Starlink

[jk96]

The installation instructions say that the dish articulates automatically to seek the best alignment. It isn't clear if this is a one time event during setup or does it realign itself every so often?

If so, the moving parts could become a maintenance issue as they wear over time. Another possible failure point perhaps?

Mine is currently sitting on the ground until mount arrives. If you turn it after about a minute or two it will realign automatically.

 

[LouNY]

Mine will change just a bit day to day occasionally.
It is on an eave mount.

 

[Wakey]

The mount I mentioned above is also a slightly loose fit for the Starlink dish post. I put a wrap of friction tape on it before clamping the two pieces together.

Dang.. it's like 70 bucks for both parts if my memory serves me correct. I may buy some calipers and take up Little Bill's offer.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Dang.. it's like 70 bucks for both parts if my memory serves me correct. I may buy some calipers and take up Little Bill's offer.

Yeah, it's not cheap but it's stainless steel and a good bit stronger than the OEM mount. My only suitable location is near the peak of the roof. I'm on a mountain top and we frequently get high winds so I'm willing to pay a bit more for the extra strength.

Part of the expense is due to the fact that you have to buy 2 clamps. I don't need both and you're welcome to the spare but it wouldn't save much with the the cost of shipping.

Before I found those clamps, I was going to cut a slot in the end of the mount tube and use a $2 muffler clamp. I'm sure that would work fine although a bit crude looking.

 

[ponytug]

@bdhsfz6 FWIW: I am near the top of 1000' rise, with winds, so I tried to get the dish out of the way of the wind as much as possible. That is why I went for a middle of the building, north facing, under eave mount that leaves Dishy with 15-20' of roof behind, above, and around it. We get hundred mile an hour gusts on occasion and it just didn't seem prudent to stick Dishy up any higher than it had to be. I'd rather not be trying to replace a dish, ever.

Just a thought.

All the best,

Peter

 

[LittleBill21]

@Wakey

appears they make one

https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/kfbnt4

https://libredd.it/r/Starlink/comments/omsnqx/finally_dishy_is_mounted_on_the_roof_direct_tv/

 

[bdhsfz6]

@bdhsfz6 FWIW: I am near the top of 1000' rise, with winds, so I tried to get the dish out of the way of the wind as much as possible. That is why I went for a middle of the building, north facing, under eave mount that leaves Dishy with 15-20' of roof behind, above, and around it. We get hundred mile an hour gusts on occasion and it just didn't seem prudent to stick Dishy up any higher than it had to be. I'd rather not be trying to replace a dish, ever.

Just a thought.

All the best,

Peter

A good idea if it's possible.

Unfortunately, my roof has a straight ridge with a fairly shallow pitch. There isn't any way to mount it out of the wind.

 

[ponytug]

@bdhsfz6 I hear you. Gotta try to make lemonade with what you have...

 

[Gale Hawkins]

How SpaceX's Starlink is changing how the world communicates

They must have figured out over the last month how to prevent their signal from being jammed by others. Enabling internet for places without connectivity is huge for mankind. We got fiber to the house about a decade ago in the middle of nowhere thankfully.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Well Dishy finally arrived, a full week after the estimated delivery date. Unfortunately, the roof mount, ethernet adapter and extended cable are now backordered until 4/25.

The roof is the only spot I can place the dish and I only want to make one trip up there. Since the mount is backordered, I got this one from Amazon to use as a permanent solution:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XM9DMHW?ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details&th=1

I can confirm that it fits the new Gen 2 square dish and allows the cable to be placed inside the tube, just like the OEM mount. It also mounts to the roof with 6 lag screws instead of just 2 for the OEM pivot mount.

I used this clamp to hold the dish & mount together:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095W21CSM?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

It appears the 75' cable will work so I can do a permanent installation without the backordered parts. I will test the location before drilling any holes. All I need now is for the weather to clear.

Ok, I installed Dishy temporarily to test the location. So far, it's a major disappointment. Even though the app rates the location at 100% with no obstructions, I'm only getting 51 down and 8 up. That's just slightly more than my existing Verizon 4G LTE wireless internet.

The installation process went smoothly but it took about 10 minutes for the dish to adjust for the best signal. Does anyone know if the speeds will improve after the system has been up for a period of time? If not, the system is going back! I'm not paying $99/mo. for essentially the same service I'm getting now for $50/mo.

 

[LouNY]

Mine varies considerably sometimes down into the 50's to 80 but usually above a 100.
I still get occasional hour or longer outages, unexplained.

 

[LittleBill21]

Ok, I installed Dishy temporarily to test the location. So far, it's a major disappointment. Even though the app rates the location at 100% with no obstructions, I'm only getting 51 down and 8 up. That's just slightly more than my existing Verizon 4G LTE wireless internet.

The installation process went smoothly but it took about 10 minutes for the dish to adjust for the best signal. Does anyone know if the speeds will improve after the system has been up for a period of time? If not, the system is going back! I'm not paying $99/mo. for essentially the same service I'm getting now for $50/mo.

are you standing right next to it? make sure its not a wifi issue instead. you don't have the ethernet adapter yet right?

 

[ning]

Ok, I installed Dishy temporarily to test the location. So far, it's a major disappointment. Even though the app rates the location at 100% with no obstructions, I'm only getting 51 down and 8 up. That's just slightly more than my existing Verizon 4G LTE wireless internet.

The installation process went smoothly but it took about 10 minutes for the dish to adjust for the best signal. Does anyone know if the speeds will improve after the system has been up for a period of time? If not, the system is going back! I'm not paying $99/mo. for essentially the same service I'm getting now for $50/mo.

Is your LTE fully unlimited data?
Vzw hasn't allowed that where I'm at, even though I have zero alternative ISPs.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Is your LTE fully unlimited data?
Vzw hasn't allowed that where I'm at, even though I have zero alternative ISPs.

Yes, my Verizon 4G LTE is unlimited data right now but there's always the possibility it could change in the future.

 

[bdhsfz6]

are you standing right next to it? make sure its not a wifi issue instead. you don't have the ethernet adapter yet right?

No, no ethernet adapter yet. I connected to the Starlink wireless router at a range of about 5 feet to do the speed test.

 

[dmccarty]

Ok, I installed Dishy temporarily to test the location. So far, it's a major disappointment. Even though the app rates the location at 100% with no obstructions, I'm only getting 51 down and 8 up. That's just slightly more than my existing Verizon 4G LTE wireless internet.

The installation process went smoothly but it took about 10 minutes for the dish to adjust for the best signal. Does anyone know if the speeds will improve after the system has been up for a period of time? If not, the system is going back! I'm not paying $99/mo. for essentially the same service I'm getting now for $50/mo.

Just like our Verizon connection, which says it is working, but is not, data transfer rates vary on Starlink. I have seen as low as 35 mbps a few times and over 200 mbps. Most of the times I have checked it is in the 50-150 range. Never saw much more than 20-25 mpbs on our Verizon 4G connection, usually 8-12 mbps, and we are unlimited, until we get to 150GB then we might get throttled or have to buy more data. We never went over 150GB with Verizon but we did a couple of times with UbiFi.

We and a friend started having issues with Verizon 4G Internet, we are both likely going to the same tower, about the time StarLink arrived.

Later,
Dan

 

[ponytug]

Ok, I installed Dishy temporarily to test the location. So far, it's a major disappointment. Even though the app rates the location at 100% with no obstructions, I'm only getting 51 down and 8 up. That's just slightly more than my existing Verizon 4G LTE wireless internet.

The installation process went smoothly but it took about 10 minutes for the dish to adjust for the best signal. Does anyone know if the speeds will improve after the system has been up for a period of time? If not, the system is going back! I'm not paying $99/mo. for essentially the same service I'm getting now for $50/mo.

When you do the sped test with the app, it has three screens of different speed tests;

1. Your device (phone?) to the internet
2. The router to the internet (this will most likely be the fastest)
3. Your device to the router (which may be slightly faster than #1)

This helps you distinguish where the slow bit is. If you haven't changed the Starlink router to have separate 2.4 and 5GHz networks, do so, and recheck the speeds using just the 5GHz network.

How old is whatever you are trying to test the network with? Have you ever seen it run faster?

More than 100Mbits/s is normal. Less than that is either momentary, or a problem with your network or device speed. You could post screenshots from each of the speed tests, if you want more help.

All the best,

Peter

 

[bdhsfz6]

When you do the sped test with the app, it has three screens of different speed tests;

1. Your device (phone?) to the internet
2. The router to the internet (this will most likely be the fastest)
3. Your device to the router (which may be slightly faster than #1)

This helps you distinguish where the slow bit is. If you haven't changed the Starlink router to have separate 2.4 and 5GHz networks, do so, and recheck the speeds using just the 5GHz network.

How old is whatever you are trying to test the network with? Have you ever seen it run faster?

More than 100Mbits/s is normal. Less than that is either momentary, or a problem with your network or device speed. You could post screenshots from each of the speed tests, if you want more help.

All the best,

Peter

I used an internet based speed test, not the Starlink app, to test my 2 year old iPhone Xs, 4 year old Win 10 desktop and one year old Win 10 laptop. All were located less than 10 feet from the Starlink router and clocked within a few mbs of 51 down and 8 up. The tests were done between 1 and 2 PM, not what I would consider "prime time".

Obviously, this is testing device to internet speed which is all that really matters. I don't have a house full of kids streaming video so to me, the router to internet speed doesn't mean much.

I had to take the temporarily mounted dish down due to high winds this afternoon. I'll try your suggestions when I get it back in place.

Thanks for your help!

 

[ponytug]

I used an internet based speed test, not the Starlink app, to test my 2 year old iPhone Xs, 4 year old Win 10 desktop and one year old Win 10 laptop. All were located less than 10 feet from the Starlink router and clocked within a few mbs of 51 down and 8 up. The tests were done between 1 and 2 PM, not what I would consider "prime time".

Obviously, this is testing device to internet speed which is all that really matters. I don't have a house full of kids streaming video so to me, the router to internet speed doesn't mean much.

I had to take the temporarily mounted dish down due to high winds this afternoon. I'll try your suggestions when I get it back in place.

Thanks for your help!

Those sound like new enough devices that there shouldn't be a bandwidth issue with the hardware, so that is great news.

I agree that device to the internet is what matters. The two other Starlink speed tests help diagnose if there is an issue, and where there it might be, so whatever is limiting can be fixed. Given how close all your devices are to the router, I would start by splitting the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks (under settings in the app "Split network"), and then only telling your devices about the 5GHz network.

All the best,

Peter

 

[BigBlue1]

Ok, I installed Dishy temporarily to test the location. So far, it's a major disappointment. Even though the app rates the location at 100% with no obstructions, I'm only getting 51 down and 8 up. That's just slightly more than my existing Verizon 4G LTE wireless internet.

The installation process went smoothly but it took about 10 minutes for the dish to adjust for the best signal. Does anyone know if the speeds will improve after the system has been up for a period of time? If not, the system is going back! I'm not paying $99/mo. for essentially the same service I'm getting now for $50/mo.

Give it a little time. It will fine tune its aim and settings in the first day or so.

Also, after making sure you have solid network connection from your devices to your router just spend some time running real world usage scenarios. Too often people get stuck on speed testing and don't just look at whether the service is meeting the actual needs you have for your ISP. Stream video from a few devices. Connect to your work VPN and make a VOIP call at the same time. See how it actually works with real use. You'll be very happy.

In over a year of paying very close attention to Starlink from many aspects I've NEVER encountered someone who was dissatisfied with the actual Internet capability from a speed or latency perspective (assuming they didn't have a bunch of obstructions). You don't even hear gamers fussing about it in the last 6+ months. If you are unobstructed it WILL be just fine for you.

Rob