business – With more than double the antenna capability of Residential Starlink, delivers faster internet speeds and higher throughput. $500/mo with a one-time hardware purchase cost of $2,500.
Maritime – High-speed, low-latency internet with up to 350 Mbps download while at sea. $5,000/mo with a one-time hardware purchase cost of $10,000 for two high performance terminals.
Aviation – On the 18 Oct 2022 SpaceX launched the Aviation version. The hardware price is $150,000 for the dish, two access points and a wiring harness. The monthly charge is between $12,500 and $25,000. Although these prices are probably competitive for commercial/business aviation, they are a little above what most overlanders would be prepared to pay and so I will not cover it in more detail here.
Hardware Differences
Residential and RV accounts use the same hardware: the small rectangular dish. However, there is now the option to order the Flat High Performance dish for RV. Business, Maritime and Aviation use a larger high performance rectangular dish (Maritime uses two of them).
From the Starlink website FAQ for Maritime, What hardware comes with my Starlink Maritime order?: “Starlink Maritime customers will have the option to upgrade their actuated terminal to a flat panel antenna and mounting hardware, designed for better durability in harsh environments at no additional cost when available in Q4 2022.” I suspect this flat panel antenna will become the in-motion hardware for vehicles as well. Information about the Flat High Performance Dish has now been released, see Update 1.
Performance
From the SpaceX Starlink website: “Starlink Business users can expect download speeds of up to 350 Mbps and latency of 20-40ms, enabling high throughput connectivity for offices of up to 20 users, storefronts, and demanding workloads across the globe.”
For the Residential service, they used to give a performance figure of 50 to 200 Mbs download, however now it only says: “With high speeds and latency as low as 20ms in most locations, Starlink enables video calls, online gaming, streaming, and other high data rate activities that historically have not been possible with satellite internet. Users also have the option to take Starlink with them via the Portability feature or Starlink for RVs service.”
For Maritime it says “High-speed, low-latency internet with up to 350 Mbps download while at sea”.
For Aviation it says “Starlink can deliver up to 350 Mbps to each plane, enabling all passengers to access streaming-capable internet at the same time. With latency as low as 20 ms, passengers can engage in activities previously not functional in flight, including video calls, online gaming, virtual private networks and other high data rate activities.”
Starlink for Overlanding
With Business costing $500 a month, Maritime $5000 a month and Aviation between $12,500 and $25,000 a month, they are probably out of the reach for most overlanders. The Residential/Portability and RV options are more affordable, but they appear on the face of it to be effectively the same: both cost $135 a month, both can be used while travelling away from their registered address, and both use the same hardware.
So what are the differences and which is better for overlanding/travelling?
Cost
Although Residential/Portability and RV cost the same, the RV account has the advantage of being able to suspend the whole account/service if it isn’t need for a while. With the Residential/Portability service, only the Portability aspect can be suspended, not the whole account. So even if you don’t need service whilst you are home at, you will still have to pay the regular monthly fee (currently $110 p/month in the USA, other countries have other rates).
Practical Issues for Starlink Overlanding and RV Travel
Below are the paragraphs from the Residential/Portability and RV Legal Terms that I think are most important/relevant for overlanders (24 Jul 2022) and I’ve highlighted what I consider are the key sections:
“PORTABILITY SERVICES FOR RESIDENTIAL USERS.
Enabling Portability for Residential Users. Portability allows you to relocate your Kit and access Services (“Portability”) at locations outside your registered Service address on your account (“Secondary Location(s)”). You can enable the feature via your Starlink account for an additional monthly fee. You will be charged the additional fee on your next monthly invoice, in full monthly increments, which cannot be pro-rated. If you have multiple Starlinks, Portability must be enabled and purchased for each Service address. The Portability feature and billing charges will be ongoing until you disable the feature via your Starlink account. Once disabled, the recurring charge will stop after your next monthly invoice and Portability will only remain active for the remainder of the current billing cycle.
Best Effort Service at Secondary Service Locations. Starlink prioritizes network resources for users at their registered Service address. Portability Service at Secondary Locations will be best effort and users may see slower speeds during times of network congestion. At its sole discretion, and subject to network availability in the region, Starlink may update the primary address registered on your account along with invoicing requirements if you use Services at the same Secondary Location for more than two billing cycles. If you stay in the same Secondary Location for an extended period of time, and that region does not have sufficient network availability, you may experience further performance degradation to accommodate priority users at their registered Service addresses.
Limitations and Requirements for Residential Users. The Portability feature can only be used within the same continent as the registered Service address. Starlink does not guarantee when or where Portability will be available. Portability is dependent on many factors, including obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals. You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for (a) understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations associated with your use of Portability Services and the Kit; and (b) stopping use of the Portability Services or Kit if you are in an unsupported geographic location.”
With the Residential/Portability, if you are at a new location for more than 2 billing cycles, Starlink may update your address. It’s not clear what their exact criteria is for this, but it does refer to the same new location, so moving around would appear not to trigger the situation. I understand that Starlink still doesn’t allow address changes between countries, so it is particularly unclear what would happen if it were taken to a location in another country for more than 2 billing cycles.
Being expressly tied to one continent is not good for many overlanders. Having to buy new hardware as you travel around the world would be unnecessarily expensive. It is also wasteful as you are replacing a perfectly serviceable piece of equipment with another identical piece of equipment! I don’t see any valid argument about the hardware not being suitable for use on other continents: our US purchased dish has global approval stickers and changes its configuration based on the country it is in (In the debug data you can see the CountryCode change for the dish and router as you move between countries). My guess is that this rule might be an issue of Starlink’s billing system rather than a hardware issue.
STARLINK FOR RVs.
Starlink for RV. Starlink for RV allows you to access Services at any destination where Starlink provides active coverage. After placing a Starlink for RV Order, you will be charged a one-time hardware fee and a monthly subscription fee at the beginning of your billing cycle (14 days after shipping). The monthly subscription fee will be ongoing unless you pause your Service. When the Starlink for RV is enabled, you will be charged the fee on your next monthly invoice, in full monthly increments, which cannot be pro-rated. The Service can be paused and reactivated at any time. If you choose to pause Service in the first month, you must do so within 7 days from Kit’s shipping date, or you will be charged for the entire first month of Service. Starlink for RV and billing charges will be ongoing until you disable the Service via your Starlink account. Supply of RV Services is subject to network and equipment availability
Best Effort Service for RV Users. Network resources are always deprioritized for Starlink RVs users compared to other Starlink Services, resulting in degraded service and slower speeds in congested areas and during peak hours. Stated speeds and uninterrupted use of the Service are not guaranteed. Service degradation will occur most often in “Waitlist” areas designated on the Starlink Availability Map during peak usage hours. See the Starlink Specifications for expected performance of the Starlink for RV Services.
Limitation and Requirements for RV Users. Starlink for RV can only be used within the same continent as the registered shipping address. If you use Starlink for RV Services for more than two months in a country that is different than your shipping address, you will be required to move your registered address to your new location or purchase an additional Starlink to maintain Service. Starlink does not guarantee when or where Starlink for RV will be available. Starlink for RV is dependent on many factors, including obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals. You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for (a) understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations associated with your use of Starlink for RV Services and the Kit; and (b) stopping use of the Starlink for RV Services or Kit if you are in an unsupported geographic location.”
So the RV account has the same continental limitation as Residential/Portability. However, it also has an express limit of 2 months in a foreign country (note the reference here is to the ‘shipping address’ rather than the ‘registered address’)! This would seem to make it a poor choice for overlanding. If you are, say, a Canadian Snowbird heading to Florida for the winter, or a US traveller wanting to spend the winter in Baja, Mexico, the foreign country rule is a concerning limitation. Although it says that you may be required to move the address to the new location, I (and several others that I have seen on social media) have been told by Starlink that it is not possible to move addresses between countries. That would therefore seem to leave the only option of having to buy a whole new system in the new country.
In Conclusion…
In conclusion as things stand at the moment, the RV account may suit you if you are an overlander/traveller staying in one country. However, for us as permanent international travellers in an RV frequently crossing borders, the RV account’s express limit of two months in a foreign country means we will not be changing from Residential/Portability to an RV account just yet.
Note that it is possible at the moment to change an account from Residential to RV, but not the other way. So if you are undecided, it would be best to start with a Residential/Portability account and switch later if you want to.
Despite the continental limitation for both Residential/Portability and RV accounts, I have seen on social media that some users are currently using their Starlink beyond the continental limitation. It’s therefore not clear when/if this limitation will be enforced by Starlink.
Starlink are evolving the system rapidly as they gain experience and see user feedback. Hopefully, in time these minor issues will be addressed and a true global system will be available for travel.
Update 1: High Performance Flat Dish (2/10/22)
SpaceX have released information on the ‘Flat High Performance’ dish. It is only available to Maritime customers at present but may be released to others in the future. More information about this new dish is available here:
Full description: https://www.starlink.com/specifications?spec=3
Installation guide: https://api.starlink.com/public-files/WedgeMountGuide_MobileHP_English.pdf
Detailed specifications including wiring pin-out: https://api.starlink.com/public-files/Starlink%20Product%20Specifications_FlatHighPerformance.pdf
Technical drawings: https://api.starlink.com/public-files/ReferenceModels.zip
Hopefully there will be a ‘Flat Standard’ dish in the future for vehicles and RVs.
Update 3: Flat High Performance for RV (27/10/22)
SpaceX has just released the Flat High Performance dish for RV. It has a $2500 purchase cost and the standard $135 a month RV fee (US prices Oct 2022).
There are some good features:
- it can be used in-motion (with no additional fee);
- the higher performance dish should give better performance in bad weather and probably handle obstructions better.
The down sides are:
- it needs permanent mounting on the RV roof, so you don’t have the option to position it away from the vehicle for a better signal (say, if you are parked-up in a wooded area); and
- it has a high power consumption – an average between 110 to 150W, compared to 50 to 75W for a standard dish. This will be a big strain on most RV power systems while camping off-grid. The standard dish can benefit from conversion from AC to DC power, saving about 30% power. But with the higher power levels of the high performance dish, converting to a DC power supply would probably only save about 10%.
Update 4: Global Roaming, end of Portability and price changes in the USA.
In the last week there have been a few updates from SpaceX about Starlink services:
Starlink Global Roaming Service
Some users got an invitation to the Starlink Global Roaming service, the message said: “Starlink Global Roaming service, which allows your Starlink to connect from almost anywhere on land in the world.
Global Roaming makes use of Starlink’s inter-satellite links (aka space lasers) to provide connectivity around the globe. As this is a new technology, you can expect Starlink’s typical high speed, low latency service intermixed with brief periods of poor connectivity, or none at all. However this will improve dramatically over time.
The price for Global Roaming is $200/mo for the service and $599 for the Starlink kit.”
Unfortunately, this is quite expensive and may not be too popular with long term travellers like us. In some cases, particularly for slower travellers, it works out cheaper to buy and sell Starlink systems as you move around the world than it is to buy this Global Roaming system.
Let’s take the current pricing in Mexico as an example. A tourist visa is usually allowed in Mexico for 6 months, but let’s say you buy a Starlink system in Mexico and stay 3 months. Then you move on to Guatemala and continue using your Starlink for 2 more months (this 2 month limit in another country is not enforced by Starlink at present but probably will be at some point). The purchase price is Mx$8300 (US$447), plus Mx$1350 (US$73) per month for 5 months, that is a total of US$812 for 5 months Starlink use. Global Roaming excluding the hardware price, would cost US$1000 for the same period. Due to a lack of clarity in Starlink’s rules, it may or may not be possible to continue using the system into a third country and get even better value out of the basic system, but even if that’s not possible and you end up having to sell the system and buy new in the next country, it is still cheaper to buy a new dish every 5 months. And the longer you stay in a country (say, if you stay in Mexico 6 months rather than 3 months) it is even cheaper! Obviously, rates vary from country to country around the world, so this needs to be reviewed for your specific journey, but it’s definitely worth checking before investing in the pricey Global Roaming system.
The end of Portability for Residential and price changes for RV in the USA
In the USA, Portability is no longer available if you do not already have it active on your residential account. This means residential users can no longer add portability so they can take their Starlink with them when they travel or on holidays. If you already have portability active on your account, they will not take it off you, but if you cancel it you cannot get it back again!
For residential users they are also changing the pricing in the USA:
“The Starlink monthly service for residential customers is changing as follows:
o $10 increase in areas with limited capacity. New price will be $120/month.
o $20 decrease in areas with excess capacity. New price will be $90/month.
As a current customer in an area with limited capacity, your monthly service price will increase to $120/month beginning April 24, 2023. For new customers in your area, the price increase is effective immediately.”
This means for overlanders like us, the only option now for travel in the USA is RV (if you haven’t already got Residential with Portability). The RV pricing in the USA is also changing:
“The monthly service price for Starlink is increasing in areas with limited capacity. As a service that can be used in any area, including those with limited capacity, the monthly service price for existing Starlink for RV customers will increase by $15 to $150/month beginning April 24, 2023.”
These changes do not affect countries other than the USA at present but, could be a sign of things to come for the rest of the world as Starlink evolves.
Update 5: Starlink Service Plans (19 May 23)
A couple of weeks ago Starlink announced new service plans.
The price of these plans do vary depending on your country, so you need to check your regional prices. Click here to link to the above picture of the service plans.
Update 6: New dish revealed (17 Nov 23)
The Starlink website has been updated with a new dish. You can see the full specifications and download 3D files here.
It has a new router, which has 2x RJ45 connectors for connecting to other devices hidden behind the central panel. It uses RJ45 connectors for the connection to the dish. There is a separate power supply and a removable folding stand. Unfortunately, it is still mains powered but the external power supply means it should be quite easy to power from a 12V power supply. Here are some images taken from the Starlink supplied 3D files.
There are more specifications here.
Click here for our other Starlink pages.
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