Author Topic: Starlink  (Read 2660 times)

Calumus

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Starlink
« on: May 11, 2021, 10:04:47 PM »
So, today I set up my first Starlink system for a client. He just built a monster of a house for himself, his wife, and their 5 boys under 13. He never bothered to check if there was cable on the road before he broke ground, and fiber is non existent in his rural corner of NJ so the only option he thought he had was 3mb dsl from Verizon.

Luckily he called me in to tell him what he needed to prewire before he closed up the walls, and I had just spoken to someone who lived about 10 miles from him that had just gotten Starlink and was happy with it. So we signed him up for the beta, and 3 weeks later his dish arrived. Aside from the time it took him to set the pole he was going to mount it on, and to drill a hole through the foundation to the basement utility room, it took 5 mins to set everything up and get him online.

First speed test was 185 down 12.6 up but the Ping was 286. Subsequent tests slowed down to the 80-100mbs range with pings in the low 40’s. I have to say I was impressed. This really could be a game changer if the results stay consistent. You guys who are lucky enough to be out in the boonies, but have suffered with crappy Internet, Starlink could really be a worthwhile investment. The dish was $500 and service is $99/month so not cheap; but if you need some decent speed, worth it. I’ll update this thread over the next couple of months once he has his family in and using it regularly.

Calumus

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2021, 10:08:41 PM »
1 month update. So far they’ve been happy with the service. No complaints from the kids or wife so he’s happy. He’s sent me a bunch of speed tests, and they range from about 45-200mbs down and between 13-25mbs up. Ping is ranging from 25-45. Keeping in mind that this is still a beta, and will continue improving I'm pretty happy with it. One thing with the speed tests he sent me was that they were sent at varying times of day, and he had no idea if any or all of the kids were using it at the time.
« Last Edit: June 14, 2021, 10:36:14 PM by Calumus »

sumpnz

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2021, 01:35:43 AM »
Once it’s ready for prime time I’ll be signing up.

Ben

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2021, 08:13:16 AM »
1 month update. So far they’ve been happy with the service. No complaints from the kids or wife so he’s happy. He’s sent me a bunch of speed tests, and they range from about 45-200mbs down and between 13-25mbs up. Ping is ranging from 25-45. Keeping in mind that this is still a beta, and will continue improving I'm pretty happy with it. One thing with the speed tests he sent me was that they were sent at varying times of day, and he had no idea if any or all of the kids were using it at the time.

Did he mention anything about downtime? Most everything else about it at this time sounds superior to what I have now at not much more cost, but I'm wondering what downtime percentages are / will be.
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Calumus

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2021, 01:06:23 AM »
Did he mention anything about downtime? Most everything else about it at this time sounds superior to what I have now at not much more cost, but I'm wondering what downtime percentages are / will be.

He didn’t mention any at all; but Starlink themselves say there can be occasional outages as updates are pushed. From user reports I’ve read online they seem to be fairly rare, and only last a couple mins when they do happen. One feature for your neck of the woods is that the dish actually has a heating element that it activates when it senses snow. I doubt it’s powerful enough to deal with a really heavy snowfall; but it should work for moderate amounts. The mounting pole the dish comes with is only about 6” tall, so essentially useless. For my client, we just drove a 6’ pipe into the ground between 3 landscape boulders to give the dish some lift and some protection from wandering gocarts...

Ben

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2021, 08:24:36 AM »
He didn’t mention any at all; but Starlink themselves say there can be occasional outages as updates are pushed. From user reports I’ve read online they seem to be fairly rare, and only last a couple mins when they do happen. One feature for your neck of the woods is that the dish actually has a heating element that it activates when it senses snow. I doubt it’s powerful enough to deal with a really heavy snowfall; but it should work for moderate amounts. The mounting pole the dish comes with is only about 6” tall, so essentially useless. For my client, we just drove a 6’ pipe into the ground between 3 landscape boulders to give the dish some lift and some protection from wandering gocarts...

Thanks, that's good info. I didn't know about the snow thing - that's convenient. My current fixed wireless dish is near the top of the roof, but there's no way I'm getting on my steep roof to put a dish up myself, so would likely put the starlink dish on the ground as your client did.
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RocketMan

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2021, 09:26:33 AM »
Is power to the dish provided by Power over Ethernet or something similar?  Or is there a separate power line to the receiver?
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fifth_column

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #7 on: June 16, 2021, 11:21:23 AM »
Is power to the dish provided by Power over Ethernet or something similar?  Or is there a separate power line to the receiver?

Looks like it is PoE:

https://www.theverge.com/22435030/starlink-satellite-internet-spacex-review
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Calumus

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #8 on: June 16, 2021, 11:23:02 AM »
It's power over Ethernet. I believe it's a 100' cable. Ben, if you can find some brave soul to climb up there for you, I've seen a good number of people using their old dishes as mounting platforms.

Ben

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #9 on: June 16, 2021, 12:49:28 PM »
It's power over Ethernet. I believe it's a 100' cable. Ben, if you can find some brave soul to climb up there for you, I've seen a good number of people using their old dishes as mounting platforms.

Good thought. Though I know at my last place, when I moved, the fixed wireless guys came out and removed both the dish and mount from the roof. Don't know what the current company does.
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Calumus

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #10 on: June 17, 2021, 07:15:26 AM »
I just saw this a few mins ago. Apparently the dish had a thermal limit of 122 degrees. Could be an issue for southerners, and some rooftop mounting.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/06/starlink-dish-overheats-in-arizona-sun-knocking-user-offline-for-7-hours/

Ben

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #11 on: July 03, 2021, 09:27:21 AM »
Well, this is one way to use Starlink...

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/02/chp-tickets-driver-with-apparent-spacex-starlink-dish-on-hood.html

I will note that according to the article, Starlink will be coming out with a vehicle antenna, which would be pretty cool, depending on pricing. Besides general mobile high speed wireless, it could be a Sirius/XM killer.
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MechAg94

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #12 on: July 03, 2021, 11:38:58 AM »
I just saw this a few mins ago. Apparently the dish had a thermal limit of 122 degrees. Could be an issue for southerners, and some rooftop mounting.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/06/starlink-dish-overheats-in-arizona-sun-knocking-user-offline-for-7-hours/
That might be an issue, but I hope they fix it. 

I am paying near $100 a month to get 50mbs max.  That would be an improvement. 
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Calumus

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #13 on: September 14, 2021, 11:40:59 AM »
5 month update. First client with Starlink is still thrilled. He thinks he’s averaging about 70mbs; but it’s hard to be sure with 7 people in the house all with multiple devices hooked up. He reported An occasional drop during extremely heavy rain; but it’s usually just for a couple seconds. He said it’s usually back up before he runs out of buffer on a Netflix movie.

I set up a second client in the same area with it about a month ago. He replaced Hughsnet with it. He was averaging 1 mbs with Hughs, and also seems to be around the 70mbs range with Starlink. Ping seems to be variable between 25-45; but his son who plays Fortnite and GTA online says that everything’s been fine for him.

As far as the overheating issue above 122*, I’m wondering if people who need to could set up some sort of mister or liquid cooling set up to keep the dish cool.

Ben

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #14 on: November 12, 2021, 06:25:44 PM »
I bet some early adopters are kinda miffed. Starlink just released a sleeker antenna and wireless router:

https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-new-starlink-rectangular-satellite-internet-dish-pictures-2021-11
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Calumus

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #15 on: November 15, 2021, 12:50:29 AM »
I bet some early adopters are kinda miffed. Starlink just released a sleeker antenna and wireless router:
https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-new-starlink-rectangular-satellite-internet-dish-pictures-2021-11

I could see the smaller dish making some people a bit jealous; but the original wasn’t exactly huge. Maybe 18” at most. As for the router, WiFi only eliminates some flexibility. My first client that I set up with it got me in during construction so I was able to wire a bunch of jacks throughout the house and hard wire wireless access points on all three floors. The “data closet” is in the basement, and his Starlink router plugs directly into a 24 port Netgear gigabit switch. The second client had already been in their house for years, so I didn’t have the benefit of prewiring. They had to make do with an Asus Zenwifi mesh system, also plugged into the Starlink router. That being said, both houses are quite large, 4500+ sq ft each, so a more modest place might be fine with just the Starlink equipment.

AJ Dual

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #16 on: November 16, 2021, 09:23:30 AM »
I'm still in awe of just how damn fast SpaceX/Starlink has gotten this service off the ground. And how functional it already is.

We haven't even really seen the inroads of it into the Third World where internet is still spotty or nonexistent, or into authoritarian countries with restrictive internet policies.
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Ben

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #17 on: November 16, 2021, 09:28:22 AM »
We haven't even really seen the inroads of it into the Third World where internet is still spotty or nonexistent, or into authoritarian countries with restrictive internet policies.

I'm kinda surprised that Musk hasn't thrown a few billion into distributing Starlink and laptops throughout some third world countries, just for the PR and to annoy everyone on the left that hates him and his money.
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WLJ

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #18 on: November 16, 2021, 09:33:04 AM »
I'm kinda surprised that Musk hasn't thrown a few billion into distributing Starlink and laptops throughout some third world countries, just for the PR and to annoy everyone on the left that hates him and his money.

They couldn't care less what good he does for the world with his money, they hate him because he doesn't give THEM his money.
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WLJ

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #19 on: January 02, 2022, 08:55:20 AM »
 :rofl:

Be advised there's a cold weather issue with running Cat 5 to the Starlink dish.
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« Last Edit: January 02, 2022, 11:32:22 AM by WLJ »
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RoadKingLarry

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #20 on: January 02, 2022, 11:18:43 AM »
So, how many more "Starlink" satellites does Skynet need before it goes active?
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sumpnz

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #21 on: January 02, 2022, 04:31:09 PM »
So, how many more "Starlink" satellites does Skynet need before it goes active?

Too many.  I need better internet, and Starlink is my only hope in the foreseeable future.

Ron

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #22 on: February 09, 2022, 04:24:47 PM »
Did someone post this up and I missed it? 40 of the 49 are toast!

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/40-spacex-satellites-hit-geomagnetic-storm-expected-fall-back-toward-earth-and-burn

Quote
Elon Musk's satellite internet service Starlink experienced a devastating space-weather impact last Friday when a geomagnetic storm forced "dozens" of newly launched low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites into "safe-mode" where they experienced "deorbiting" and will or already have crashed back to Earth, according to a SpaceX blog post.
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WLJ

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #23 on: February 09, 2022, 04:26:44 PM »
"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us".
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Ron

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Re: Starlink
« Reply #24 on: February 09, 2022, 04:27:59 PM »
I posted something in the SpaceX thread

Oops, missed it
For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse. Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.