Starlink or Motor Home. Wi Fi

[Suzukikettle]

Hi all thinking about buying a Starlink system to use on a European trip next year I have a Motorhome Wi Fi 4g system installed but been looking at purchasing a Starlink system.

 

[MisterB]

how long will you be away for as Starlink have stated they will only allow two months out of country use. There may be a workaround by registering it in a mainland european country - search for starlink in europe (not the thread name as the subject is within a very long starlink thread) as one member has succesfully re registered in Spain

i am strongly considering registering one of mine in France ....

as far as performance is concerned Starlink seems to out perform everything else but at what seems to be a higher cost, we wouldnt be without now when we travel to mainland europe

 

[BrochMike]

If budget is irrelevant, there are many on here who swear by Starlink (or swear about it now they've changed T&Cs!)

Pretty much guaranteed signal (but watch you don't park under dense tree cover) and unlimited data for a known price.

I believe it can be a bit of a power-drain and customer support seems patchy, and check roaming/re-registering restrictions if you are away for more than 2 months...

Personally, I'm a tight-wad, with no need for speeds greater than a few Mbps (for streaming), so cheap 4G SIM(s), in a cheap MiFi unit, have been more than enough for me - in western Europe at least (only exception being a few bits of UK!)

 

[starquake]

I'm of opinion that if you need 100% guranteed decent wifi anywhere, you buy starlink. It does come at a cost of both power and a high monthly fee. Bear in mind I pay less myself for a year of unlimited 5g in UK than a month of starlink costs.

Ref; use abroad, roaming deals are limited, but you can buy a cheap (local) sim in both France (Reglo) , and Spain (Digi) which are effectively unlimited (hundreds of GB) for about 20 euro.

What makes most difference is which 4g unit you have, the motorhomewifi one from last few years is usually a cat12 device which is decent 4g (check your model number for the category of the 4g). If you want to upgrade to 5g, you are looking at £150 (low-end) to £450 (high end). We have had speedtests at campsites of > 800Mbit on the 5g at some campsites now, however it really does vary on your providers 5g coverage. 5g when it exists will often be faster than starlink at > 2 bar coverage from my experience -> 2 bar is about same as starlink from places we've tested with that coverage level. 5g also uses more power than 4g, but it's more like 1A of 12V (ie, about 10Watt) for 5g, about 5W for 4g, and about 35-60W for starlink. This means more solar and if you only have 100W with starlink you won't likely keep up if you using it.

You won't get 5g in North Norfolk campsites, nor in Wales typically, but we have had great success in some rural campsites inland.

 

[TerryReis]

If it is important to you then Starlink just works, for a cost. I wouldn't part with mine.
I am more concerned that I am supporting someone who is one nervous brake down from being a bond supervillain.
But hey ho !

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[Markman]

If it is important to you then Starlink just works, for a cost. I wouldn't part with mine.
I am more concerned that I am supporting someone who is one nervous brake down from being a bond supervillain.
But hey ho !

Couldn't agree more, re the maniacal Trump super-supporter. The concensus, for those who like him, in the USA is that it makes sense of West (no trees) but not east of the middle (hard to get line of sight to eateries without tea in the way). So depends on your travel plans.

 

[stewartwebr]

Having been a Starlink customer for coming up to 2.5 years I was a great ambassador. However, now the T&C have changed with the 60 day out of country policy things have changed greatly and I think it is far less attractive.

 

[fishplug]

I think the answers I would have given have pretty much been covered already.

My old company used to install Starlink systems at various customer sites and they do work well and are very reliable.
The downsides in a van are high power consumption and high costs (and possibly the owner, depending on your views!)

LTE routers paired with an externally mounted antenna are much less expensive to run and use significantly less power. Depending on what you buy the hardware itself might be a bit more expensive and as starquake pointed out the important thing when choosing one is the CAT rating. The higher the number the better (generally) but this will determine the maximum speeds you can get. For example the CAT12 will give you a max download of 600Mbps and a max upload of 100Mbps (which is probably more than adequate for most people). For anyone interested there's more detail here

For my personal use I just couldn't justify the Starlink cost so went with a Teltonika LTE router which are designed for automotive use paired with a Poynting antenna. It's been excellent in 97.34% of places I've stopped and has also been used as the 'backup' line for the house a couple of times when the main fibre failed.

Choosing the right antenna for the router isn't always as straightforward as you might think but if anyone's thinking of going down this route then I'm always happy to share my experience.

I pay less myself for a year of unlimited 5g in UK

Oooh! - That sounds interesting. Do you mind me asking what SIM you're using for that?

I thought I was doing well with my £17/month unlimited deal from Three but it sounds like you have something even better

 

[starquake]

Oooh! - That sounds interesting. Do you mind me asking what SIM you're using for that?

I thought I was doing well with my £17/month unlimited deal from Three but it sounds like you have something even better

£5/mo unlimited (it's via a business contract which I'm not telling them about (as I think they've forgot I have 4 sims on the deal). 3 Business direct. (so supports 5g).

However at £17/mo it's likely you can do better via the scancom Three deals on Amazon (which are not as good as a direct 3 business deal), it's usually about £100 or so per year via them ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Unlimited-Data-SIM-Preloaded-multi-color/dp/B0D2HWVXWX/?tag=mhf04-21 )

You can get EE from same provider for about £12/mo equivalent (you pay 12-24 months up front), all via Amazon. The sims don't roam at all, which is the only difference from that and the 3 business direct I have in the van. I have both an EE and the Three sim for a total of 17/mo for the van giving coverage near everywhere (and yes the Three sim beats EE in many places which is why I have both).

Should say I can deal with 3 business direct as I have a business, so do need multiple sims genuinely, but the price per sim is VERY attractive on Scancom and I do own one or two of those as they are cheaper when I don't need unlimited -> I have a 80Gb mifi sim for about 4 years (which they don't now sell annoyingly) that works out at under £1 a month when you work it out, 80Gb every month on the mifi for effectively throwaway money. They tend to work well, and are useful for a (emergency backup) type sim which we use for backup for our home, as our motorhome doens't tend to be parked outside, and the motorhome has the unlimited sims.

 

[Gellyneck]

- search for starlink in europe (not the thread name as the subject is within a very long starlink thread) as one member has succesfully re registered in Spain

Link here as I was just reading it before this thread!

Starlink ordered… I feel it’s the only sensible option now..

Anything you can think of that might trip me up? Did you use the same phone number as before? Or does this also need change from when used before I will change the e mail address I used the same phone number from the previous one ie my UK mobile no. They are not checking this, the address can...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

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[MikeAndMandy]

£5/mo unlimited (it's via a business contract which I'm not telling them about (as I think they've forgot I have 4 sims on the deal). 3 Business direct. (so supports 5g).

However at £17/mo it's likely you can do better via the scancom Three deals on Amazon (which are not as good as a direct 3 business deal), it's usually about £100 or so per year via them ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Unlimited-Data-SIM-Preloaded-multi-color/dp/B0D2HWVXWX/?tag=mhf04-21 )

You can get EE from same provider for about £12/mo equivalent (you pay 12-24 months up front), all via Amazon. The sims don't roam at all, which is the only difference from that and the 3 business direct I have in the van. I have both an EE and the Three sim for a total of 17/mo for the van giving coverage near everywhere (and yes the Three sim beats EE in many places which is why I have both).

Should say I can deal with 3 business direct as I have a business, so do need multiple sims genuinely, but the price per sim is VERY attractive on Scancom and I do own one or two of those as they are cheaper when I don't need unlimited -> I have a 80Gb mifi sim for about 4 years (which they don't now sell annoyingly) that works out at under £1 a month when you work it out, 80Gb every month on the mifi for effectively throwaway money. They tend to work well, and are useful for a (emergency backup) type sim which we use for backup for our home, as our motorhome doens't tend to be parked outside, and the motorhome has the unlimited sims.

Thank you for the really good information - you've saved me a lot of time!

 

[MikeAndMandy]

Thank you for the really good information - you've saved me a lot of time!

And thanks fishplug - I'm still figuring out how "reply" works on here

 

[gus-lopez]

Bear in mind I pay less myself for a year of unlimited 5g in UK than a month of starlink costs.

So do I with my spanish Digi & at starlinks "non prioritised " monthly rate.Just a shame it has no signal at my house.(not that anyone else does ,usually ,either)

and Spain (Digi) which are effectively unlimited (hundreds of GB) for about 20 euro.

excellent for me all over spain , eu & UK .apart from at my house

You won't get 5g in North Norfolk

I couldn't get a 4 signal anywhere there or suffolk & mid to north devon.

I am more concerned that I am supporting someone who is one nervous brake down from being a bond supervillain.

Yes this ^^^^^^^^ is the problem

 

[PaulW2]

A two month roaming restriction would clearly knock it out of contention for me. And the Bond supervillain thing isn't great either.

But is it any better than historical satellite-based internet systems? I've had two of those over the years and while they worked they always did have a bit of an issue with latency and slow speeds.

 

[fishplug]

But is it any better than historical satellite-based internet systems? I've had two of those over the years and while they worked they always did have a bit of an issue with latency and slow speeds.

Yes.

The Starlink sattelites are at a lower orbit which reduces the latency significantly. The service itself is really pretty good.

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[Cheese Monster]

Hi all thinking about buying a Starlink system to use on a European trip next year I have a Motorhome Wi Fi 4g system installed but been looking at purchasing a Starlink system.

I had a RUT955 router and Poynting external antenna but suffered slow data with an EE sim. I upgraded to a RUTx11 and and a more sensitive antenna and still suffered slow data in many parts of Dorset and Hampshire. One day, in frustration I bought a gen 3 Skylink.

Since then I'm just waiting for my EE contract to end as Skylink is far far superior in my experience, I've waisted my money buying the RUT routers and antennas.

The gen 3 dishy is mounted flat on the MoHo's roof and outperforms the 4gLTE router all the time.

 

[Suzukikettle]

how long will you be away for as Starlink have stated they will only allow two months out of country use. There may be a workaround by registering it in a mainland european country - search for starlink in europe (not the thread name as the subject is within a very long starlink thread) as one member has succesfully re registered in Spain

i am strongly considering registering one of mine in France ....

as far as performance is concerned Starlink seems to out perform everything else but at what seems to be a higher cost, we wouldnt be without now when we travel to mainland europe

HI MATE that could be problems away for three months