Starlink Mini Question (For My Pathetic Use Case)

[KBabione]

I read through all of the Starlink Mini threads and it seems that there are a bunch of Rivian owners who have them. Here's my use case: Tailgating at Penn State.

In the subject of this thread I admit that it's pathetic...I'm looking for a way to use my Hulu Live subscription to watch football games while tailgating at Penn State. Last year I naively thought that the Rivian's hotspot would have enough "juice" to allow me to watch Hulu when there were 100,000+ plus people around the stadium. It didn't - in fact we struggled to get texts sent on our phones! On game day, Beaver Stadium becomes Pennsylvania's third largest city and the cell phone network simply can't keep up. For 7-8 games a year I can't blame the carriers, so I started looking at alternatives. I thought about simply mounting a HD antenna on a PVC pole, but that would give me only games broadcast on the networks (missing ESPN and BigTen games). Then I thought about the several Starlink Mini threads I'd seen on this forum...So here are my questions:

• How is streaming live TV through Starlink? As mentioned above, I have a subscription to Hulu Live (and the Big Ten network) and it works great. I'm thinking I can connect my laptop to the Starlink router and use an HDMI cable to show it on a larger flat screen TV.
• I've been looking at mounting the Starlink receiver to the underside of the R1S sunroof...If I'm in a field without anything around me, will that work or will I have to "aim" the Starlink receiver to get decent reception?
• I see that the Starlink router creates a WiFi network when it's operating - Do you think it would work for a 20' radius around the Rivian so that others could benefit from the network connection?

I appreciate any insights those of you who have Starlink already can offer. The Mini kit is currently $299 and I'm sure the 50GB/month package for $50 would meet my needs for the couple of months each year that I'd need it.

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[sub]

Starlink has much less capacity to serve a bunch of people packed into a small area than LTE or Wi-Fi does. If the LTE and Wi-Fi can't keep up then starlink won't either.

Unless you are the only one with this idea...

So I suggest you delete this post if you plan to go through with it. It only has a hope of working if no one else is doing it.

 

[Mellowyellow]

Why the laptop? Why not just use a smart tv with the hulu app?

 

[COdogman]

My suggestion is to bring more alcohol and patty melts and you will forget that Hulu exists.

 

[SeattleSteve]

...

So I suggest you delete this post if you plan to go through with it. It only has a hope of working if no one else is doing it.

I'm afraid this is your only hope. I've tried to get my Starlink Roam Mini connected a few times at my home (Seattle area) and it has only connected once. Get the Starlink Roam away from civilization and it works like a champ, though.

Separately, you asked about connecting ~30 feet from the Starlink Roam Mini. Yes, you can connect to the Mini's integrated Wi-Fi within 30 feet (Starlink advertises 1200 sq. feet of coverage). I use the Rivian's Wi-Fi quite a bit and the Starlink beats the Rivian's coverage. Again, though, a parking lot full of Starlink devices is just going to lead to misery.

 

[DeafPug]

I remember taking an iPhone 3GS to Oshkosh, WI for AirVenture back in 2009 and 2010. Like your game day event, this event would have 100,000 people within about a 2 square mile area. Everyone on vacation trying to communicate and it totally crushed the AT&T network back then. Internet services (web browser, email, weather updates, etc...) didn't work at all. Over the course of the day, you could get a few SMS text messages to get delivered. The battery on the phone would last about 8 hours because it was struggling so hard to communicate with the cellular network.

It took years for them to fully support the load on the cellular network during this week-long event. Now, all three carriers bring in multiple mobile trucks to supplement the cellular network during this event.

Streaming media at a large event is asking for trouble. As others have said, it may work now, but if others get the same idea, Starlink would crater as well.

A better solution would be to just bring a digital TV antenna and tune to OTA (Over The Air) TV signals, but you would mostly be limited to network television in that case. That, or double-up on the beer and brats and forget the TV!

 

[KBabione]

Oh - there will be plenty of food and drink. I want the TV because this turns into a 12-14 hour tailgating experience and only about 4 of those hours are in the stadium. It's nice to be able to watch other games while hanging around the tailgate.

Thank you all for the responses...I was afraid that having multiple Starlink users around (there are probably several hundred RV's) might impact my speed. I may have to go the digital TV antenna route - then I wouldn't need the laptop. Starlink has a 30-day return policy, including the service fee...Maybe I'll buy it right before the first game (the first 4 PSU games this year are home games) and see how it goes. If it works, great, and if not I'm really not out much and can switch to the digital TV antenna.

Why the laptop in my scenario? Hulu does location checking on smart TV's so it won't work outside my home zip code. I can, however, connect my laptop (or cell or tablet) from anywhere and then cast to a TV. It's stupid, but it's how it works.

 

[BCondrey]

Oh - there will be plenty of food and drink. I want the TV because this turns into a 12-14 hour tailgating experience and only about 4 of those hours are in the stadium. It's nice to be able to watch other games while hanging around the tailgate.

Thank you all for the responses...I was afraid that having multiple Starlink users around (there are probably several hundred RV's) might impact my speed. I may have to go the digital TV antenna route - then I wouldn't need the laptop. Starlink has a 30-day return policy, including the service fee...Maybe I'll buy it right before the first game (the first 4 PSU games this year are home games) and see how it goes. If it works, great, and if not I'm really not out much and can switch to the digital TV antenna.

Why the laptop in my scenario? Hulu does location checking on smart TV's so it won't work outside my home zip code. I can, however, connect my laptop (or cell or tablet) from anywhere and then cast to a TV. It's stupid, but it's how it works.

I had the location-locked issue too with Xfinity, when I tried to use it at another property in a different state. I used a small travel router in the remote location to create a VPN back to the home, so it looks like the TVs are at "home". Works like a champ. I used this: Amazon.com: GL.iNet GL-AR300M16-Ext Portable Mini Travel Wireless Pocket Router - WiFi Router | OpenWrt | 2 x Ethernet Ports | OpenVPN/Wireguard VPN for Public & Hotel Wi-Fi | USB 2.0 Port | 2 x External Antennas : Electronics

 

[emlo]

Not sure you would have that much congestion for Starlink at a game. There are so many factors such as satellite availability over head, number of active users, strength of signal. I honestly think you’d be way better off with Starlink vs cellular and I understand your need to have connectivity. Since you seem to have a specific use case have you considered using a regular Starlink mounted to a roof rack or bed rack? You’d get way better signal and speed vs the mini.

 

[Cycliste]

Could people use their home fixed wireless device at the tailgates to supply internet assuming a fixed wireless transmitter was available at the Penn State stadium. I’m also not sure of the capacity limits for the number of tailgaters each transmitter can support.

 

[emlo]

Could people use their home fixed wireless device at the tailgates to supply internet at tailgates assuming a fixed wireless transmitter was available? I’m also not sure of the capacity limits for the number of tailgaters each transmitter can support.

Do you mean use a home address fixed Starlink away from home? No you can’t per the service terms. But if you have the roam plan you can use the standard dish anywhere.

 

[Cycliste]

My home internet is Verizon Home 5G (or whatever they call it) and not cable/fiberoptic

I also have Starlink for off grid and as a backup

 

[emlo]

My home internet is Verizon Home 5G (or whatever they call it) and not cable/fiberoptic

I’m pretty sure those are geo-locked and doing that would violate your terms of service. Also note because that uses cellular connectivity it would have worse QoS (quality of service) in a congested area because it has a lower priority vs cellular phone connectivity. The reason OP asked the question about Starlink is due to cellular connection congestion.

 

[Cycliste]

Wait—my home internet is lower priority? I thought fixed wireless was separate or special in some way. I need to read up on this.

 

[emlo]

Wait—my home internet is lower priority? I thought fixed wireless was separate or special in some way. I need to read up on this.

Yes cellular home internet and tablets have lower priority vs mobile phones. You heard the saying “you get what you pay for”? I’m guessing you pay anywhere between $25-$50? The reason it’s so cheap is because they are using the spare bandwidth. Watch a YouTube channel called Nater Tater and look at some of the subreddits on home internet.

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