Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps is testing Starlink satellite internet on one of its vehicles in an effort to eliminate communication dead zones across town and cut down on costly data bills.
The test, if successful, could result in the ambulance service’s whole fleet being equipped with Starlink services, according to Joseph Oliver, RVAC’s vice president. Oliver said he got the idea to install Starlink on the ambulance after using the service to connect to the internet and make phone calls in his own truck.
“A lot of times we don’t have cell phone reception” or radio signals on beaches and in certain neighborhoods, Oliver said. Starlink will eliminate those dead zones and enable RVAC members to make phone calls to doctors and access important patient data without interruption, he said.
Each ambulance currently has two tablets, a telephone and a monitor — each of which costs RVAC $30 a month to connect to cellular data and access the internet, Oliver said. “It’s just crazy expensive,” he said.
The mini Starlink satellite, which Oliver said cost around $500, is mounted on top of the ambulance. It costs RVAC $50 a month to connect to Starklink’s internet service, Oliver said.
“It’s going to save us almost half our cell phone bill a month, which is probably going to be close to $400 a month in savings,” he said.
“If this is successful, we want to do it on all the ambulances, and potentially our special operations trailers,” Oliver said.
Oliver said he doesn’t know of any other ambulance company on Long Island using the technology, although he expects it to become popular soon. “It’s definitely the way of the future,” he said. Washington state emergency responders were some of the first users of Starlink, which in 2020 brought internet service to remote areas devastated by wildfires, according to CNBC.
Starlink uses thousands of low Earth orbit satellites to deliver high-speed internet to its customers, according to the company’s website. The company is an international telecommunications provider and a subsidiary of SpaceX, the aerospace company founded in 2002 by the wealthiest person in the world, Elon Musk.
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