Starlink Mini for RV Life: What It Actually Costs Us
A Starlink Mini cost us $539 for the kit in September 2025, and the service runs us $175 a month (it was $165 until July 2026). For the way we live and work on the road, it’s worth every bit of that.
That’s the short answer. The longer one is why we pay it at all, because $175 a month is real money. Service came to $2,151.47 over our first year, and it has its own line in our yearly cost write-up.
Why do we pay for it?
Because our work happens on the road. We film the Five Parks Life YouTube channel as we travel, and I’m the only one behind the camera and the only one editing. All that footage has to get from the trailer to YouTube somehow, and we don’t count on campground WiFi.
And it isn’t only Five Parks Life. Everything for the Five Parks Yoga YouTube channel uploads over Starlink too. Our entire business runs on the internet, so Starlink is critical.
It’s also our TV. All of our streaming runs over it, including Netflix and YouTube TV. Hulu too.
I wouldn’t go anywhere without the Starlink. Zero chance I’d go camping without it. If you need to be connected, it’s worth it in a huge way.
So when we pick campsites, full connectivity is a requirement. A lot of the places we love have no signal at all. Our guide for Penitente Canyon notes that cell service is spotty, and Sand Gulch has limited coverage too. Hovenweep is about an hour from the nearest town. Without a dish on the trailer, we’d either skip places like those or skip work while we’re there.
How fast uploads go depends on where we are, and the closer we are to civilization, the slower it gets. Out in the middle of nowhere, like Forest Road 700 in Wyoming or Rabbit Valley in McInnis Canyons, it’s incredibly fast. It’s as fast as our internet at home, or faster.
Can you use a Starlink Mini while driving?
We do. A suction mount holds the Mini up in the truck’s sunroof. My phone runs CarPlay off it for directions and music. Audiobooks too. Erin connects her computer or iPad and does research or whatever she’s working on. Sometimes it’s just her phone.
Starlink says in-motion use is supported on its Roam plans in select areas, so check its FAQ for where you’ll be driving.
How much power does a Starlink Mini use?
Starlink’s spec sheet puts the Mini’s average draw at 25 to 40 watts. It takes 12 to 48 volts DC with a 60 watt input rating. It can also run off USB-C power delivery if the source can supply 100 watts (20 volts at 5 amps) through Starlink’s USB-C to barrel jack cable.
That doesn’t sound like much, but the dish runs around the clock. At 25 to 40 watts, that’s 600 to 960 watt hours a day, which is worth knowing before you plan a few nights with no hookups.
So we usually power the Starlink from our Anker power station, which has its own solar panel. That way, if there’s any power issue in the trailer, the Starlink keeps working and can still send us alerts. Not always, but usually.
The first accessory we bought, six days after the kit, was a cable that runs the Mini off USB-C or a car lighter socket, so the dish doesn’t need a wall outlet.
Does Starlink work under trees?
It needs sky. The Mini sees a 110 degree field of view, and anything in that cone (a tree or a canyon wall) gets in the way. So we have the same fight at nearly every campground. Shade keeps the trailer cool, and shade blocks the dish.
At camp, the Mini has to face roughly north, so it usually sits within about 10 feet of the RV. Tree cover is what pushes it farther out. At Catalina State Park in Arizona it had to go much farther away than that, and we still had some connectivity issues there.
Every stop on our travel map has a destination page, and sky view is part of how we choose.
Do you need a travel router with a Starlink Mini?
Not really, at least not for us. We don’t use ours much. The Mini has WiFi built in, and Starlink rates it at up to 1,200 square feet and 128 devices, which is plenty for a 27 foot trailer. It also has one latching ethernet port.
We added a TP-Link Roam 6 in April 2026, seven months after the dish. When we do use it, the router becomes the WiFi hotspot inside the RV. Starlink feeds the router, instead of the Mini being the hotspot itself.
The Roam 6 has a wired port that can take a cable from the dish. It can also pick up a campground’s or a hotel’s WiFi and share it, and TP-Link says its app handles those sign-in pages once for every device. So it’s handy if you want one network that stays the same wherever the internet comes from.
Which Starlink plan works for RV travel?
Starlink’s travel plans are called Roam. We’re on Roam Unlimited at $175 a month. On the two smaller plans you get a set amount of high-speed data, then unlimited data at low speed.
Starlink bills in one-month increments, and between trips you can drop into what it calls Standby Mode for a small monthly fee. Standby keeps emergency messaging working, and it makes reactivating easier when you’re somewhere with no other signal. Here’s what starlink.com listed for US prices when I checked in October 2026:
| Roam plan | Monthly price | Where it works |
|---|---|---|
| Roam 100GB | $55 | US and Canada |
| Roam 300GB | $80 | US and Canada |
| Roam Unlimited | $175 | 160+ countries and territories |
What we paid for Starlink, all in
The kit comes with a kickstand, so the dish can sit on flat ground straight out of the box. Everything else we bought solves one of two problems: where to put the dish, and how to get power and signal to it. With $158.10 in add-ons, our hardware came to $697.10.
The subscription is the bigger number. At $175 a month, a year of service is $2,100. That’s three times what the hardware cost, and about three quarters of the $2,812.02 we spent on 85 nights of campsites in our first year. The dish was the cheap part.
| What | What it does | When | What we paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starlink Mini kit | The dish, with WiFi built in | September 2025 | $539.00 |
| USB-C to DC power cable | Runs the Mini off USB-C or a car lighter socket | September 2025 | $29.14 |
| Tripod adapter mount | Puts the Mini on a standard tripod, up off the ground | October 2025 | $17.26 |
| Suction cup mount | Holds the Mini on a smooth flat surface | October 2025 | $26.97 |
| 16.4 ft ethernet and power cable | One cable for power and a wired connection | April 2026 | $30.76 |
| TP-Link Roam 6 travel router | Makes its own WiFi network | April 2026 | $53.97 |
| Hardware total | $697.10 | ||
| Service, September 2025 to June 2026 | monthly | $165 a month | |
| Service, from July 2026 | monthly | $175 a month |
Questions people ask
How much does Starlink Mini cost per month for an RV?
We’re on Roam Unlimited, which is $175 a month as of October 2026. Starlink also lists Roam 100GB at $55 and Roam 300GB at $80 a month. Our bill was $165 a month until July 2026.
How much power does a Starlink Mini use?
Starlink’s spec sheet lists an average of 25 to 40 watts. Its input rating is 12 to 48 volts DC at 60 watts. It can also run on 100 watt USB-C power delivery with Starlink’s USB-C cable.
Can you pause Starlink when you’re not traveling?
Starlink’s Roam page says you can switch to Standby Mode for a small monthly fee and switch back when you need it. Billing is in one-month increments. Standby keeps emergency messaging available.
Does the Starlink Mini need a separate router?
No. It has WiFi built in, rated for up to 1,200 square feet and 128 devices. We own a travel router and rarely use it. It’s most useful when you want one network that can also share campground or hotel WiFi.
Is Starlink included in your yearly RV costs?
Yes. Our first-year running cost of $17,354.29 includes $2,151.47 of Starlink service. The $539 kit is counted with the one-time setup costs instead.
See you down the road,
Matt