Starlink

[kcflhrc]

I was patient enough when I paid my deposit under the idea Starlink would make good on their 4 month estimated wait time. That estimate has now been extended twice and I've been waiting over a year. Had they told me it would be that long in the first place, I wouldn't have signed up.

Patience and good ethics are two different things. As you say, I will likely be satisfied once I get the service but the resentment will still be around awhile. Now that I have 5G wireless internet, it certainly will figure in my decision whether or not to stay with Starlink.

If you are truly seeing 5G Speeds why in the world would you go with StarLink?

 

[LouNY]

Must be I have a different attitude then many, I paid my deposit well over a year ago actually Nov of 2020.
I got the email a couple of months ago that I could confirm that I was still interested and fork over the $499
for equpment and pat a $99 monthly rate.
So I did I am glad that I did, I do get some short interruptions at times but the connection is normally great.
After I paid that initial deposit I just waited with no firm date, initially it was to be mid 21, then late 21, then early 22
right after I got the email pushing it back to early 22 I got the email that I was eligble to get it then.
But I wasn't getting all antsy and complaining that it was progressing fast enough, nothing I could do was going to
change anything, so don't worry about it.

 

[BigBlue1]

Wow, no ^^^ ill informed judgement^^^ there at all is there?

I don't have, need, nor am I signed up to subscribe to Starlink.
My statement is based on hearing and reading an inordinate number of stores like this.
Some Starlink customers say SpaceX's customer service is 'non-existent' nearly 1 year after paying a $100 deposit and receiving no updates
and even in this very thread, below is just one of many that Starlink hasn't delivered to...
Post in thread 'Starlink' Starlink

So customer service challenges mean the company 'delivered very little'?? Odd way to look at things. The customer service complaints have been mainly during the last month. No, that's not a good thing. But for the prior year they have been very good on customer service.

"My statement is based on [hearsay]"

That right their pretty much confirms my comment about ill-informed decision.

People dropping in to make blanket disparaging statements about something, especially with no personal involvement, are dubious and I'm going to call that out for what it is. It's pretty well informed judgement, actually... I've been around the Internet a few decades and have seen plenty.

 

[BigBlue1]

For every satisfied Starlink customer, there are 10 on the paid wait list, some for more than a year. It's going to take a while for that resentment to ease, if and when I ever get the service.

Starlink should not have "dangled the carrot" and taken money from people, knowing full well their service would not be available for a year or more.

"Knowing full well their service would not be available"?? Perhaps you missed that our country has been faced with huge supply chain disruptions this past year that couldn't have been predicted, specifically related to computer chips of which Starlink makes a lot of use of? Plus, Starlink faced rocket launch issues that were not planned as well. Yes, that has led to a lot of disappointment but you can't say they "took peoples' money knowing full well". Facts are not on your side.

 

[BigBlue1]

It was made available to a select few in my area.

That's what prompted me to sign up.

That and Starlinks eMail invite.

If it was a capacity issue, the invite should never have been sent. IMHO.

Now this premium announcement is more of a punch in the gut.

Not impressed, but then I have zero choices.

There are two types of e-mails Starlink sends out to potential customers. One is letting you know you can reserve a place in line in your cell via a deposit. The other is notification that service is available in your area (cell). The latter goes out to anyone who signed up to be notified and if you don't act before someone else does that spot gets taken. For the latter the service WAS available when they sent it. That's the scenario that led to me getting signed up a year ago.

There is a lot of misunderstanding of how things are being done by Starlink. Having paid attention enough to understand it I think they are doing things quite well for a brand new startup service with intense infrastructure requirements. If they would have just signed up every customer who wanted in the service would have been crap and the company would have crashed and burned.

 

[BigBlue1]

I was patient enough when I paid my deposit under the idea Starlink would make good on their 4 month estimated wait time. That estimate has now been extended twice and I've been waiting over a year. Had they told me it would be that long in the first place, I wouldn't have signed up.

Patience and good ethics are two different things. As you say, I will likely be satisfied once I get the service but the resentment will still be around awhile. Now that I have 5G wireless internet, it certainly will figure in my decision whether or not to stay with Starlink.

You can get your deposit back any time you'd like.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Who is your LTE carrier?

I have another bad story with one vendor.

And falling back to copper is not an option either. LOL.

Verizon.

I'm getting 42 down & 8 up. It isn't true 5G speed due to the distance to the tower but more than enough for my family. It's also $10/mo less than I was paying for crappy DSL and half what I will be paying when and if I get Starlink.

T-Mobile also has 5G in my area for the same price. I may try that service and keep the one that's faster.

The only question I have is how much speed will I need in the future? 42/8 is fine for us now but with more and more services being made available requiring bandwidth, will it be enough? I suppose Starlink could be a future solution.

 

[bdhsfz6]

"Knowing full well their service would not be available"?? Perhaps you missed that our country has been faced with huge supply chain disruptions this past year that couldn't have been predicted, specifically related to computer chips of which Starlink makes a lot of use of? Plus, Starlink faced rocket launch issues that were not planned as well. Yes, that has led to a lot of disappointment but you can't say they "took peoples' money knowing full well". Facts are not on your side.

Perhaps a poor choice of words but it would be interesting to know the wait time customers actually had before the supply issues and how many received the service on time.

 

[bdhsfz6]

If you are truly seeing 5G Speeds why in the world would you go with StarLink?

Due to the distance from the nearest tower, the 42/8 speed I'm getting is closer to 4G than 5G. If I were getting true 5G, I would indeed cancel Starlink and get my deposit back.

 

[PILOON]

We have never had land line phone service out here. First phone - Motorola Bag Phone - ATT service. Not too expensive - limited minutes - fairly good reception. Then along came digital. Phones got tiny and service was spotty & expensive. Now I have this dam Apple iPhone XR. It will be long out of date by the time I figure it out. At least, I can make/receive phone calls on this "miracle of modern science".

My earlier cell phone was analogue and service was excellent in my area.
Then they forced me to go digital* and service dropped drastically to the point that we all knew where to have to park and make a call.
We are supposed to soon have high speed service via fiber optics and naturally they are pushing for 'bundle' service pricing but I wonder how if that might improve cell service.
As it is I presently need land line for reliable phone, cell for 'out and about' plus Satellite for TV and that involves 3 different providers! Costly!

*only benefit was they had to provide me (and my wife) a free digital phone to keep us.
Then we lose land line service during extended outages as the batteries run out of juice.