Starlink Mini Dish Launched – Disappointing “Mini Roam” Data Plan Dashes Nomadic Dreams

This week has been a roller coaster in the world of Starlink.

We reported earlier in the week on all the new details revealed in posts by Elon Musk and on the Starlink website about the upcoming Starlink Mini - and it all seemed potentially too good to be true.

But last night, e-mails started going out to some existing Residential customers offering them the first opportunity to purchase Starlink Mini.

And the reality is not matching the hyped up promise earlier this week - the dish is priced higher, and the $30/month data plan disappointing for RV, boat and nomad use.

----------------

💬 ❤️👍🏼 You can also help this video reach more people by subscribing to our channel, clicking the LIKE button or leaving a comment. Thanks!
---------------

For the full story or related information to this video:

#starlink #starlinkmini

[Key guides and content over at the MIRC website]

[Join Us Elsewhere]

[Support MIRC by using our Affiliate Links]

AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE

[About MIRC]
The Mobile Internet Resource Center is dedicated to helping mobile travelers (RVers, boaters, nomads, etc.) keep connected!

We are primarily funded by our premium members, who allow us to make this niche topic our focus and offer a ton of free content (like this channel) to the public! Our members get a bunch of extra access to our Q&A forums, in-depth guides, product reviews, courses, insider tips, webinars and vendor discounts.

Interested in helping keep us funded to continue creating content? Want to go deeper? Want more interactive guidance?

© Two Steps Beyond LLC 2024
See our website for our full terms of use disclaimer:

[CruserTunes]

Thank you for this! I'm getting a new standard Starlink ($499) tomorrow and was considering sending it back for a refund, as I'm a van lifer and the size (and other factors) of the mini kind of made it a no brainer...however...after this information, I think I'll just stick to what I ordered. Thanks!

[scothunter]

Starlink needs some competition. Mr. Bezos get your system moving faster.

[NAHWTV]

I suspect that the mini dish uses the spectrum less efficiently then the larger dishes, meaning that a lower data rate on the mini dish taxes the network more than the larger dish. All signs point to starlink wanting to discourage useage of the mini when it is at all possible to use the larger dishes at least in high usage areas.

[djjf]

I appreciate you getting this great video out so timely. That's why you're the best!
Yes, it's getting extravagant which I normally won't ever defend. However, this is innovative technology that literally no one can touch. Remember how expensive sat phones used to be? I'm glad I'm alive to see this tech exist. Hope I too can afford it.

[davenz]

Pretty epic for hikers / campers who aren't addicted to social media and have to have Netflix streaming every second of every day.

[coolunusual]

What can you recommend for long distance train travel to maintain as much of a sustained connection as possible? Satellite would be nice but not doable on train, what hotspot like could be recommended for that kind of travel that might take 2 or more sims for redundancy? Thanks

[robertminch]

My use case MIGHT make it worthwhile. I already have a residential dish ($120/month) and a mobile dish ($150/month) and I use mobile for camping in Idaho where there are more cellular dead zones than practically anywhere in the lower 48. So if I ditch the current mobile and get the mini, I'll save $120 month and make up the mini purchase price in five months, then have basic mobile service for a low monthly rate and don't really need pausing. That leaves me with good emergency communication wherever I camp. Possibly my biggest drawback: I like to watch news on YouTube TV while camping, and even with modest resolution, I'd burn through the 50 GB cap in probably something around 25 to 50 hours of TV per month. After that it would be a buck or two per hour to watch TV--not great but not the end of the world. Also for campers the convenience of direct 12v input, integrated Wi-Fi, compact size, etc. are handy features.

[skele]

Since its a invite only email. They are trying to pull the consumer's that have extra money laying around. I belive the price will go down when it hits the general market just like the standard kit did.

[robertlook]

Why not just buy a second large dish? In a recent interview Elon seemed to be saying this product might eventually be used to reach and provide lower cost service to those without the budget for a bigger dish. This first announcement of the data plan certainly does not support that vision. There are potentially uses of this mini dish for larger organizations that might want to have a distributed mesh VPN… for example a National Park that already has a large business dish at the big central visitor facility but wants you to have twenty mini dishes at every entry station, Fire tower, campground, popular trailhead parking lot, battery operated back country back pack portable search and rescue or fire fighting team in the park.

[cubanmama]

We have the Starlink Version 2 dish system. We have a mount on our tow-behind trailer and take the dish and router with use when we travel. We subscribe to the Standard home plan when we are not traveling and switch to the basic mobile plan when we travel. It works for us. We were looking forward to the mini. Now, not so much.

[DandyPunchGuy]

Got mine on order. I have a Gen 3 of course. Will use it at my hanger, RV-ing, and for traveling. May just light it up in flight and see if it works. Data cap is nothing. We're not going to be watching 4k movies in flight! Safety wise, we'd have all the Internet weather resources. Also as most cell phones have wifi calling, we'd have cellular service also.

[BRADH-xwsw]

You know, I am pissed off...
We supported SpaceX,
We supported Starlink.
We supported SpaceX's race to Mars - yes we need to get off this planet sooner than later or we die here.
We waited a full year to get our Starlink as its the only game in town for our part of rural Texas.
Then the prices changed...
The hardware costs went up.
The service plan costs went up.
We wanted connectivity while camping & travel - our Gen2 is 30ft up on the roof and it aint coming down anytime soon.
We suggest to Elon that he takes his 50Gb limit and $599 Mini cost and takes a iong walk off a short bridge...
IF they cant figure out why Starlink is losing street appeal, well, bless their hearts.

[IAT]

The pricing seems reasonable minus the data cap and agree that’s a weird restriction for one to have to have the residential service without a standalone plan.

[gfe]

I wonder if (hope?) that the data limits are just because they are afraid people with a residential installation will give/sell a dish to a fully mobile friend, or even to a neighbor. If it was unlimited, then you could give it to your “I want Starlink but can’t justify $130” neighbor for $30/month and now they have two full time customers.

[wondersteven]

Bait and Switch. That's Musky's jam!!.

[taddherron]

Nice job Chris. Totally agree; its a bust unless they completely revise their pricing.

[EpikDuck]

I read somewhere that, if you get the mini roam by residential add on for $30 per month, you wont' be able to pause it. If you purchase the mini roam without bundling for $50 per month, you actually can pause it.

[mungewell]

So 'residentail+mini' is same cost as 'roam', but can't be paused. Wonder if can be freely cancel and resubscribed.

You don't mention/consider whether mini dish forces coms to sat to a lower speed (ie limiting others in same cell)... Maybe what they will teat validate in initial roll out.

[CorndogCaravan]

Its shocking to see that they seem to be planning their business strategy on the fly. Thanks for all the information and getting it out quickly!!

[rickgriffith]

Great information! I just said to my wife that I can’t believe you don’t have more subscribers, respectfully. More folks need to know about your channel. Thank you for what you provide. Safe travels.👍🏼😎