People who love camping and weekend trips in RVs now have an alternative way to connect to the internet. As long as they aren’t afraid of carrying around Starlink hardware, they can still access the internet while they are there. Starlink now has a new feature called Portability that allows users to temporarily access Starlink while they are away from their home.
Portability in the US costs $25 per month. This is in addition to the regular service fee that SpaceX recently increased to $110 per monthly. For those who do not preorder, the hardware is now $599.
There are other limitations to Portability, aside from the cost. It’s not worth taking your terminal on a transatlantic flight. Starlink states that the feature can only be used by users who are located on the same continent of their registered service address. Starlink will not allow you to use Starlink for more than two months in another country. You’ll need to change your registered address to one within that jurisdiction.
Starlink doesn’t yet support in-motion usage. You’ll need a spot with clear views of the sky and that is within the service area. It says that Portability is available on a “best efforts” basis. Priority access to the network will be granted to customers who are present at their registered service address. Starlink explained on a support page that if you take your Starlink to another location, prioritization could result in a degraded service, especially during peak usage times or network congestion.
Nonetheless, users may have more options with the new feature. Starlink provides internet access in areas not covered by cell towers. This could make Portability especially useful for digital nomads who wish to work anywhere.