Starlink

[John_Mc]

Have your intended recipients checked their spam filters Some ISPs or email clients will move a suspect file to spam without notifying you.

Some (gmail is one example) will flag some messages as spam and new tell you or the recipient they did not go through... they just vanish. Usually this happens when the email provider decides for some reason that you are a blatant/mass spammer

 

[sodamo]

FedEx delivered my Starlink RV late this afternoon. I got it hooked up and functioning. We are a waitlist area, don’t know anyone with a standard system did several speed tests 60’s to 260. i’m impressed.

2 other Starlinks on the FedEx vehicle. Mine was 1st one delivered. Sadly, driver said he could find one of the other houses, the other one going more up the coast from me.

 

[plowhog]

Have your intended recipients checked their spam filters Some ISPs or email clients will move a suspect file to spam without notifying you.

This could potentially explain the yahoo and gmail non-delivery. But the 3rd one was me filling out a web form on a commercial site run by a very large real estate service provider. Adds to the mystery.

 

[mikester]

I'm at a cross roads. On the next road over they are burying a fibre data line but there's no plans to come my way. The cell phone company is now advertising 50MB down and 20MB up for CDN$150/month. Starlink is going to jack my prices from CDN$130/mo to CDN$140/mo because one's and zero's have suddenly gotten more expensive to send over the air due to inflation.

I seem to average about 150MB down and 5MB up on starlink but I always seem to get about 1-50% packet loss and frequent outages and 50-70ms ping times. 5G Cellular will likely be more reliable with about 30ms ping and no packet loss. Dragging 1.5km of fibre optic through my back fields sounds enticing...

 

[Oaktree]

Have your intended recipients checked their spam filters Some ISPs or email clients will move a suspect file to spam without notifying you.

Some (gmail is one example) will flag some messages as spam and new tell you or the recipient they did not go through... they just vanish. Usually this happens when the email provider decides for some reason that you are a blatant/mass spammer

That's my suspicion as well. If the OP has otherwise good internet access, random missed emails don't sound like something caused by the ISP. Some email clients/hosts can be very aggressive as to what they consider spam.

 

[John_Mc]

I always seem to get about 1-50% packet loss and frequent outages and 50-70ms ping times.

Something is wrong there. I never see packet loss anywhere close to 50% except in the middle of a heavy storm. Are you showing obstructions in the part of the sky the dish needs to see? Have you contacted Starlink tech support?

My latency has been up and down a bit lately. I used to regularly get in the 25-35 ms range. Lately it's been averaging in the mid 40s, with the rare brief spike up into the 80s, and occasionally down below 30 ms.

BTW, what are you using to report packet loss?

 

[John_Mc]

That's my suspicion as well. If the OP has otherwise good internet access, random missed emails don't sound like something caused by the ISP. Some email clients/hosts can be very aggressive as to what they consider spam.

Yes, I misspoke. I did not mean the ISP, I meant the email host. With gmail, it can be difficult to get to the bottom of why they are completely blanking out emails from some sources. If it's your email client, it's usually easy to find, but when Gmail decides someone is a bad actor (whether that's you or someone sending to you) it can be a pain in the butt to figure out, since there are no warnings sent to either the sender or the receiver: the emails just vanish.

 

[newbury]

With the laser link capability that is in the latest StarLink satellites, the ability to get the traffic to earth where Starlink wants/needs too is part of the plan. Will this be used to provide secure communication in totalitarian states? I sure do not know. One problem would be getting Dishy into those countries. I have read that had access to non Iranian TV sources is illegal yet, plenty of people have satellite dishes hidden on the roof.

Flip side, I read a report early in Putin's War that most of the top 10 cell phone applications provide secure communication like VPN and secure text. Apparently, two Russian brothers created a secure text application and had to leave Russia years ago because the powers that be did not like the application. So, there is at least some methods to get banned information into totalitarian states.

Although this is getting political -
Comms is what really brought down the Berlin Wall. If free society can show what is actually happening, then to quote Judy Garland

How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm
After they've seen Paree'

 

[ponytug]

I'm at a cross roads. On the next road over they are burying a fibre data line but there's no plans to come my way. The cell phone company is now advertising 50MB down and 20MB up for CDN$150/month. Starlink is going to jack my prices from CDN$130/mo to CDN$140/mo because one's and zero's have suddenly gotten more expensive to send over the air due to inflation.

I seem to average about 150MB down and 5MB up on starlink but I always seem to get about 1-50% packet loss and frequent outages and 50-70ms ping times. 5G Cellular will likely be more reliable with about 30ms ping and no packet loss. Dragging 1.5km of fibre optic through my back fields sounds enticing...

If you can do it, and they are willing to have you join, great. My two cents would be to spend a lot of time understanding what they expect on their end, so that your fiber matches theirs, etc. If it were me, I would pull three or four times as many fibers in the cable than I thought necessary, and I would find a vibratory plow to pull the conduit to put the fiber in. Around here the fiber laying is done by subcontractors who may be available for side jobs...

Have you checked for obstructions on your Starlink app? What does the app say for outage causes? 50% is way too high. Something is not right on your installation. If you are not getting any obstructions, I would contact Starlink.

All the best,

Peter

 

[BigBlue1]

I'm at a cross roads. On the next road over they are burying a fibre data line but there's no plans to come my way. The cell phone company is now advertising 50MB down and 20MB up for CDN$150/month. Starlink is going to jack my prices from CDN$130/mo to CDN$140/mo because one's and zero's have suddenly gotten more expensive to send over the air due to inflation.

I seem to average about 150MB down and 5MB up on starlink but I always seem to get about 1-50% packet loss and frequent outages and 50-70ms ping times. 5G Cellular will likely be more reliable with about 30ms ping and no packet loss. Dragging 1.5km of fibre optic through my back fields sounds enticing...

What does the app say about obstructions? The packet loss and ping times suggest that you don't have a great field of view of the sky. If the app shows no obstructions then I'd next look at the cable between dish and controller. These cables are sensitive to sharp bends or compression (getting squeezed). Ensure the cable is not bent or compressed and see if that helps.

Barring either of those as solutions, are you actually connecting direct to the Starlink wifi router or do you have additional network components layered on top, like a 3rd party router, mesh system or range extender? Run your tests direct from the Starlink connection to eliminate anything else as the problem. Be as close to the router as possible when you test. If you have the Starlink ethernet adapter then test with a computer connected direct via ethernet.

As for costs, everything is going up in price. I'm sure we're nowhere near the peak. :-(

 

[sodamo]

Continue to be impressed.
Got my install cleaned up and cable secured. Still need to get some cable molding and seal hole in wall.

We are completely off grid, solar powered. Located in rural Hawaii about 20 miles north of Hilo on the Big Island, about 1100ft elevation. Been using Mobley AT&T about 5 years.
View attachment 748585

Starlink sat mounted on the master suite box using an old Dish mount. A bit disappointed in that the arm of the SL was much looser fit than expected.Considered a sleeve, but didn’t have right parts handy. A couple layers of electrical tape helped.
I cut 2 channels into the J mount and the U bolt snugs against the SL arm. Nice and steady. A solid mount.
View attachment 748580

Cable runs thru wall to my cabinet of other networking gear. I added the ethernet adapter and plugged a cable into my Ubitquiti switch, replacing AT&T feed connecting my eero mesh, all my iots, even an old apple extreme. Didn’t mess with anything else. Seeing speeds of 120 across my several networks.

Won’t be doing anything else immediately, but in near future will reconfigure entire system into possibly 4 vlans primarily powered by SL and use the Mobly as fail over. If I I can figure out the Ubitquiti USG.

 

[sodamo]

Missing pics

Not smart enough to know why they wont post.

 

[3Ts]

On your mast next to the SL dish, it looks like you have 2 cell phone antennas. They are rotated 45*, why is that? Mine has no provision for rotating it.

 

[mikester]

What does the app say about obstructions? The packet loss and ping times suggest that you don't have a great field of view of the sky. If the app shows no obstructions then I'd next look at the cable between dish and controller. These cables are sensitive to sharp bends or compression (getting squeezed). Ensure the cable is not bent or compressed and see if that helps.

Barring either of those as solutions, are you actually connecting direct to the Starlink wifi router or do you have additional network components layered on top, like a 3rd party router, mesh system or range extender? Run your tests direct from the Starlink connection to eliminate anything else as the problem. Be as close to the router as possible when you test. If you have the Starlink ethernet adapter then test with a computer connected direct via ethernet.

As for costs, everything is going up in price. I'm sure we're nowhere near the peak. :-(

I test using a hard wired connection to starlink modem. To be fair my packet loss is mostly 1-3% range but up to 50% isn't unusual if the dish is switching between satellites.

I have no obstructions, the dish mounted 20 feet up on a tower with a clear view of the sky and no trees. Starlink's support is "this is better than nothing internet" and being in Canada I'm lucky to have any service at all.

I do notice that I get better service depending on which IP I get routed through. Right now I am getting routed through a NY server and I get one extra hop on traceroute and slightly higher packet loss.

 

[BigBlue1]

I test using a hard wired connection to starlink modem. To be fair my packet loss is mostly 1-3% range but up to 50% isn't unusual if the dish is switching between satellites.

I have no obstructions, the dish mounted 20 feet up on a tower with a clear view of the sky and no trees. Starlink's support is "this is better than nothing internet" and being in Canada I'm lucky to have any service at all.

I do notice that I get better service depending on which IP I get routed through. Right now I am getting routed through a NY server and I get one extra hop on traceroute and slightly higher packet loss.

Are you able to otherwise perform normal communication through the system? A lot of people laser-focus on speedtest results and stats and find issues that aren't actually practical blockers. If you can stream video without buffering interruptions, connect to corporate VPNs, participate in Teams/Zoom/WebEx meetings with audio & video, etc. then your stats may be irrelevant. Just asking based on the specific details you've described, which are far deeper than probably 98% of Starlink customers would know or care about... and there are very few customers who complain about the actual functional use of Starlink if they aren't obstructed.

 

[sodamo]

On your mast next to the SL dish, it looks like you have 2 cell phone antennas. They are rotated 45*, why is that? Mine has no provision for rotating it.

Yagi for my Mofi 4500. That was a recommended orientation for two antenna 90° angle supposedly better reception.

 

[newbury]

Not directly Starlink related but -
I just got notice that my Mississippi property can get fiber in about a month
But in reading the legalese it has this statement concerning things one can not do:

Transmitting any defamatory, libelous, fraudulent, deceptive, indecent, offensive or obscene
materials;

Is this a standard rider in telecommunications contracts?
Who determines "offensive"?
I've met people in the area that thought beer sales was offensive and women with short skirts were indecent.

 

[ponytug]

That sort of language is typical, and giving them grounds for terminating customers who are engaged in problematic behavior. (Yes, on their terms). In actuality, people have to get pretty far out of line, as in really far out of line, to get cut off.

e.g. here is AT&T's;

​

"Misconduct includes but is not limited to the following conduct by you or any user or your AT&T Services:​

• any conduct that we believe violates this Agreement or AT&T’s Acceptable Use Policy;
• any conduct that involves the use of abusive, threatening, or unreasonable conduct toward any of our employees or representatives, whether in person, over the phone, or in writing;
• any abusive, fraudulent, or unlawful use of any AT&T Services;
• providing us with false or misleading information about you, users of your AT&T Services, or your or their use of AT&T Services, including inaccurate information related to your creditworthiness;
• any use of AT&T Services in a manner that negatively affects our or others’ networks, customers, or operations, or that infringes anyone’s intellectual property rights, violates others’ privacy, generates spam or abusive messaging or calling, or results in the publication of threatening, offensive, or illegal materials;"

(my bolding).

All the best,

Peter

 

[newbury]

I just think the lawyers have gotten out of hand to Cover Their A. Why don't they just put in "if you breathe you violate." ?
Anyways, it won't stop me from signing up for 100Mbps up/down to replace my current 6Mbps up/0.7 Mbps down for the same cost ($55/mo) or maybe even 1 Gbps Download & Upload Speed with (Unlimited Data) for a whopping $30 more.
And I was just about to try Starlink RV.

 

[TheMan419]

On your mast next to the SL dish, it looks like you have 2 cell phone antennas. They are rotated 45*, why is that? Mine has no provision for rotating it.

They are rotated offset 45* to account for the polarity of the signal. You can buy them already mounted like that.

https://smile.amazon.com/Periodic-Waveform-600-6000-Hotspots-Boosters/dp/B09QB1PPGM/ref=sr_1_4?crid=18CDF1UKVWXG5&keywords=wideband+direction+antenna+offset&qid=1654284608&sprefix=wideband+direction+antenna+offset%2Caps%2C91&sr=8-4