Peplink VS Starlink

[Carle3]

My wife is a work from home and moves quite a bit of data across the network. We really struggled looking for an internet service with no data caps. I know some say they have no cap but the fine print usually shows that they throttle your speed after going over thier limit. We did find that Verizon Home Internet actually had a no cap service and had been great for us so far. The problem I am in need of a solution for is travel days. Verizon isn’t a mobile. So now I am looking into Starlink 3rd Gen or High performance or Peplink plans. Both seem fairly comparable in monthly cost and ability to suspend service. Equipment wise if I go 3rd gen the cost is a little less than Peplink but if I go High Performance it is significantly higher than the Peplink. My question is bang for the buck and dependibility. Of those that have used a 3rd gen dish while moblile, have you found it reliable and the same question to those that use Peplink, have you found it reliable and worth the investment?

 

[scottz]

Why is Starlink Performance on your short list? The kit is significantly more expensive than Standard, but, to my knowledge, offers no advantage. I believe it is designed primarily for marine applications. Starlink says the Performance flat antenna has a wider field of view. However, last summer we travelled throughout the west and Canada with friends who had the performance antenna; there was never a situation where they had coverage and we did not. The performance plan used to be $250/mo, but that does not seem to be an option anymore.

I cannot comment on Peplink; no experience with that.

 

[Mikendebbie]

I use Starlink 3rd gen for my home internet and take it along when we travel. You used the word “mobile”…do you mean that she needs to use it in the truck while moving? I have not done that…but it is great for us at home and in the campgrounds.

 

[scottz]

The Starlink standard (3rd gen) has been approved for mobile use; anything up to 100Mph; that should cover our applications. Before this approval, I turned my Starlink off when we were driving; no longer do this, now we have high speed internet while driving (at less than 100Mph).

My standard 3rd gen antenna is mounted permanently on the roof using the Starlink standard mobility mount which tilts it 8 degrees forward (just like the ground mount). I ignore the alignment app. After using it for a year, I have yet to find an orientation that did not work; even 180 from what the alignment app wanted.

Mobility mount

Starlink mounted on roof

 

[Carle3]

Why is Starlink Performance on your short list? The kit is significantly more expensive than Standard, but, to my knowledge, offers no advantage. I believe it is designed primarily for marine applications. Starlink says the Performance flat antenna has a wider field of view. However, last summer we travelled throughout the west and Canada with friends who had the performance antenna; there was never a situation where they had coverage and we did not. The performance plan used to be $250/mo, but that does not seem to be an option anymore.

I cannot comment on Peplink; no experience with that.

Thanks for that info. My wife is a work from home worker a runs a lot of data across the network so speed and reliability are important. I didn’t know if the High Performance gave any real world performance differences compared to the Gen 3 Standard. Sounds like it may not and the Gen 3 would be a better bang for the buck alternative.

 

[Carle3]

I use Starlink 3rd gen for my home internet and take it along when we travel. You used the word “mobile”…do you mean that she needs to use it in the truck while moving? I have not done that…but it is great for us at home and in the campgrounds.

Yes, she still needs connectivity while we are in transit. We have used our Hot Spot from our phones but that is subject to the strength of just one carrier and we tend to burn through our data cap quietly quickly. That is why the pep link routers are an interesting option with multiple carriers and unlimited data plans.

 

[Carle3]

The Starlink standard (3rd gen) has been approved for mobile use; anything up to 100Mph; that should cover our applications. Before this approval, I turned my Starlink off when we were driving; no longer do this, now we have high speed internet while driving (at less than 100Mph).

My standard 3rd gen antenna is mounted permanently on the roof using the Starlink standard mobility mount which tilts it 8 degrees forward (just like the ground mount). I ignore the alignment app. After using it for a year, I have yet to find an orientation that did not work; even 180 from what the alignment app wanted.

Mobility mount

Starlink mounted on roof

Are you running your router off of an inverted outlet or was there a 12v conversion option? We have a 400watt solar array and 600ah of lithium to use while mobile. I would just have to get it wired to one of the inverted outlets or get another inverter just for the router.

 

[scottz]

Inverted outlet. My inverter is on at all times and powers the entire RV 120VAC system.

 

[Eldergioe]

We use T mobile wifi home box. We travel with it and have rarely had a problem..

 

[VagabondLove]

We just switched from Verizon to visible, which has no data cap but can demote your priority if the cell tower gets overloaded. Visible allows for one device to be unthrottled, with second+ devices on the hotspot limited in bandwidth. So, we have exactly one device, a Wi-Fi repeater, hitting the visible phone. All other devices (tvs, pcs, etc) go to the Wi-Fi repeater. Works great, for short $, and great 5G bandwidth.

Our backup is 2nd generation Starlink that we have only needed once in the past 2 years.

 

[brycesteiner]

Starlink works great for me. I have gen2 but modified it so it will run when I'm driving. Not hard to do. It's magnetic or sits on top the RV. I get about 150 down generally. Having it tilt to the north a little seems to improve speeds but laying flat works fine too. It's extremely reliable compared to the cell hot spots in my area.

What kind of speeds do you need?

 

[Djgrimaldi]

We have a Pepwave / Peplink 5G router with a 300GB Verizon plan. $124.00 per month. It has worked very well when there is cell towers in the area you will be at. We also run a Starlink Mini on the 50gb per month plan ($1.00 per gb over 50gb). We are in the western states. We have had to use Starlink in Utah, Wyoming, Montana and now in Idaho. With no trees the Starlink works flawlessly. Right now we are getting 135gb speeds in the forest with a partially obstructed sky. When we head East we will probably pause the Starlink until we need it again. Checkout MobileMustHave.com for Internet plans for the Pepwave Cell plans and equipment. This might help: Getting Started with Mobile Internet

 

[sberlin]

My wife is a work from home and moves quite a bit of data across the network. We really struggled looking for an internet service with no data caps. I know some say they have no cap but the fine print usually shows that they throttle your speed after going over thier limit. We did find that Verizon Home Internet actually had a no cap service and had been great for us so far. The problem I am in need of a solution for is travel days. Verizon isn’t a mobile. So now I am looking into Starlink 3rd Gen or High performance or Peplink plans. Both seem fairly comparable in monthly cost and ability to suspend service. Equipment wise if I go 3rd gen the cost is a little less than Peplink but if I go High Performance it is significantly higher than the Peplink. My question is bang for the buck and dependibility. Of those that have used a 3rd gen dish while moblile, have you found it reliable and the same question to those that use Peplink, have you found it reliable and worth the investment?

I had Peplink with the 7 way antenna with a T-Mobile SIM card. Didn’t have a second plan(Verizon, etc.) as it can use 2 SIM cards to catch the best signal. Traveled across the country twice with this and it was about 75% working with some locations not as strong as others. Some of that could’ve been the T-Mobile service. Got SL last year and did a cross country trip. Worked very solid everywhere except CO Springs. Don’t use it while pulling our 5th wheel but set-up at each stop was very quick.

 

[DutchmenSport]

My wife is a 100% work from home, I was too before I retired. We've successfully used Visible for about 5 years now with absolutely no issues.

We have a dedicated cell phone we use ONLY for the hot spot. It has it's own phone number and we hear the thing "buzzing" all the time, (probably solicitations and text messages we NEVER answer or even look at. The phone is always on and always set for the hot spot). It was a ZTE phone that cost us about $75.

Next, we have a portable router plugged into the phone. The router enables us to use multiple devices all at the same time (and we have used SEVERAL all at once, many times). Only one device is actually connected to the Visible service (the router), but multiple devices are connected to the router. That's the work-around.

The router stays plugged into a 120 volt AC outlet (it does require electricity, but it also keeps the phone charged also).

Last in our arsenal of "stuff", we have a WeBoost phone booster. But, we've not had to use it for a couple years now, as the Verizon phone signals have been no issues for us, everywhere we've been. (Visible uses Verizon).

There are no caps on Visible. It is 100% unlimited, and WOW have we used ours, running streaming videos for hours and hours, while both of us were on Skype and Teams conference calls. (TV in the background is great "white noise").

The thing about Visible, there are no contracts. You can stop and start the service any time. It costs less than $45 a month. And it works!

Well, it works for us! As I'm typing right now, my wife and I are both on Visible (at home right now), and we have a Roku television running on some British sitcom. Everything is running flawless!

 

[Carle3]

We use T mobile wifi home box. We travel with it and have rarely had a problem..

The problem with these Cellular home 5G Internet solutions (and we have Verizon which is working quite well) is that they don’t allow mobile usage. I need an effective connection while on the road and mobile.

 

[Carle3]

Starlink works great for me. I have gen2 but modified it so it will run when I'm driving. Not hard to do. It's magnetic or sits on top the RV. I get about 150 down generally. Having it tilt to the north a little seems to improve speeds but laying flat works fine too. It's extremely reliable compared to the cell hot spots in my area.

What kind of speeds do you need?

My wife works over a vpn and handles some pretty big files so as fast as I can get is the short answer

 

[Carle3]

We have a Pepwave / Peplink 5G router with a 300GB Verizon plan. $124.00 per month. It has worked very well when there is cell towers in the area you will be at. We also run a Starlink Mini on the 50gb per month plan ($1.00 per gb over 50gb). We are in the western states. We have had to use Starlink in Utah, Wyoming, Montana and now in Idaho. With no trees the Starlink works flawlessly. Right now we are getting 135gb speeds in the forest with a partially obstructed sky. When we head East we will probably pause the Starlink until we need it again. Checkout MobileMustHave.com for Internet plans for the Pepwave Cell plans and equipment. This might help: Getting Started with Mobile Internet

I am considering the RoamLink plan with unlimited data it gives you access to 4 different carriers (ATT, Verizon, T-Mobile and US Cellular). I am looking at a single modem device that will automatically fault out to the strongest signal so if you drive out of range and lose signal on one carrier if will fault out to another carrier to keep you internet up and running.

 

[Djgrimaldi]

I am considering the RoamLink plan with unlimited data it gives you access to 4 different carriers (ATT, Verizon, T-Mobile and US Cellular). I am looking at a single modem device that will automatically fault out to the strongest signal so if you drive out of range and lose signal on one carrier if will fault out to another carrier to keep you internet up and running.

I looked into that. It was merely a cost issue. I also have a T-Mobile SIM card for the Peplink at 30gb a month and can always use our AT &T phones as a 30gb hotspot. So speaking cellular, it’s cheaper for me to stay on the Verizon only plan. Right now we are in Idaho and running off of our Starlink with no cellular service.