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!!