Starlink Best Efforts

[TheMan419]

I thought I would start a new thread on this so as not to overwhelm the current Starlink thread.

I just got the email from SL. They had been projecting late 2022 for me to have SL available. That has now slipped to "mid-2023". However I am being offered their "Best effort" plan. It seems like it is the same as the RV plan, but I get the lower residential price, and when residential unthrottled is available in my area I can convert without having to buy a new dish and set up a new account. The other advantage is I can pause the service if I want to.

Dish cost is like $700 these days.

I currently have a cell/hotspot plan. It is through AT&T. Cost is about $75/mon. It is their business plan and unlimited data. However they say in their terms of use that you are not to stream TV. Of course 90% of my data use is streaming TV. They have not shut me down yet.

The down side to this connection is it is slow. We are lucky to get 20MBS down and 10 up. Usually more like 10 down and 5 up. You can stream TV on it and have a zoom call on it. But streaming 2 tv's is dicey. Streaming 1 tv and a zoom call is tolerable.

Anyone using best efforts? Any idea what kind of speeds I would be looking at?

I am in northern Indiana if that makes a difference.

 

[cjoffutt]

Have had my 'best effort' plan up and running for almost a month now. Similar location, North Central IN.
It'll stream 2 devices at once pretty easily.

As for speeds, honestly it's all over the place. 15 MBS one minute, 180 MBS the next. Early mornings ~6 AM are the best speeds. Usually holding around 150+ then. Luckily where we have the dish mounted I'm only at 1.5% obstructions so that certainly helps.

The only issue I've had is download Xbox Games via XBox Live. First real test of SL we did was do a console update and a couple game updates. Those worked fine and were a total of 100 gigs or so, downloaded all over the night. But went to download a full game Friday that was 75 gigs, it's still not finished. Not sure of why as speeds are fine, streaming is fine. Only thing I can guess is it's due to being a full game with tons of tiny files versus larger files where it can hold a higher speed. Tried wireless/wired connection as well as SL router/TP Link router and doesn't make a difference in speeds.

 

[JM7500]

We've had the SL on Best Effort for 6 weeks. It was a big upgrade from using my ATT phone as a hot spot. SL normally runs 15-25 MBS, but has been as high as 175 MBS and down to 8 MBS. We've got 2 laptops, 2 pads, Dish network and a couple of other things. No problems with video conferences for work while my wife streams TV and daughter is on a pad. SL says mid 2023 for full service, but there's enough speed for us like it is.

We are in southern middle TN.

 

[TheMan419]

Have had my 'best effort' plan up and running for almost a month now. Similar location, North Central IN.
It'll stream 2 devices at once pretty easily.

As for speeds, honestly it's all over the place. 15 MBS one minute, 180 MBS the next. Early mornings ~6 AM are the best speeds. Usually holding around 150+ then. Luckily where we have the dish mounted I'm only at 1.5% obstructions so that certainly helps.

The only issue I've had is download Xbox Games via XBox Live. First real test of SL we did was do a console update and a couple game updates. Those worked fine and were a total of 100 gigs or so, downloaded all over the night. But went to download a full game Friday that was 75 gigs, it's still not finished. Not sure of why as speeds are fine, streaming is fine. Only thing I can guess is it's due to being a full game with tons of tiny files versus larger files where it can hold a higher speed. Tried wireless/wired connection as well as SL router/TP Link router and doesn't make a difference in speeds.

I am just outside of South Bend so likely a very similar location. Since the dish is useable once we get full residential service it makes me a bit less nervous about spending that kind of money on the dish. It will be useful eventually. I have a barn I can plant the dish on that will give me very low obstruction as well. Or I could just plant it on a pole in an area with virtually no obstruction as well.

Thankfully we are having dinner this weekend with a good friend who is a tech guru. So I will be asking him lots of questions

 

[SwingOak]

I was in with a deposit on the first day of pre-order, and availability kept getting pushed back, and now again to "mid 2023" so when I got the "best offer" deal I took it. Speeds are all over the place, not consistent, and it drops out a lot. But, it is significantly better than the DSL service I have and mobile service is generally poor out here in the country too. If it's especially bad, I fall back on an AT&T hotspot but for the most part, Starlink has been OK, just not great, and not consistent.

 

[MossRoad]

I am just outside of South Bend so likely a very similar location. Since the dish is useable once we get full residential service it makes me a bit less nervous about spending that kind of money on the dish. It will be useful eventually. I have a barn I can plant the dish on that will give me very low obstruction as well. Or I could just plant it on a pole in an area with virtually no obstruction as well.

Thankfully we are having dinner this weekend with a good friend who is a tech guru. So I will be asking him lots of questions

You probably know this, but just in case, make it easily accessible for snow removal from ground level.

 

[TheMan419]

You probably know this, but just in case, make it easily accessible for snow removal from ground level.

It actually has a pretty good snow/ice melt feature built in to it! But yes that will be a consideration in siting the dish. When we had Dish Network it was on a pole on the ground so the dish was 5 feet high. Sometimes you had to take a broom out there and clean it off.

 

[kf4uda]

I am on week 3 of the "best effort" service. As others have stated the speeds are all over the place but has always been usable to stream TV or surf the web with. I have had no outages since installing. It is much better than the wifi service that we had. I was constantly chasing it to see why it wasn't working.

 

[cjoffutt]

You probably know this, but just in case, make it easily accessible for snow removal from ground level.

If the built in heater fails and it ices over, mines staying that way until the sun melts it off. It's currently mounted on the eve of the second story roofline by the chimney chase. No way I'm climbing up there in the middle of winter. I hate being up there on a sunny summer afternoon.

 

[cjoffutt]

I am just outside of South Bend so likely a very similar location.

If you're this close to me, you shouldn't get it. It won't work at all.



There, that should free up bandwidth for me!!

 

[TheMan419]

If you're this close to me, you shouldn't get it. It won't work at all.



There, that should free up bandwidth for me!!

You are probably the reason full roll out has been pushed back to "mid-2023"..... close out your account so there is room for me!

 

[KilroyJC]

I ordered my StarLink on January 1st, and received it on January 4th.

2022 and 2023, respectively. . .

OF COURSE my seasonal job started on January 2nd, and OF COURSE this weekend has been rained out, but it MIGHT be stopping in about 45 minutes.

I have to place the antenna atop a 22’ antenna mast to get sufficient visibility of the sky. This is only temporary, until I purchase some scaffolding and can mount in on the end of our peaked roof (10/12 pitch) eave (25 feet up).

So it will likely be a couple more days before I can give a report on how Best Effort works here in The Smoky Mountains.

Current snapshot of our DSL:

 

[ponytug]

Good luck. What do the obstructions look like on the app in the current location?

Congratulations on finally getting Starlink!

All the best, Peter

 

[KilroyJC]

Good luck. What do the obstructions look like on the app in the current location?

Congratulations on finally getting Starlink!

All the best, Peter

Well, where my and tennis is going to go is 20+ feet up, so I really cannot get a good obstruction scan. But by moving around 80’ away from the house and up a bit of a slope, I can dummy up an approximation and it isn’t bad. . . “You could expect loss every 11 minutes” and I whine when it is on the post it will be even less obstructed. and as I am reading through all the old posts from the last 8 months, I do see the one guy who is in the hole in the pine trees having good results. So I am hopeful. . .

if it had arrived a week earlier I would have had good weather and no job yet and it would be up and running

Back to reading the thread - thank you for checking back with me!

 

[Tropical Jack]

After waiting for over a year, I was tempted by the “best efforts” offer. Then I spoke to a neighbor who signed up, and he was happy with the results. So we took the plunge. We are in the mountains in Western North Carolina. I had to wait for the weather to cooperate to mount on an eave about 30’ up where I was standing on a metal roof.

We have had it installed for 10 days now. I cannot speak for other locations, but I am very pleased with our installation. Our old speeds with Frontier DSL were about 2.4 download and .75 upload. Our Starlink speeds are 50-200 download, and 5-12 upload. Live streaming has had no interruptions whatsoever so far. We are using it for our cell phones as well; and have had real good results with Wi-Fi calling. At $110/month, I consider it a bargain compared to Frontier’s $67/ month.

Jack

 

[scootr]

If you're this close to me, you shouldn't get it. It won't work at all.



There, that should free up bandwidth for me!!

True that. Neighbor friend was complaining about their service and I almost recommended the Starlink solution but then I considered it might work well for them and they would tell their friends and their friends would tell their friends and so on until there would be no service left for me... so yeah, I'm not spreading the word.

 

[cqaigy2]

 

[Alien]

My Starlink is pretty steady with UL and DL. Probably not as many subscribers in OZ as USA.

 

[ernemats]

Do you have to get an invitation from Starlink to get the best effort?

 

[ponytug]

Do you have to get an invitation from Starlink to get the best effort?

I think all you have to do is enter your address at Starlink.com, and they will tell you what is on offer. If they don't offer you much and you have an address that doesn't align well with the actual house, consider moving the pin on the map. It may alter which "cell" you are in and whether it is active.

All the best,

Peter