Do we have anyone here on Starlink?

[LittleLebowski]

I'm eligible (in Wyoming) and about to take the plunge if I can cancel and resume service as needed.

[RoyGBiv]

Following.

~$500 for startup equipment is cheaper than paying the cable company to run a rural underground line for crappy <5-meg service, assuming it works.

[Shoresy]

Following. It’s projected for my area in mid to late 2021 and I’m about 90% of the way to pulling the trigger.

[Borderland]

I've put my name in to be notified when available. I think it will be sometime this year. It's eventually going to put cable and fiber out of business in rural areas. We have neither where I live. We limp along on DSL and it costs about $100/month.

[Bratch]

Not on it but saw the satellite train pass over head last week. It was pretty cool to see.

[LtDave]

Package with Starlink equipment headed inbound for install at my girlfriends house. Hopefully to replace dreadfully slow CenturyLink Internet here in rural AZ. Signed up a month or so ago and was quoted mid to late 2021 delivery. Looks like they are ahead of schedule. I’ll update when gear arrives.

[David S.]

I follow Chuck Pressburg on Patreon. I know he's been using Star Link since mid January. If you're connected with him, you might give him a shout.

His livestreams generally seem smooth, but he gets a few buffering hiccups per 3-5 hour episode. Every few episodes he gets a complete drop and has to do a part two. The videos allow me to view back in 1080p, so I assume that's what he's recording in. I'd guess he'd have fewer interruptions if he recorded at a lower definition.

It's not fiberoptic cable internet quality, but as an outside observer, it seems pretty good for what it is.

[karandom]

There is a whole subreddit for Starlink that has a ton of info on it. I know the reddit format can be tough to follow if you haven't used it before, but lots of stuff from real users.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/

What is your current internet setup like, speed, cost, etc (assuming you don't mind answering)?

[LittleLebowski]

There is a whole subreddit for Starlink that has a ton of info on it. I know the reddit format can be tough to follow if you haven't used it before, but lots of stuff from real users.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/

What is your current internet setup like, speed, cost, etc (assuming you don't mind answering)?

In Wyoming, it’s a wireless shot from over the hills, 15megs.

[TheRoland]

In Wyoming, it’s a wireless shot from over the hills, 15megs.

Unless your WISP is incompetent, it's going to be a while until Starlink has similar uptime.

[LittleLebowski]

Unless your WISP is incompetent, it's going to be a while until Starlink has similar uptime.

Yeah, but that throughout from Starlink though...

[TheRoland]

Yeah, but that throughout from Starlink though...

If you're looking for a new hobby, the real trick is setting up SD-WAN such that you have both a high-availability provider (Cellular? WISP? DSL?) and a high-throughput provider (GEO Satellite, Starlink) and switch between the two. But I'm too lazy to set that up even doing this sort of thing professionally.

[SeriousStudent]

A friend lives out in very rural Texas (He has Bill Wilson for a neighbor - that's how rural).

He has signed up and will be getting his gear "Soon". I will pass on his thoughts.

He's an electrical engineer for a major telecomm, so I assume he will have sufficient jargon to satisfy us all.

[karandom]

In Wyoming, it’s a wireless shot from over the hills, 15megs.
So speed vs uptime for at least a few months. Don't know how important 100% uptime is for you as it looks like 1-3 minutes of downtime per 24 hours at the moment compared to multiple times more bandwidth.

With the rate SpaceX is launching those gaps might be closing quickly.

[TheRoland]

So speed vs uptime for at least a few months. Don't know how important 100% uptime is for you as it looks like 1-3 minutes of downtime per 24 hours at the moment compared to multiple times more bandwidth.

With the rate SpaceX is launching those gaps might be closing quickly.

ISP uptime is usually not driven by spacecraft but rather maturity on the ground. There's really no way to predict without being an insider.

The availability problem for service providers isn't really the 1-3 minutes of downtime per day that they're doing now, which might even be planned. The problems are when something in a datacenter breaks for the first time and nobody expected it, like the Nashville ATT outage.

[randyho]

Watch Starlink (https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/?special=starlink)

Very interested in the consumer experience.

[LtDave]

Starlink kit was delivered Sunday. Today I went over to the girlfriend's house and installed it and had it working in minutes. If you can't follow the simple instructions, you should not be walking around in public. Seriously, it is that simple. After plugging it in, the dish took a couple of minutes to locate the satellites. It does that without needing any input from you. The "hardest" part of the install was configuring Wifi which consisted of naming the network and giving it a password, which was done via the Starlink iPhone app. Starlink's website indicated that our area was experiencing intermittent outages. I think I saw that as dish searched for satellites, but it eventually locked on and has been solid for an hour or so.

As to speed, the best I saw was over 200 Mbps download and 25+ Mbps upload speed with a 40ms ping about an hour ago, although just this minute I'm seeing 182 Mbps download and 13.1 Mbps upload with a ping of 70ms. I am very satisfied and now think I will get this for my house as well where I currently have 100Mbps service via my cable provider.

[RoyGBiv]

Starlink kit was delivered Sunday. Today I went over to the girlfriend's house and installed it and had it working in minutes. If you can't follow the simple instructions, you should not be walking around in public. Seriously, it is that simple. After plugging it in, the dish took a couple of minutes to locate the satellites. It does that without needing any input from you. The "hardest" part of the install was configuring Wifi which consisted of naming the network and giving it a password, which was done via the Starlink iPhone app. Starlink's website indicated that our area was experiencing intermittent outages. I think I saw that as dish searched for satellites, but it eventually locked on and has been solid for an hour or so.

As to speed, the best I saw was over 200 Mbps download and 25+ Mbps upload speed with a 40ms ping about an hour ago, although just this minute I'm seeing 182 Mbps download and 13.1 Mbps upload with a ping of 70ms. I am very satisfied and now think I will get this for my house as well where I currently have 100Mbps service via my cable provider.

Those speeds would be entirely satisfactory for us. Thanks for sharing the info.

[Chance]

I've been in the queue since earlier this year, but only for the sake of my own curiosity. I'm surprised that some people are already receiving their kits.


The "hardest" part of the install was configuring Wifi which consisted of naming the network and giving it a password, which was done via the Starlink iPhone app. Starlink's website indicated that our area was experiencing intermittent outages.

Is there anyway to configure it without an app?

[LtDave]

I don’t know. App was handy and is available for iPhone or Android. There was a faq on the Starlink website, but I didn’t explore it in depth looking for that info.

[Default.mp3]

A bit random, but I saw a bunch of Starlink satellites last night, was pretty trippy when I didn't know what it was:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au_fYBlduyM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjAqDdUzQ-s

[luckyman]

A bit random, but I saw a bunch of Starlink satellites last night, was pretty trippy when I didn't know what it was:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au_fYBlduyM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjAqDdUzQ-s

Wow I just saw basically the same thing maybe 40 minutes ago and was wondering what the heck it was....Thanks!

[md8232]

I signed up today and forked over $99. No service currently in my shop, so I’ll start there whenever it becomes available.

[mtnbkr]

A bit random, but I saw a bunch of Starlink satellites last night, was pretty trippy when I didn't know what it was:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au_fYBlduyM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjAqDdUzQ-s

I was camping in the mountains this weekend and saw them Saturday night. Some offroaders camping in the area saw them Friday night and stopped by our camp to ask if we had seen them.

Chris

[Baldanders]

Still waiting on my $100 deposit to materialize into an offer for an actual dish.

About 3 months back?

Was on the information list for about a year prior.

[LtDave]

Girlfriend has been using the satellite for a while now. I've checked the speed a few times when visiting. Slowest I saw was about 50Mbs. The girlfriend reports that service does drop out sometimes for a few minutes or so. Guess they were truthful when they said it was still in beta. Overall, still happy with the service.

[Default.mp3]

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/06/starlink-dish-overheats-in-arizona-sun-knocking-user-offline-for-7-hours/

Well, that's gonna be troublesome for some folks.

[Borderland]

My neighbor has had his Starlink dish up about 2 weeks. I just talked to him yesterday and he said it works great. We're about 48 lat and 122.5 lon so the sat train is almost directly over us a little to the north. I think his dish is about 70° from the horizon and 350° Az. He said he was around 100 megs download. I just checked ours and it was 10 with DSL. :(

One thing I like about this is the cell phone doesn't have to use towers anymore. He has a setting on his phone that allows WiFi calling so the phone is using his Starlink router. He hasn't totally switched over but he knows it works. I'm not sure how that would work on the road though.

I'm going to have to upgrade my phone I guess so I can use an app to look at our visibility window. His shows 95% on his phone but I'm sure ours is much worse.

I'm not up to speed on this tech so some of this may be misunderstood and or miscommunicated.

[rdtompki]

I'm in the Boise area and the anticipated availability is late 2022. My neighbor moved from CA with Starlink and he loves it. I asked a local PC technician and she said the folks she knows in the Treasure Valley lover their Starlink. Cable is not available in our area.

[Chance]

Bump. Finally got my notice my order is ready almost 16 months after reserving it. Is it worth the money?

[LittleLebowski]

I'm in the Boise area and the anticipated availability is late 2022. My neighbor moved from CA with Starlink and he loves it. I asked a local PC technician and she said the folks she knows in the Treasure Valley lover their Starlink. Cable is not available in our area.

A California transplant in Idaho, you say :(

[Coyotesfan97]

I'm still waiting for mine. I’m in an area with no cable on DSL. It sucks!

[rdtompki]

Just received an email from Starlink alerting the subscribers of a 12 GHz spectrum dispute with Dish. Of course the email is ominous and I doubt the conflict will go unresolved, but standby.

[Chance]

I went ahead and followed through with my order. I guess we'll see how well it works in a few weeks.

[EMC]

My brother bought one and tested it at his remote mountain property recently. He was getting sufficient speeds to VPN successfully into work and it remained connected for 3 hrs during the test.

It speed-tested as high as 118Mbps on the download. Upload was between 3-10Mbps. It was enough to handle multiple devices.

[GJM]

We just bought the Starlink RV product. Took five minutes to set up in Montana, and has been working great so far. Our primary objective is using it at our remote cabin in AK, and secondary use is in our Sprinter in remote areas. Plan to test in AK this coming week.

This thing is so crazy simple compared to our sat internet set-up in remote AK.

[randyho]

A bit random, but I saw a bunch of Starlink satellites last night, was pretty trippy when I didn't know what it was:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au_fYBlduyM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjAqDdUzQ-s

Apologies for a smidge OT, but https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/is one of the best uses of location data and google street view I've seen. It tracks the Starlink trains, ISS, and a bunch of other satellites.

[GJM]

Alaska is now covered by Starlink,

https://www.starlink.com/map

[entropy]

We’ve been running ViaSat at our place up north for about a year and a half. At first, it was great. The past 6mo or so, it’s been...quirky. Slow at times, more buffering than previous, and sometimes have to cycle the modem in the morning to reboot it. Seriously looking at the Elon product. I shoot my signal from house to pole barn (about 75yds) via a WiFi bridge and additional router. Anyone who has a high school working knowledge of this stuff (I do not) know if I can do this with the Starlink product?

[MickAK]

We just bought the Starlink RV product. Took five minutes to set up in Montana, and has been working great so far. Our primary objective is using it at our remote cabin in AK, and secondary use is in our Sprinter in remote areas. Plan to test in AK this coming week.

This thing is so crazy simple compared to our sat internet set-up in remote AK.

Only issue I had was Elon thought it would be funny to change all of the network names to STINKY as the default. Wasn't supposed to affect established networks but it did mine. Awkward conversation with customer service rep.

Otherwise worked badass.

[GJM]

https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2023/06/30/rural-alaskans-find-solutions-sky-during-internet-outage/

Starlink in northern Alaska.

[RoyGBiv]

A commercial pilot buddy showed me some photos he took over several days flying the same route over southern new Mexico, a week or so ago. Unidentified aerial phenomenon.... Turned out to be a Starlink satellite train.

https://www.space.com/starlink-satellite-train-how-to-see-and-track-it


https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/u9CGKHePVFVuDPCyMhDbv8-1920-80.jpg.webp

[Coyotesfan97]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230701/f1f9b3184009bae68d4fe7960d66e207.jpg


I forgot to update my Starlink status. I’ve had it going for several months. I’m really happy with it. It blows Century Link DSL out of the water. The DSL download would’ve been in the 10-12 Mbps range.

I had to route the line across the roof from an old satellite mount to my den and run the line down then through the wall. I used the Starlink kit. It went smoothly and it didn’t take long to acquire satellites and set up my router.

I have been very happy with Starlink. I’ve had a few outages but nothing that lasted long. For where I live it’s the best option now. I won’t see fiber optic here for a long time I’m guessing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tensaw]

We got Starlink in January after it became obvious that the long-promised fiber optic program for very rural SW Virginia was gonna keep kicking the can down the road. Too, our area experiences power outages pretty routinely, even in good weather because, I guess, trees fall off mountains and onto lines all the time. So, we called up Elon and asked him to send us some internet (the RV service since Starlink is technically “not available” in this area).

Initially we were running straight Starlink gear but that did not play well with our Arlo system for reasons I could never discern. So I ended up taking the Starlink router offline and using an Archer router. Works fine. I can’t tell if this other router throttles the speed at all, but we stream Netflix and play YouTube just fine along with WiFi cell calling (which allowed us to ditch the landline). All in all, we’ve been pretty happy with the service. Was not super stoked about the recent fee increase, but I guess them rockets and satellites cost money.

We received our Starlink gear ahead of the estimated time. Neighbors who got it later had to wait a while. Also note that the Starlink cable is just a shielded Cat 6 cable with proprietary ends. I learned this after a mouse chewed on the cable in my crawl space. YouTube showed me how to install a junction box and I bought the tools and box on Amazon.

106605

[GJM]

Starlink is a game changer out at our Alaska remote cabin. The old service was slow, expensive, and wouldn't work whenever a thick cloud went over.

106616

[Borderland]

We got Starlink in January after it became obvious that the long-promised fiber optic program for very rural SW Virginia was gonna keep kicking the can down the road. Too, our area experiences power outages pretty routinely, even in good weather because, I guess, trees fall off mountains and onto lines all the time. So, we called up Elon and asked him to send us some internet (the RV service since Starlink is technically “not available” in this area).

Initially we were running straight Starlink gear but that did not play well with our Arlo system for reasons I could never discern. So I ended up taking the Starlink router offline and using an Archer router. Works fine. I can’t tell if this other router throttles the speed at all, but we stream Netflix and play YouTube just fine along with WiFi cell calling (which allowed us to ditch the landline). All in all, we’ve been pretty happy with the service. Was not super stoked about the recent fee increase, but I guess them rockets and satellites cost money.

We received our Starlink gear ahead of the estimated time. Neighbors who got it later had to wait a while. Also note that the Starlink cable is just a shielded Cat 6 cable with proprietary ends. I learned this after a mouse chewed on the cable in my crawl space. YouTube showed me how to install a junction box and I bought the tools and box on Amazon.

106605

along with WiFi cell calling (which allowed us to ditch the landline


Neighbor did this. Happy, happy. Our cell service is almost nonextant here. One bar most of the time and dropped calls are common. I can't listen to my voicemail most days. We will never have fiber in my lifetime. My wife just upgraded her iPhone so I'm going to map the horizon to the north to see if we have a chance of seeing the sats. My neighbors SL dish is about 350° AZ and 75° alt. We have a lot of trees. My guess is we don't but I'll try it anyway.

Starlink is probably going to stop anymore fiber into rural areas. Zero profit incentive.

[Tensaw]

along with WiFi cell calling (which allowed us to ditch the landline


Neighbor did this. Happy, happy. Our cell service is almost nonextant here. One bar most of the time and dropped calls are common. I can't listen to my voicemail most days. We will never have fiber in my lifetime. My wife just upgraded her iPhone so I'm going to map the horizon to the north to see if we have a chance of seeing the sats. My neighbors SL dish is about 350° AZ and 75° alt. We have a lot of trees. My guess is we don't but I'll try it anyway.

Starlink is probably going to stop anymore fiber into rural areas. Zero profit incentive.

We have *zero* cell service (not poor signal, no signal) at my residence and only spotty service between here and town 20 minutes away. We tried Wifi calling with HughesNet and the buffering/lagging made that unbearable. With Starlink, there is zero lag; works great.

Because we ditched the landline and Starlink is our only way for comms to the outside world (we can't even get digital rabbit ear TV here), I bought a Bluetti power pack that will run the Starlink gear for about 18 hours before it needs a charge.

[LtDave]

We've had Starlink at my girlfriend's place in Central AZ for a while now (we have the older round dish obtained during the beta phase). At first we had the dish mounted on a pole on the back deck. A few trees partially blocked the dish and resulted in drop outs that interfered with using wifi calling on the cell phone. We had the dish moved to the roof of the house to avoid the trees. It fixed the drop out problem. Speed has remained good, generally in the 100Mbs range, sometimes more. Have been very happy with Starlink as compared to the really crappy DSL from CenturyLink that was glacially slow.

[GJM]

We also have the Starlink RV in motion setup on our Sprinter van, and it works great. Allows us to camp where we want as opposed to where there is signal. Also, with Wi-Fi calling, we have near continuous cell phone coverage.

[fatdog]

Well after 2 years since I put down our deposit I got the email this week. I have seven days to decide. We have been getting along ok with Verizon hot spots for almost two decades I think. This should be a big jump and based on what you folks are experiencing I am going to go ahead and do it. The Verizon thing is very spotty with streaming speeds and my hope is this is going to make streaming more reliable out here. My only fear is trees and there are people who will come out and climb up to cut away what I need to make it work, so here goes..

[Tensaw]

Double tap (somehow)

[Tensaw]

Well after 2 years since I put down our deposit I got the email this week. I have seven days to decide. We have been getting along ok with Verizon hot spots for almost two decades I think. This should be a big jump and based on what you folks are experiencing I am going to go ahead and do it. The Verizon thing is very spotty with streaming speeds and my hope is this is going to make streaming more reliable out here. My only fear is trees and there are people who will come out and climb up to cut away what I need to make it work, so here goes..

Let us know how it works out. The weirdest thing about Starlink is the fact that speeds are all over the place. That GJM has more speed in Alaska than I do here in VA is a little kooky. My speed in a static location varies wildly (according to the app) but rarely do I notice any degradation in service. Too, I've seen RVers in Alaska have very spotty service. I don't understand. Luck of the draw I guess until Elon gets all the satellites up (and he is launching at a cyclic rate).

I guess you know you can return the equipment within 30 days and get a refund and/or cancel the service at anytime. Too, I've read that you could see the equipment to someone else so you should be able to crash out of the system if needed.

You going RV or Residential?

[Artemas2]

Had it for about 3 months now, it's been a huge upgrade. Averaging 60Mbps with peaks close to 200. Downloads that use to take days now only take a few hours and seldom even that long.

The biggest issue we have with it right now is getting it mounted properly. Right now it's just sitting on the roof with the included "ground mount" as none of the available mounts seem to have been built for metal or roofs pitched for heavy snowfall:confused:
Neither of the eaves mounts fit on the eve or clear the over hang when set under it.

[fatdog]

You going RV or Residential?

Residential

[Coyotesfan97]

Had it for about 3 months now, it's been a huge upgrade. Averaging 60Mbps with peaks close to 200. Downloads that use to take days now only take a few hours and seldom even that long.

The biggest issue we have with it right now is getting it mounted properly. Right now it's just sitting on the roof with the included "ground mount" as none of the available mounts seem to have been built for metal or roofs pitched for heavy snowfall:confused:
Neither of the eaves mounts fit on the eve or clear the over hang when set under it.

Fortunate I have a flat roof and I had a spare satellite dish mount on it. I just had to buy the adapter to mount it. The “hardest” thing I had to was drill a hole in my den wall to run the cable through. I ran the cable under the front porch awning so it shouldn’t get wet. I still did the drip loops on it.

I’ve had a couple outages but nothing major since I connected this year. It is so much better than the Century Link DSL I had. It’ll be years before any cable company runs fiber into my neighborhood.

[Artemas2]

Fortunate I have a flat roof and I had a spare satellite dish mount on it. I just had to buy the adapter to mount it. The “hardest” thing I had to was drill a hole in my den wall to run the cable through. I ran the cable under the front porch awning so it shouldn’t get wet. I still did the drip loops on it.

I’ve had a couple outages but nothing major since I connected this year. It is so much better than the Century Link DSL I had. It’ll be years before any cable company runs fiber into my neighborhood.

Right now the cable is running through an open window. I am not looking forward to drilling the wall either. We had frontier for a while then the AT&T hotspot/router device, compared to those the Starlink is amazing in everyway.

My area has been scheduled for fiber lines for about 2 years now.
A week after we received our satellite Henkles & Mccoy trucks started showing up
with big spools of wire:rolleyes:

[entropy]

Currently, we have ViaSat up north. I’m able to tap off the modem and connect to a wireless mesh transmitter that sends the signal across to our metal pole barn. There, the mesh receiver feeds a router inside that allows connectivity within the barn. Would we be able to do something similar with StarLink? ViaSat once again cranked up their pricing and I’m looking for alternatives.

I apologize if my tutorial uses giant crayons, but I’m not exactly a wizard on this stuff.

[MickAK]

Currently, we have ViaSat up north. I’m able to tap off the modem and connect to a wireless mesh transmitter that sends the signal across to our metal pole barn. There, the mesh receiver feeds a router inside that allows connectivity within the barn. Would we be able to do something similar with StarLink? ViaSat once again cranked up their pricing and I’m looking for alternatives.

I apologize if my tutorial uses giant crayons, but I’m not exactly a wizard on this stuff.

Yes, you can do that with Starlink

[Caballoflaco]

Since this is the star link thread; today I noticed that one of the local commercial fire alarm/sprinkler companies has added star-link antennas to their alarm systems.

[Coyotesfan97]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230824/b832d50c097a547a0dc67a431318fdd6.jpg
Eventually I’ll get around to painting the cable to match the wall.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[entropy]

Yes, you can do that with Starlink

Is there proprietary equipment evolved? Everyone I ask on this looks at me like I’m from Pluto or something...

I appreciate the response.

[MickAK]

Is there proprietary equipment evolved? Everyone I ask on this looks at me like I’m from Pluto or something...

I appreciate the response.

They included one with my maritime dish but not with the RV version. They sell them for $145.00. I don't know if you can use an off brand, but I think so.

108765

[entropy]

Again, appreciate it. I guess the next step is to see if it will allow the signal to penetrate the metal building.

[Tensaw]

entropy - I'm right there with re: (lack of) tech savvy. Youtube has been my friend when it comes to getting Starlink set up the way I wanted. It seems as though you can get as fancy, or as simple, as you want with the SL system. One key to using non-SL gear is to put the main SL router in Bypass Mode using the SL app. From there, you can add on any third-party router and/or (I suppose) mesh system from there. You will need the $25 SL Ethernet Adapter to pigtail off the SL router.

I've gotten some good information from this YT channel (even though this dude's vibe is not my thing) - he does put out good content (along with clickbait stuff every now and then). This video (https://youtu.be/LwywoXJ5Dy0?si=DYQHQ7Pt1i5gqVq6) explains how to use a third-party router. He has a SL playlist as well.

My impression is that SL has tried to put together a system that is very much plug and play, but with that, you end up having to use some workarounds to do the fancy things.

There are plenty of good videos comparing computer routers. The SL router was actually pretty good with respect to getting some distance out of the wifi, but I had to switch to a third-party router to work with my Arlo system. The third-party router is marginally better.

[BN]

It appears that Starlink is now available where I live in rural Southeast Ohio. We've had Hughes.net for the last several years and it's not very satisfactory.

I'm still in the research phase right now. Lots of questions. Looking at the Starlink web site and watching Youtube videos.

Do you need a permanent mount rather than the base that seems to come with it? It doesn't look very sturdy.

I would think that the cable from antenna to router is waterproof. Could it be safely buried a short distance from my satellite pole to the house?

The ads say you can cancel. Has anyone done that?

Out Co-op power company is planning fiber to the house in my area, but I'm not sure they will be coming to every house. We have a land line with AT&T to the house, but we're too far out for DSL and there's no cable anywhere near.

[fatdog]

Two months in, I am about to cancel and sell my dish/router. My problem is foliage. Mrs. Fatdog is not going to let me cut the big trees and despite the fact I thought I had enough openings for a dish to work, I do not have a decent space Starlink likes without going 100+ yards or so out into one of the pastures and that is a no go with this setup because of the distance from the house that would represent. The space and direction that has allowed our DirectTV to work for a decade is not sufficient or in the right direction for Starlink to perform well.

I have tried a dozen different locations in a 360 degree arc and none ever stabilize and produce consistent connections in terms of the internet speed.

I can get a signal and a connections in 2-3 locations, but very inconsistent, terrible speeds, and their app warns me it is not ideal every time when I don their 360 degree sky scan, and tells me I need to find another location. I am better off with the 5G home router we kept from Verizon.

[RoyGBiv]

Got an email last week saying starlink was now available everywhere CONUS...

I went and looked up my old place in the middle of NC and it showed as available... Now I can move back!! :cool:

[Borderland]

Got an email last week saying starlink was now available everywhere CONUS...

I went and looked up my old place in the middle of NC and it showed as available... Now I can move back!! :cool:

I think they closed the border. ;)

[RoyGBiv]

I think they closed the border. ;)

I have guns... and I can pass for an illegal Venezuelan with a bit of moulage.

[Tensaw]

It appears that Starlink is now available where I live in rural Southeast Ohio. We've had Hughes.net for the last several years and it's not very satisfactory.

I'm still in the research phase right now. Lots of questions. Looking at the Starlink web site and watching Youtube videos.

Do you need a permanent mount rather than the base that seems to come with it? It doesn't look very sturdy. Whichever floats your boat. When I first got my gear, I screwed a piece of plywood to the top of a 6" wooden fence post, then screwed the included base to that. Worked fine for a couple of weeks. Scroll toward the bottom of page on the Starlink site to view the various mounts. They are not overly expensive. The part/stub that connects the disk to the base/mount is proprietary so you will probably have to choose one from Starlink.

I would think that the cable from antenna to router is waterproof. Could it be safely buried a short distance from my satellite pole to the house? This is exactly what I did - except I used plastic electrical conduit - cause overkill never fails. Had to oversize the conduit a little to accommodate the end that plugs into the dish. Given its shape/configuration, I don't think I could snake it back through the conduit. Kind of a fishhook/barb thing going on. FWIW, the cable itself is an ordinary Cat 5 (or 6) cable Yes, I think you could bury the bare cable with no water issues.

The ads say you can cancel. Has anyone done that? Can't answer this based on personal experience, but I suspect it's not a problem. Starlink even gives you a decent amount of time to return the gear for a refund.

Out Co-op power company is planning fiber to the house in my area, but I'm not sure they will be coming to every house. We have a land line with AT&T to the house, but we're too far out for DSL and there's no cable anywhere near. I'm sure your Co-Op is better than my local fiber optic outfit (that was spun up by government and private grants; but they have been horrendous to work with in terms of actually getting cable run. I've heard multiple stories of extended delays. My neighbor just told them to forget it after trying to get them out to his place for several months. He is going Starlink.

YouTuber JCristina (something like that) puts out pretty decent Starlink content. He can be a little hand-wavy, but the actual info has been good.

PS. We dropped Hughes.net for Starlink. Only regret we have with the switch is not making it sooner. (Seems like Hughes.net tried kinda hard to talk my wife into not cancelling the service when she called to do so. Also, we had to send back the router and satellite signal picker upper (not the dish) - on their dime.)

[Borderland]

Internet providers are losing customers on a grand scale to Starlink. They offer to reduce your rate when you cancel. Begging more or less to keep their customers. Neighbor told me the story when he dropped our one and only access (DSL) besides Starlink. Our DSL doesn't even meet the minimum federal broadband speed definition of 25/3 Mbps.

DSL no worky when the phone lines are down. I'm not sure but I think Starlink still works if you can power the box. It's Extra Terrestrial.

https://i.ibb.co/6XTk9nX/ET.jpg (https://ibb.co/NTJMDVT)

[BN]

Two months in, I am about to cancel and sell my dish/router. My problem is foliage. Mrs. Fatdog is not going to let me cut the big trees and despite the fact I thought I had enough openings for a dish to work, I do not have a decent space Starlink likes without going 100+ yards or so out into one of the pastures and that is a no go with this setup because of the distance from the house that would represent. The space and direction that has allowed our DirectTV to work for a decade is not sufficient or in the right direction for Starlink to perform well.

I have tried a dozen different locations in a 360 degree arc and none ever stabilize and produce consistent connections in terms of the internet speed.

I can get a signal and a connections in 2-3 locations, but very inconsistent, terrible speeds, and their app warns me it is not ideal every time when I don their 360 degree sky scan, and tells me I need to find another location. I am better off with the 5G home router we kept from Verizon.

Thanks for the info. I downloaded the app and I can have a good connection according to the sky scan.

[Tensaw]

. Our DSL doesn't even meet the minimum federal broadband speed definition of 25/3 Mbps.

DSL no worky when the phone lines are down. I'm not sure but I think Starlink still works if you can power the box. It's Extra Terrestrial.

Indeed... Living in Appalachia, trees fall on lines daily. This is one of the arguments against fiber optic internet in my region. Yeah, if I have power from the grid or my Bluetti, I have Starlink and thus all my comms. Note: the guys who run the fiber optic for the local outfit make no bones about how fragile that line is; it ain't like telephone wire. And you can't splice fiber optic cable - so I'm told.

It's a little insane to think that a system that works off a bunch of friggin' satellites could be more robust and reliable than something working off a "cable"; but here we are. The couple of outages I've experienced with Starlink in the last 10 months have been measured in minutes. Well, there was that one where the mouse gnawed on the cable in the crawl space, but that wasn't Elon's fault...

[RoyGBiv]

Indeed... Living in Appalachia, trees fall on lines daily. This is one of the arguments against fiber optic internet in my region. Yeah, if I have power from the grid or my Bluetti, I have Starlink and thus all my comms. Note: the guys who run the fiber optic for the local outfit make no bones about how fragile that line is; it ain't like telephone wire. And you can't splice fiber optic cable - so I'm told.

It's a little insane to think that a system that works off a bunch of friggin' satellites could be more robust and reliable than something working off a "cable"; but here we are. The couple of outages I've experienced with Starlink in the last 10 months have been measured in minutes. Well, there was that one where the mouse gnawed on the cable in the crawl space, but that wasn't Elon's fault...

I guess I've been in Texas long enough that I never considered anyone would hang fiber on poles.

[Borderland]

I guess I've been in Texas long enough that I never considered anyone would hang fiber on poles.

Here they bury it and somebody is always digging it up with a track hoe. Nobody knows where it is, or cares. Sure, you can call dail-a-dig but that is just a temp location that may take a few days or weeks to get. I worked on some projects where we would call them, they came and marked it and we immediately located the marks. That info went on the plans but even then contractors still destroyed the fiber optic cable, water lines, sewer lines and anything else in the ground.

This event was caused by ice.


https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/23/23771194/alaska-internet-quintillion-fiber-cable-satellites-oneweb