Starlink

[RedNeckGeek]

While I agree that a smartphone is more versatile than a landline, the audio quality of them is atrocious. Wife has a (fairly new) I-phone and unless she has a really strong signal, calls are garbled, full of minor little dropouts/glitches, all of which makes intelligibility go right down the dumper.

It all comes down to signal quality. Cellular service here has never been very good, but with the rollout of 5G, Verizon engineers are also tuning up the 4G antennas, and for the first time I've been able to get a cellular signal inside the house here. When I'm speaking to someone else also using a cell phone, the voice quality is very much like being in the same room with them. Most of the time. There are times when I can't even place a call, or incoming calls go direct to voicemail becaue they never even ring. Other times, like you I get little dropouts and I have to ask someone to "say again", or it sounds like they're talking with a mouth full of marbles. I'm a long way from the closest tower, and my weak signal is often dropped when congestion is high. The land line, on the other hand, always works, at least when a wildfire hasn't burned down the wires or a power shutoff hasn't put the radio relay stations out of business. Yes, just because it's called a land line doesn't mean that the phone company hasn't substitted radio relays for long runs of copper in remote locations. Most have battery or generator backups, but when the power outage lasts multiple days, those relays go down and they take the "land line" with them.

 

[Wakey]

While I agree that a smartphone is more versatile than a landline, the audio quality of them is atrocious. Wife has a (fairly new) I-phone and unless she has a really strong signal, calls are garbled, full of minor little dropouts/glitches, all of which makes intelligibility go right down the dumper.

This thread is going in a bunch of different directions so I don’t remember if you were able to use Wi-Fi assist on your cell phone?

For about the past year and a half, it’s the first time since the early 90s that my cell phone was so clear. Like the previous poster said, at times it sounds like you’re in the same room with the caller.

 

[Oaktree]

Yes, just because it's called a land line doesn't mean that the phone company hasn't substitted radio relays for long runs of copper in remote locations. Most have battery or generator backups, but when the power outage lasts multiple days, those relays go down and they take the "land line" with them.

Yeah, and copper may or may not be a big part of the circuit either. My "landline" is thru the cable company and uses their VOIP box. It's fiber to a box on a pole about 1/2 mi. from the house, and coax from there. Even if you still have a phone thru a traditional phone company, anything beyond the proverbial "last mile" is also VOIP over fiber.
Even 60 years ago Ma Bell used microwave links.

 

[JasperFrank]

So Elon say's he will no longer support Starlink in the Ukraine, unless the US government picks up the tab? Huh?......

 

[cqaigy2]

So Elon say's he will no longer support Starlink in the Ukraine, unless the US government picks up the tab? Huh?......

What makes you say that?

 

[JasperFrank]

Heard it on NPR. Read it here. https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/13/politics/elon-musk-spacex-starlink-ukraine

 

[ponytug]

So Elon say's he will no longer support Starlink in the Ukraine, unless the US government picks up the tab? Huh?......

He suggested that the Ukrainians concede territory and agree to neutrality amongst other things, which went over like a lead balloon with the Ukrainians.

Elon has been more erratic than usual lately, in case you hadn't noticed...

 

[JasperFrank]

i don't personally care what Elon does, so long as it doesn't cost ME money. Oh,... wait,... that ship sailed already.

 

[NHBX]

He needs the extra cash to help fund twitter purchase.

 

[kf4uda]

I have been using the “best effort” service now for 2 weeks. It is a keeper for me. I have seen speed tests anywhere from 109 down to single digits. Even in the single digits I have seen very little buffering while streaming. I have downloaded/uploaded files as large as 1.5GB with no problem. Uploading that size file has taken as long as an hour but completed without interruption.

This service shines compared to the Wi-Fi service I had. I was constantly having problems with it. Hopefully Starlink will continue to improve over time.

 

[Torvy]

Went to a wedding last weekend where I learned that my godson-in-law works for Starlink. He's an EE. I knew he worked for SpaceX, but apparently it is in the Star link part of the business. For now, they don't have family discounts.

Hopefully, I can learn more about best practices. It will still be 6 months or so before I need internet out there.

 

[Avenger]

Fun Fact: If you have Starlink RV and finally get Residential, you will need to replace the dish too. Even though they are the exact same, they go off of SN. When my service dropped, I had to climb back up on my roof to swap out the dishes. This might sound easy and a no brainer, but my roof sucks and I have bad knees. They look the same, but dont function the same.

 

[BigBlue1]

That's really stupid. They should be able to swap service plans on a device as easily as moving a phone between plans base on IMEI. Did they make you pay for the replacement dish system or just require you to ship the old one back?

 

[newbury]

but my roof sucks and I have bad knees. They look the same, but dont function the same.

I've the same problem with my knees

 

[Avenger]

That's really stupid. They should be able to swap service plans on a device as easily as moving a phone between plans base on IMEI. Did they make you pay for the replacement dish system or just require you to ship the old one back?

I signed up for Residential back when Starlink was announced. Back when they sent out a blast email to everyone and you had seconds to respond or you're left out. Finally getting my name (address) on the waiting list and paying the $100 deposit, they announced RV. RV was available with no wait, but you could experience slow speeds depending on traffic. I paid full price for RV. It was awesome over what I was using (Viasat).

About two months later I get the notification that Residential is available. I paid full price for better speeds (which are better, not a huge improvement, but better) and turned off RV.

You can turn RV on and off in the app. Its designed to be moved and setup as a temporary service. Once you turn it on, you owe $110/mo (or something) but once you turn it off, you don't owe that amount for the next month.

When I got Residential, I turned off the RV and simply replaced the router seeing that the dish was exactly the same. Everything worked... for a month. I own all the equipment.

 

[3Ts]

I know the cable going into the dish (rectangular one) can be unplugged, but how do you get to it? The cable currently goes into the bottom of a short piece of pole that goes into a ball joint which is embedded in the dish. I can't see where it connects nor how to get the pole/ball joint apart. Can anyone tell me how to do this so I can run the cable thru the wall? Also, what do you use to seal the hole in the wall?

 

[Avenger]

Its a long plug. Simply pull it out. It looks like its apart of the pole.

 

[ponytug]

I know the cable going into the dish (rectangular one) can be unplugged, but how do you get to it? The cable currently goes into the bottom of a short piece of pole that goes into a ball joint which is embedded in the dish. I can't see where it connects nor how to get the pole/ball joint apart. Can anyone tell me how to do this so I can run the cable thru the wall? Also, what do you use to seal the hole in the wall?

The cable unplugs from the open end of the pipe. If you look closely, there is a molded piece that matches a groove on the pipe. You pull gently along the axis of the pipe.

Starlink has a line drawing of it here, on page four.

Good luck. My two cents is not to yank on the cable hard. Use long nose pliers if you have to.

All the best, Peter

 

[3Ts]

Thanks, I got it out. Looks like a 1" hole is needed to pass thru the wall. Any suggestions on how to seal the hole in the wall?

 

[John_Mc]

Thanks, I got it out. Looks like a 1" hole is needed to pass thru the wall. Any suggestions on how to seal the hole in the wall?

Starlink sells an installation kit - or at least they did back when I was installing mine. Includes an extra long drill bit, a plastic "grommet" of sorts (maybe two of them, on for outside and one for inside of the wall I can't recall and am not home now to look). Onec eI had the cable through, I shot expanding foam into the hole prior to placing the grommets, then a bit of silicone caulk around the edges of the grommet and in the center where the cable passes through to make sure things were sealed up.