Starlink mini

Stephen I fully agree that it won't run reliably on 12v direct and much prefers a higher voltage.
That being said I run mine on a lithium house battery in the motorhome with a 3m cable without any problems but it is typically over 13v most of the time.

Stephen, "Houston, we have a problem", I have a dumb phone, ie used only as a phone/sms, not connected to the internet. Can I download to a laptop? I think I should have done further home work before purchasing Starlink.

Do you have an iPad or Tablet or other family members have a more up to date phone, as unfortunately you must have the Starlink app to setup your new Starlink.

Once you have it setup and running, anyone that is within 50 + metres of you will see your Starlink WiFi signal, and if you give them the password to login, they will have access to your Starlink.

Not honestly sure about a laptop

Stephen, Thanks for the reply. Phone is up to date, just that I don't turn on to connect to the internet. Sounds as if only need internet for the setup, which is doable. I find phones too small and fiddly for using with the internet etc. I do plan on buying a tablet in the near future for navigation.

You will only need your phone to get the app, as everything else is using Starlink.

When you go off grid all data used is purely Starlink.

Stephen, once again thank you. I have joined the FB group and ploughing through the posts, gleaning what I can. I have factored in a DC convertor and am slowly researching mounts etc. If range is 50mts, then permanent mounting on vehicle looks to me to be the way to go, but you have yours mounted on a tripod, care to elaborate on that?

We do not run ours in the car, but many people mount them of their roof mounts that will give you on the move access. In an emergency event, I can have our Starlink setup and working in a few quick minutes for access to phone or internet.

I have made up many off grid options, running off my 18v cordless power tools batteries , a very small 20,000mAh battery power bank that will give me 3-4 hours continuous running and my latest addition is the CTMODS small tripod/power bank all in one that will give me up to 8 hours of continuous use.

The biggest thing is to have as clear as possible view of the sky and make sure your dish is pointing south if not mounted on your car roof. As you know the dish is very small and there have been reports of them being run over in caravan parks, there was one report of another case of it not working next morning, the owned found out why….avery big dog crap on the dish that he photographed…haha.

Using any tripod will keep the dish off the ground, but the advantage of the new CTMODS, you simply connect the top of the tripod into the pole mount that comes standard with your Starlink, connect the small cable that comes with the CTDODS, one end into the dish and the other into the inbuilt power supply, just brilliant. If you look at going to one of the CTMODS power supplies, I rant a story of my own Facebook page and to promote their great product, CTMODS gave me a discount code to use K022 that gives you a discount….sadly I paid full price.

.

Not correct Bristie

Originally you could opt in for the standby mode, but quite some time ago…….not a few days as you claim, any new activation automatically went to the new 100g/$80 month plan but before the billing month is up, you simply change you plan to the $8.50 Standby plan.

Can I please ask where or who told you this wrong information

Stephen, Briste was referring to "in-motion" use.
Here is what Google says……

"Here are the key details regarding this change:
Policy Shift: While Standby Mode was previously used as a cost-effective way to get limited data while traveling (e.g., for basic maps, messaging, or WiFi calling), Starlink updated its terms to specify that this plan is "not intended for in-motion use".
Alternative Requirements: To use Starlink while in motion, users must now upgrade to a full Roam plan (such as Roam 100GB or Roam Unlimited), which starts at a higher monthly cost.
What Still Works: The $8.50 Standby Plan is still functional for stationary, low-bandwidth, or emergency use (e.g., at a campsite).
Effective Date: The crackdown was observed by users around March 6–7, 2026.
Other Changes: Concurrently, Starlink introduced a 100 mph (160 km/h) speed cap on Roam plans, aimed at preventing in-motion use on private airplanes without paying for specialized aviation plans.
This change marks the end of a popular loophole that allowed users to maintain connectivity on the move for a low fee, often using the Starlink Mini. "

My personal belief is that the $8.50 Standby Plan will not last forever and users will need to pay for a higher plan, like maybe $80/month. But then I am a pessimist which has saved me from several disasters, lol

Allan wins the prize for reading what I actually wrote. Must be a skill obtained from reading all those Australian standards.

You may well be right about the $8.50 plan, Allan. I've seen a lot of plan changes from SL over the years, esp in the budget offerings. I hope not, as I just gave my old Gen 2 dish to someone to give to their brother in a moderately remote location so that he could have basic phone connectivity for $8.50. At least he is stationary.

It will be interesting to see how people react to the change, and how SL reacts to that. Clearly SL didn't like how people were using the short-lived $15/10Gb plan, since they ditched it, nor how many people had their dishes paused for extended periods, nor something about the bonus data option for the old 50Gb plan. Nor portability for residential customers. They're all gone.

My hunch is that a lot of people will just cancel their service plan, and only reactivate it when travelling. SL won't like that. People who got the free loaner mini because they have a residential plan may opt to return it. People who travel all the time will just have to suck it up. E.g. truck drivers. I met a chap in Kalgoorlie last year running a business fitting minis to prime movers. He had done hundreds. They won't be happy, but I bet most of them will just pay the $80 per month.

.
It is pretty common marketing Briste. Fire up a new product with an irresistible offer, allow the market to saturate then reconfigure the pricing completely to a new format where the initial bargain just slides away and the customer base is captive to a whole new scheme. It happens all the time.
Look at all the old applications that ceased to be supported and only available as subscription. These guys go to bed figuring how to improve the bottom line. They know human nature.

All true Allan (don't speak to me about Adobe :(( ), but I think this is something slightly different. SL introduce a budget plan and people find was to use it that wasn't intended, so they change the plan. Rinse and repeat. The basic all-you-can-eat residential plan hasn't had a price increase at all, if I recall correctly, and there are now cheaper, speed-limited plans.

.
I wasn't referring to the "in motion" change Briste. That was a loophole closing.
I was predicting the whole SL pricing structure change. We will need to wait to see if I am right.

I am not surprised they have closed the loophole. It was too good to be true, possibly a mistake and would have cost them a lot in lost revenue. I am sure a lot of people would be happy with just the $8.50 plan which can’t be sustainable for poor old Elon.

I don’t like paying for the service anymore than anyone else but even at $80.00 it is still an extraordinary service to have when travelling

Starlink originally allowed you to pause your service before the $8.50 plan was introduced. At that time they indicated if you didn't take up the $8.50 plan your service would be cancelled trying to force customers onto to the new plan. At that time I investigated what "cancelled" meant and eventually Starlink link indicated cancelled ment the old paused option.

To me it appeared Starlink was just trying to grab extra cash by scaring users onto the $8.50 plan so that they would still get revenue even when you weren't using the service, it was not about saving the user money just Starlink trying to keep the service active rather than users pausing the service. They then justified it by indicating low data user who didn't require high speeds and bandwidth would benefit with a lower cost service. It appears now that they did not think it through and see that travellers who were paying a much higher cost just for the convenience of being able make wifi calls, send text and get some internet coverage whilst travelling would jump on the low cost plan resulting in a loose of revenue for them so hence no mobile use. Same for marine use, why would you opt for an expensive marine plan if you don't want to stream videos etc.

Cancelled is the old pause. There is a catch though, the fine print used to say for a cancelled service that Starlink link may at sometime in the future introduce a reconnect fee when you decide to reconnect though they haven't to date. There was also the proviso that they do not gaurantee you will be able to reconnect your service at anytime in the future as reconnection will be dependent on network service availability in your area but as they are trying to drum up more business all the time they obviously have plenty of spare capacity and I have never had an issue being able to reconnect when I want. In fact a couple of months ago they offered a free months usage if I reactivated my cancelled services which I had to do anyway as they indicated if my dishes did not download the latest software by x date they might be permanently locked out of the network. Coincidence I don't think so. Note: They may have changed the terms of use now regarding cancelled services I haven't checked lately.