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***Official*** Starlink satellite internet (1 Viewer)

Cold Dead Hands

Cold Dead Hands

Footballguy
Yesterday I was accepted to the Beta for Starlink satellite internet. The acceptance email arrived around 4PM. It directed me to the Starlink website to order. Once you hit the order page, you only have 15 minutes to complete the process before the invitation expires and moves to the next person in line. 
 

The equipment must be purchased, their is no equipment lease currently. Everything cost me under $600. I am a current customer of Frontier DSL with a maximum of 8.5 mbps. It routinely slows to around 5. This looks to be a game changer for my family. My wife and I have both been working from home. My kids are on a hybrid schooling schedule with two days in school and 3 online. 
 

I usually have to disable WiFi for all of the other devices in the house when my wife and I have Zoom meetings. It has been fun.

 
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Maybe one or both of your employers will help defray costs?  I believe there is a federal tax plan (I don’t know the details) through which employers can write off a certain amount of WFH employee expense, making it cost-neutral to the employer. For better or worse, I don’t think my family could function with 8.5 max wifi. 
 

 
What will Starlink provide in terms of mbps?

Once you've made the hardware purchase, are you also paying fees for the service? 

I know zippo about it, other than Musk shooting these things up like its gung hay fat choy. Had thought the service was meant for developing countries without regular access. 

 
El Floppo said:
What will Starlink provide in terms of mbps?

Once you've made the hardware purchase, are you also paying fees for the service? 

I know zippo about it, other than Musk shooting these things up like its gung hay fat choy. Had thought the service was meant for developing countries without regular access. 
Click to expand...
During the beta, the service is for 150mbps. The average appears to hover around 120 from what I have seen. Cost is $100 per month. There is no data cap or throttling like with other satellite options. My son is happy because the latency is lower than 20ms which is better than our DSL. 
 

Musk has promised Gig speeds when beta ends. We will see. If I had any other workable option, including the T-mobile WiFi plan, I likely wouldn’t have considered Starlink.

 
I just placed an order.  $99 due today with the balance due when shipped.  I think the whole thing was around $500. They expect to ship mid to late 2021.  I'm in a rural area, and have been stuck on ATT DSL forever.  It's horrible and there are no plans to upgrade or repair it.  I don't get the 6 mbps that I pay for, and outages are common.  I hope this works, but at this point I'll try anything new.  I'd love to know if bad weather knocks this out like it does Satellite TV, even though that has gotten much better over the years.   

 
@Cold Dead HandsThanks for starting this topic.  Looking forward to hearing reviews of this system.  It's in my long term plans for when I move to my remote "leave me the Hell alone" ranch.

 
Sticking with my 500/500 for now  :oldunsure:

ETA: Probably good for rural areas, but $99/mo is $10 more than I pay now for my Frontier service.

 
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Osaurus said:
Sticking with my 500/500 for now  :oldunsure:

ETA: Probably good for rural areas, but $99/mo is $10 more than I pay now for my Frontier service.
Click to expand...
As I said before, if I had the option of a terrestrial option I wouldn’t have opted for Starlink. Anything from cable to fiber is more affordable at this time, and is likely more reliable as well.

 
A couple of things to keep in mind:

-Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations have pros and cons.  Low latency is nice and well-suited for time-sensitive activities like real-time gaming, stock trading, etc

-LEOs are very complicated.  With hundreds/thousands of satellites, you are constantly being handed off from one satellite to another, literally constant “handshakes”.  These are much smaller satellites than geostationary satellites (much higher up).  While latency is lower on LEO, so is capacity on any given satellite, which is likely to (negatively) impact high-capacity activities like video streaming.  While this likely won’t be as apparent during beta on a mostly unloaded network with few people competing for data, it is something to consider in the future when the network is more loaded.

There are three of these constellations in various stages of development.  SpaceX (Starlink) is in pole position and will be first to market.  OneWeb (out of the UK) just reorganized in bankruptcy.  Bezos is behind a 3rd one; not sure if they have even launched any satellites yet.

Overall, an exciting time in the satellite industry.  Good luck with your beta and please keep us posted.

 
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I would die myself for 5MB internet. 150MB must feel like a massive upgrade.
I just upgraded at home to Fios 1Gig and bought the top end Orbi WiFi system. I routinely get 600-700MB wirelessly from certain parts of the house; the slow parts are 200-300. 

 
As we get farther from beta, coverage is improving with every launch. I average just over 100 mbps. They are increasing top end speeds and I have maxed out at 320 mbps.

I do have minor drops every now and then. Maybe 3-10 seconds when they happen. My daughter is on FaceTime with one of her friends all day, my oldest son plays FPS games with little issue, my middle plays Xbox with his friends.

We routinely have multiple devices streaming Hulu or Netflix with no buffering. I used it working from home before I went back to the office and my wife still works from home. A lot of Zoom meetings. No real issues. Rare interruptions or lag but not enough to disconnect.

Also, edit to update for the question of weather. It works through rain and I have been told it works through snow as well. I have had it go out twice during heavy thunder storms. When I say heavy, I mean that we were in the base meant because the rain was sideways and trees came down. Otherwise, most thunderstorms I have maintained connection.

 
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Cold Dead Hands said:
As we get farther from beta, coverage is improving with every launch. I average just over 100 mbs. They are increasing top end speeds and I have maxed out at 320 mbs.

I do have minor drops every now and then. Maybe 3-10 seconds when they happen. My daughter is on FaceTime with one of her friends all day, my oldest son plays FPS games with little issue, my middle plays Xbox with his friends.

We routinely have multiple devices streaming Hulu or Netflix with no buffering. I used it working from home before I went back to the office and my wife still works from home. A lot of Zoom meetings. No real issues. Rare interruptions or lag but not enough to disconnect.
Click to expand...
Thanks!

 
My system is shipping now.

My only option currently is DSL at 12 mbps but it’s most often much less. I considered myself lucky for a rural area as neighbors 1-3 miles away max at 1-3 mbps. Can’t wait. Hoping winter install isn’t rough. 

 
Johnny Rock said:
My system is shipping now.

My only option currently is DSL at 12 mbps but it’s most often much less. I considered myself lucky for a rural area as neighbors 1-3 miles away max at 1-3 mbps. Can’t wait. Hoping winter install isn’t rough. 
Click to expand...
Keep us posted how this works. My brother is building a house in the mountains in North Carolina and will be moving in sometime in February. He's been interested in this system.

 
ChiefD said:
Keep us posted how this works. My brother is building a house in the mountains in North Carolina and will be moving in sometime in February. He's been interested in this system.
Click to expand...
I will. 

I should’ve gotten in earlier but I never committed when I first heard about. I have a friend who’s had Starlink since the beginning and he said it’s solid and fast. He lives in rural MN too in a different part of the state. 

 
I got mine on Saturday.  This thing is awesome.  I've already cancelled Dish Network and started streaming everything.  Between that and cancelling ATT, the savings will more than justify the cost in the first 6 months.  I went from maybe 2 mbps or so to anywhere between 150-620 mbps.  

I recommend ordering whichever mounting bracket you need when you place your order.  I waited until the next day and may not receive the bracket until April.  Also, if you need a wired ethernet connection between your router and anything else, you need to order the ethernet adapter.  I need one to make my Philips Hue lights work.

 
www.digitaltrends.com

Elon Musk's Starlink satellites hacked by $25 homemade device | Digital Trends

A $25 hacking tool that can seemingly breach Starlink’s internet terminals has been revealed by a security researcher.
www.digitaltrends.com www.digitaltrends.com

In order to find any exploits within the satellite dish’s software, Wouters purchased a dish and attached his hacking device onto it. The tool itself was formed via a custom circuit board (modchip), with the price of the overall parts required for the device costing just $25.

The homemade printed circuit board (PCB) is then capable of shorting the system, albeit temporarily, via a fault injection attack — this method, or glitch, was used to circumvent the security measures Starlink has in place.
 
Loving my Starlink! They even decreased my price to $90/mo (by $20/mo) due to excess capacity in my area. 😳

Has anybody that uses Starlink for Netflix had problems with the new sharing crackdown? I don’t have Netflix but I know most services think I’m in another state due to my IP. Does Netflix think you’re not a home?
 
Johnny Rock said:
Loving my Starlink! They even decreased my price to $90/mo (by $20/mo) due to excess capacity in my area. 😳

Has anybody that uses Starlink for Netflix had problems with the new sharing crackdown? I don’t have Netflix but I know most services think I’m in another state due to my IP. Does Netflix think you’re not a home?
Click to expand...
I haven't had any problems with Netflix.
 
Johnny Rock said:
Loving my Starlink! They even decreased my price to $90/mo (by $20/mo) due to excess capacity in my area. 😳

Has anybody that uses Starlink for Netflix had problems with the new sharing crackdown? I don’t have Netflix but I know most services think I’m in another state due to my IP. Does Netflix think you’re not a home?
Click to expand...

Got the same $20 discount. Nice surprise.

Had the service for 20 months it’s been wonderful. Living in an area with no other options its been a life saver.
 
speedtest
DOWNLOAD Mbps
511.47
UPLOAD Mbps
23.73

speedofme
Download Mbps
422.13
Upload Mbps
25.81

fast.com
410 Mbps

So...... is that good, bad or ugly?
 
Chadstroma said:
speedtest
DOWNLOAD Mbps
511.47
UPLOAD Mbps
23.73

speedofme
Download Mbps
422.13
Upload Mbps
25.81

fast.com
410 Mbps

So...... is that good, bad or ugly?
Click to expand...
Also, my sons are playing games online right now and I am sure my daughter is on youtube right now, would that impact it at all?
 
Chadstroma said:
speedtest
DOWNLOAD Mbps
511.47
UPLOAD Mbps
23.73

speedofme
Download Mbps
422.13
Upload Mbps
25.81

fast.com
410 Mbps

So...... is that good, bad or ugly?
Click to expand...
Plenty to stream 4K and have other people doing stuff as well. Fiber people can get a gigabyte download but I'd be happy with what you have (as long as it is near what they say their "up to" ratings are). My area has 300MB from Spectrum and I usually get 320 or so. Would probably upgrade to the gigabyte if it was available but I have never had a problem with the speed I have.
 
Corporation said:
Chadstroma said:
speedtest
DOWNLOAD Mbps
511.47
UPLOAD Mbps
23.73

speedofme
Download Mbps
422.13
Upload Mbps
25.81

fast.com
410 Mbps

So...... is that good, bad or ugly?
Click to expand...
Plenty to stream 4K and have other people doing stuff as well. Fiber people can get a gigabyte download but I'd be happy with what you have (as long as it is near what they say their "up to" ratings are). My area has 300MB from Spectrum and I usually get 320 or so. Would probably upgrade to the gigabyte if it was available but I have never had a problem with the speed I have.
Click to expand...
Isn’t the big thing for gaming the upload speed as well. We are finally getting Fiber in my neighborhood right now and it’s 1GB download and 1GB upload.
 
stbugs said:
Corporation said:
Chadstroma said:
speedtest
DOWNLOAD Mbps
511.47
UPLOAD Mbps
23.73

speedofme
Download Mbps
422.13
Upload Mbps
25.81

fast.com
410 Mbps

So...... is that good, bad or ugly?
Click to expand...
Plenty to stream 4K and have other people doing stuff as well. Fiber people can get a gigabyte download but I'd be happy with what you have (as long as it is near what they say their "up to" ratings are). My area has 300MB from Spectrum and I usually get 320 or so. Would probably upgrade to the gigabyte if it was available but I have never had a problem with the speed I have.
Click to expand...
Isn’t the big thing for gaming the upload speed as well. We are finally getting Fiber in my neighborhood right now and it’s 1GB download and 1GB upload.
Click to expand...
Why is the upload so much lower anyways?
 
Corporation said:
Chadstroma said:
speedtest
DOWNLOAD Mbps
511.47
UPLOAD Mbps
23.73

speedofme
Download Mbps
422.13
Upload Mbps
25.81

fast.com
410 Mbps

So...... is that good, bad or ugly?
Click to expand...
Plenty to stream 4K and have other people doing stuff as well. Fiber people can get a gigabyte download but I'd be happy with what you have (as long as it is near what they say their "up to" ratings are). My area has 300MB from Spectrum and I usually get 320 or so. Would probably upgrade to the gigabyte if it was available but I have never had a problem with the speed I have.
Click to expand...
Well, I am on my laptop using wifi... would that change the speeds too versus plugging in?
 
Chadstroma said:
stbugs said:
Corporation said:
Chadstroma said:
speedtest
DOWNLOAD Mbps
511.47
UPLOAD Mbps
23.73

speedofme
Download Mbps
422.13
Upload Mbps
25.81

fast.com
410 Mbps

So...... is that good, bad or ugly?
Click to expand...
Plenty to stream 4K and have other people doing stuff as well. Fiber people can get a gigabyte download but I'd be happy with what you have (as long as it is near what they say their "up to" ratings are). My area has 300MB from Spectrum and I usually get 320 or so. Would probably upgrade to the gigabyte if it was available but I have never had a problem with the speed I have.
Click to expand...
Isn’t the big thing for gaming the upload speed as well. We are finally getting Fiber in my neighborhood right now and it’s 1GB download and 1GB upload.
Click to expand...
Why is the upload so much lower anyways?
Click to expand...
Things like satellite and cable are meant for download so the upload speed are way less. I think the original satellite internet way back when actually used dial up for the upload. Fiber doesn’t have that limitation so the upload/download speeds are identical. If you are just surfing the web and streaming, it’s slightly faster but if you have a lot of interactivity, it’ll be a lot faster with no lag.
 
Chadstroma said:
stbugs said:
Corporation said:
Chadstroma said:
speedtest
DOWNLOAD Mbps
511.47
UPLOAD Mbps
23.73

speedofme
Download Mbps
422.13
Upload Mbps
25.81

fast.com
410 Mbps

So...... is that good, bad or ugly?
Click to expand...
Plenty to stream 4K and have other people doing stuff as well. Fiber people can get a gigabyte download but I'd be happy with what you have (as long as it is near what they say their "up to" ratings are). My area has 300MB from Spectrum and I usually get 320 or so. Would probably upgrade to the gigabyte if it was available but I have never had a problem with the speed I have.
Click to expand...
Isn’t the big thing for gaming the upload speed as well. We are finally getting Fiber in my neighborhood right now and it’s 1GB download and 1GB upload.
Click to expand...
Why is the upload so much lower anyways?
Click to expand...
Uploads are always slower, even on cable internet
 
Still waiting for them to offer it to me. We have Comcast cable and a local wireless (microwave point to point link) available. I hate Comcast so much that I use the much slower local ISP. I think I top out at 15Mbps down and like 1Mbps up.

The only risk for Starlink for me is domestic... my wife don't like Elon.

Eta: this is what they wrote me in Aug 2022

"Your service area remains at capacity which means we are unable to convert you to Residential service at this time. Our best estimate for delivery of Residential service in your area is now mid-2023"

Maybe Elon will be forced to sell it by then...
 
Spectrum is finally running fiber out to my very rural area. I have no interest in it, and no intentions of looking into their service. People I know that use them hate them. They have billing, customer service and outage issues all the time. I have had none of those during my time with Starlink. Just plug it in and forget about it. We have kids playing games, streaming 4k TV and using whatever apps while I watch TV and play with my phone at night. Never had an issue.

I will say that during really bad storms, I have lost service for a few minutes max, but it's only happened a couple of times.
 
So, for those that have this - how are the speeds and are you happy with it? Might need to go with this if we find a house up north out in the sticks.
 
I work with a guy who lives at 10,000' up in the mountains of Colorado, an hour from the nearest town. He relies on it for work, on zoom calls all day, and says it's been great with no issues.
 
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