STARLINK Head to Head! (Residential vs Portable/RV for Full Time RV)

There have been some questions about the efficacy of the tests given each phone was hitting different test servers... There are two reasons I think the different servers had little effect on the tests: First, those servers and the internet backbone from starlink ground stations are designed to handle MUCH faster traffic than the sub-100Mbps tests I was running. It might affect latency more than throughput but that wasn't what I was focused on. Second, you can see in the test I did at 19:18 (after changing the address on the portable service) that the same servers are still being used and the speed tests are identical. Which is even more proof the throttle was service address based. The test was not scientific nor perfect, but I do believe it was a fair test and proved Starlink Portable was throttled compared to the Residential (at residence) service.

I put my Starlink dish in a backpack and hiked to the edge of the Grand Canyon where I hosted a live webinar for 2,000 people. I powered it with a Jackery battery pack. It worked great.

My wife and I have been full-timers for going on 5 years. The first 4 in a Grand Design 5th wheel then we upgraded to a Tiffin motorhome 6 months ago. I've been using the Starlink since April of 2022 and turned on travel mode just for the month of July. But my speeds were crappy (for SL) in the 60 to 90 Mbps range download and about 10 Mbps up. So I turned off travel mode and have just been changing the service address to somewhere near our camping spot. Right now, it's targeted exactly on top of our campsite in Newport, Oregon and we've been getting between 150 and 225 download speeds consistently for the past month; about 15 to 25 up. Here's an update: 3 months later, we're consistently getting around 160 down using our residential starlink that we paid $500 for. I just don't see the need for the newer models.

Would love to see you do the test again..... July 2023 and see if there is a difference. 👍😎

On the speedtest app you weren't connected to the same end server, so that can be a major impact to speed. You need to force the same server for each "Speedtest app" test to be accurate.

You are saving my marriage and my sanity…she MUST have internet or her head will explode…at ME! I like being able to turn science/data/news on and off at will…I love to continuously learn, even when civilization is a million miles away. Seriously…Retirement + buying new home in the NW wilderness + seeing the country all while being mostly adequately ‘connected’ is an absolute necessity. For us, nirvana is having the ‘always on’ CHOICE of either being: a. hooked up to the bottomless information super-bucket b. knowing only what our current environment feeds us (sight/smell/taste/touch/hear/fear/want or need) c. b + a for those moments when we want to know more (about anything) where we’ve set up camp/planned a hike/drive or whatever’s got you scratching your head. The ultimate trick is how the hell do you do it without loosing your patience, mind and beer money. Your videos are by far the most informative, realistic and entertaining of the lot that’s always crying for attention…please don’t stop! You always carefully strike a great balance of simplicity and geek as you explain and guide us through the maze of ‘how to’…letting us decide how far down the rabbit hole we want/need to go. !! You actually answered pretty much all of my most important and pressing questions in this one single video…amazing…like you heard my pleas (screems). I feel like I can almost see the bottom of the hole and still find my way back out to sunshine. Thanks… Your friends at ‘Stone Horse’

I'm from Kansas. It's so nice to hear that some people still know where Kansas is. Love your videos.

The best part was the outtake at the end. ‘Don’t understand kids these days with these loud mufflers on lawnmower engines’. Classic Dad line. Love it.

As if the throttling in Urban areas wasn't enough, this morning, Starlink announced a $15 per month increase for RV'rs only. Now $150 per month ! Sending mine back

I just got a residential Starlink with portability for my RV. It works great!

I have one thing to say...WOW! I've been searching and searching for a layperson's instructional video on internet mobility options for RV's and I've found it in yours. It makes sense! THANK YOU. (most are inadequate or above my paygrade) We're not FT RV'rs but may be some day and we need affordable good connectivity for work. LIKED! SUBSCRIBED! Thanks again!

Wi-fi only! 😲 802.11 is fine for browsing the web and using apps on your mobile device, but 802.3 is still superior for reliability and max bandwidth. My TV, game console, desktop PC, and NAS are all connected to my home LAN via 1000 Mbps copper wire so that my only bottleneck is my gateway. My brother used to connect his PS4 with wifi, the AP is only about 16 feet away. Since running an ethernet cable from his AP to his PS4, his internet connection on the PS4 has nearly doubled.

Hi Chad & Tara - This is a super important test you did, but kind of deflating for anyone on the RV option ☹ I was an early adopter of Starlink myself (did the whole put in address with availability & ship to a different address in April) and have even done a few videos on it, but this was before they offered the official RV option. I had an address I used about 30 minutes outside of Vegas that was actually the Boulder Municipal Golf Course as Vegas wasn't available, but Boulder was, and then had it shipped to my Las Vegas address. I added the Portability option and traveled throughout the west with it April - July and it worked great. I typically had speeds over 100 Mbps.  I knew I was going to be at my place here in Nashville the next couple months catching up on editing and not traveling so switched my account over to the RV option so I could pause the service and not have to pay during the months I'm not on the road. Now I'm bummed to see your speeds. I haven't turned my service back on, but am super curious to see what the speeds are. I also wonder if being out west helped the speeds too earlier in the year and there wasn't as many people using it. The map still shows spotty service throughout the eastern side of the US so maybe that could be a contributing factor?? I think you said your cabin is near the TN/NC area. I'm planning to get back out on the road next week and plan to head to the east coast so will report back once I turn it back on and do some tests. Thank you for doing the tests and the video as it's really going to help people make the correct decision when ordering their Starlink. $700 isn't cheap for the hardware and as you pointed out, now that I've switched over to the RV option, there's no going back, so I'm stuck with the throttled speeds. I always knew the RV option would deprioritize me, but not to that extent. Anyways... keep up the great content and safe travels when you get back on the road 😀

Hey Chad, No matter how hard you tried NOT to GEEK out, a ton of this video was sky hi over my head, but you tried darn hard. And I now have the video to go over and over again until I understand it. Great job. We live in south-eastern Washington state, about 1/2 a mile from the Idaho boarder, so I think it will be a while before I give this a try. The residential with portability added does look like the best option for us. Many thanks for your due diligence!

I've tested many services and just gave up! I finally talked to the right person who had found a way around prioritization on cell service and now I have no problems.

Thanks Chief for all your content. My family and I are also retired navy and you and your wife have helped us out a lot as we full time.

Thanks for this update on Starling, one of the most positive of all we've watched. I didn't even realize that we were always being deprioritized! We really enjoy all your teaching videos, Chad.

We started with the Residential and used an address from another location to get it. It supposedly would take another year or more for our area. We didn't have great service at our home due to the trees here in OH. Therefore we switched to the RV and love it. We haven't had much trouble with downloads but it is very handy money wise for us due to being able to close it out. So very worth our money as our Verizon using cell towers was almost just as expensive and was a month charge. Not for everyone, but we love it. Especially for Duane watch the Buckeyes play... Deana

I install Starlink, you did a fantastic job at explaining this. Better than many professionals

Not a moment too soon I stumbled on this highly detailed comparison between the residential and mobile Starlink units, and sir, I doff my hat with gratitude because I was really close to buying a mobile Starlink setup, and now realize that the internet speed and general reliability of the system are way better with the residential system at a fixed address. I would like to enquire whether that monthly $130 is still the monthly amount paid today in February 2023, or whether that figure has been reduced to a lower monthly bill as suggested by my preliminary research into this subject.