If I won the lottery, one of the first things I would do is research and buy a fuel efficient RV or camper-truck combo and head out on the road to write about my travels and the people I meet.
Of course, one of the things I’d have to worry about is internet service. One new way to tackle that issue would be Elon Musk’s Starlink service, a division of SpaceX, now that Starlink is going to be made portable:
Folks who enjoy camping or weekend trips in an RV now have another way to access the internet when they set up shop for the night — as long as they don’t mind lugging around Starlink hardware and paying $135 per month. A new feature called Portability allows users to temporarily use Starlink when they’re away from home.
In the US, Portability costs $25 per month. That’s on top of the regular service fee, which SpaceX recently bumped up to $110 per month. The hardware now costs $599 for those without a preorder.
Beyond the cost, there are a few other limits to Portability. For instance, it’s not worth taking a terminal with you on a transatlantic trip. Starlink says the feature is only available when users are on the same continent as their registered service address. If you use Starlink in another country for longer than two months, you’ll need to change the registered address to one in that jurisdiction.
Starlink still doesn’t support in-motion use as yet either, so you’ll need to find a stationary spot that’s within the service area and has a clear view of the sky. Meanwhile, it says Portability is offered on a “best effort basis.” Customers who are at their registered service address will receive priority access to the network. “When you bring your Starlink to a new location, this prioritization may result in degraded service, particularly at times of peak usage or network congestion,” Starlink wrote on a support page.
BTW, you’ll recall that Starlink is the service Musk has been providing to Ukrainians cut off from internet service by the Russians.
Anyway, it’s nice to know if I win the lottery and become a writer vagabond, I have yet another choice to stay connected.
Now all I have to do is start playing a lottery.
