Which Starlink receiver?

[suiramor]

I am looking at installing Startlink on my boat for use while at anchorage/marina (not passages). Will the standard portable antenna do the job or do I need the in-motion version? Apart from price differential ($600 vs $2500), the standard one consumes half the power, which is obviously great on a sailboat.

[SailingHarmonie]

Read the terms of service. What will work for you depends on how far you move and what area you expect it to cover.

[bstreep]

We have had our In Motion version for about 2 months. We left Texas 5 weeks ago, and we are currently in Grand Cayman. It’s worked almost flawlessly. Every once in a while there is a drop when a “hole” in coverage pops up (the satellites move).
That being said, we’ve run into several others that have the regular dish mounted, and it seems to work pretty well
Also note the changing terms of service. Elan is going to ping cruisers, I suspect.

[suiramor]

From the tos point of view there does not seem much difference in my scenario: in-motion adds something I don't think I need - my plan was to use the kit while stationary (sailing inside passage to Alaska with frequent stops). My question is about practicalities: does the swing of the boat on anchor result in loss of coverage? is power consumption significantly different? Anything else that makes the difference?
What's Elan?

[Statistical]

In terms of what works unofficially right now they both work fine and the portable dish with Roam plan is a cheaper.

SpaceX officially limits Roam plan to on-land and doesn't offer the portable dish for marine plan. Now plenty of people have portable dish and Roam plan working on boats just fine. Ynderstand it is not officially supported by SpaceX and that could change in the future (or not).

So you got three options:
1) Portable dish & Roam plan. Understand if Roam is ever blocked for boats you may need new dish and switch service plan.

2) High Performance (In Motion) dish & Roam Plan. If Roam is ever blocked for boats you could just switch plans without needing to replace the dish.

3) High Performance (In Motion) dish & Marine plan. The most expensive option and data is capped at 50GB but does work offshore and is officially supported.

[chubby]

Originally Posted by Statistical

In terms of what works unofficially right now they both work fine and the portable dish with Roam plan is a cheaper.

SpaceX officially limits Roam plan to on-land and doesn't offer the portable dish for marine plan. Now plenty of people have portable dish and Roam plan working on boats just fine. Ynderstand it is not officially supported by SpaceX and that could change in the future (or not).

So you got three options:
1) Portable dish & Roam plan. Understand if Roam is ever blocked for boats you may need new dish and switch service plan.

2) High Performance (In Motion) dish & Roam Plan. If Roam is ever blocked for boats you could just switch plans without needing to replace the dish.

3) High Performance (In Motion) dish & Marine plan. The most expensive option and data is capped at 50GB but does work offshore and is officially supported.

i purchased the portable(RV) versio originallyn..and then high performance from a reseller..
ended up selling the RV dish... (i'll eventually add something from amazon for redundancy... once thats online)



that said

i have not tried to change the plan to maritime..never tested it(and i dont know anyone that has ...so its not confirmed thats even possible)
.....but that was the plan if/when i ever needed to

[akopac]

My 2 cents from starlink using RV Roaming at
3°26′48″ N 124°26′6″ W
If you have RV and roaming do not change you plan. You are grandfathered in for now and I think it works pretty well out here.
My antenna is facing straight up.

[toddster8]

Well, I checked and I seem to be using around 150 Gb per month on the Roam plan with standard Dishy. With the "maritime" plan, unless I always make passage on the first of the month, regular anchorage usage would use up all of my data, and there would be NO service at sea.

There's something still missing from this plan... Not that I have actually consumed much media while sailing, so far.

p.s. The boat was rocking and rolling and swinging through 90° on anchor the other day while some squalls with 30 knots sustained and "exciting" 45 knot gusts blew through. Streaming cool jazz over StarLink/Apple Music was not interrupted.

[Statistical]

Originally Posted by toddster8

Well, I checked and I seem to be using around 150 Gb per month on the Roam plan with standard Dishy. With the "maritime" plan, unless I always make passage on the first of the month, regular anchorage usage would use up all of my data, and there would be NO service at sea.

There's something still missing from this plan... Not that I have actually consumed much media while sailing, so far.

p.s. The boat was rocking and rolling and swinging through 90° on anchor the other day while some squalls with 30 knots sustained and "exciting" 45 knot gusts blew through. Streaming cool jazz over StarLink/Apple Music was not interrupted.

Well you would still have data at sea beyond the 50GB it just would be potentially expensive. $2/GB. Then again compared to just about any other offshore sat service that is incredibly cheap.

[SailingPNW]

Originally Posted by Statistical

In terms of what works unofficially right now they both work fine and the portable dish with Roam plan is a cheaper.

SpaceX officially limits Roam plan to on-land and doesn't offer the portable dish for marine plan. Now plenty of people have portable dish and Roam plan working on boats just fine. Ynderstand it is not officially supported by SpaceX and that could change in the future (or not).

So you got three options:
1) Portable dish & Roam plan. Understand if Roam is ever blocked for boats you may need new dish and switch service plan.

2) High Performance (In Motion) dish & Roam Plan. If Roam is ever blocked for boats you could just switch plans without needing to replace the dish.

3) High Performance (In Motion) dish & Marine plan. The most expensive option and data is capped at 50GB but does work offshore and is officially supported.

You can get a maritime plan with the standard dish. Though it still has the same limitation on supporting in motion as the other roam plans.

[Statistical]

Originally Posted by SailingPNW

You can get a maritime plan with the standard dish. Though it still has the same limitation on supporting in motion as the other roam plans.

Not according to their website and order form. Maybe customer support can make it happen.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by suiramor

I am looking at installing Startlink on my boat for use while at anchorage/marina (not passages). Will the standard portable antenna do the job or do I need the in-motion version? Apart from price differential ($600 vs $2500), the standard one consumes half the power, which is obviously great on a sailboat.

Roam with the standard rectangular dish works just fine on boats. For now. It’s use in-motion (at sailboat speeds) and offshore is against its TOS, but it’s not enforced. If you swing at anchor and dishy is at some acute angle then your signal will suffer for a short while until it re-orients itself.

We’ve had it since this past November as we sail around Australia. It’s worked while we’ve been over 200 miles from the nearest land and at boat speeds up to 12 knots. The only thing it doesn’t do while in motion is lock onto a signal from scratch, such as after a restart or shut down. If that happens while we’re sailing then we slow down to below 1.5 knots for a couple of minutes until the app shows that it’s online, then go sailing again. It doesn’t mind tacks or gybes or changes in course and eventually reorients itself.

[LouK]

Pardon my ignorance, but will Starlink support cell services?

[Statistical]

Originally Posted by LouK

Pardon my ignorance, but will Starlink support cell services?

Directly no but if your phone and carrier support wifi calling then yes as it just becomes another form of internet data for SL to send.

Most carriers and phones in the US support wifi calling these days in fact it is just automatic. You may be making calls over wifi sometimes and not even know. Not sure how common it is outside the US.

[Eagle ITA]

Originally Posted by LouK

Pardon my ignorance, but will Starlink support cell services?

I'm not sure, but if you have an internet link (like Starlink), you can use Wapp, for vocal call.