Starlink

[JRH02]

My $5 / month Mini arrives tomorrow. This will be the backup for the new Gen3 after the Gen2 died due to a failed auto-update. Cheap insurance for something so mission critical as there is no alternative way of communicating where we live.

 

[JRH02]

Our system speeds went from an average of around 80 Mb/s with the Gen1 round dish to routinely 250-4050 Mb/s with the Gen3 system. Remarkable the difference. That said, the old system's throughput was never a bottleneck for us anyway, even with two people full-time WFH and lots of streaming. So faster is great but not really meaningful.

ETA: I just ran a test now and got 432Mb/s!

Same here. Speed is not an issue. But the Gen3's WiFi is much stronger that the Gen2.

 

[JRH02]

Hard stop. I need brain cells and some Starlink experience here plus some networking experience from those in the know. My Gen2 died and I have a Gen3 that replaced it. I learned that the old gen2 can be a mesh component so I tried it today. Yup, auto configured as expected but I didn't have far to go and the Gen3 WiFi took over as the promary connection when I got away from the Gen2 and well past it. In fact, far further. Doing speed checks it was performing way past the Gen2 which was the mesh device. I can see that from the cell app. It dropped the Gen2 WiFi device and fell back to the home Gen3 unit. ~242/36.

This is way above what I need for security and game cameras. I still can't believe it except I was doing speed tests WAY OFF into the woods. And I was still getting two bars WiFi at speed.

So what have y'all experienced for distance WiFi? This is astounding to me.

I just ordered some WiFi cameras for the gate and further down instead of having 2000 pictures of nothing.

Any input?

 

[JRH02]

Lastly, I know from the cellphone booster days that I can't boost a signal that isn't there. This adds to confusion because I don't know of WiFi Rx/Tx and if a eaker signal CAN be boosted. Yes, I understand ya can boost a weak signal....

 

[nikdfish]

Just got the $0 mini kit email. We don't do much traveling these days, but tempted to get it as a backup option.

 

[RandyT]

Just got the $0 mini kit email. We don't do much traveling these days, but tempted to get it as a backup option.

I got the notification a couple weeks ago and confirmed the offer for $5 a month and 1/2 price roam if I decide to turn it on. I am thinking about using it for a backup but also thinking about going roam and using it to look up parts for customers while on service calls for my mower repair business.

 

[nikdfish]

Once again impressed with the Gen 3 router wifi.

I've been adding some wifi cameras around the perimeter of the house with their streams getting recorded via an app on the house NAS box. This is supplimenting the 4 camera wifi NVR we've had for years. Zero problems with the new cameras getting seen, positioned on all four sides of the house. It's 2700 sf, brick construction, with the Starlink router mounted on a wall in the loft.

The NVR has had connection issues in the past with it's cameras in much closer proximity.

Pics from the new camera's, view via an app on the TV

 

[TractorTYMe]

I'm just testing the $0 rent option for a month, and I've already cancelled the renewal for December. The cost wasn't justifiable for the quality of service, speed varied a LOT for me here in NW Montana. I am getting fiber past my house this spring, so I'll be waiting for that. Currently use a WISP (Wireless) 52/12mbit service that works for our purpose. Wife and I work some days from home if inclement weather.

 

[JRH02]

I'm just testing the $0 rent option for a month, and I've already cancelled the renewal for December. The cost wasn't justifiable for the quality of service, speed varied a LOT for me here in NW Montana. I am getting fiber past my house this spring, so I'll be waiting for that. Currently use a WISP (Wireless) 52/12mbit service that works for our purpose. Wife and I work some days from home if inclement weather.

But clear view. It is not to be winked at. Clear view is clear view.

Sorry you are having problems. But it's a personal problem. It is not representative.

 

[grsthegreat]

I just glad i dont have to post cameras on my property. 29years here, zero issues

 

[BigBlue1]

I'm just testing the $0 rent option for a month, and I've already cancelled the renewal for December. The cost wasn't justifiable for the quality of service, speed varied a LOT for me here in NW Montana. I am getting fiber past my house this spring, so I'll be waiting for that. Currently use a WISP (Wireless) 52/12mbit service that works for our purpose. Wife and I work some days from home if inclement weather.

Did you have any actual issues incurred related to network speed? Or did you just do a bunch of speed tests and determine that speed inconsistency was a "problem"? If a 52Mb/s service currently works well for you I cannot imaging a scenario where Starlink service is any less performant than that. At least unless there were obstructions.

 

[TractorTYMe]

But clear view. It is not to be winked at. Clear view is clear view.

Sorry you are having problems. But it's a personal problem. It is not representative.

Oh coverage doesn't seem to be the problem as you see, I was more curious as an IT guy to see what it was about. I tried the $80 Homeowner lite, was ok at 1st then I discovered I got deprioritized traffic. Upgraded to $120/month, was good for a day or two then ended up with not $40 bucks more worth bandwidth averaging 180/20mbit. I cant wait for my 1000x1000Mbit fiber for $99.95 in the spring.

 

[grsthegreat]

Oh coverage doesn't seem to be the problem as you see, I was more curious as an IT guy to see what it was about. I tried the $80 Homeowner lite, was ok at 1st then I discovered I got deprioritized traffic. Upgraded to $120/month, was good for a day or two then ended up with not $40 bucks more worth bandwidth averaging 180/20mbit. I cant wait for my 1000x1000Mbit fiber for $99.95 in the spring.

View attachment 4446950

Im only going for 400x400 fiber, as thats plenty for my needs. Its like $49/ month including free modem and installing. They already have the underground up to my property line, but not sure if they will be able to get it to my house before snow and frozen ground. There working on some overhead feeds and the main laterals underground right now.

 

[JRH02]

Oh coverage doesn't seem to be the problem as you see, I was more curious as an IT guy to see what it was about. I tried the $80 Homeowner lite, was ok at 1st then I discovered I got deprioritized traffic. Upgraded to $120/month, was good for a day or two then ended up with not $40 bucks more worth bandwidth averaging 180/20mbit. I cant wait for my 1000x1000Mbit fiber for $99.95 in the spring.

View attachment 4446950

How in the world do need that bandwidth at home?

 

[TractorTYMe]

How in the world do need that bandwidth at home?

Like I said, my job as an IT Manager I monitor IT system all over the US and Canada. And sometimes I download large amounts of data.

 

[LouNY]

I have had Starlink for a few years now. It is faster then my wisp was but it has the same issues with weather issues causing outages and extreme slow downs. Even when a speed test shows a good connection I've had issues with computer and or TV pinwheeling and pausing. I've relocated my antenna 3 times because of so called interference.
I've had nights when it reminded me of dialup, it wasn't a single line of a picture crawling accross the page but I seen partial pictures quite often. Or had to sit and wait for picture to down load.

 

[ponytug]

I have had Starlink for a few years now. It is faster then my wisp was but it has the same issues with weather issues causing outages and extreme slow downs. Even when a speed test shows a good connection I've had issues with computer and or TV pinwheeling and pausing. I've relocated my antenna 3 times because of so called interference.
I've had nights when it reminded me of dialup, it wasn't a single line of a picture crawling accross the page but I seen partial pictures quite often. Or had to sit and wait for picture to down load.

Sorry to hear that you are still having issues. You've mentioned this before, and it makes me wonder what / how your network is configured, and whether there is anything that could be done to help. If you don't mind me asking, are you using the Starlink WiFi directly? When you have downloading issues, have you run speed tests with the Starlink and at speedtest.net to see how different they are (or not)? Is it a major website?

Even in heavy rain here, we haven't seen weather related slowing. We do have occasional outages (usually less than a second, rarely three seconds or so), but those can be seen in the app. We've had a handful of times where the local, and Starlink speeds were high, and something was off getting out of Starlink's network (e.g. not being able to connect to Google.com, or speedtest.com).

For us, the upgrade to Gen 3 made a noticeable improvement in the speeds, and reduced latency, and the WiFi does carry much farther. The only websites that occasionally I have trouble with are not mainstream websites, which makes me suspect that their website is hosted at a site that runs out of capacity.

All the best,

Peter

 

[newbury]

"Always Ready: Upon arrival, your Mini will be on Standby Mode for $5/mo, which includes unlimited low-speed data for backup and emergency messaging."

What do they consider "unlimited low-speed data for backup"?
I'm accustomed to working with 1 or 2 MB down, 0.6 M up.
Heck, this a.m. in Alexandria, Va, with a Cox plan rated at 300 Mbps for about $55/mo I was getting:

 

[nikdfish]

What do they consider "unlimited low-speed data for backup"?
I'm accustomed to working with 1 or 2 MB down, 0.6 M up.
Heck, this a.m. in Alexandria, Va, with a Cox plan rated at 300 Mbps for about $55/mo I was getting:
View attachment 4449048

Standby mode does up to 500K down/up. Latency is the same as normal operation.

 

[JRH02]

Sorry to hear that you are still having issues. You've mentioned this before, and it makes me wonder what / how your network is configured, and whether there is anything that could be done to help. If you don't mind me asking, are you using the Starlink WiFi directly? When you have downloading issues, have you run speed tests with the Starlink and at speedtest.net to see how different they are (or not)? Is it a major website?

Even in heavy rain here, we haven't seen weather related slowing. We do have occasional outages (usually less than a second, rarely three seconds or so), but those can be seen in the app. We've had a handful of times where the local, and Starlink speeds were high, and something was off getting out of Starlink's network (e.g. not being able to connect to Google.com, or speedtest.com).

For us, the upgrade to Gen 3 made a noticeable improvement in the speeds, and reduced latency, and the WiFi does carry much farther. The only websites that occasionally I have trouble with are not mainstream websites, which makes me suspect that their website is hosted at a site that runs out of capacity.

All the best,

Peter

The internet is not just one thing?!? Nahhh.