Elon Musk's Tesla Semi might have revolutionized trucking -- in fact, it may never -- but another company of his has already produced at scale a device that could in some ways change the game: Starlink's Dishy McFlatface.
Dishy, as it's commonly called, is a transmitter/receiver for the Starlink network of more than 3,500 small satellites zipping around in low Earth orbit just outside the atmosphere. The device represents something of a step change in connectivity technology: Anyone, anywhere can now access high-speed, low-latency internet with nothing but Dishy, a clear view of the sky and something to plug it into.
Bryan "Beetle" Bailey, a company driver for Arizona-based show hauler Tequila Coach Enterprises, frequently gets passes to sold-out stadium shows as a perk of the job, but on TikTok he's a star in his own right with more than 100,000 followers. As such, he's got a healthy appetite for mobile data service, and to get his fill he uses a modified Starlink dish to provide up to 200 megabits per second while on the road.
Near Moab, where cell service might not cut it, Starlink proves especially useful. This photo shows the dish in its current configuration, flat-mounted to the sleeper.
But usually, that strong internet comes with a hefty price tag: $2,500 for the in-motion hardware. Starlink sells a cheaper unit for $599, but that one is advertised as only for use while stationary. After the initial hardware purchase, it's $150 monthly for unlimited service. For most owner-operators, the in-motion unit probably doesn't justify its cost. But Bailey is part of a growing group of users hacking the stationary dish for a more affordable mobile solution.
It's a bit of a cottage industry, let's say, of people modifying otherwise stationary Starlink dishes to work on the road. The concept is simple. The stationary dish has little motors in it to find the satellites in the sky. The more expensive in-motion model has no such motors and remains flat-mounted to a vehicle's roof. Bailey, as he detailed in a video on his YouTube channel, had the modification done and hasn't looked back since.
