My 5 Big Disappointments with Starlink

Starlink’s recent changes have tipped the scale AGAINST their favor. Here are the big disappointments with Starlink and the Starlink alternative RVers can turn to…

IMPORTANT UPDATE SINCE RECORDING THIS PODCAST: Starlink no longer offers Residential Portability.

That's the main topic we discuss in Episode 402 of the RV Podcast. You can watch the full video version below, in which we also share RV news and answer RV Lifestyle questions.

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Added to my disappointments with Starlink is a huge potential problem

Just as we recorded this episode, we learned of a major threat to the satellite-based Internet service coming from DISH Network, which is heavily lobbying Congress and the FCC to claim new rights to the frequency spectrum Starlink operates in.

Starlink accuses DISH of hoarding spectrum for years “as a strategy for preventing open and fair competition. 

“Most recently, DISH has been attempting to claim new rights to the 12 GHz band, which is the spectrum you currently use to download content with Starlink,” claims Starlink in a letter sent to its subscribers urging them to contact their representatives in Congress. “Despite technical studies dating back as far as 2016 that refute the basis of their claims, DISH has employed paid lobbyists who are attempting to mislead the FCC with faulty analysis in hopes of obscuring the truth.”

Starlink claims “if DISH gets their way, Starlink customers will experience harmful interference more than 77% of the time and total outage of service 74% of the time, rendering Starlink unusable for most Americans.“

The dispute is going to be bitterly fought and while it has nothing to do with our operational experience with the Starlink service, it's another potential issue that could certainly make our five disappointments much worse.

So while that issue works its way through the politics and conflicting claims of the various parties, let me talk about what we have directly experienced and the disappointments we have.

Starlink's Two Tiers of Service

Before we get to them, we need to explain the different types of services Starlink is offering.

IMPORTANT NOTE: STARLINK NO LONGER OFFERS RESIDENTIAL WITH PORTABILITY! 

Now that Starlink no longer offers Residential + Portability, there are only two main tiers of service.

• Residential – at $110 a month. This is for a fixed location. Many, many areas are already sold out and no new users are being accepted.
• RV – at $150 a month. You can use Starlink wherever you go, assuming you’ll get reception (See Disappointment #3).

There is also a business tier, but since that applies to very few RVers, we'll move on. 

5 Big Disappointments with Starlink

I want to focus the rest of this article on what we see as some issues with the service that Rvers need to be aware of.

#1) Starlink download speeds are not consistently fast

Don’t get me wrong. Starlink is fast.

Broadband fast, sometimes reaching speeds at well over 100 Mbps.

But you know what, so is 5G cellular in many parts of the country. And those super-fast Starlink speeds are not consistent.

Depending how oversubscribed your area may be and how congested Starlink traffic is, we have often found that cellular Internet – even 4G LTE – is better than Starlink.

Like cellular, Starlink throttles speeds – they call it deprioritizing you – when you are operating portable out of your registered home area.

#2) Starlink upload speeds are abysmal

Yes. Abysmal.

Sometimes only 1 or 2 Mbps. Rarely over 5, which is the bare minimum you need for a reliable video upload or a quality Zoom call with a good camera.

We have not once been able to get enough upload speed to do our livestreams on the road with Starlink. That has been a major bummer.

#3) Starlink doesn’t like trees

We love trees.

We love boondocking in out of the way places.

Forested places.

But even mounted on a 20-foot pole on my RV, reliable and consistent Starlink connectivity requires a clear sky. Yes, it can connect with some trees in its field of vision. But it drops connection every 30-40 seconds, every time the satellite it’s tracking is partially blocked by the trees.

The drops don’t last long – another satellite is right behind the obscured one – but the constant drops are very annoying.

So is always having to set up camp in a clearing, which is necessary for a solid connection.

#4 Starlink is not permitted for in-motion use

I guess I should say, not yet.

But despite those YouTube videos you’ve seen from do-it-yourself RVers who have jerry-rigged ways to anchor the antenna on the roof of the RV and get it working while in motion, Starlink says such use is prohibited and those who do so can have their access pulled.

We know Starlink is working on in-motion use but big questions remain on whether a different antenna will be required and how much more such a convenience will cost.

So, meanwhile, it has to be set up and taken down and stowed every time you set up camp and move.

#5) Starlink is expensive

The gear costs $599.

Then the cost of the RV plan has risen to $150 a month. (It used to be $135.)

If that were for a consistently fast and reliable signal, it would be a bargain.

But because, in my opinion, Starlink for RVers is AT BEST a backup system, it’s not enough for those who must have solid Internet wherever they are.

Thus, you need another system which will likely be cellular, which will cost another $135 or more per month for a decent amount of bandwidth.

Overall, that makes Starlink for RVers a bad option for most RVers. Thankfully, we have found a Starlink alternative (see below).

We’ve Given Up on Starlink

OK. Those are my big five disappointments with Starlink. And for a while, I lived with those disappointments because I believed Starlink would only get better. 

Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Instead of improving their plans and service, they abolished the Residential + Portability Plan and then increased the price of the RV Plan without any noticeable improvements in the service. Nor did they give considerate notice to their users.

So, I gave up on Starlink! It’s no longer our backup internet since I found a Starlink alternative for RVers…

Nomad Internet: A Starlink Alternative

We’ve been testing Nomad Internet across the country in our RV over the past few months and have now made it our exclusive mobile provider for high-speed, unlimited, and unthrottled Internet access.

In 11 years of RVing, it’s one of the best solutions we’ve yet found to staying reliably connected on the road both as we travel in motion and when camping for the night. You can learn all about it by reading our Review of Nomad Internet for RV travelers (2023).

Your experience with Starlink?

Let us hear your stories of using Starlink in the comments or in our social posts.

Meanwhile, let's go RVing!

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