Starlink

[scootr]

I live where there is only cell tower service. Fiber optics go past this place without the possibility of service. Same for cable, no cable service.
Making me quit is not going to free up more bandwidth in your more remote area - The only thing that will do that is if there is a decrease in the demand for service where you are... your location.
But the cost cut you praise is aimed at getting more people in your area to sign up and start sharing your connection so you will have decreased service and Elon will have more $.

 

[Jchonline]

I think the biggest problem is that Starlink constantly promotes the idea that as more satellites are added to their constellation, service for all customers will improve. But instead, service quality has drastically lowered. Coupled with the horrible customer service, the price increases are just more salt in the wound.

What ever happened to under promise and over deliver?

Customer service definitely leaves something to be desired...just wish we could talk to a person. I guess most companies are headed that way. However I do have to give them kudos...I had a rat chew one of the cables on a Gen 1 dish. They replaced the entire cable/dish. Then about a month later I was backing out of my shop and knicked the cable with my bucket (stupid of me to have it exposed, but we were in a transition/moving period). They also replaced the cable and dish AGAIN. No charge to me.

Every launch costs $15 million, and they send around 50 satellites per. Some are lost before they ever get to service life. In order to keep the company from running out of money they had to sign up more people. That of course degrades service overall.

 

[Jchonline]

But the cost cut you praise is aimed at getting more people in your area to sign up and start sharing your connection so you will have decreased service and Elon will have more $.

As opposed to me having Hughesnet, paying 4 times the amount for 1/4 the bandwidth and a 1/4 the data allowance? Elon can have my $$, you can go back to Hughesnet.

Look if there were other viable options out there...we could speak with our wallets..just jump to another provider. But there arent yet...so this is the best we can get. I do hope some other companies get thier act together and offer more high speed satellite based internet. Amazon looking to start launches this year.

 

[sodamo]

Part of the challenge is identification of true need. I get regular mailings re Fiber, 2 neighbors even have it. Not possible for me, totally off grid as are more than 3/4 of the houses on my road. Only way I could get electric would be pay for the additional poles. That existing line services the FAA Station and a Cell tower. Those immediately adjacent have been fortunate to tap in. So these recent surveys of availably incorrectly shows as being available to me. I’m sure SL sees it similarly.

 

[NoTrespassing]

As opposed to me having Hughesnet, paying 4 times the amount for 1/4 the bandwidth and a 1/4 the data allowance? Elon can have my $$, you can go back to Hughesnet.

Look if there were other viable options out there...we could speak with our wallets..just jump to another provider. But there arent yet...so this is the best we can get. I do hope some other companies get thier act together and offer more high speed satellite based internet. Amazon looking to start launches this year.

Amazon’s Kuiper satellites are good to go after FCC’s approval of orbital debris plan

The FCC cleared Amazon's Project Kuiper satellite constellation for deployment after the company refined its orbital debris mitigation plan.

www.geekwire.com

 

[scootr]

Let me put this another way. Who here wants to pay more for anything so other families can pay less for what is potentially better service? I have been selling things for 50 plus years. My Dad made me sit through slide presentations when I was 10-15 yrs old. Nowhere in any of my years of sales have I ever heard a salesman say you will pay more so others can pay less. What's next? Internet reparation?

 

[BigBlue1]

I live where there is only cell tower service. Fiber optics go past this place without the possibility of service. Same for cable, no cable service.
Making me quit is not going to free up more bandwidth in your more remote area - The only thing that will do that is if there is a decrease in the demand for service where you are... your location.
But the cost cut you praise is aimed at getting more people in your area to sign up and start sharing your connection so you will have decreased service and Elon will have more $.

I assume you're responding to me. I didn't say my service would change. I implied that service in a cell where some people have other ISP options would improve for the Starlink customers that needed it because they have no other viable options.

And I didn't "praise" a cost cut. You may want to re-read what I said because you've mistook most of it.

 

[BigBlue1]

Let me put this another way. Who here wants to pay more for anything so other families can pay less for what is potentially better service? I have been selling things for 50 plus years. My Dad made me sit through slide presentations when I was 10-15 yrs old. Nowhere in any of my years of sales have I ever heard a salesman say you will pay more so others can pay less. What's next? Internet reparation?

Where are you getting those ideas about what is being said? Those are odd interpretations.

This is simple supply and demand. If demand is high for scarce resources then prices rise and act to reduce demand. That's generally good for the system as a whole. Not good for some individuals, true. But it helps ensure that those who really need the product/service have access to it. Let's take a ridiculous example to make it clear: If Starlink cost $5/mo and everyone signed up because it was cheaper than anything else out there it would be worthless to anyone. Higher cost leads to less demand so the customers who have no other options can get the service - and it is generally worth the extra cost to them because they have no alternatives.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I find it unlikely that any location with a high density of potential users is not going to have other ISP options that are better choices for them. Certainly going to be the exception, not the norm.

A lot of people subscribed to Starlink because it didn't impose a data cap. Didn't to them matter if they had alternate high speed connections.

My only other option for Internet service is a 28.8 kb modem on an old fashioned copper wire. I'm very rural, so there's no DSL, cable, or even WiMax. Not exactly high density, as most properties are over 40 acres in size. Apparently a lot of folks in this area have jumped on Starlink, because we've been wait listed since the very beginning. I put my deposit down back in the beta days (2/2021), and only got the system up in April of last year.

 

[BigBlue1]

A lot of people subscribed to Starlink because it didn't impose a data cap. Didn't to them matter if they had alternate high speed connections.

My only other option for Internet service is a 28.8 kb modem on an old fashioned copper wire. I'm very rural, so there's no DSL, cable, or even WiMax. Not exactly high density, as most properties are over 40 acres in size. Apparently a lot of folks in this area have jumped on Starlink, because we've been wait listed since the very beginning. I put my deposit down back in the beta days (2/2021), and only got the system up in April of last year.

I've been paying attention to SL discussions in forums, Reddit and FB groups for more than the past 2 years and I've not heard any critical mass of people who signed up for the unlimited data. Can't even recall anyone who said that, TBH. It was pretty well predicted that data caps in some fashion would be implemented as it grew. Not saying there weren't people who had other reliable ISP options but choose SL for data volumes, but I can't believe it was "a lot of people". Regardless, any folks will have to evaluate their cost/benefit of SL versus their other options and choose what works for them. At least they still have options. For you and me, with hardly any other ISP, SL is pretty much it. I have LTE but that has more drawbacks.

 

[NoTrespassing]

I've been paying attention to SL discussions in forums, Reddit and FB groups for more than the past 2 years and I've not heard any critical mass of people who signed up for the unlimited data. Can't even recall anyone who said that, TBH. It was pretty well predicted that data caps in some fashion would be implemented as it grew. Not saying there weren't people who had other reliable ISP options but choose SL for data volumes, but I can't believe it was "a lot of people". Regardless, any folks will have to evaluate their cost/benefit of SL versus their other options and choose what works for them. At least they still have options. For you and me, with hardly any other ISP, SL is pretty much it. I have LTE but that has more drawbacks.

I signed up because it was offered with unlimited data, faster speed, and lower latency than our cell phones and whs. We have 145 gigs and usually run out by the end of the cycle. So you can mark me up as one who has said unlimited data is a reason I signed up. I think I put a deposit down in late 2021 or very early 2022 and I still don't have a dish yet. I'm waiting for regular residential service, not best effort.

 

[K5lwq]

My speeds are back down again tonight to 13 mbps. This did not start being noticeable until last week. I am on regular residential but it is acting like I am on best effort. I do not have a better option at all but it is disappointing after having no issues till now.

 

[plowhog]

Starlink customer service is basically non-existent, where I could at least get a HughesNet person on the phone to tell me lies.

lol

 

[KilroyJC]

Some weird stuff has been happening on our StarLink network. Mainly with my wife’s devices (Samsung tablet and MotoZ phone). The devices connect to the network but have no internet access. If I throw the devices into Airplane mode, then enable WiFi, then take it off Airplane, they work. . . For a while, then the Internet drops again.

if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions?

otherwise I am doing a factory reset back to stinky and start all over again. . .

this started shortly after that balloon flew (almost) over our house. I a, sure that had nothing to do with it. . .

 

[Jchonline]

Let me put this another way. Who here wants to pay more for anything so other families can pay less for what is potentially better service? I have been selling things for 50 plus years. My Dad made me sit through slide presentations when I was 10-15 yrs old. Nowhere in any of my years of sales have I ever heard a salesman say you will pay more so others can pay less. What's next? Internet reparation?

But we arent paying more so others can pay less. Others are paying less because the company is giving that area a discount to try and get more users. It has nothing to do with us. We are paying more because of simple supply and demand.

 

[ponytug]

Some weird stuff has been happening on our StarLink network. Mainly with my wife’s devices (Samsung tablet and MotoZ phone). The devices connect to the network but have no internet access. If I throw the devices into Airplane mode, then enable WiFi, then take it off Airplane, they work. . . For a while, then the Internet drops again.

if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions?

otherwise I am doing a factory reset back to stinky and start all over again. . .

this started shortly after that balloon flew (almost) over our house. I a, sure that had nothing to do with it. . .

Starlink has been having issues with a couple of recent software updates. You might want to file a support ticket on it. In the meantime, I would gently and respectfully suggest that your wife just puts them into airplane mode with WiFi only, while around the house. It may be that Samsung is trying to prioritize cellular access, and something changed at your local cell tower (tuning, antenna orientation...) that makes them think that they have service when they don't.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ponytug]

Two questions for all of you who are running your Starlink router in bypass mode;

What are your ping times to your dish (i.e. 100.64.0.1)?

What sort of packet loss do you have to Dishy? (E.g.my 4,000 second ping has a loss of 1.8%)

(Why am I asking? Well, we've been having issues, and I ran a long ping test to three nodes, in order of distance;
Starlink router, 1.2ms ping, 0 packets lost.
Dishy, 48ms, ~2% loss
DNS server, 60ms, 2.2% packet loss.)

In my naive view of the world, there should be 0% loss to Dishy, and the ping time should be closer to 2-2.5ms. Moreover, if the ping time to Dishy is really 48ms, then the ping to the DNS server should be closer to 48+25=73ms+, when you factor in satellite overhead.

So, does a Dishy ping get answered by a Starlink ground station?

Just sign me struggling with issues that don't make sense...

Peter

 

[BigBlue1]

Some weird stuff has been happening on our StarLink network. Mainly with my wife’s devices (Samsung tablet and MotoZ phone). The devices connect to the network but have no internet access. If I throw the devices into Airplane mode, then enable WiFi, then take it off Airplane, they work. . . For a while, then the Internet drops again.

if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions?

otherwise I am doing a factory reset back to stinky and start all over again. . .

this started shortly after that balloon flew (almost) over our house. I a, sure that had nothing to do with it. . .

When this happens it is only to 1 or 2 devices? The rest of the devices on the LAN can connect to the Internet OK at that time? Do those affected devices have decent bars of wifi connection at the time? Does your LAN have only the Starlink router or do you have other wifi devices such as a mesh network?

 

[scootr]

But we arent paying more so others can pay less. Others are paying less because the company is giving that area a discount to try and get more users. It has nothing to do with us. We are paying more because of simple supply and demand.

All companies are in business to make money. They have to make money to survive and it is the generally accepted motivation to put up with the expense and aggravation of producing a product or providing a service. In this case 2 people receive the "same" service. One person (group A) gets a rate hike. The other (group B) gets a reduction so his neighbor will join. How does that not feel like group A is subsidizing group B? Is not the increase in revenue from Group A negating the cost of the reduced revenue from group B?
The answer looks pretty obvious to me.

 

[JethroB]

When I got our notice, the first thing I thought of was that we were subsidising the $$$$ discount TESLA offered on their cars a few months ago.
Patrick

That or paying for Elon’s $44B Twitter purchase fiasco.