Accessing Internet While on the Road

Hi John,

Hope you give us all a good trip report on Newfoundland. Shelly and I are hoping to get up there sometime in the next few years, and information on things to see will be appreciated.

Have a great trip!

Tom
 
Thanks Tom. Ive been thinking about creating another blog about our Newfoundland travels. This trip is requiring a lot of planning (ferries and all). I sure hope the Starlink Mini provides good connectivity🤞
 
My Starlink Mini account switched to the new $5/month standby plan on 11/7 and I finally got around to playing with it. Here's what I found:

Facebook: works well, a little laggy loading pictures. I uploaded a picture from my phone and it took a little longer than usual, maybe 30 seconds or so.
e-mail: same, works fine but pictures take a few seconds to load
Pandora: timed out
YouTube: works on my phone but I didn't try it on a tablet
Plex: actually worked when I set the resolution to 240p on my phone. Worked on a tablet but buffered a bit.
Plex amp: works for lower bit rate MP3, FLACs wouldn't play.
Web: worked, but everything is pretty slow
Play Store: poor, it's so encrapified that it's miserable to use, but it will work in a pinch to load a new app.
texts: fine, pics load slowly.
Victron CerboGx: no difference from my home wifi.

Here's the obligatory speed test:
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My take? This might be enough for us while we are camping, I think I'll hold off on activating the 50Gb/month plan again until I really need it. Which might be never? We bring all our AV media with us so streaming video or music on the Mini isn't something we need.
Bruce
 
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That's odd, I just checked mine and it's 47.27 down and 41.27 up. And it's very windy and cloudy today in Virginia.
 
TwilaR said:
That's odd, I just checked mine and it's 47.27 down and 41.27 up. And it's very windy and cloudy today in Virginia.
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I just switched from the 50gb/month plan to the new $5/month standby plan for the off season. 0.5 Mbps downloads but unlimited data.
Bruce
P.S. Just switched our residential plan at our cabin to the residential lite plan for the off season.
 
Tony Latham said:
I've been eyeballing these, and I'm going to watch for sales. Where did you get yours? Direct from Starlink?
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From Starlink. You definitely need to purchase directly from them or from a (real) dealer, such as Home Depot, and Amazon isn't one. I think they are on sale for $200.

Tony
 
We took the advice of folks familiar with RV on line. A WeBoost Drive sleek that cradles you phone or hot spot. We find the phone works fine. External omni or directional antenna, in more urban areas with more than one cell tower the omni works, in some places you need the directional. I do check cell tower locations and who they belong to prior to camping. We have yet to not get a usable signal. The mast is telescoping painter pole.
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Capebuild said:
During our most recent travels one issue we wanted to investigate was having an alternate way to access the internet when we camped in areas with spotty reception. I realize this question has come up before but I'm thinking technologies may have changed...... so asking again. Does anyone have suggestions on reliable systems to investigate, preferably ones that don't require a monthly fee (but maybe paying a monthly fee is inevitable).
Thanks.

John
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We got a Starlink and put it in our jeep. It works splendidly, even in very remote areas. The best part is that it has a flexible rate so you can turn it up when you need it and turn it down when you don't.
 
Thought I'd show how I finally mounted our Starlink Mini. Welded up a fixture which mounts to our Thule Roof Carrier. Need a ladder to install it but hopefully will deter it from being swiped. Now I just have to learn how to use the device. I had tested it out once when we first got it a while back, but I've forgotten the ins and outs of using it.
John


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Capebuild said:
So are you telling me when you go back on the road you have to cart all those rocks with you?
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Actually, we've always taken them with us, so it's not additional baggage. :LOL:

We've camped in that spot a lot, and somebody went to a helluva lot of work to make that damn thing.

It was nice to have Internet on this three-week trip.

Tony
 
I bit the bullet and bought a case for the Starlink Mini from Veritas Vans. I had to revise the solar panel layout for the new a/c so I thought I'd mount the Mini on the roof while I was up there. The case is nice and it has magnet feet that stick to the van roof . I can't reach it without a ladder so we'll so if it stays on the roof after we travel with it a bit.
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Bruce
 
Nice. I had looked at (considered) the magnetic attachment method but with the roof carrier installed there was no space to put it. A/C unit looks pretty good, too! I wish Starlink had incorporated a little loop of some sort on the panel so a zip tie or some other attachment method could be used in case the unit somehow came loose during travel and was tempted to fly away.
 
Capebuild said:
Nice. I had looked at (considered) the magnetic attachment method but with the roof carrier installed there was no space to put it. A/C unit looks pretty good, too! I wish Starlink had incorporated a little loop of some sort on the panel so a zip tie or some other attachment method could be used in case the unit somehow came loose during travel and was tempted to fly away.
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Yeah, I've always thought the mounting for the mini is a bit janky.
Bruce
 
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