How did people physically bring their Starlink dishes into South Africa? Or did you obtain one there?
And where was your service activation address?
My big concern is that about a year from now we’ll be looking at departing from Cape Town to Grenada. At that point I need a stable communication system, but Starlink isn’t authorized in SA, so I don’t know how successful I’ll be in initializing it there.
Then you can only be out of your service country for 60 days before they may ask you to change your service address. Clearly I can’t change it to SA, as it’s not authorized there. And what happens if we’re underway to Grenada and my 60 days expires. And/or, we might be in a different continent.
One positive thing is that SA and Musk have been mentioned in several articles lately which talked about StarLink coming to SA. I didn’t realize that Musk was born in SA, so perhaps this won’t be an issue. And with the ToS changing on a constant basis, who knows what the plans will be?
Hi Geoff
I am bringing Starlink marine high performance kit with me from Australia in a few weeks time. I’ll let you know how I go. I have purchased through my Australian Starlink account and will activate the marine plan once installed on the boat. As a marine plan it is not linked to any activation address.
I don’t expect any issues with customs but I have plain wrapped the box to hopefully avoid advertising I am bringing it in. I don’t think there is any issue importing as I will be leaving again a few months later. Technically we are not allowed to use it in SA at present but I think many citizens are using already.
Cheers
Derek
Just an update on Starlink dish.
We breezed through customs with no issue with the original Starlink High Performance box (wrapped in white paper).
We had a whole bunch of other boxes as well and customs did stop us and ask a few questions, because we had so many.
But we did not have to open anything.
Our friends who regularly fly into South Africa recommend not bringing items in in boxes. Use suitcases or bags as boxes always attract attention.
I appreciate this is too late for you but may help other owners in the future
FYI on importing Starlink into SA. I discarded the packaging packed the antenna in a suitcase wit a decal over the logo, placed the power supply and router on a separate suitcase again with decal over logo. Wiring and hardware were carried in a backpack. Initiated service at my home address in Fl and immediately suspended service. 8 months later I reinstated service in Knysna and used it in the marina for several months with no problems. The router failed halfway to Seychelles. Have a backup weather source.