Starlink? Take it or not?
 

Does anyone have Starlink? What is your experience - reliability, speed, etc?

I got on the waitlist a year ago, and my number just came up. I’m deciding whether to take it. I don’t need Starlink for my normal internet service, but had thought it might be a good backup for my business (during a big winter storm a couple years ago, we lost power and thus internet at home and in my office) and a handy thing for van-camping (when i ever get time to do that again). And I’m pretty curious about it. I’d be getting the Residential service, but if I like it, have the option of switching to the RV service (can turn it on and off rather than pay for months when not using). It’s $500 equipment charge to start and $110/mo. There’s no annual commitment, but if I drop it later, I probably lose the $500.

I got on the wait list a bit over a year ago. I live very rural so I have 2 options for internet (dial up isn't a valid option) cell service or satellite. I was given the option for Starlink about a year ago, but at the time they said something like "this is still in beta, and it may go down at any time." Since I needed it for work, that wouldn't be good so I passed. Cell service has worked well for me. I'd still like to try Starlink, but right now, it's not available to me.

I used to work for a company that provided network (voice and data) connectivity to ships, oil rigs in remote places (like the Gulf of Mexico or the North Sea) via satellite. Starlink should be good stuff.

If you get it, I'd love to hear your experience.

here's a post on another forum about it, hope you can view it. might be members only.

https://www.viperalley.com/threads/starlink-rv-available-with-no-wait.304130/

Yep, membership only.

That is exactly where I am. Since my wife also works from home a few days a week (a lot more the past few years) we did both Hughes Sat Internet (relatively slow but reliable, we have had it a long time) and UbiFi cell service (fast but wonky the first 6 months so we have kept both).

I am very interested in your experiences as well, jyl, if you go the Starlink route.

Best.

I finally got it after a lengthy wait. We had only one other option for the last 18 years and that was Hughesnet. They ripped my soul out over that time frame. Horrible I tell you. The best I could get on that high latency, low bandwidth, hard to dial in, poor support service was maybe 2Mbps down and 0.5 up with a latency of about 1 second.

I got the Second Gen Starlink system less that a month ago...plugged it all in, waited 5 minutes, and saw greater than 200Mbps down, 25 up and latency of about 50ms. What a game changer. Even at peak times in the evenings I see a minimum of 30Mbps down. This should improve as more sats get launched and the newer version of them starts laser comms.

The router is a bit basic with no Ethernet ports (separate add on required), and not much tweaking to be done, but it can be bypassed. I now have wifi calling and texting working for reals. Calls sound better than our landline.

So far about one month in service and no hiccups. Streaming in HD no problem.

Me happy? Yes!

Check out this website to see how it works www.starlink.sx . Put your location as the target.

Spydy, what is the cost per month for that service?

I'm surprised that you had relatively good luck with Hughes. I used to work with a place (23 years ago) that was the tech support for what was then called Hughes DirectPC. I've also heard from folks in my "local" rural area that have had bad luck with them recently.

I'm intimately familiar with that sort of service from a behind the scenes point of view, granted, on a commercial basis vs residential. I'm sure it could work OK until the weather went to hell. I didn't want to deal with the latency associated with a geosynchronous satellite.

I have my Internet through T-Mobile. Because I'm working from home, I purchased a commercial SOHO/branch style router to provide the service. I'm also fairly close to I-10, so I think most of the carriers try to have great coverage near major Interstates which is probably also more in my favor than some folks that are no where near an interstate.

The biggest downside to my current setup is that I have a 100Gig/Month contract, which is not really adequate for WFH + surfing + streaming TV. I recently bought a second SIM with a second 100G/m contract since my wife is going to be home more, and we were going to run out of service before the end of the month.

LOL, yep, that sounds about right, and is what I would expect to hear.

Very impressive! Have you had any issues when you get heavy storms?

How much is your 5G for 100GB?

Comcast is 1000Mbps. But only 40 up. I have 50GB of data for $50 @4G and I can get 100GB for $50 if I have a 5G device

$50 for 100G of 4G which is my plan from a year ago.
When I bought the plan recently, they have 100G for $50 of 5G, but if you're device is only 4G then they want to give you 50G for $50, but I raised hell, and they said that they've given me the 100G even though my plan still says 50. Since you live in a more populous area, T-Mo has a "Home Internet" plan that I think is unlimited 5G for $50. It's not yet available in my area.

I live in a rural mountain location. Cable, fiber, line of sight, not available...will never happen. For the past 5 years, I've used LTE from a local ISP. The ISP claimed 15 mbs download when I had it installed (they no longer claim that...probably due to my complaints). From midnight to 5 pm I could expect 8-12 mbs download, 2.5 upload. Between 5 pm and midnight, anywhere from 0.5 to 3.5 mbs, 1.0 upload, 600+ ms ping, and 800+ ms jitter. 5 years of complaining did nothing, it happened every night.

I received starlink last week.
Pros: Best speed so far was 130 mbs download, worse has been about 25, average around 50. Peak hours/high volume are really in the same time period as the prior ISP, but I'll take 25 mbs (worst) over 0.7 (best) any day. Installation was no big deal, used the their app to make sure no obstructions, used the starlink mount on the house roof peak.
Cons: Pricey! $110/mo, $550 for the "dishy", $45 for the mount, if I add the ethernet adapter do I can use my own router, another $25.
Is it worth it?: Yes, if you must have internet (I do), living in a rural location is a challenge. Slow, ripoff ISPs will promise you anything...and never deliver. I'm so happy to be done with that lying/theiving/worthless ISP, words (at least civil ones) can't describe. It took a year and half for starlink to deliver, and for at least today, I'm finally satisfied with access.

https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map

And if you have T-Mobile mobile plan, Home Internet is only an additional $30... but I live in a metropolitan area and get Xfinity for 1.2GBps (theoretical max). I see 900Mbps on a wired connection. Best T-Mobile could offer was like 75-100Mbps.

Starlink is a good option for those who don't have fiber or cable nearby. Just ask the Ukrainians.

You will need to upgrade your internal network to see faster than 980 Mbps. Most wired Ethernet these days is 1Gbps.

Red-beard...I paid $499 for the system and now pay $110 a month. NO DATA CAPS! HNS was $100 for 50Gig a month on a legacy plan.

I live in rural Montana, we used a local provider and we could not even run a ring door bell.
We got on the beta for Starlink and have been more than happy with it. During the beta testing it used to go out at the same time everyday for maybe 10 minutes, but as time went on the outages became less and for less time. For over a year we did not have any outages; however It seems like since the Ukrain/Russia war started we have some outages but they are for seconds to maybe 2 minutes. We got rid of direct TV. Now we stream TV and have quick internet. I dont know about the mbps stuff, but what I do know is we can stream 2 TVs and be on several other devices at the same time without issue. We've tried Comcast & Hughes net and they both sucked big time, their customer support or tech support seems to have the attitude of "be happy with what you have".
Starlink was the only provider doing anything for rural America and for that reason alone I'd happily recommend them.

Started with Hughes, terrible. Slow with low data caps. Switched to Viasat, better speeds approaching 100 but still data caps and too much latency for Zoom. Have been using Starlink for about 4 months, much faster, around 200 down, very little latency and reliable. Only nearly down once. Only complaint is they are not kidding regarding clear views. We have trees, but mostly open around the house but still not a total clear view. With Viasat it looks at one spot where Starlink wants a bigger clear sky. At $110 a month half of the fastest Viasat fees. Overall I really like it. But don’t expect good customer service. This is terrible.

Yeah, the problem isn't, I don't think, coverage. It's that they are only deploying the "unlimited home Internet" at certain locations. My guess is that they are waiting for infrastructure upgrades to support increased bandwidth, but that's just a guess on my part.

We live in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and reliable service here is an ongoing issue. There are not too many choices for us so we have been looking into something that works more consistently. No landlines are available so we have to depend upon our current internet service for our phones as well. It is not too bad for me but for my wife, who is a physician, this horrible internet service is unacceptable. Checked into the Starlink and downloaded the app and that is where we stopped... our beautiful land surrounding our home is heavily wooded with mature sugar maple trees - these are great for making maple syrup but wreck our signal according to the Starlink app!!! After checking a multitude of different spots on our lawn, the Starlink app advises us to find another location.

I have not yet climbed on our roof to check the signal but with all of the positive responses, I will ladder-up this afternoon and see if that signal improves!

T-mo is performing upgrades on my local tower, so my service has been spotty and more variable during the upgrade. They are supposed to complete the upgrade today. Fingers crossed. But this is from the past couple/few days.

They are all more than good enough for work from home and streaming entertainment.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1657292625.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1657292625.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1657292625.jpg

I looked at the allowed area for my guys in Idaho. For "Home" service they are a no go. For "Business" service, they can do it, but the cost is too high.

I have been on the wait list for about 3 months now. I have SuddenLink and it is beyond horrible. I can't wait to cancel that service with extreme prejudice.

I have a weird issue with my phone. On 5G, I can get 300 down, but the uplink side is 1 Mbps. If I switch it to 4G-LTE, my downlink is 25-30 MBps, but my uplink is 15-20 Mbps.

that is weird, very weird.

Who has Starlink?
 

Our rural internet provider has found a way to get even crappier… who knew this was possible?

I’m looking at Starlink which IS available in my area right now.

Who has it?
Is it fast?
Is it reliable?
Is it worth the money?
Would you recommend it?

Here is a recent thread:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/1122336-starlink-take-not.html

I remembered it because I am interested as well.

Good luck!

Friend of mine in Salisbury just got his. His words to me:

His photo:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1658543364.jpg

I would be interested to hear others' opinions and feedback going forward.

Our cable service here is excellent but am always interested in new communications developments....

I live in rural Montana and I've very happy with Starlink. Actually I think it's the best out there. it's fast and reliable. We stream 2 TVs and be on 3 devices (computers, pads) and do not have issues. We also have a security system running. With our local provider we could not even run a ring doorbell.

Yes. We have no cable or DSL here either. We gave up on Hughes for our rural internet long ago (as it did not work well and was very expensive). The best thing we have found so far is a large 5G mobile hotspot from AT&T that provides me 50G of service for $55 a month (but I had to buy the modem myself). That has been enough for me, but could increase to 100GB of data $90 per month if needed. I run my house off of it (added a really good mesh router to better distribute the WiFi throughout the house as it is quite large). The modem/box itself was a bit pricey though...but worth it to me as there were really no other acceptable options. I ran a similar 4G box prior to that...and it was ok, but not nearly as fast as the 5G box (even receiving 4G).

Starlink box arrived last week, today I opened it and set up the service.

There are zero instructions in the box, but you just install the Starlink app on your phone and follow the instructions. Which are basically:
- Use app to scan the sky while standing where you plan to install the dish, to see if the dish has a good enough view of the sky
- Set dish into base, place in location
- Plug dish cable into controller/wifi access point, plug that into power
- Connect your phone to STARLINK Wifi network
- In app, give the network a name and password
- Reconnect to the newly renamed network
- You’re online

Actually, there is waiting involved. The system needs to boot up, find satellites, etc, all takes 10-15 minutes before the app shows “ONLINE” and your phone gets internet.

If you set up in a bad location, ignoring the app’s reservations, like I did, there will be a further delay while you move the dish to a better location. As far as I can tell, all you do is pick the dish up and move it, there’s no rebooting etc.

My better location is still not great. I live on a tight urban lot, houses and big trees squeezed together, and the dish is on the roof of my one story garage with the three story house to the north (exactly where the satellites are) and my neighbor’s house to the south. But it seems to work.

I’m getting 90 to 140 Mbps down, per fast.com, when standing by the Wifi AP. I’m in the heart of urban Portland, I’ll guess there are very few Starlink users here, so I imagine these speeds reflect uncongested conditions.

Unfortunately, the station is in a bathroom at one end of the house and my favorite napping couch is at the other end of the house, where I get only 36 Mbps. So I’ll deduce the Starlink Wifi AP doesn’t have as good coverage as the Orbi mesh APs I use with cable internet, and there are no ports on the AP to cable it to repeater, router, etc. Odd design decision, maybe there is a more featured AP available for a higher price? But the cable from dish to AP is very long, maybe 100’ (?), and I could put the AP in a better location, if I cared.

No comment on reliability etc, the system has been online for all of half an hour.

I am probably going to try this out for a month or two, then switch from the residential account to the RV account ($135/mo, can turn service on and off, can use dish anywhere, but speed may be slower than residential account if there is congestion in the area) because I don’t need this thing for my primary internet service and that way I won’t pay $110/mo all the time, just pay $135/mo for the months that I switch service on (either because I’m camping or because internet is out in my office).

Anyway, my very brief experience is good. Those of you in rural locations should consider Starlink if you’re unhappy with what you have.

Nice, sounds like good results.

Apparently, my area is saturated, because there's a wait if you want to get in now, with a note that they plan to expand service in 2023.

I bought a commercial SOHO device for our place that has a 4G modem (with an option to get a 5G modem that should be out now/soon/this year). T-Mobile recently upgraded my tower to 5G, and I've been getting the occasional disconnect since that upgrade which is a little irritating, but not a catastrophe.

I get reasonably service via 4G.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1658616697.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1658616697.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1658616697.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1658616697.jpg

I'm using a commercial 4G SOHO router myself. I'd like to add a better antenna, but 4x4 MIMO cell antennas are expensive, and I get reasonable service with the standard small paddle antennas.

I believe you can get “business” Starlink and “RV” Starlink without waiting. I’m reading that biz isn’t any faster than residential and is mostly a way to jump the queue for a premium price. RV is “deprioritized” so during congested periods it gets slower speeds. 70-100 Mbps from 4/5G is perfectly fine, in my view. For people in urban markets, I don’t know that Starlink has major advantages. And the need for reasonably clear sky views will rule out many urban locations.

If Starlink ever goes public, that’ll be an interesting analysis. If a service’s sweet spots are just rural markets, mobile and maritime, how financially attractive is that? Enough to justify all the capex?

jly,

Do you mind of I merge the other thread with this one?

they are VERY proud of their business class, but I suspect you do get better service even during the most congested times. But no way in hell am I paying $500/mo.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1658705658.jpg

Apparently Elon Musk just launched another rocket with 53 new Starlink satellites on board. I would love it if one was positioned over my area.... OH, and it is not $500 per month; that is the equipment fee.

Starlink business is $500 per month.

they aren't actually positioned over an area. They orbit the earth once every ~90mins. There are currently about 2700 satellites in several different orbits. They are like a convoy where several satellites follow each other through the same orbit.

And if you wanted to order "business" service to get inserted into an area that currently does not have residential available, the price is $500/mo. Just look at the screenshot below. It's pretty clear that's exactly what it says.

But, for residential service (no longer available in my area until when they expand service in 2023). It is less expensive.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1658762003.jpg

I'm guessing the business service is required to get a less basic device. That would explain the $2500 cost of the business hardware.