I have been following the development of Starlink “going mobile” for a while. This morning my wallet was burning a hole in my pocket so I decided to buy in and give it a shot. There is a 30 day money back (the hardware cost) guarantee which made it easier.
Coverage
Coverage is good over most of Europe. The map clearly shows an absence of active cells over the water in the Mediterranean, presumably its not impossible to get a signal out at sea.
Usage
Although sold as “for RVs” it’s suggested by Starlink that you only use it while stationary and not on a vehicle or boat or risk losing your limited warranty.
Cost
At around 520 GBP the hardware is about 30% more expensive than some of the 3/4/5/G antenna and routers I had been looking at.The subscription is 112 GBP a month for unlimited data with an FUP, which is a bit steep. When compared to paying around 800 HKD a month for terrible 5G service in Hong Kong from Smartone which barely works or is slower than 5G, if it delivers what is touted then it’s worth it. In Pylos,Greece, I have been buying 10Gb for 10 EUR top up regularly and hotspotting from my phone. Signal is patchy and often drops all-together.
Order Process
I had an issue with the cart process delivery address which said “Address appears to be invalid” despite being formatted correctly. I opted to use a friends in London and that was successful. I now can’t recreate the problem with the original address which is strange.
My account page claims that the dish will arrive within 2 weeks.
The Dream
Hook up my laptop and the Starlink dish to a camping battery, or some solar in a remote location and work / holiday mix.
