Starlink, is it a good option.

[AntonyA]

This June, we're planning to travel extensively around Europe for about five months. Fortunately, we're not restricted by the 90-day Schengen limit. Our main concern is reliable internet access while on the road.


We're considering two options: Starlink or a SIM card setup with a router. We've seen some attractive eSIM data deals, but we're unsure whether there are routers that support eSIMs—or if it might be better to use a spare mobile phone with a data-only SIM and hotspot it to our laptops and TV. Starlink seems reliable but expensive.


Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. We will be traveling to France, Italy, Switzerland, Croatia, Thanks in advance!

 

[TheMobileWanderer]

This June, we're planning to travel extensively around Europe for about five months. Fortunately, we're not restricted by the 90-day Schengen limit. Our main concern is reliable internet access while on the road.


We're considering two options: Starlink or a SIM card setup with a router. We've seen some attractive eSIM data deals, but we're unsure whether there are routers that support eSIMs—or if it might be better to use a spare mobile phone with a data-only SIM and hotspot it to our laptops and TV. Starlink seems reliable but expensive.


Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. We will be traveling to France, Italy, Switzerland, Croatia, Thanks in advance!

I haven't read through much of the thread but I reckon the OP has enjoyed their trip, by now.

For others, though, I'll respond by saying I shall be using the mobile hotspot set-up. I ahve ruled out Starlink for a number of reasons which include:-

1. I wouldn't want to use space for a costly dish, when the alternative, which is the fitment of solar panels, would continually save me money. The cost of a dish would include its set-up costs, the continual subscription and, also, the continual loss of free electricity.

2. I wouldn't want to add more weight to the roof as would be required by a satellite or other type dish because I don't want a top-heavy, wayward, 2CV-like motorhome, I'll use the weight allowance for solar and skylights.

3. I wouldn't want to be tied to just one operator. With a mobile hot-spot, I shall have the choice of provider (and consequent competitional benefits), on an on-going basis.

 

[Rog NotJane]

Another quick note on starlink for completeness. If you want to go to Turkey or Morocco, they do not have coverage there:

Starlink | Availability Map

View availability, coverage, speeds and latency for Starlink service.

www.starlink.com

 

[zac]

Another quick note on starlink for completeness. If you want to go to Turkey or Morocco, they do not have coverage there:

Starlink | Availability Map

View availability, coverage, speeds and latency for Starlink service.

www.starlink.com

I did see that even though it says no coverage it did work in Morocco but there are no guarantees of course. That was a youtuber I believe.

 

[ianto999]

We have had two 3-month trips in Europe with Starlink, and while good, it can be frustrating if you are near trees that reduce or block your signal. I work remotely while travelling, and often video calls or TV streaming would be lost, and we revert to a mobile phone hotspot. Last trip on EE unlimited, we used 1.5TB of data without a problem.

This coming trip, we have bought a GL-3000 router, with its own EE unlimited data SIM. Testing at home has shown it to be far superior to Starlink, both in speed (up to 120 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload), so we have now halted our subscription; no more payments to Elon Musk.... Setup costs about the same, but EE running costs 75% cheaper.

How did you get EE unlimited and how many £ please? I’m not getting that option from my current EE account.

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[Peregrinator]

This June, we're planning to travel extensively around Europe for about five months. Fortunately, we're not restricted by the 90-day Schengen limit. Our main concern is reliable internet access while on the road.


We're considering two options: Starlink or a SIM card setup with a router. We've seen some attractive eSIM data deals, but we're unsure whether there are routers that support eSIMs—or if it might be better to use a spare mobile phone with a data-only SIM and hotspot it to our laptops and TV. Starlink seems reliable but expensive.


Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. We will be traveling to France, Italy, Switzerland, Croatia, Thanks in advance!

We have external 4G & 5G antenna on the roof connected to a GL-3000 AX Router/Hub, and until last month had a £12 a month all unlimited including roaming iD simm, but last month it started playing up, I think iD are playing their funny games again once in Europe, I now have the same setup at home, I replaced Virgin Fiber, so I reduced my monthly out lay by £110 a month, best thing I done, Did a test before I switched, three TV's (2 at 8K, 1 at 4K) one IPad and two mobiles all playing movies at the same time, with no delay, 5G receiving 500Mbs, I was sold, The £12 a month sim at home don't have any problems, only other outlays are Amazon Prime and Netflix

 

[AndyVW]

I have a Gen 3 array permantle installed to to roof via a Trio mag mount, So it actually very easy to take off. The power supply is a 12 to 59 volt transformer also from trio permantly installed ,
80 days on three Canary Islands worked just perfectly .
For me it works like this , I live in a part of the UK that has no internet line, even the copper cable won’t support the internet, I have tried the other Saterlite internet provider, it was Rubbish ,
Mobile net work at my house only works if I stand outside by my front gate. So no indoor service.
The Gen 3 Array and router are removed from the van and put in the house
So one cost for home and Motorhome
Perfect and only solution

 

[MisterB]

I haven't read through much of the thread but I reckon the OP has enjoyed their trip, by now.

For others, though, I'll respond by saying I shall be using the mobile hotspot set-up. I ahve ruled out Starlink for a number of reasons which include:-

1. I wouldn't want to use space for a costly dish, when the alternative, which is the fitment of solar panels, would continually save me money. The cost of a dish would include its set-up costs, the continual subscription and, also, the continual loss of free electricity.

2. I wouldn't want to add more weight to the roof as would be required by a satellite or other type dish because I don't want a top-heavy, wayward, 2CV-like motorhome, I'll use the weight allowance for solar and skylights.

3. I wouldn't want to be tied to just one operator. With a mobile hot-spot, I shall have the choice of provider (and consequent competitional benefits), on an on-going basis.

Whilst I understand the points you make, I don't necessarily agree with them, however it's your choice and your money ....

1, our dish is a stripped down version and we have it placed up against a skylight internally, it can be moved to be externally mounted or even on the windscreen. The cost is just the initial outlay but the ongoing subscription is a pain I agree. But as we only use ours 'abroad', I re registered one in France so only pay around £61 per month for unlimited and can pause it, it works for us. As for it using free electricity, that's the best type to use lol! When our battery is full we waste 'free electricity' anyway!


2 weight of a stripped down version is prob the equivalent of two bags of sugar

3 that's one thing I agree about, though competition in the sat Comms market may reduce costs in the future

What suits one person doesn't always suit the other person but I'm happy with my choice as you prob are with yours.

 

[Fragle]

Whilst I understand the points you make, I don't necessarily agree with them, however it's your choice and your money ....

1, our dish is a stripped down version and we have it placed up against a skylight internally, it can be moved to be externally mounted or even on the windscreen. The cost is just the initial outlay but the ongoing subscription is a pain I agree. But as we only use ours 'abroad', I re registered one in France so only pay around £61 per month for unlimited and can pause it, it works for us. As for it using free electricity, that's the best type to use lol! When our battery is full we waste 'free electricity' anyway!


2 weight of a stripped down version is prob the equivalent of two bags of sugar

3 that's one thing I agree about, though competition in the sat Comms market may reduce costs in the future

What suits one person doesn't always suit the other person but I'm happy with my choice as you prob are with yours.

If power and weight are the main reason for not having it then the mini is the solution

 

[ian27]

How did you get EE unlimited and how many £ please? I’m not getting that option from my current EE account.

Scancom on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Sca...A8F4-9464-4198-92A7-2ADD410E40E7?tag=mhf04-21
Gigantic prepaid data bundles from all major UK networks. I have a Three and an EE from them at the moment. They are generally UK only though, no roaming.

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[Randomstop]

thats good if they've added consumer esim as well. Last time I looked they were only m2m esim.

Unfortunately it seems that it would not be possible to load 3rd party esims, only marketed via Teltonika partner.

 

[ian27]

Just adding an update for information to an old thread.
I've recently added the ESIM card to my GL.Inet X.3000 router. This is a physical sim (costs £10 from gl.inet) that can store up to 8 Esims. The router's web front end is used to load the esims onto the sim card and then activate that esim for use.
I used it recently whilst travelling with a 3rd party esim, worked flawlessly.

 

[Peregrinator]

Just adding an update for information to an old thread.
I've recently added the ESIM card to my GL.Inet X.3000 router. This is a physical sim (costs £10 from gl.inet) that can store up to 8 Esims. The router's web front end is used to load the esims onto the sim card and then activate that esim for use.
I used it recently whilst travelling with a 3rd party esim, worked flawlessly.

I looked into the esims, but nearly all of them were treble the price. But if find unlimited for £17 or under let me know.

 

[ian27]

I looked into the esims, but nearly all of them were treble the price. But if find unlimited for £17 or under let me know.

there are an awful lot of different specialist "travel" esim companies (some of which are very pricy as you may have found) but many of the mainstream operators will sell you an esim as well. it really depends on what you want, is it monthly or non-expiring or fixed term, how much, where you want it for...please be more specific?

 

[Peregrinator]

there are an awful lot of different specialist "travel" esim companies (some of which are very pricy as you may have found) but many of the mainstream operators will sell you an esim as well. it really depends on what you want, is it monthly or non-expiring or fixed term, how much, where you want it for...please be more specific?

My normal sim is fine at the moment, with ID unlimited with free EU roaming £12 amonth, just got back after 90 Days, with no problems. e-sim is of interest if unlimited, cheap and can use for Turkey, and other none EU counties

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[Gromett]

there are an awful lot of different specialist "travel" esim companies (some of which are very pricy as you may have found) but many of the mainstream operators will sell you an esim as well. it really depends on what you want, is it monthly or non-expiring or fixed term, how much, where you want it for...please be more specific?

I have just found out about these earlier today. Quite a few youtubers shilling for https://saily.com/. This is not a recommendation, just happened to notice it.

 

[edgewood175]

I just bought Starlink Roam. It was discounted down to £180. Setup was super easy. Also bought a 4k 2nd gen Firestick in Amazon sale so my non-smart tv in the motorhome is a streaming powerhouse. I WFH so it also acts as my backup if the house wifi goes down.

 

[ian27]

My normal sim is fine at the moment, with ID unlimited with free EU roaming £12 amonth, just got back after 90 Days, with no problems. e-sim is of interest if unlimited, cheap and can use for Turkey, and other none EU counties

for tactical use in non-EU countries I keep a block of non-expiring data from BNESIM. benefit of esims is quickly switching between providers.

 

[zac]

I think the issue with esims are that currently they seem to be expensive for a decent amount of data, they are flexible and easy enough to get hold of but darn expensive. Starlink is also blinking expensive, so pick your poison as they say.

One solution will never fit all.

 

[starquake]

I think the issue with esims are that currently they seem to be expensive for a decent amount of data, they are flexible and easy enough to get hold of but darn expensive. Starlink is also blinking expensive, so pick your poison as they say.

One solution will never fit all.

I think personally esims are perfect to get you to a local shop to buy a local sim if your roaming is otherwise expensive.
Given ours is £5 a day for unlimited, given we use more than the 12Gb fair use per month in a single day, it's crazy to use the UK sim abroad.

I havn't come across a decent esim thats not "from" the native providers in the country I'm going to, and you usually have to go to a shop and show a passport in most places for them (Thailand as an example).

That said, they do have a use.

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[zac]

I think personally esims are perfect to get you to a local shop to buy a local sim if your roaming is otherwise expensive.
Given ours is £5 a day for unlimited, given we use more than the 12Gb fair use per month in a single day, it's crazy to use the UK sim abroad.

I havn't come across a decent esim thats not "from" the native providers in the country I'm going to, and you usually have to go to a shop and show a passport in most places for them (Thailand as an example).

That said, they do have a use.

They do have a use, but if you are making the journey into a shopping centre or shop then i don't see the point of messing with ESims as you have done the hard work already by venturing out. There are some good deals to be had on Sims like in Spain and France but if you want to pre buy something on an esim they are overpriced, maybe once they become more the norm they will come down in price alongside the normal physical Sims

 

[Rog NotJane]

Premium charging for an eSIM always feels like a customer unfriendly convenience tax to me. They are much cheaper and easier for the net op to manage than physical SIMs.

 

[zac]

Premium charging for an eSIM always feels like a customer unfriendly convenience tax to me. They are much cheaper and easier for the net op to manage than physical SIMs.

Couldn't agree more

 

[Peregrinator]

I have just checked our billing for the last 3 months we were away in Italy, France & Spain (March to June), we have three Id sims, all unlimited, one in each of our phones, and one in our Router/Hub, We use the Hub all the time for our Data, because of the antenna on the roof has a better signal, all 3 were just charged the £12 a month which are on all unlimited, Free EU roaming on 5G, only a couple of places we had to use 4G because there were no 5G, speed was never below 50Mbps, if near a 5G transmitter then it can go up to 500Mbps, Photo shows screen shot while in France, So don't think we will be changing any time soon, by the way, speed test was done while wife was watching U-tube streaming live on her Ipad, and the TV on a 4k channel.

 

[Randomstop]

I have just checked our billing for the last 3 months we were away in Italy, France & Spain (March to June), we have three Id sims, all unlimited, one in each of our phones, and one in our Router/Hub, We use the Hub all the time for our Data, because of the antenna on the roof has a better signal, all 3 were just charged the £12 a month which are on all unlimited, Free EU roaming on 5G, only a couple of places we had to use 4G because there were no 5G, speed was never below 50Mbps, if near a 5G transmitter then it can go up to 500Mbps, Photo shows screen shot while in France, So don't think we will be changing any time soon, by the way, speed test was done while wife was watching U-tube streaming live on her Ipad, and the TV on a 4k channel.



View attachment 1086163

I’m curious to know how much data you’ve used in total for each SIM. Is it truly unlimited, or did you just not reach your roaming limit? Also, while it’s great to have a download speed of 400+ Mbps, I wonder how much it actually differs from a speed of 50 Mbps in practical terms.

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[NewToMH]

The main problem for the Op is that starlink now only allows 2 months,60days ,out of the country that you pay the subscription in.So not a lot of use for 5months

Only if you have roaming.

Anecdotally I think the roaming charges have become a lot less generous, we know people who live on yachts who have Starlink and if I remember correctly found using it got more expensive because the definition of roaming (or not roaming) changed.

We are resident in Spain and use Lobster which is aimed at English speaking long term visitors and residents. The basic plan has been recently upped to 200Gb, you can pause the plan when you are out of Spain and the roaming limits outside Spain is OK; at least we have never hit the limits but we don't do much streaming.

 

[Peregrinator]

I’m curious to know how much data you’ve used in total for each SIM. Is it truly unlimited, or did you just not reach your roaming limit? Also, while it’s great to have a download speed of 400+ Mbps, I wonder how much it actually differs from a speed of 50 Mbps in practical terms.

In the mouth of April, we watched eight 4K (Ultra HD) movies, wife says more, But I am going by what was downloaded on to my drive, may have streamed others at 4k, many others were steamed in that mouth, but they were mostly 2k . Three of those were just over 30Gb, two were 50Gb & 52Gb and the rest between 20Gb to 30Gb. We normally watch a film or short Series every evening during dinner, that was just for April, does not include wife's streaming live TV, and both on the internet. All this Data is going though just the one sim, which is the Router/Hub Wi-Fi, Feeding TV's, Computer, Ipad and our Phones, we don't use our phones Data, only when away from the Motorhome do we use our phones.

 

[BrochMike]

In the mouth of April, we watched eight 4K (Ultra HD) movies, wife says more, But I am going by what was downloaded on to my drive, may have streamed others at 4k, many others were steamed in that mouth, but they were mostly 2k . Three of those were just over 30Gb, two were 50Gb & 52Gb and the rest between 20Gb to 30Gb. We normally watch a film or short Series every evening during dinner, that was just for April, does not include wife's streaming live TV, and both on the internet. All this Data is going though just the one sim, which is the Router/Hub Wi-Fi, Feeding TV's, Computer, Ipad and our Phones, we don't use our phones Data, only when away from the Motorhome do we use our phones.

I've also been benefiting from ID Mobile's current 'use all your data abroad' offer.

I just hope there aren't too many others doing the same volume as yourselves, or they'll have to reinstate their roaming restrictions !!

Out of interest, what device are you using for watching 4K movies? Seems like overkill in a small space.

 

[Randomstop]

In the mouth of April, we watched eight 4K (Ultra HD) movies, wife says more, But I am going by what was downloaded on to my drive, may have streamed others at 4k, many others were steamed in that mouth, but they were mostly 2k . Three of those were just over 30Gb, two were 50Gb & 52Gb and the rest between 20Gb to 30Gb. We normally watch a film or short Series every evening during dinner, that was just for April, does not include wife's streaming live TV, and both on the internet. All this Data is going though just the one sim, which is the Router/Hub Wi-Fi, Feeding TV's, Computer, Ipad and our Phones, we don't use our phones Data, only when away from the Motorhome do we use our phones.

Those must be long movies to take 50Gb! Also, what is the screen size you are watching the movies on?
I wonder if streaming in HD would save a lot of data and still be useful. Trying to figure out the best data strategy for myself.

Also, this is from ID Mobile website:

Terms and Conditions

1. 30GB limit if your UK allowance is 30GB or more. Roaming subject to fair usage & open data policies.

How did you manage to overcome this restriction?

 

[TGL]

Thanks for getting back to me, when you say upgradable what do you mean. Also any advice on if we should have the receiver attached to the roof or leave it unattached so you can use it anywhere in case the MH if under tress?

I have my starlink dish attached via suction cups to my roof. I remove it before driving the van. Simples.

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[Randomstop]

Anecdotally I think the roaming charges have become a lot less generous, we know people who live on yachts who have Starlink and if I remember correctly found using it got more expensive because the definition of roaming (or not roaming) changed.

We are resident in Spain and use Lobster which is aimed at English speaking long term visitors and residents. The basic plan has been recently upped to 200Gb, you can pause the plan when you are out of Spain and the roaming limits outside Spain is OK; at least we have never hit the limits but we don't do much streaming.

A few people mentioned 200Gb allowance on Lobster’s basic plan, but I don’t see it on their website! What’s the catch?