Is Starlink Roam (RV) worth it for VanLifers? Our Hands-on Review

Before you believe everything you read about Starlink RV...

You long to live on the open road. Even part time. We get it. Van life can provide the freedom and flexibility to travel wherever and whenever you want. But you're also not an animal... you want... nay... you need access to not only the open road, but the information super highway. 

Access to high-speed internet has become a requirement for many who want to live the van life... lifestyle. For most, its because we want to work remotely. With high-speed internet, van lifers can work from their laptops, attend online meetings, stay connected with their colleagues and clients. Not to mention, access our favorite binge-worthy shows, stream movies, play online games, and watch cat videos. And lets face it, we're not always going to have access to public wifi. 

This leads us to why we're here. Hello Starlink Roam.

Let me start by saying that I'm going to reference the Starlink satellite system as both Starlink Roam, and Starlink RV. Roam is the new re-branding but its the same thing as RV (just with a limited time hardware price cut).  

I want to share my personal experience with Starlink Roam. For those of you considering this solution, I also want to cut through some of the hype and give you a little food for thought before jumping in. Is it the answer to our 'always connected' prayers? Maybe... maybe not. But it is very, very cool.

Quick Background - Why Starlink RV?

Let me start by saying that Starlink RV is a pretty bad-ass piece of technology. The kid in me wanted to get it just so I can play with it. At the end of the day however, it needs to be practical. While I have my share of criticisms, I can't deny that Starlink RV is quite the feat of engineering. It reminds me of the Louis CK interview with Conan "Everything is amazing and nobody is happy". This solution is not going to be for everyone but keep reading and let me know if you think my critique is valid. 

Here is a little background... I have a remote contracting gig (i.e., consultant). As I looked longingly out of my home office window last summer, I realized that I could be working from my van in the remote forests of northern Vancouver Island. Heck... as long as I had a reliable, high speed internet connection, I could work from almost anywhere in almost any location. I knew however, that the north part of Vancouver Island has little to no cell service. So here was the challenge... could I work remotely... without interruption... while on the road... and not have it interfere with my day job? This would mean, keeping my regular zoom meetings, accessing my resources via VPN, and without impacting any of my ongoing work.

And was Starlink RV the solution? Kind of...

What is Starlink?

From Elon Musk & brilliant minds at SpaceX, Starlink is basically a network of low-orbit satellites, about 3500 at time of writing, with the ultimate goal of providing global broadband internet service to customers located in areas where traditional wired networks are either too difficult or too expensive to deploy. So in theory, high speed internet can be made available almost anywhere. Thats a slight exaggeration but they do provide service to about 50 different countries. No more worrying about dead cell phone areas. Just point your satellite to the sky and you're on. 

I know what you're thinking... "Duuude! Can I use this gnarly tech out of my van?"

I'm glad you asked Jeff Spicoli.

What is Starlink RV?

Up until recently, Starlink was focused on reliable internet for residential use. Your dish would only work if placed within a 25 km or 15 mile radius of your service address. Not great for those of us who want to stay connected out in the wild.

Startlink launched their RV package allowing you to travel with your dish (no fixed address) but with a trade off.

While the hardware costs the same between regular Starlink and Starlink RV, the monthly cost is higher for RV. BUT, you can pause your monthly subscription when not in use. This is perfect for those who only travel during certain months of the year. You will have to pay for the full month, but not for the months you the service is not in use. Fortunately, it is very easy to pause your plan right from the starlink app on your phone.

Hardware components of Starlink RV

There are several main components to the system.

• The space satellites (obviously)

• The rectangular dish, with 75' cable (people call this dishy which is annoying AF)

• The router, with power cable

• Your phone with the starlink app. You pretty much control everything from your phone.

Let's talk about the Starlink setup.

Setup is relatively straight forward... almost plug and play. The cable provided between the dish and router is huge... about 75 feet and has a very durable feel to it. As the dish is meant to be outside, even during bad weather conditions, the system feels like it could take a beating and keep going. The connections between the cable and router/dish plus power cable have rubber gaskets to keep the moisture out. It feels... waterproof.

Fun Fact: The satellite dish actually has a built in heater for when it snows. I'm not sure if it would last in a Canadian blizzard (which I will not be testing) but regardless, a very clever design feature.

My initial setup experience with Starlink RV

There are 2 things that come up during my first out-of-the-box and connection experience.

1. The back of the satellite dish was scuffed and dirty. It looked... used? Which had me concerned. After looking online to see other people's experience, apparently this is a thing? Many people have commented that the back of the dish came scuffed which may have come from the packing process. Strange but ok...

2. While it was easy to connect, I received a notice on my phone that the device needed to get a firmware update. This can be normal for initial software and hardware installs. I proceeded to agree to the install. This is where it got a bit dicey.

The system went into an "Offline - Updating" state and wasn't coming back. There were no visual indicators that anything was happening in the background and after about 30 minutes of waiting, I thought I had 'bricked' my device. As we were leaving the next day for our trip, I started to panic. I checked the forums and some people said yes, they needed to return the hardware after the upgrade, while some said that it just takes a long, long time. I reached out to customer support via the app (which was also a bit of an awkward user experience), they didn't respond immediately but did the next day. After a couple of hours, I packed up my device and hoped it would be fine the next time I powered it up. Fortunately, it did work! The firmware was updated and while the app cautioned me about shutting down the device during the upgrade, the problem did go away. It did not however, make for a good first time user experience.

• So if you're going to update, know that the update is optional... make sure everything is working first... then update if you have time to wait.

• I should say that I've since updated the firmware more times as needed and it's been quicker and smoother.

• Maybe the Starlink development team should take the first firmware update out of the first setup experience. Just saying...

Does Starlink RV provide decent internet speeds?

The short answer is... yes! It did for me (with some serious caveats which we'll look at in a moment). When connected, I was able to get good speeds in places where I had zero cell service / phone coverage.

But what does "good speed" mean? Good question!

From a practical sense, my goal was to do my office job while on the road. I was able to do all of my work, including zoom calls, without anyone knowing I was sitting by a lake in northern Vancouver Island. Big success! The team was very jealous when I showed them the pristine lake behind me and the forest in front of me. And really, isn't it all about making others jealous? No? ok.

The speeds however varied greatly. Do not, I repeat, do not get swept up in the hype where people are saying you should be getting download speeds of over 200 mbps. The connection speed will vary minute to minute depending on network load on the satellites. In most articles I've read, it says you will get between 50 and 250 mbps. On average, I was getting between 40 and 60 mbps. One time I connected and received 185 download speed but that was a one time thing. Now, would I complain about getting even 40 mbps in a remote area? Heck no. But just note... do not expect fibre optic speeds. That simply is not realistic and I don't believe the tech is there. I'm sure the good people at SpaceX are working on faster download and upload speeds but don't buy it today thinking you will consistently be getting speeds pushing 200 mbps. It will not. I think many of the Starlink reviews I read before purchase were echoing what is in the Starlink brochure opposed to seeing what was actually happening in the field. You need to curb your enthusiasm a little.

** I've noticed that the published Starlink speeds have changed. As the technology evolves, so too will the service specs.

Does Starlink RV have a data cap?

The short answer... no there is not! It is virtually unlimited data. Which is fantastic. You can Netflix your heart away. Or... surf whatever content you enjoy most.

Was it easy to connect while on the road? 

Yes... and no.

Starlink wants there to be no obstacles between you and the sky. I'm not sure where you are connecting from but here in British Columbia, it's pretty hard not to be surrounded by trees. Yes, tree cover is an obstacle.

There is an app on the phone that lets you scan the surrounding sky, letting you know if you have good coverage. Spoiler alert... unless you're in the middle of the prairies or the desert, you're going to have obstructions and the app is going to tell you that you may want to find a different spot to place your mobile dish. I'm in the BC rainforest and in case you've never been, we have trees. Many trees. We were in some places where the dish wouldn't work because of our location. I get that it wouldn't work in a cave, but Starlink RV has got to get better at finding a signal within a smaller angle of sky. Apparently there are issues around tall buildings as wellI've read that the good people at Starlink are working on it, but as of today, this is a problem.

Lets talk about another tricky thing... the cost of Starlink RV

This will certainly depend on your pocketbook. What is expensive for one person may be cheep as chips for another. No one said life was fair. That being said, you should know how much this system is going to really set you back before you get too excited about owning a mobile internet satellite dish..

• I'm based out of Vancouver Canada so these are the Canadian prices. I've grabbed some USD numbers as well. All subject to change of course so check their website for updates.

  • You buy the hardware outright. There is no option to lease. Cost for hardware is a one time fee of $760 CAD (or $600 USD). There is no contract commitment which is awesome.

  • The monthly subscription cost for the RV package is $170 CAD or $135 USD.

  • Sadly, we can't ignore the tax... so if these numbers seem reasonable, in Canada the cost is actually...

    • Hardware: $922.88 plus $190.40/month.

That seems pretty steep to me. Even if you are getting cat videos from space. So you really need to decide what your financial comfort level is and not get swept up in the excitement of awesome tech. I like my toys so this was not easy for me.

If you're saying "Hell! A thousand bucks to start and $200/month for high speed internet everywhere? Thats a bargain! Hold your horses, we haven't gotten to the other shortcomings yet. Unless of course this price tag is a shortcoming... in which case we have at least one shortcoming so far.

But I digress.

Power Consumption

All devices draw power of course. This device is no different. Since we were 'boondocking', we had to bring our own power source. For this trip we brought our Ecoflow Delta 1300 (which I'll save for another review).

• For those who have not used a portable power station, you can calculate loose consumption as follows:

  • The Ecoflow has 1300 watt hours. If something was consuming 100w, it would drain this battery in 13 hours. The iphone, draws about 5 watts so it would take... about 260 hours to drain the battery.  

  • The Starlink draws about 40 watts on average. So, you would get ~32 hours of sweet, beautiful internet connection before you had to recharge your battery.

  • Before you start doing the internet happy dance... lets think about everything else you will need to consider. You are probably also charging your laptop. My MacBook draws about 80W. Now we're up to 120W or about 11 hours of connection time. But lets say you also have a fridge. Beer doesn't stay cold on it's own. Our fridge was about 36W (thought it would fluctuate as it needed power). 

  • You get the point though. If you are remote enough to rely on satellite internet, there is a high probability that you also do not have a never ending flow of power.  I was not prepared to be thinking about power consumption all... the... time....

  • I know what you're saying though, we'll just bring more power. And I'd say... all the power to you. No pun intended. 

  • When the sun was shining, we set up our solar panels. With the Starlink and the laptop charging, we were breaking even between power consumption and power input. However, you can not fully rely on solar panels. Especially when you're traveling through a rainforest.

  • You can also throw in a loud, obnoxious generator. It all depends on what power you have access to and what you're willing to sacrifice for that power.

Space Consumption

Considering you're getting an advance piece of technology that can communicate to thousands of low orbit satellites, that deliver high speed cat videos, the physical footprint in quite small. 

However... considering that you're living in a van with all of your worldly possessions, not to mention your food, your surf board, and... your dog... it takes up more space than you probably have.

The Starlink Roam equipment packs up nicely in the box it arrived in so we kept it in that. Then to save it from the elements (we only had room for it in our roof rack) we placed it in a plastic box. This worked out well but getting it down, finding the right location, setting up, then tearing it down when not in use was a bit of a chore. Its not Starlink's fault... its just big and bulky. You need to consider where you are going to store such a device when you're out on the road. Its also a valuable piece of equipment. I wouldn't be comfortable leaving it in a tent while I headed out in my van. So I would set it up and take it down after each use. It might be fine for those in larger RV's who remain parked for longer periods of time and have the space, but I'm not sure how many RVs are getting into areas that don't have data coverage on their phone.

As much as we wanted to use the Starlink Roam, on the days we did have cell service we opted to just use our phones. So much easier than packing and unpacking.

on the days we did have cell service we opted to just use our phones..

Summary

So like many things in life, there are some amazing things about the Starlink RV system and there are things you really need to consider before making this kind of investment.

Starlink Roam Pros!

The tech is very cool. The first time you turn it on and the face of that rectangular dish scans the sky for available satellites... shivers. What an amazing technological achievement.

After that initial install firmware update, connection seemed to get faster and faster. Hardware setup time notwithstanding, you can be surfing the internet in about 5 minutes after turning the device on. The app says it can take up to 15 minutes to establish a signal but on average, I was online in under 5 minutes.

When it works, it works really well.  As mentioned, I was zooming with my team a world away with no stutter or lag (that I could see). I didn't do any benchmarking tests to see if I could get 60fps on Call of Duty, but for my use case, which was to work while on the road... it worked.

Starlink Roam Cons!

I said 'when it works'... because sometimes... it didn't. There was one day where my laptop simply could not see the router. The tech gremlins can hit anytime but its a bit more concerning when you're in the middle of the bush, you can see the power draining on our battery, your zoom call starts in 5 minutes, and your laptop no longer recognizes the wireless router. Shit happens and the system isn't perfect. You need to be somewhat of a techie to get everything going.

The power consumption is high. I know I know... the people at starlink are working on this. Thats great. Until then, it will drain your battery and you will need to keep a close eye on it. Always.

The cost is also high (but you can pause your monthly subscription when not in use). If it was always on, always connected, and everything just worked... I may think the cost was reasonable. But the truth is that I found it a bit of work to set up/tear down/keep powered/find space... where there were some days I decided that maybe I just don't need to be connected to the outside world... and took a nap... errr... I mean... went for a hike. 

Let me close by saying again, Starlink RV / Starlink Roam is absolutely going to bring joy to a very certain niche of user. You have room? no problem. Money not an issue? I hate you but ok! Always have an unobstructed sky? I hope so. Unlimited power? absolutely. 

But for the average vanlifer, if you know you are going to be in cell phone with data coverage areas, it may be easier to just tether your phone... for now.