Starlink

[ultrarunner]

I was on the Starlink waiting list for a long time but saw that Verizon's cellular ISP was on the way when my name came up so passed on Starlink.
Given that I have ~decent~ cellular at home - I'd been using my phone's hotspot for years for internet - I hoped the vzw router would do well.
My experience is that it's just barely less reliable than my old T1 line was, I consistently get 250+Mbps with 30-40ms pings, at it costs me $35/mo - no install or startup costs.

I'm using a Verizon cube that is not suppose to work here and borrowed from the seasonal Christmas Tree booth.

I get 9.5 Mbps but it's a great improvement over nothing or 1.2 from the cell when the cell works.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I'm using a Verizon cube that is not suppose to work here and borrowed from the seasonal Christmas Tree booth.

I get 9.5 Mbps but it's a great improvement over nothing or 1.2 from the cell when the cell works.

Verizon often tells potential customers that cellular internet (cube) service isn't available, even though it actually is. This is done to limit the number of subscribers in a given area in order to maintain bandwidth.

I have the service but my neighbor was told it wasn't available. The service could become available as network capacity improves, so keep checking every few months or so.

 

[ning]

I'm using a Verizon cube that is not suppose to work here and borrowed from the seasonal Christmas Tree booth.

I get 9.5 Mbps but it's a great improvement over nothing or 1.2 from the cell when the cell works.

I would've killed for 9.5Mbps once... in fact just three years ago I was happy with a consistent 14Mbps (as long as I'm not screwing around on the interwebs, my work really doesn't need a lot as it's mostly text-based). I have to admit it's fun being about to download videos in less than a second and send them on to friends & family just as quickly, but it's hardly mission-critical...

If you want more from the cube, I found this: https://www.waveform.com/a/b/guides/hotspots/verizon-arc-xci55ax
Looks pretty straightforward and I've read anecdotes that people are going from 5->50Mbps. Does require a gentle touch inside the cube and a $400 antenna but given that you can stream video quite nicely at 50Mbps and not really at 5, it could be a game-changer for some.

 

[Stimw]

I just signed up for Starlink last week and got my Residential Kit Monday.
It took less than one hour to hook up and be working including drilling a 3/4" hole in the wall. The wire has a molded plug that can't be removed.
The residential price is $349.00 with a $20. shipping and tax. I own the equipment so there is no other cost. The service costs $120.00 a month (I'm sure there is tax on that, haven't been billed for the service yet)
I was using Verizon Jetpack with 100 gig of data. I also have Sling TV which uses 2 gigs an hour so it didn't go far. With Verizon I had a lot of Buffering but now just a second or two and usually on commercials!
So far I am happy with it and can now watch my favorite TV shows! I also use my computer which is very fast.

 

[grsthegreat]

They raised the price, i paid $299 2 months ago.

 

[BigBlue1]

They raised the price, i paid $299 2 months ago.

Cost was $500+ in 2021. Today's pricing is great.

 

[NoTrespassing]

I was thinking taxes and fees are included in the $120/month

 

[JethroB]

I was thinking taxes and fees are included in the $120/month

My StarLink is a flat $120/month. The phone company just completed fiber to my area so I may consider that soon @ $50/month.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Cost was $500+ in 2021. Today's pricing is great.

System was $650 when I got it.

 

[ultrarunner]

I would've killed for 9.5Mbps once... in fact just three years ago I was happy with a consistent 14Mbps (as long as I'm not screwing around on the interwebs, my work really doesn't need a lot as it's mostly text-based). I have to admit it's fun being about to download videos in less than a second and send them on to friends & family just as quickly, but it's hardly mission-critical...

If you want more from the cube, I found this: https://www.waveform.com/a/b/guides/hotspots/verizon-arc-xci55ax
Looks pretty straightforward and I've read anecdotes that people are going from 5->50Mbps. Does require a gentle touch inside the cube and a $400 antenna but given that you can stream video quite nicely at 50Mbps and not really at 5, it could be a game-changer for some.

Always something new and improved...

With Christmas tree season fast approaching the cube will have to go back...

I never did get creative as in trying different locations as I was ok with the 9.5

Not a lot of new investment in Oakland as far as cell towers is my guess...

 

[grsthegreat]

Id jump on fiber if it ever comes to my house, problem is i doubt it will. It has come to other developments close to me, and runs on the highway at the end of my property, but when i call them, its not on their project list to get our area.

 

[RandyT]

Id jump on fiber if it ever comes to my house, problem is i doubt it will. It has come to other developments close to me, and runs on the highway at the end of my property, but when i call them, its not on their project list to get our area.

Same with me. I just don't see the phone company running 5 miles of cable for at most 20 residence. And out of that potential of 20 how many would actually sign up. I doubt I would. I dumped the phone company over their number of outages and from what I hear fiber isn't any more reliable at least in my area contrary to what the phone company likes to brag about.

My current speed with starlink is 232 Mbps which is a drastic improvement from my 2.7 Mbps that I had with DSL for about the same money.

 

[ponytug]

I would've killed for 9.5Mbps once... in fact just three years ago I was happy with a consistent 14Mbps (as long as I'm not screwing around on the interwebs, my work really doesn't need a lot as it's mostly text-based). I have to admit it's fun being about to download videos in less than a second and send them on to friends & family just as quickly, but it's hardly mission-critical...

If you want more from the cube, I found this: https://www.waveform.com/a/b/guides/hotspots/verizon-arc-xci55ax
Looks pretty straightforward and I've read anecdotes that people are going from 5->50Mbps. Does require a gentle touch inside the cube and a $400 antenna but given that you can stream video quite nicely at 50Mbps and not really at 5, it could be a game-changer for some.

@ning, thanks for that link and hack! An earlier version of the cube brought two antenna ports out. Around here, I would probably need a quad amplifier, but it might be worth trying.

All the best,

Peter

 

[newbury]

I just don't see the phone company running 5 miles of cable for at most 20 residence.

Things may change. If those 20 "residence" include children of school age or anybody that works at home they might get federal funds to do it. I'm in rural NE Mississippi and they ran fiber to me along the telephone poles, federally funded.
And then recently they raised the speed from 100Mbps to "300Mb"ps with no increase in price.
/edit I just tested it - it's a Friday night and I'm only getting 258down/260up for $55/mo.

A few years ago it was 1mb down, 800kb up most of the time.

 

[ning]

@ning, thanks for that link and hack! An earlier version of the cube brought two antenna ports out. Around here, I would probably need a quad amplifier, but it might be worth trying.

All the best,

Peter

If you have any cell signal at all the cube may have decent performance.
My phone typically shows 2-3 out of 4 bars and I always get over 200Mbps; looking at a cellular map I don't have line-of-sight to the tower that's miles away, so count me amazed at the performance.

I may have to look at the cell signal map again, wonder if they changed something recently...

 

[RandyT]

Things may change. If those 20 "residence" include children of school age or anybody that works at home they might get federal funds to do it. I'm in rural NE Mississippi and they ran fiber to me along the telephone poles, federally funded.
And then recently they raised the speed from 100Mbps to "300Mb"ps with no increase in price.
/edit I just tested it - it's a Friday night and I'm only getting 258down/260up for $55/mo.

A few years ago it was 1mb down, 800kb up most of the time.

May be waiting awhile since the internet provider for my area may be the 5th largest fiber optic supplier in the country has 0 fiber optic in my state.

 

[ultrarunner]

Same with me. I just don't see the phone company running 5 miles of cable for at most 20 residence. And out of that potential of 20 how many would actually sign up. I doubt I would. I dumped the phone company over their number of outages and from what I hear fiber isn't any more reliable at least in my area contrary to what the phone company likes to brag about.

My current speed with starlink is 232 Mbps which is a drastic improvement from my 2.7 Mbps that I had with DSL for about the same money.

Billions of gov money allocated to running Fiber to underserved areas but a recent report said not much to show for the money spent...

 

[ponytug]

If you have any cell signal at all the cube may have decent performance.
My phone typically shows 2-3 out of 4 bars and I always get over 200Mbps; looking at a cellular map I don't have line-of-sight to the tower that's miles away, so count me amazed at the performance.
View attachment 1683585
I may have to look at the cell signal map again, wonder if they changed something recently...

It is closer to 1 bar here, so I know that external antennas are going to be critical to making it work. While I have great line of sight to the tower, the distance itself will slow the data rate.

We will see...Starlink is great; I just am a little nervous not having a backup, just in case.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ning]

Billions of gov money allocated to running Fiber to underserved areas but a recent report said not much to show for the money spent...

Lots of fiber got run up here. Right down the rural road that I live off of, though I can't tap off of it! The school just around the bend has a connection though.

 

[ponytug]

I have lots of high capacity fiber in the road, but it is private fiber optic, so no benefit to us. I keep hoping that some of that broadband money will flow here, but I really doubt that it will happen.

All the best,

Peter