Starlink

[cqaigy2]

Moved the dish out of the field and a bit closer to the house, turned the 5GHz WiFi on. I can just get a signal from it to inside the house. Speed test is now 102Mb down 15.6 up 30 ms. Next will be to get some cat 5 to where the router and POE injector is. I don't have any near by neighbors, so the spectrum is all mine.

 

[ernemats]

Boy, I'm old school and I'm lost on what you guys are talking about, I can turn computer on . Anyplace I can learn what you are talking about?

 

[lman]

Boy, I'm old school and I'm lost on what you guys are talking about, I can turn computer on . Anyplace I can learn what you are talking about?

Google

 

[Doughknob]

Hmm, i don't have a good way to measure current draw. If i come up with something, i'll post results.

HVAC Clamp Meter - CL440 | Klein Tools

Klein Tools CL440 Clamp Meter is an advanced HVAC clamp meter with automatically ranging true root mean square (TRMS) for maximum accuracy. The meter measures AC current, inrush current, AC/DC voltage, DC microamps, resistance, continuity, frequency, capacitance, temperature, diodes, and more...

www.kleintools.com

 

[ponytug]

Boy, I'm old school and I'm lost on what you guys are talking about, I can turn computer on . Anyplace I can learn what you are talking about?

Well here are a few links on WiFi;

http://wififorbeginners.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/WiFi-For-Beginners-Module-1-What-is-WiFi-.pdf

Wi-Fi Tutorial

WiFi is primarily a local area networking (LAN) technology designed to provide in-building broadband coverage. It is based on IEEE 802.11 specification. This tutorial gives you a basic understanding on WiFi.

www.tutorialspoint.com

The highlights are that because Starlink has the potential to be not only fast (80Megabits/sec (Mbps)), but possibly very fast (400Mbits/s), or if you believe Elon, super duper fast (800Mbits/s), you might want to spend a little time getting the kinks out of your WiFi system for the best performance. The two common wireless radio frequency (WiFi) bands are 2.4GHz that has longer range but is slower (8-600Mbits/s, depending on the protocol, or "language" used on that frequency), and the other is 5GHz, which is generally faster (up to 1300Mbits/s), but obstructions like walls and just plain longer range are a bigger problem for it. In all speed cases, the max speeds would be measured a foot or two from the source of the wireless (your router usually, but in some houses an access point, which is a WiFi transmitter/receivers hat is wired back to your router). Directly wiring your computer or TV up is likely to give you the fastest speeds, but not everyone can do that easily, e.g. my crawl space is about ten inches high and I barely fit, so running new Ethernet cables aren't a great way to speed a day. Plus, I am not that thrilled to be in a tight space under a building in earthquake country, but that's just me...

So...if you are not using a good choice of WiFi (band and protocol), or if you have wired the Starlink up to your existing network in a suboptimal way, you may not see as much speed from your Starlink connection as you could. E.g. @cqaigy2 changing from 2.4GHz to 5GHz and picking up 2-3X in speed. If this is all too complicated, you can also just use the Starlink router out of the box, but do try to turn on the 5GHz WiFi, and use it if you can.

Does this help?

All the best,

Peter

 

[plowhog]

Off topic, but can't resist ...

I met a guy years ago who discovered that wifi router frequencies had some overlap with HAM radio frequencies. Off-the-shelf routers were limited to (I think) to 600mw, but a licensed HAM on that same frequency could legally broadcast at 50-1500 watts, i.e. 50 to 150 times the power of a stock wifi router.

He installed "Tomato" firmware on a Linksys WRT54G router, which gave him control of xmit power. He upped the power into HAM radio levels, and was getting a realiable wifi signal ... drum roll ... 10 MILES AWAY! Aaahhh. Imagine that ....

But, he quickly fried the chips/circuit board in the Linksys router at that power level. Last I knew, he had built a small radiator that sat on top of the main chip of the router-- and was pumping water through it to dissipate heat-- just like in a vehicle.

I think of him every time I hear mention of wifi performance.

 

[Fallon]

Off topic, but can't resist ...

I met a guy years ago who discovered that wifi router frequencies had some overlap with HAM radio frequencies. Off-the-shelf routers were limited to (I think) to 600mw, but a licensed HAM on that same frequency could legally broadcast at 50-1500 watts, i.e. 50 to 150 times the power of a stock wifi router.

He installed "Tomato" firmware on a Linksys WRT54G router, which gave him control of xmit power. He upped the power into HAM radio levels, and was getting a realiable wifi signal ... drum roll ... 10 MILES AWAY! Aaahhh. Imagine that ....

But, he quickly fried the chips/circuit board in the Linksys router at that power level. Last I knew, he had built a small radiator that sat on top of the main chip of the router-- and was pumping water through it to dissipate heat-- just like in a vehicle.

I think of him every time I hear mention of wifi performance.

HAMS can legally access some WiFi frequencies adjacent to 2.4ghz WiFi frequencies. So some have created custom firmware that permits these frequencies & if memory recalls higher power levels.

However HAN radio is more technically called armature radio. It is illegal to use to sell stuff on or for any commercial or business uses. Pretty much any modern Internet page is commercial or had adds on it. So do any cool & useful HAM stuff is off the table. You are better off using other protocols & frequencies really.

 

[forgeblast]

So...my next question what to do about the starlink router, where it will come into the house will provide excellent coverage, but the lack of a firewall should i be worried? what optional equipment do you recommend with the router they give. i appreciate it.

 

[LittleBill21]

So...my next question what to do about the starlink router, where it will come into the house will provide excellent coverage, but the lack of a firewall should i be worried? what optional equipment do you recommend with the router they give. i appreciate it.

it will have a firewall, if you don't need to do anything special. your prolly be fine.

 

[LittleBill21]

There is also the issue of double NAT; if you are using your router and the Starlink router, it is a good idea to turn off the DHCP service on your router, and make sure that your router knows the gateway is the Starlink router. Having double NAT will definitely slow you down.

All the best,

Peter

not really. i have routers in places that have quad nat, due to restrictions it runs fine. alot of people are behing cg-nat which is double nat and it runs just fine as well. the only time double nat is annoying is for port forwarding.

and i have 2.4 devices that can do well over 100+mbit, more then fast enough for most people

 

[bdhsfz6]

So...my next question what to do about the starlink router, where it will come into the house will provide excellent coverage, but the lack of a firewall should i be worried? what optional equipment do you recommend with the router they give. i appreciate it.

I have the same question. Can I just plug the dish output into my existing router and not use the one from Starlink?

 

[LittleBill21]

I have the same question. Can I just plug the dish output into my existing router and not use the one from Starlink?

1. Install your Starlink dish normally.
2. Connect the power-brick to the (black) ethernet cable from your dish.
3. Either plug in the white ethernet cable, or your own ethernet cable, to the other side of the power-brick, and plug the other end into your router.
4. If it's not already setup that way, set your router's WAN connection to DHCP.
5. Worry a little bit, because the light on the power brick that goes between your router and the power brick doesn't come on. But then stop worrying, because everything just works.

What works:

• The internet.

What doesn't seem to work:

• Accessing your Starlink dish/device through the app.

I'm not sure if this is/will be an issue, but it looks like at least right now, either my network setup or the design of the system itself is preventing me from accessing the Starlink dish from the app. I've reached out to support to see if this is due to the settings on my local network (port forwarding or similar) or if it's the way the system is designed.

Oh, and just for fun, here are the results my last pre-Starlink speedtest, and my first two Starlink speedtests.

EDIT: Just adding the response I got from StarLink support:

Currently the Starlink App is only accessible through the use of the Starlink router provided in your kit.

Other than not being able to use the features on the Starlink app, such as the Obstruction Viewer, we do not foresee any issues with the use of your personal device.

 

[ponytug]

FWIW: You can get the Starlink statistics without using their router, if you program in a static route to 192.168.100.1 on your router. There are more than a few how tos out there.

@LittleBill21 I am glad that your quad NAT is working for you. My point was, and is, that for optimal performance multiple NATs aren't desirable.

Enjoy your Starlink!

All the best,

Peter

 

[Fallon]

So...my next question what to do about the starlink router, where it will come into the house will provide excellent coverage, but the lack of a firewall should i be worried? what optional equipment do you recommend with the router they give. i appreciate it.

Really all most home users need is NAT. Not perfect, but it's the most usable & gets the job done preventing random stuff on the Internet getting into your home gear.

I've got 5-10k worth of high end enterprise firewalls I'm a rack in my basement. I rarely end up using most of the features on them beyond NAT. Of when I do its because my home network is super over engineered.

The built in NAT & firewall on the Starlink terminal should be fine. It's likely all I'll use when traveling whenever we get one & can attach it to the travel trailer & get mobile service.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Boy, I'm old school and I'm lost on what you guys are talking about, I can turn computer on . Anyplace I can learn what you are talking about?

I'm sure many of us are happy to answer specific questions.

Meanwhile, for starters, if you're getting your downloads over phone wires like me, then you're getting under one megabit per second (Mbps) downloads. A picture from your phone is about 5 mega-BYTES, and there's 8 bits in a byte, so to download a 5 megabyte picture, that's 5 megabytes, * 8 = 40 megabits, and so your 1 Mbps download speed, will take 40 seconds to download 40 megabits.\

These guys talking about Starlink speeds are talking megabit numbers, e.g. 100 Mbps, so downloads could be 100 times faster.

Note that little b, 'b', is generally referring to bits, and capital B, 'B', is generally referring to bytes, in speed speek. So 1MBps is == 8Mbps. More or less.

 

[BigBlue1]

What doesn't seem to work:

• Accessing your Starlink dish/device through the app.

I'm not sure if this is/will be an issue, but it looks like at least right now, either my network setup or the design of the system itself is preventing me from accessing the Starlink dish from the app. I've reached out to support to see if this is due to the settings on my local network (port forwarding or similar) or if it's the way the system is designed.

If your own router supports static routes or complies with DHCP 'option 121' then the stats and app will work behind it. The former requires you to set up the route (as another response here notes) the latter would just work.

Rob

 

[ernemats]

1. Install your Starlink dish normally.
2. Connect the power-brick to the (black) ethernet cable from your dish.
3. Either plug in the white ethernet cable, or your own ethernet cable, to the other side of the power-brick, and plug the other end into your router.
4. If it's not already setup that way, set your router's WAN connection to DHCP.
5. Worry a little bit, because the light on the power brick that goes between your router and the power brick doesn't come on. But then stop worrying, because everything just works.

What works:

• The internet.

What doesn't seem to work:

• Accessing your Starlink dish/device through the app.

I'm not sure if this is/will be an issue, but it looks like at least right now, either my network setup or the design of the system itself is preventing me from accessing the Starlink dish from the app. I've reached out to support to see if this is due to the settings on my local network (port forwarding or similar) or if it's the way the system is designed.

Oh, and just for fun, here are the results my last pre-Starlink speedtest, and my first two Starlink speedtests.

EDIT: Just adding the response I got from StarLink support:

What part of PA do you live in and when did you get your starlink. I'm in west central PA and waiting. Have not seen many from PA that have gotten starlink.

 

[newbury]

and i have 2.4 devices that can do well over 100+mbit, more then fast enough for most people

I would like to reliably get 1Mbps upload

On the other hand -
Ubiquiti finally has their Access Point WiFi 6 Long-Range back in stock.
Maybe I can finally get to talk to my sheds wirelessly.

 

[civilian]

I would like to reliably get 1Mbps upload

On the other hand -
Ubiquiti finally has their Access Point WiFi 6 Long-Rang
Maybe I can finally get to talk to my sheds wirelessly.

"What are your sheds going to tell you?" LOL, Jon

 

[LittleBill21]

"What are your sheds going to tell you?" LOL, Jon

that he still is buying the wrong access point