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Hi all
Looking at going down the satellite route for internet for our caravan. Have tried dongles, own phone hotspot and none very good. BT, nightmare
Does anyone have positive, negative experiences or alternatives. I see you can rent/purchase the equipment, also noticed some can be bought 2nd hand (is this advisable)
Any advice, help, would be most appreciated
Tommy
We live out in the sticks and have limited options for decent speed internet. We've been with BT for a few years getting about 12Mbps download speed which is barely workable.
Had Starlink installed last week and currently getting 100Mbps plus download speed with a ping around 40-80ms. Perfectly adequate to game on and much more acceptable to stream movies etc with.
We bought it new and the dish and router arrived in less than a week. The router has no ethernet port on it though, so if you need to hardwire anything into it (ours in plumbed into a separate router which feeds the WAPs and Control4 gubbins) you need the separate ethernet box.
It seems to take about 10/15 mins to boot up and find the satellites before you can use it and it gets more stable over the following 12 hours. It does also (obviously) need a good view of the sky - the app has a tool that tells you how obstructed it might be.
So far it's been faultless... not the cheapest but given full fibre is years away here there aren't a whole lot of alternatives. The Roam option also looks like allows you to pause the service and restart it when needed.
Thanks Meesterbond, very helpful indeed. Similar situation to yourself, BT could offer 8Mbps (max & not guaranteed)
Looking at what I've spent to date and failed miserably so far, this could be the answer, albeit as you say guys not cheap
Also thanks kultschar for you PM and advice/experience (I've tried to reply but for some reason it won't let me send a message)
Thanks all
Tommy
Quote:
Originally Posted by LRB255
Sorry my mailbox was full and just emptied!!
I am not sure if your caravan is static or if it moves around, but if you can get a decent 4G/5G signal where it is located, that may also be an option for you. There is a thread on here with lots of info.
It definitely helps to use an external aerial for your signal, so don't write it off if you have unsuccessfully tried your phone hotspot inside.
Our home has been running very successfully with 4G broadband only for years. We both work from home, all cloud storage, stream movies/TV etc.
Hi MaysieQuote:
Originally Posted by Maysie
Thanks for responding. Should have been a bit clearer, we have tried an aerial/sim setup which didn't live up to expectations, the speed ended up not much better than the phone signal. It was professionally fitted with supposedly the best network sim. BT have also been a mare, promising and not for-filling, sadly too many departments dealing with a service you are looking for and not speaking to each other. We have static caravan, sounds like Starlink is the way forward albeit at a premium rate
What are the approx. costs for Starlink?
STARLINK FOR HOMESQuote:
Originally Posted by gunner
Reliable high-speed internet, wherever you live.
£75/mo, with a hardware cost of £449.
ROAM WITH STARLINK
Work and play at remote locations.
Starting at £85/mo with a hardware cost of £449.
STARLINK FOR BOATS
High-speed internet on the water.
Starting at £206/mo with a hardware cost of £2,470.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gunner
For a domestic install it's £449 for the dish and router and £75 a month for unlimited data.
I have also been considering starlink road was dug up for fibre last summer, but still no sign of when service might start.Quote:
Originally Posted by Meesterbond
Thanks for all the comments guys, really helpful. I think you can also get a free months trial (according to their website) so possible option to consider
How often do you use your caravan?
I would be loath to pay that money each month for something that may only be used a couple of days a month.
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
You still need to buy the hardware in my understanding. With a £500 outlay you need to be reasonably confident that it will work for you.Quote:
Originally Posted by LRB255
- - - Updated - - -
You still need to buy the hardware in my understanding. With a £500 outlay you need to be reasonably confident that it will work for you.Quote:
Originally Posted by LRB255
You can pause the subscription eg use a month and pause.
No contract lock ins etc.
That sounds very convenient. We are hoping to semi retire next year so hopefully lots of caravan timeQuote:
Originally Posted by kultschar
The aerial/sim setup we tried wasn't cheap (£400 initial setup) and turned out to be a compete waste
Celebrity Cruise Ships use Starlink Internet on all their ships.
Just an update: purchased the residential package and got it up and running this week at the caravan and must say its a revelation. Super fast (anywhere between 100/200 mbps pending where in the caravan you are). So easy from installation to working, just need to get a bracket/pole and mount the dish out of the way then re-route cable under the caravan now we know its staying
Yes, it was expensive to initial purchase and £75 p/m but it ticks a lot of boxes and will now get us good 4k streaming and all the trimmings :) (it initially offers a month trial, so there was nothing to lose)
A question for the tech savvy, we have another caravan next door and want the kids to be able to utilise wifi. There is no signal, caravan is 15m away from Starlink router. Do I run a hard wired cable to caravan from router or will some sort of wireless router be enough to feed the caravan. I did also buy the ethernet extender which gives me 1 device to attach to Starlink (linked it to tv)
Thanks in advance