Starlink Beta - Impressive

Bob Noel said:
I keep thinking about the similarities between electrifying the USA and getting broadband to rural areas...
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Electricity will never work outside of cities. Telephones are impossible too.
 
JGoodish said:
I definitely hear you. The flip side is that being connected has for years permitted me to earn an income with additional flexibility and family time versus being tied to a desk in an office every day. However, there is definitely a cost to it. Avoiding social media definitely helps to keep the experience more positive.
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Amen to that. I haven't had an office, other than a spare bedroom in the house, for over 18 years now. When I hire people, I can hire them wherever they live, not limited to a specific city.
 
StarLink has finally arrived in E TN!

After being on order for more than a year, just got notice we’ve been blessed. Order says it should ship “typically within 2 weeks”.

My soon-to-be neighbor Trip got the same notice this morning, a coincidence because we had just been discussing the delays yesterday. When it arrives I’ll report back on the installation process and performance.
 
murphey said:
*sigh*

1 mile from the switch but CenturyLink won't upgrade the lines in the neighborhood, and we were never wired for cable (OTOH I will NEVER do business with Comcast!)

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I thought Century Link would never do our neighborhood, but we were able to strike a deal that they HOA would order the service and bill our homeowners and remit one account to them for it all. It still took nine months from signing the papers for them to get everything installed, but we've been up since just after I got back from Oshkosh last summer. My desktop here is getting 500 up and down (just tested). If I set things up carefully to test the max throughput, I'm getting over 900 (they claim something just under 1gig).
 
A year since I put down a deposit. Still waiting. :(
 
Just got this:

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Glad I got the lower equipment price, but the higher monthly rate will likely push me toward the "broadband fiber internet" that our local utilities board is scheduled to start pushing out soon.

Still, very happy with our StarLink service to date.
 
For me the dollar amount is trivial but I've been on their waiting list for over a year now watching while people who actually do have access to decent broadband get their orders filled in a week or two. Now they're raising my prices before I even see the equipment? It rubs me the wrong way. Not enough to cancel since my only other option is the 2-5MB(depending on the day) wireless service I have already but definitely not making me happy.
 
Radar Contact said:
The ten buck increase took you over the edge? :)
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On the one hand, at best I’d say it nudged me in that direction.

On the other hand, we had been paying $140/month for a marginal cellular solution, so we’re still ahead and quite satisfied with StarLink. But we’ll be monitoring the rollout and pricing of the fiber from our local utility as they push ahead.
 
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In Mexico our wave of sign-ups is suddenly being processed. Multiple friends report getting confirmations within a few days a couple weeks ago. So now we have this at the beach.

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This is our location, pan out to get an idea of how impressed and happy I am to have this option now. We are about as middle of nowhere as it gets in the modern world...

https://goo.gl/maps/pspYzS73iWb59icc8
 
2 months now and I'm still waiting for the roof mount. The ethernet adapter arrived last week.
The antenna is sitting in the front yard where every car, airplane, rabbit etc can block it.
When I can finally get it on the roof it'll be impressive.
 
pmanton said:
2 months now and I'm still waiting for the roof mount...
The antenna is sitting in the front yard where every car, airplane, rabbit etc can block it.
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We ordered the "Long Arm Mount" back on 2/23/22. Still waiting. Until then it's worked fine just clamped to this bench:

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The idea is to mount it on the corner of the pergola when we finally do get the mount. I doubt it will be any faster, but will just get it up and out of the way.
 
So after living with it a while here's what I'm seeing.

Typical speeds are around 40-50M down and 5-10M up. I've seen down speeds drop as low as the 20s and highs sometimes 80-90. I did see one test at 200 down but only once. latency also varies but I'd say 40-80ms is the typical range. Also bear in mind it's sitting near the ground in a temporary spot until I get the roof mount I intend to use. This is still a massive improvement over the terrestrial wireless I had that was 1-3M down typically.

Outages have happened but they're typically only a minute or two. Weather hasn't been a huge factor, I've only seen it go down during very heavy rain and even then only for a minute if that.

Overall I'm pretty happy, but at the price if you have a decent broadband alternative I'd go with that. This is really meant for people who can't get a decent connection any other way and if that's you, you'll love it. If not it's probably going to be a disappointment.
 
I’ve been on the list (with revised updates…now saying middle 22) for 1 1/2 years. A question for those who got it recently. When they notify yours is ready for shipment, do they not ask about the roof mount then? Y’all are getting it then having yo wait again considerable time for the mount?
 
FastEddieB said:
You’re left on your own to choose and order a mount - there are many different ones available. And it doesn’t look too hard to fabricate one, temporarily or otherwise.
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Does StarLink have one you can order ahead of time? I haven’t seen it.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
How well does it work on wooded lots? Is a clear sight line required?
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It does need line of sight to the sky.

There's a free Starlink app, I know one exists for iOS and I would assume android as well. Install that and it will give you an option to check for obstructions. You stand wherever you want to put the dish and pan the camera around the sky, it will tell you if it's obstructed. That should be a pretty definitive answer.
 
cowman said:
It does need line of sight to the sky.

There's a free Starlink app, I know one exists for iOS and I would assume android as well. Install that and it will give you an option to check for obstructions. You stand wherever you want to put the dish and pan the camera around the sky, it will tell you if it's obstructed. That should be a pretty definitive answer.
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Thank you. Will get the app.
 
If you are close enough to 5G, take a look at the T-Mobile home internet system. The box is free and costs $50/ per month for uncapped internet access. I am on the waiting list.
 
I just got mine up in its (hopefully)permanent spot. Not super thrilled with that fat 90 degree connector and how hard it was to get through even a 1” hole but it’s done. 3220325A-8A48-4EB5-A89D-F1ED7030379C.jpeg
 
StarLink continues to provide us with generally good service.

I say “generally”, because the download speed seems quite variable. To wit, as fast as this some mornings:

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But by evening, we can see this, or even slower:

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It still works reasonably well even at the slower speeds, but will sometimes buffer for a few seconds.

I assume it has to do with more users accessing the same constellation of satellites in the evening? Hopefully, more satellites over time will help.

As an aside, we’ve had some torrential downpours over the last couple of days, and they have knocked out service for a while. Overall, still better than what we had before, but when our local utility rolls out internet over the next few years we’ll likely switch to that.
 
Today's maritime offering is a whole pail of ice water down the trousers of my "sailing nomad" dream.

https://www.starlink.com/maritime

10k up front, 5k a month. Betting they see the aviation market as similar rubes. Shame. I feel like this would have been killer at 10k up front and, say, 500/mo? 250?

I still love this global internet dream, but for now, I have other uses for that quantity of baksheesh.
 
I don’t get why this is so expensive. Looks like the same system as all the others.
 
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