FIELD NOTES

Starlink and Van Life:
Do You Actually Need It?

We sell Starlink mounts. We use Starlink. And we think most people travelling in Europe do not need it.

Read on for the full breakdown behind these questions.

We need to say something upfront: we make and sell magnetic mounts for Starlink antennas. We have every commercial incentive to tell you that Starlink is essential for van life. We are not going to do that. Instead, we are going to tell you what we actually learned after years of overlanding across Europe, Asia, and Africa, and what we genuinely think about satellite internet for people who travel in vans, campervans, and 4x4s.

The short version: if you travel primarily in Europe, your phone already does most of what Starlink does. The longer version is more interesting.

Your Phone Covers More Than You Think

Most European mobile carriers now offer world roaming packages that cover the vast majority of countries you would actually drive to. A Swiss, German, or UK carrier with a global or European roaming add-on will typically give you data, calls, and SMS across the EU, the Balkans, Turkey, the Nordics, and the UK. For a flat monthly fee that is a fraction of what Starlink costs.

When you are parked at a beach in Croatia, sitting at a campsite in the Peloponnese, or overnighting in a layby somewhere in the Dolomites, your phone has signal. It might not be 5G. It might not stream 4K video. But it loads maps, sends messages, checks the weather, makes calls, and lets you search for the nearest fuel station or hospital. That covers about 95 percent of what most travellers actually need connectivity for.

If you work remotely from your van and need sustained video calls for eight hours a day, that changes the equation. But if you are travelling, not working, then your phone is already doing the job.

The Case for Offline Maps and Less Screen Time

Here is something that nobody selling satellite internet equipment will tell you: being slightly disconnected is one of the best things about van life.

Download your maps before you leave. Google Maps, Maps.me, and Organic Maps all allow you to save entire countries for offline use, including points of interest, fuel stations, and routing. Once you have the maps on your phone, you do not need a data connection to navigate. You can drive across an entire country on cached maps without touching the internet.

And when you park the van in the evening and the phone has no signal? That is not a crisis. That is the point. That is the campsite nobody else found because it was not on an app. That is the evening where you sat outside and looked at the stars instead of scrolling through social media. That is the morning where you woke up and drove to the next town to have coffee and find out where to go next by asking someone in person.

There is a real sense of freedom in having just enough coverage to make an emergency call and knowing that the rest can wait. The whole reason most of us bought a van was to step away from being always-on. Starlink can quietly undo that if you let it.

When Starlink Actually Makes Sense

Now that we have talked you out of buying one, let us talk about when it genuinely earns its place in the van.

Countries your carrier does not cover. This is the biggest one. World roaming plans are good, but they are not universal. Many European carriers exclude North Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria), and some exclude parts of the western Balkans like Albania and Montenegro. If you are driving from Switzerland to Turkey, you might pass through Albania and Montenegro on the way. Both are beautiful countries, both have limited inclusion in European roaming packages, and both have stretches of road where you would appreciate knowing that your map is still working and you can call someone if the van breaks down. This is where Starlink fills a genuine gap.

Genuinely remote areas with no cellular coverage. Parts of Scandinavia above the Arctic Circle. Deep valleys in Iceland. Mountain passes in the Balkans. Sections of the Saharan fringe in Morocco if you are overlanding further afield. These are places where cellular towers simply do not exist, and if something goes wrong, you have no way to communicate. Having satellite internet running passively on the roof while you camp in a place with zero phone signal is real, practical security.

Extended travel outside Europe. If your trip takes you to Central Asia, East Africa, or other regions where cellular infrastructure is sparse, unreliable, or expensive for foreign SIM cards, Starlink Roam changes the equation entirely. But this is expedition-level travel, not a two-week holiday.

Remote work that requires reliability. If you have a client call at 10 AM and you cannot afford to say "sorry, I had no signal," then yes, Starlink gives you the kind of guaranteed connectivity that cellular cannot. This is specifically for people who work from the van full time, not for occasional email checks.

Our own experience: We have driven across Asia and Africa in vans. We have done the Switzerland-to-Poland run more times than we can count. In western Europe, the phone handles everything. But crossing Albania or Montenegro on the way south, or heading into Morocco where your carrier just stops working? That is where Starlink earns its place. Not because you need Netflix, but because a bit of connection when you are in an unfamiliar country makes you feel secure. Knowing you can pull up a map, call for help, or check road conditions is worth the hardware sitting on the roof even if you only use it a few days per trip.

The Real Cost of Starlink on the Road

Before you decide, look at the actual numbers. The Starlink Mini hardware runs around 200 to 400 euros depending on promotions and your region. A regional Roam plan in Europe is roughly 50 to 100 euros per month depending on the tier (50 GB or unlimited). You can pause and resume the plan between trips, which helps, but it is still a meaningful recurring cost on top of the hardware.

Compare that to a global roaming add-on from your mobile carrier, which might cost 10 to 30 euros per month and cover almost every country you drive through. The gap between "phone roaming" and "satellite internet" in monthly cost is significant. For most recreational travellers, the phone plan is the better investment.

If you do decide Starlink makes sense for your travel style, the Starlink Mini is the obvious choice for van life. It is compact, light, works while driving (on the Roam plan), and draws less power than the full-size antenna. The Gen 3 standard dish is larger and more powerful but also heavier and hungrier for electricity, making it better suited to vehicles with robust solar and battery systems.

If You Do Get Starlink: How to Mount It Without Drilling

This is where we come in, and where we can speak with confidence because this is what we actually build.

The problem with mounting a Starlink antenna on a van is that most people do not want to drill holes in their roof. Holes create leak points. They are permanent. And if you sell the van or change vehicles, you are left with patched holes and a mounting bracket that does not fit the new one.

We make magnetic mounts for the Starlink Gen 3 and Starlink Mini that hold the antenna to your vehicle's roof using neodymium magnets on adjustable stainless steel joints. The joints let the magnets conform to curved surfaces like bonnets and hoods, not just flat roofs. The plastic components that cradle the antenna are 3D printed from carbon-fibre-reinforced material at 270 degrees Celsius, making them UV resistant and heat resistant to 175 degrees, which is more than the antenna itself can handle. Six magnets with 55 kg of pull force each hold the Gen 3, and four magnets hold the Mini.

No drilling. No permanent modification. Move the mount between vehicles in seconds. When you are not using it, lift it off and store it inside. When you are parked for the night and want internet, place it on the roof and the magnets do the rest.

We started this company because we travel. We have been on roads where there was no phone signal for three days. We have also been on roads in France where we had full 5G and it did not improve the experience one bit. The best evenings on the road are usually the ones where the phone stayed in the glove box. If Starlink helps you travel further and feel safer in the places where coverage runs out, it is worth every euro. If you are buying it because you think van life requires it, save yourself the expense and download the maps before you leave.