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First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini

starlinkhardware.com

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Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini

#31

Post by fragmede »

wmf wrote: post #28
fragmede wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah they don't force you into some weird shitty contract. you can buy the hardware outright, and then not pay for a subscription until you actually want to use it for the month of Outober.

Paying for a full month if your main ISP is down for a day or two sounds quite expensive. How long does it take to activate?

I used a friend's when I went to see the eclipse in Texas. Didn't time how long it took to activate service on their end because it takes a few minutes for starlink to connect/boot up in the first place and when you're out camping there's other things going on. Less than 30 mins so all I can say. Also, it was $150 for the month.

Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini

#33

Post by jml78 »

grecy wrote: post #24
ryukoposting wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did some quick research on a major American car parts retailer's website. The biggest batteries they sell are rated as high as 188Ah (though they use a weird industry-specific unit to say that). Many are closer to 25-50Ah. Definitely enough juice to power a terminal for several hours. This lines up with my personal experiences. I have personally used a car battery to keep a big gaming laptop charged for an entire wee…

Pretty much all of us in the vanlife/overland space run Lithium batteries now, the smallest of which is basically 100Ah. I'm just about to put either 300Ah or 400Ah into my new Jeep camper to run an induction cook top, water pump, hot water, lights, charging and a lot more. I also just mounted 600W of solar on the roof. The power needs of Starlink is a tad annoying, but certainly not a deal breaker for anyone living…

Yep, on my boat, I converted the original square dish to run off my 12v lithium batteries.

I have plenty of solar and batteries to run starlink 24/7.

Even if you don’t have a lot of amp hours, starlink allows you to set a sleep schedule where it would use way less power.

But ditching the starlink router and converting to run off 12v isn’t that hard

Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini

#36

Post by 14u2c »

poorman wrote: post #2

The lack of DC power is rough for boats, vans, and RVs. If someone wants to put this in a backpack they really need to get a DC power supply version. There are solutions out there at this point for the standard dishy but the flat high performance has a crazy power supply with it.

Buy a $50 inverter. They are tiny and it's not like this thing is using enough power for the efficiency hit to make a difference.

Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini

#37

Post by wkat4242 »

ryukoposting wrote: post #13
skybrian wrote: post #12

I think a great use case for this would be as a backup for when the regular ISP goes out in a rural area. But I don't think they have any subscription plans priced for that? And there might be issues after a storm if everyone started using it at once.

The Garmin inReach (and others like it) is probably the nearest readily-available solution for that use case. Not broadband internet obviously, but it provides access to basic, essential communication methods. It does so at a much, much lower price point than Starlink/HughesNet/etc can offer, making it more palatable as an "emergency backup" product.

Well Starlink here in Spain costs 40€ per month. That's a lot less than the unlimited Garmin inreach plan (74,99€!!) that only allows you to send short messages!

And that's the regular plan. Deprioritised Starlink costs €29/month! Still way way more useful service than inreach.

I have inreach and for €19,99 I get 10 SMS per month (i don't subscribe every month) and I also have to pay a €39,99 yearly fee. Starlink is undoubtedly cheaper here.

Of course it's not really the same kind of service. Inreach is a rugged 100 grams device for hiking with its own battery power that can stay connected for days. It can stay connected even in my bag and has a button to call for emergency services.

For internet backup I have a 4G modem right now, connected to my unifi router with auto failover and a script that adds credit to my prepay card over SMS. It serves me ok. But I'd love to have a starlink mini for backup. Just the regular one is a bit big so I didn't get it yet.

Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini

#38

Post by dfadsadsf »

I plan to work and travel in Europe for 1.5 months this summer and I hope they will release it soon. Hotel/AirBnB wifi is often unstable and unreliable - you never know if Zoom will work or not. With Starlink I will have backup and at minimum will be able to take calls in the car.

We will have rental car so planned to get regular Starlink but this one will be much better option.

Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini

#39

Post by toomuchtodo »

jml78 wrote: post #30
fragmede wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah they don't force you into some weird shitty contract. you can buy the hardware outright, and then not pay for a subscription until you actually want to use it for the month of Outober.

You can actually create an account, pay for one month, then pause it. Then just unpause in the starlink app to instantly have access and resume billing

This is what I do. I carry the dish in the equivalent of a pelican case [1], and only activate for months I have no other option.

[1] https://www.caseman.com/product/starlink-mount-case/

Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini

#40

Post by skybrian »

fragmede wrote: post #23
skybrian wrote: post #12

I think a great use case for this would be as a backup for when the regular ISP goes out in a rural area. But I don't think they have any subscription plans priced for that? And there might be issues after a storm if everyone started using it at once.

yeah they don't force you into some weird shitty contract. you can buy the hardware outright, and then not pay for a subscription until you actually want to use it for the month of Outober.

Can you sign up using Starlink itself? It would by annoying if you needed another ISP when your ISP is down.
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