Starlink

[BigBlue1]

Obstructions will cause dropouts, and therefore speed degradation; how long will depend on the size and thickness of the obstruction. Obviously, higher is better, and locating the antenna so that it "looks" across the open space to the northeast from the southwest corner is likely to do the best, unless his house has a high roof line.

The app works great at finding obstructions, and for choosing a site. Your neighbor can use the app without an account.

My two cents for your neighbor is to get Starlink, and if obstructions turn out to be an issue, to go for a ham radio type tower (e.g. Rohn). With people pulling down their broadcast TV antennas, you can often find an inexpensive one used via a local ham radio group or Craigslist. I have seen them free for the disassembly around here. If your neighbor is lucky, he has exposed bedrock and can bolt the antenna to rock.

All the best,

Peter

This. ^^

Whether the dropouts from the obstructions will meaningfully impact use is dependent upon the type of Internet use. Some connectivity is resilient to drops. If you're loading web pages it may just stop loading for a brief time. If you're doing something that can buffer, like streaming video, then it may not cause much noticeable disruption. But if you do something like WebEx/Teams/Zoom meetings which rely on continual data transfer then it may be very disruptive to the audio and video.

 

[ponytug]

Probably in a week we'll do a 12 hour test re: the obstructions.

His roof ridge is probably 20', so getting on that is appealing. 12/12 pitch- so that adds some excitement around trying to get a SL antenna on that for a temporary test.

He has high voltage lines directly over where I set the SL antenna for yesterday's test. The roof ridge is nearby. A tower using the house for extra bracing at the ridge would seem opportune except it violates the safety / distance rule for a tower vs power lines. I'll check for another tower location that would work?

fyi I know SL at my property is partially obstructed by a large cedar tree. Surprisingly, even with obstruction, SL reports no problem with communication.

Not having power lines in the field of view would be better, but you play the cards that you are dealt.

I would definitely follow the height/distance rules for power lines! So, yes, think about other locations. Bracing to a house doesn't buy you a lot in my opinion as the antenna base still needs to be pretty substantial, so I wouldn't worry about putting the antenna at another site. When you put in an antenna, in most jurisdictions, you also have to consider setbacks from property lines as well, as special set backs from power lines. (I think the logic is to avoid damage to the neighboring property should the antenna fail, and fall.)

All the best,

Peter

 

[plowhog]

Very helpful input. He ... lusts ... after nuking his slow DSL (2-4MB), ATT land line, and DirecTV. Almost same circumstances as me (prior to SL) although I have now made the leap to SL, using wifi calling, and Hulu streaming-- although without obstructions.

My new concern is inadequate testing of obstructions/drop outs. Without some practical experience using wifi calling, streaming, etc. the SL provided statistics might not be meaningful enough to make a purchase decision.

I'm loaning out my unit for testing, but don't want to loan it out for days on end.

 

[BigBlue1]

Not having power lines in the field of view would be better, but you play the cards that you are dealt.

I would definitely follow the height/distance rules for power lines! So, yes, think about other locations. Bracing to a house doesn't buy you a lot in my opinion as the antenna base still needs to be pretty substantial, so I wouldn't worry about putting the antenna at another site. When you put in an antenna, in most jurisdictions, you also have to consider setbacks from property lines as well, as special set backs from power lines. (I think the logic is to avoid damage to the neighboring property should the antenna fail, and fall.)

All the best,

Peter

Actually, bracketing an antenna mast to a building really does provide good support. I looked into a 50' mast I would have needed with a local Internet company that uses point-to-point wireless and the difference in antenna mast base was dramatic between a bracketed and a freestanding setup. Like an order of magnitude more concrete.

 

[K5lwq]

Very helpful input. He ... lusts ... after nuking his slow DSL (2-4MB), ATT land line, and DirecTV. Almost same circumstances as me (prior to SL) although I have now made the leap to SL, using wifi calling, and Hulu streaming-- although without obstructions.

My new concern is inadequate testing of obstructions/drop outs. Without some practical experience using wifi calling, streaming, etc. the SL provided statistics might not be meaningful enough to make a purchase decision.

I'm loaning out my unit for testing, but don't want to loan it out for days on end.

Very cool that you are willing to help him with some real world testing. Even with the obstructions I had and occasional network issues I have, it is way more reliable and faster than what I had. It has had a total of 16 seconds of outages in the past 12 hours.

Before, using a point to point connection, I would get speeds on a good day of 16 Mbps down and 2 Mbps up. But it would slow to less than 1 Mbps down most days. Many days it would just not connect at all. I had it for about 5 years and it was out more than it worked. Now I have seen as high as 174 Mbps down and 18 Mbps up. So far, if the app did not tell us we had outages, I would never know. Truthfully, even when I had a lot of blockage I would not have known without the app. Speeds were just slower but still way faster than anything we have ever had.

 

[JethroB]

I sent an email to StarLink concerning my consistent outages during even modest rain showers. Here is their reply received about 5 days later. Still beats the DSL alternative. I hope the outages will decrease as more birds go up. I am on the very fringe of the Availability area.

 

[ponytug]

@JethroB Can you clarify what you mean by being "on the very fringe of the Availability area."?

All the best,

Peter

 

[JethroB]

@JethroB Can you clarify what you mean by being "on the very fringe of the Availability area."?

All the best,

Peter

A few months ago I remember seeing a coverage map that I ‘thought’ showed all cells with active ‘live’ coverage, not just availability or waitlist. That map showed me being south of a active/covered/live cell by 10-12 miles. If true then maybe that’s why I lose service during even modest rain showers. Just guessing.

Starlink

High-speed internet. Available almost anywhere on Earth.

www.starlink.com

 

[ponytug]

A few months ago I remember seeing a coverage map that I ‘thought’ showed all cells with active ‘live’ coverage, not just availability or waitlist. That map showed me being south of a active/covered/live cell by 10-12 miles. If true then maybe that’s why I lose service during even modest rain showers. Just guessing.

Starlink

High-speed internet. Available almost anywhere on Earth.

www.starlink.com

Thanks for clarifying. That alone would explain your coverage issues, though in the past Starlink wouldn't ship equipment to areas not yet "live". I don't understand the pattern to cells not yet "live", but they seem to exist. Does Starlink know that your antenna is where it is?

I asked originally because it should take a lot more than modest rain to cause interference at the 12GHz band Starlink is using.

I hope that your service improves.

All the best,

Peter

 

[JethroB]

Thanks for clarifying. That alone would explain your coverage issues, though in the past Starlink wouldn't ship equipment to areas not yet "live". I don't understand the pattern to cells not yet "live", but they seem to exist. Does Starlink know that your antenna is where it is?

I asked originally because it should take a lot more than modest rain to cause interference at the 12GHz band Starlink is using.

I hope that your service improves.

All the best,

Peter

Yes they know my location. See my post 2696 above for Starlinks reply to my rain issue.