Starlink

[downsizingnow48]

On obstructions. Try:

Starlink > support > advanced > debug

Near the bottom of the debug page is two sets of 12 lines each. Each line stands for a 30 degree segment of the field of view. The line is blank if there is no obstruction. There are numbers on the line if there is an obstruction. I dunno what the numbers mean, but it is an accurate way to see where obstructions are located. I found this helpful to identify obstructing trees in the 210 - 240 degree segment that I assumed were far enough way to be OK.

 

[BigBlue1]

On obstructions. Try:

Starlink > support > advanced > debug

Near the bottom of the debug page is two sets of 12 lines each. Each line stands for a 30 degree segment of the field of view. The line is blank if there is no obstruction. There are numbers on the line if there is an obstruction. I dunno what the numbers mean, but it is an accurate way to see where obstructions are located. I found this helpful to identify obstructing trees in the 210 - 240 degree segment that I assumed were far enough way to be OK.

Interesting. Did not realize any of that was available. How do you know from the list what direction any of the numbers represent? Mine is all '0' at this point, but I may move the dish back just to check things.

Rob

 

[downsizingnow48]

I also think the power supply is too hot. I think it is hot enough to harm wood finishes. So I arranged an elevated location with full air flow.

 

[BigBlue1]

It's likely their Support will improve as they migrate from Beta to Business. At the present time their primary mission is creating a complex system that works. That requires employees who are engineering oriented rather than customer oriented.

I'm sure that will be true.

 

[downsizingnow48]

I think the first segment is 0-30 degrees starting where the dish is pointing ie north in my case. Then clockwise from there. That worked for me when I was trying to figure out the obstructions.

There is no documentation I could find on the debug page, but some of the reddit group users puzzle out this stuff.

 

[BigBlue1]

On obstructions. Try:

Starlink > support > advanced > debug

Near the bottom of the debug page is two sets of 12 lines each. Each line stands for a 30 degree segment of the field of view. The line is blank if there is no obstruction. There are numbers on the line if there is an obstruction. I dunno what the numbers mean, but it is an accurate way to see where obstructions are located. I found this helpful to identify obstructing trees in the 210 - 240 degree segment that I assumed were far enough way to be OK.

Some nice info there. Ping drop rate, live latency measurement, GPS location, info on some error conditions, downlink and uplink throughput rates. Thanks for the pointer.

Rob

 

[Blue Mule]

Monthly fees plus equipment charges effectively make this a $150/month deal in the first 12 months, and $100/month after that assuming they don't jack up the rates like cable companies do.

Compare that to the new T-Mobile ISP service, which I ordered in December at $50/month, with no data caps, no equipment charges, a no price change guarantee, and it relies on a more established and reliable cellular tower network.

I'm not sure that Starlink is going to be the amazing thing people were told.

 

[cqaigy2]

Monthly fees plus equipment charges effectively make this a $150/month deal in the first 12 months, and $100/month after that assuming they don't jack up the rates like cable companies do.

Compare that to the new T-Mobile ISP service, which I ordered in December at $50/month, with no data caps, no equipment charges, a no price change guarantee, and it relies on a more established and reliable cellular tower network.

I'm not sure that Starlink is going to be the amazing thing people were told.

I don't get anywhere near your speeds with any of the wireless carriers i've tried out.

 

[BigBlue1]

Monthly fees plus equipment charges effectively make this a $150/month deal in the first 12 months, and $100/month after that assuming they don't jack up the rates like cable companies do.

Compare that to the new T-Mobile ISP service, which I ordered in December at $50/month, with no data caps, no equipment charges, a no price change guarantee, and it relies on a more established and reliable cellular tower network.

I'm not sure that Starlink is going to be the amazing thing people were told.

Everyone has different situations that make certain features or offerings better for them. If you are close enough to T-Mobile cell network to reliably get the speeds you need then that is a pretty good solution for you. Can you get 150Mb/s from it? I know I've been using the similar LTE offering from AT&T for a few years now and my speeds very rarely get over 70Mb/s. Still fine for my needs, and at $20/mo for the Mobley plan it has worked well. But I'm not a T-Mobile customer so I'm sure their plan costs more than $50/mo if you don't have cell lines through them. The main issue that gives me pause with the AT&T plan is the fact that it is not truly unlimited and we blow far past the data 'limits' each month so if they ever start enforcing things it will be a problem. And occasionally my LTE service can be be disrupted.

Living in a rural area and needing Internet for two full-time jobs in our household I'll always have two ISP offerings. An LTE cellular plan and Starlink will be great for my needs.

Rob

 

[deserteagle71]

it relies on a more established and reliable cellular tower network.

I'm not sure that Starlink is going to be the amazing thing people were told.

Again, depends on where you live.

I just went through 18 hours of no service of any kind - phones, TV, internet - everything went down, and that's how long it took for the problem to be fixed. Not just me - this whole area of northern Nevada was down because of some kind of failure somewhere. Stores could not accept credit cards because none of their systems worked! What a tremendous vulnerability our systems are, just waiting to be exploited!

Can't wait for the Starlink service to be fully functional. At least it should be an alternative to the flawed system we already have.

 

[ponytug]

I may have missed it, but has anyone in the Deep South received the equipment. Say below a line south of Tennessee?

The current line is about 37N. Best to check over on Reddit.

All the best, Peter

 

[shooterdon]

Monthly fees plus equipment charges effectively make this a $150/month deal in the first 12 months, and $100/month after that assuming they don't jack up the rates like cable companies do.

Compare that to the new T-Mobile ISP service, which I ordered in December at $50/month, with no data caps, no equipment charges, a no price change guarantee, and it relies on a more established and reliable cellular tower network.

I'm not sure that Starlink is going to be the amazing thing people were told.

I hope there are 100’s of thousands like you. Should make Starlink even better for those who have no other choice.

I run two simm cards in my JetPack and get about 20 days of internet over cell. We cannot stream movies or watch much video.

 

[Rebeldad1]

Anybody in the Pacific NW get this yet?

 

[Justin Smith]

One of our customers bought a Starlink into our shop today and I measured all the relevant dimensions to enable it to be installed on a pole without using the pants Starlink OE pole adapter :

One dimension I forgot to get was the internal diameter of the pole, and if it stays the same past the collar. That may be relevant if it could be sleeved onto a 1.25" pole. Obviously the "sprung pins" would have to be removed, but they shouldn.t be used anyway in my view. Whoever heard of a satellite dish being held onto its pole by sprung pins, other than for a caravan system which wouldn't be out in all winds and weathers anyway.

 

[cqaigy2]

Anybody in the Pacific NW get this yet?

I was told about someone that knows somebody that heard about a person. Just joking, i do know somebody that got it awhile back, he said it was working really good for him. In the Olympia WA area. He might have gotten in early as part of Life/Safety thing, he works supporting 911 center.

 

[Oaktree]

Monthly fees plus equipment charges effectively make this a $150/month deal in the first 12 months, and $100/month after that assuming they don't jack up the rates like cable companies do.

Compare that to the new T-Mobile ISP service, which I ordered in December at $50/month, with no data caps, no equipment charges, a no price change guarantee, and it relies on a more established and reliable cellular tower network.

I'm not sure that Starlink is going to be the amazing thing people were told.

Maybe, maybe not. Your system depends on a reasonably good cell signal and that's not a given in rural America. How long is your "no price change guarantee" good for, and what loopholes are there in it? No company can guarantee a price forever.
We'll see how Starlink works once there are more than a handful of users. The price is certainly an obstacle for widespread acceptance.

 

[downsizingnow48]

I got a Roku gizmo and set it up so my wife can watch her programs using the satellite feed. It has been working fine for several days now. Over the last 12 hours, the starlink app shows 3 - 4 minutes of downtime each for obstructions, and for no satellite in view, and for beta downtime. Evidently that is not enough to cause a problem for her streaming programs. So I am leaving the dish where it is, even though there is some obstruction still showing on the debug page.

Right now the cable comes in through a window. But since the setup is working OK, the next step is to bury the cable using 1" ID non metallic liquid-tight flexible conduit and bring it into the house for a permanent hookup.

 

[John_Mc]

it relies on a more established and reliable cellular tower network.

I'm not sure that Starlink is going to be the amazing thing people were told.

There is no "established and reliable cellular tower network" for those of us living in the boondocks where most of the time we can not make or receive a basic phone call without moving to a certain spot in the house (and then we still risk having the call dropped). So that is simply not an option for us.

There are already a number of comments in this thread that there are cheaper, and often better alternatives out there if they are available in your area. Our only other "high speed" option is a DSL line rated at 7 Mbps down / 1 Mbps up which seldom achieves those speeds, and reularly drops out when it rains or the wind blows at anything over a stiff breeze. When it goes down, it's often down until the service tech comes out and figures out which piece of corroded junk along the 2.5 mile run from where the fiber stops to our house is the culprit this time. (We're on a first name basis with the repair techs in our area.)

In contrast, when we experience a disruption on Starlink, it's usually a couple of seconds, and on rare occasions 15 - 30 seconds. Then it's back up and running normally. We were warned to expect this during the beta test period before we signed up (and some of this is due to the fact that the dish is temporarily sitting on a picnic table in our side yard with a little bit of its critical view obstructed).

For us, it already is "the amazing thing we were told". My kids can do their online schooling, and I don't have to drive 2 miles to a public high speed WiFi spot if I have a business meeting at the same time as their school work. I am certainly looking forward to when they get further along in their satellite launches and reduce the disruptions even further. However, I'm not totally blinded by the service: when fiber optic or cable finally reaches us (probably years away), I'll consider switching based on the relative reliability and value at that time.

 

[IXLR8]

For us, it already is "the amazing thing we were told". My kids can do their online schooling, and I don't have to drive 2 miles to a public high speed WiFi spot if I have a business meeting at the same time as their school work. I am certainly looking forward to when they get further along in their satellite launches and reduce the disruptions even further. However, I'm not totally blinded by the service: when fiber optic or cable finally reaches us (probably years away), I'll consider switching based on the relative reliability and value at that time.

I just bought our retirement home and found out that there is fiber optic running on our road, but it is not connected to the house. The provider wants $150/month for 100Mps download speed. This is the max speed they offer, with the fiber optic cable run to the house. I thought that speed was slow for FO cable. Then I got the quote for installing the cable to the house. Granted my driveway is fairly long, but the quote was $6750.00 to get the cable from the street to my house.
Starlink is looking better and better to me.

 

[rekees4300]

I just bought our retirement home and found out that there is fiber optic running on our road, but it is not connected to the house. The provider wants $150/month for 100Mps download speed. This is the max speed they offer, with the fiber optic cable run to the house. I thought that speed was slow for FO cable. Then I got the quote for installing the cable to the house. Granted my driveway is fairly long, but the quote was $6750.00 to get the cable from the street to my house.
Starlink is looking better and better to me.

That's why fiber optic cable is a rarity in rural areas.