Best Sat internet

RevelTom

New Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2021
Posts
2
Location
Colorado
Hello all,
Getting my Winnebago Revel in August. I want to work from the road and have access to Zoom/internet when in remote areas with no WiFi or cell phone coverage. What are the best options?

Thanks!

Tom
 
Unproven as yet but it appears Starlink will be your best bet with or without the promised RV antenna.

Just an opinion but whatever you get in the interim will be inferior.
 
Unproven as yet but it appears Starlink will be your best bet with or without the promised RV antenna.

Just an opinion but whatever you get in the interim will be inferior.

I'm enthusiastic about StarLink, but I do worry about the clear sky requirements. We tend to camp in heavily-wooded areas.
 
I'm enthusiastic about StarLink, but I do worry about the clear sky requirements. We tend to camp in heavily-wooded areas.

I wonder though if it might be possible to have the antenna portable like many of the dish TV antennas that I see in campgrounds. Not as slick though. I have a Garmin that has satellite link and it usually works even in some dense areas. It too is supposed to have a clear view to sky but we've used it in our RV.
 
I wonder though if it might be possible to have the antenna portable like many of the dish TV antennas that I see in campgrounds. Not as slick though. I have a Garmin that has satellite link and it usually works even in some dense areas. It too is supposed to have a clear view to sky but we've used it in our RV.

The StarLink dishy is portable, so you should be able to pick the best location. The concern is that the StarLink constellation comprises thousands of fast-moving satellites in very low orbits, so the dish needs to constantly lock onto new satellites in order to maintain your internet connection. It uses a combination of physical dish motion and phase array antennas to do this. This is nothing like pointing at a geostationary sat, or even GPS. It needs a fair amount of clear sky to perform these tricks, so the "open sky" rule is probably more strict. Just how much more remains to be seen. It should get better over time as the satellite density grows.

We'll see...
 
Yes, you're right. Even with the Garmin I'm only sending a text message and it always takes a minute to send. So I doubt that I could stream or zoom with that kind of latency. As you said: we'll see.
 
mobile internet seems very unsatisfactory still in 2021. Seems a long way before streaming and internet access is everywhere, for anyone, on the go 24/7. Seems this tech is way behind what it should be at this point in the 21st century. Or is it just the states?
 
I signed up for Starlink with a service address of Moab, Utah. They said that area would open up at the end of December 2021. I assume they will send me an antenna at that time but they did not promise anything.

I prefer they send me the RV antenna but will accept the house antenna if that is the only choice. No one has seen even a picture of the RV antenna yet but it is described as two adjacent approximately 1 ft square plates, one for transmit and one for receive.

Anyhow, I don’t have an antenna, I haven’t paid for service and I will let you know how it goes.

Satellites are everywhere. Ground stations are not and there are no ground stations near my service area. I assume they intend to bring a nearby ground station online in December.

I have no clue if I will get “serviced” or not but I decided to get in line.

Will keep you informed.
 
Looks like I am getting “serviced.”

Mobile antenna isn’t out yet so it will be the old one. Will keep you informed if anyone cares.

Have to figure out how to get the signal in the RV. Do I wait to get to my service address or move it to current location?

I didn’t expect it for months.

Will start a new thread when it arrives. I do have travels planned for Thanksgiving so will try and use it then. I think the 12 volt current draw is huge so that will be one of the first problems to solve
 
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