New Starlink Flat High Performance Package

[kowbra]

Originally Posted by bleedmichigan

The starlink map is not a service area, or a coverage map. Pretty much everywhere is the lower 48 has service, minus areas with dense tree coverage. The map on the starlink site is actually a residential availability map. The residential customers get priority over RV. So at times, specifically during peak hours RV might be deprioritized based on congestion and may see super slow speeds.

Ok, I'm confused... on the Starlink map page it lists the areas as:
-available
-waitlist
-coming soon
So, what does their map mean if it's not related to service availability?
For example, if someone is in the "waitlist" area and they had an RV package, would their performance be different than if they move to an "available" area?

All of the areas where we typically stay are in the "waitlist" coverage areas, including the area where a friend installed a residential package last winter and had very intermittent results... maybe things are better there now, but it still shows the same "waitlist" coverage. Oh, and BTW they did ship the residential unit to his address, so I'm still confused as to what their mapping means. IOW, if "available" merely means available to ship, he got is shipped to his address that is in a "waitlist" zone... so seems like it refers to the service availability? Do you have info from Starlink to clear this up?

Thanks!
Brad

[bleedmichigan]

Originally Posted by kowbra

Ok, I'm confused... on the Starlink map page it lists the areas as:
-available
-waitlist
-coming soon
So, what does their map mean if it's not related to service availability?
For example, if someone is in the "waitlist" area and they had an RV package, would their performance be different than if they move to an "available" area?

All of the areas where we typically stay are in the "waitlist" coverage areas, including the area where a friend installed a residential package last winter and had very intermittent results... maybe things are better there now, but it still shows the same "waitlist" coverage. Oh, and BTW they did ship the residential unit to his address, so I'm still confused as to what their mapping means. IOW, if "available" merely means available to ship, he got is shipped to his address that is in a "waitlist" zone... so seems like it refers to the service availability? Do you have info from Starlink to clear this up?

Thanks!
Brad

The map does not relate to RV service or availability. The map only relates to residential service. For example if it says available then you could order a residential setup right away and it would ship in a few days. As for waitlist and coming soon, you can put a deposit down for a spot in line for service. But again the map is just can you get a residential service account at any given time.

If you have an RV unit it will work in waitlist, Coming soon, and available cells on the map. In areas marked available rv units likely won’t see any deprioritizing. In coming soon or waitlist areas there may be deprioritizing during peak hours when the ground stations cannot handle additional traffic. Usually the deprioritizing happens between 3-11pm.

As for where it was shipped, starlink will ship a dish anywhere but what matters for residential service is what the service address is. So if the service address you input is in an available cell you can have the dish shipped somewhere else. Starlink used to allow you to turn on portability and set the dish up in an area that wasn’t the service address. Now they are somewhat requiring the dish to be set up at the service area before portability works with the residential units.

Even the residential units are deprioritized when they are being used with portability away from their regular service address. So if you take a residential with portability unit to a congested area it will likely see slow service during peek hours.

[twindman]

I checked yesterday, and they have another map that is coverage areas. 3 cases: good , so so, none (my words, but the jist of it).

[kowbra]

Originally Posted by bleedmichigan

The map does not relate to RV service or availability. The map only relates to residential service. For example if it says available then you could order a residential setup right away and it would ship in a few days. As for waitlist and coming soon, you can put a deposit down for a spot in line for service. But again the map is just can you get a residential service account at any given time.

If you have an RV unit it will work in waitlist, Coming soon, and available cells on the map. In areas marked available rv units likely won’t see any deprioritizing. In coming soon or waitlist areas there may be deprioritizing during peak hours when the ground stations cannot handle additional traffic. Usually the deprioritizing happens between 3-11pm.

As for where it was shipped, starlink will ship a dish anywhere but what matters for residential service is what the service address is. So if the service address you input is in an available cell you can have the dish shipped somewhere else. Starlink used to allow you to turn on portability and set the dish up in an area that wasn’t the service address. Now they are somewhat requiring the dish to be set up at the service area before portability works with the residential units.

Even the residential units are deprioritized when they are being used with portability away from their regular service address. So if you take a residential with portability unit to a congested area it will likely see slow service during peek hours.

Awesome explanation - thanks!!!

I will be looking to see the results of those using their Starlink dishes in AZ.
And, as to my friend in AZ that had poor results last year - we will be there end of December and I will catch up on how things are working now.

Brad

[kowbra]

Originally Posted by twindman

I checked yesterday, and they have another map that is coverage areas. 3 cases: good , so so, none (my words, but the jist of it).

Do you have a link? Thanks!

Brad

[bleedmichigan]

Originally Posted by twindman

I checked yesterday, and they have another map that is coverage areas. 3 cases: good , so so, none (my words, but the jist of it).

The RV coverage map on starlink is the same map as the residential availability map. All it is showing is network capacity just like the residential availability. It’s the same map with a different title.
For full transparency I live just outside of DC in the no coverage part near Laurel MD and I can guarantee that it works at my house. At the same time speeds have ranged from 45-200 mbps on residential with portability.
This past summer we went from MD to ME to MI and back and starlink worked everywhere we were with pretty useable speeds. There was only one or two bad days and it was either due to a heavy storm or tree cover.
Starlink was not as fast as our TMobile 5G Home internet that also travels with us but the TMobile only really was better near populated areas with great 5G service.

[Foldbak]

Originally Posted by bleedmichigan

The RV coverage map on starlink is the same map as the residential availability map. All it is showing is network capacity just like the residential availability. It’s the same map with a different title.
For full transparency I live just outside of DC in the no coverage part near Laurel MD and I can guarantee that it works at my house. At the same time speeds have ranged from 45-200 mbps on residential with portability.
This past summer we went from MD to ME to MI and back and starlink worked everywhere we were with pretty useable speeds. There was only one or two bad days and it was either due to a heavy storm or tree cover.
Starlink was not as fast as our TMobile 5G Home internet that also travels with us but the TMobile only really was better near populated areas with great 5G service.

That's the reason I stuck with the 4G. Better coverage.

[Creeker]

I don't think those maps are "coverage" maps. They are "availability" maps. The coverage is there in eastern US for example. Its simply at full capacity of users for the time being. Musk was on a Joe Rogan podcast explaining this very thing by imagining his system as a giant flashlight shining down. Only so much bandwidth available within this beam of light. The amount of users is capped for each beam until new beams (satellites) are in place. I'm definitely paraphrasing here. I was driving and only paying half attention to it. Those interested could likely find it on Joe Rogan's podcast. I think it would answer several questions/concerns in this thread.

[Joint Venture II]

Originally Posted by kowbra

Oops! Quartzite isn't in a service area either. Almost like every area in AZ where snowbirds gather has been blacked out. Weird.

Brad

When are you in Quartzsite, we will be there Jan 14th to the 24th at the "Rally"

[bleedmichigan]

Originally Posted by Foldbak

That's the reason I stuck with the 4G. Better coverage.

4G does have better coverage and interestingly our 5G TMobile Home Internet can run on 4G LTE as well. The only issue I have with 4G is that the speeds are slow. On our old 4G hotspots the best I ever saw was 50mbps. On the 5g I can get 300 on Starlink I tend to see between 50-200 but the advantage is that I get that speed in areas with bad cell service or no cell service.

[kowbra]

Originally Posted by Joint Venture II

When are you in Quartzsite, we will be there Jan 14th to the 24th at the "Rally"

Yes, planning on it... won't be the whole time though and will be near the end for a few days.
Do you know if there will be a Montana circle again? (sorry, I haven't been on the site much as we are leaving tomorrow, so details might already be somewhere else)

Thanks!
Brad

[Joint Venture II]

Originally Posted by kowbra

Yes, planning on it... won't be the whole time though and will be near the end for a few days.
Do you know if there will be a Montana circle again? (sorry, I haven't been on the site much as we are leaving tomorrow, so details might already be somewhere else)

Thanks!
Brad

Yes it's my understanding there is. https://www.montanaowners.com/forums...64#post1261364

[Joint Venture II]

Thought I would update on the performance of our Starlink RV system. Since leaving the San Antonio area Dec 13 and spending 2 weeks in Laredo, TX at Lake Casa Blanca TX State Park we have found service to be excellent. We had one Sunday evening that we had "obstruction" about once every hour (10-20 second duration) for about 6 hours. Upload and download speeds were about the same as I have reported earlier. In Del Rio for 7 days and last week of the year and service was the same as we had in Laredo, generally very good. Moved onto Sierra Vista, AZ and the past 6 days has been very good service and I have noticed 6 more Starlinks on other RV's in the park. Will be in Casa Grande tomorrow for a week so we'll report on the service there.

[mlh]

I look at an availability map. I showed most of the East as coming soon. Is that correct or did I get it wrong?
Lynwood

[mlh]

We have something new from Verizon. New to me. It’s a new MIFI system. The box is about a 5 inch cube. You get 300 gigs of service per month starting at $49 with 10 meg down speed the price goes up for faster service. 10 meg has been fast enough to watch videos. I was told it was available for business accounts. I don’t know if an individual can get it.
Lynwood

[Joint Venture II]

Originally Posted by mlh

I look at an availability map. I showed most of the East as coming soon. Is that correct or did I get it wrong?
Lynwood

Can't tell you about availability in the east but every place in the east we were at had great service with the exception of Atlanta area,

[mlh]

Originally Posted by Joint Venture II

Can't tell you about availability in the east but every place in the east we were at had great service with the exception of Atlanta area,

Thanks
Lynwood

[Joint Venture II]

Update on Starlink RV:10 days in Quartzsite and we had excellent reception with good upload and down load speeds. Moved to north of Yuma for a week and again service was as good as any I've had this trip. Now in California on some BLM land near the AZ border boondocking. Great service and speeds here too.

[rames14]

Just curious what you are seeing for power draw. We got the standard RV StarLink and installing in the Montana once the weather moderated on the mountain. We are going to use it on our Alaska trip and hope to do a lot of Boondocking.

[Joint Venture II]

I have it connected to a 1000 watt inverter and it draws about 50-75 watts on 120 volts AC if you are using the "snow melt" option, otherwise it's about 25-30watts. I have mine set to "sleep" from midnight to 6am to save battery power as well.