Starlink Basics / Boost Mobile ?

[Spike56]

I currently have rural WiFi and Dish Network. Considering replacing with StarLink and maybe Utube / Hulu or another streaming service. Trying to understand better what I might get into / advantages or disadvantages.
1.) Can Starlink run (2) televisions at the same time ? Is there any additional equipment needed for this ?

My Dish network has been good, but the bill keeps creeping up and up.

2.) Also Boost mobile (thru Dish) is available for a lot better price than AT&T. Anyone have this for cell service. Seen some not so good reviews ?

 

[EscapedSuburbia]

We've had a Starlink mini on roam in our RV for over a year and just got a gen 3 dish for home so we can pause the roam plan when we're not traveling. Either has no problem streaming to two devices at once. Our kids and their spouses are home for Xmas so there are often 3-4 devices streaming at once plus my daughter had to work via Zoom all day yesterday. The current deal on Starlink means they essentially give you the hardware for free - they call it a rental but it's $0/month. You just have to return it if you cancel service. Assuming your TVs are "smart" and can connect via Wifi there is no additional hardware needed. If you don't have a smart TV you'll need to buy something like a Roku, Chromecast, or Onn streaming device. We have Onn devices from Walmart for our dumb TVs. The router that comes with the Starlink antenna provides your wifi signal or if you already have a home network you can plug your current router into the Starlink router (which is what we did). For home use we got the $40/month plan that limits us to 100Mbps which has been absolutely fine for us. Starlink is a game changer for rural living or traveling.

 

[Torvy]

There is a huge thread on Starlink.

Short version...Starlink comes with a router that can provide wifi to your devices.

Longer version...I have metal buildings and zero cell signal indoors. My Starlink sits on my 16' high barn and the provided router gives us signal into the barn. I bought an optional eternity adapter that runs from that router into my unattached home via ethernet cable. Once in the house, I have a router that directs signals through cables to the major rooms in the house (we built the house wired for ethernet). At one of those locations, we have a wifi router that broadcasts the signal throughout the house.

I can attach a TV via cable or wifi depending on the TV. We have multiple devices running and don't have lag issues at all.

You may sometimes get a short pause if the device switches satellites. Severe storms may temporarily disrupt the signal, but that is rare. Biggest issue for us is power outages kill our signal...meaning we have to go outside to make a call. When we get a generator installed, that should solve that problem.

As for cell service, your specific location can make a huge difference on coverage. Invite friends with various service to visit and see who gets the best at your place. At this point AT&T couldn't pay me to use their products.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I currently have rural WiFi and Dish Network. Considering replacing with StarLink and maybe Utube / Hulu or another streaming service. Trying to understand better what I might get into / advantages or disadvantages.
1.) Can Starlink run (2) televisions at the same time ? Is there any additional equipment needed for this ?

My Dish network has been good, but the bill keeps creeping up and up.

2.) Also Boost mobile (thru Dish) is available for a lot better price than AT&T. Anyone have this for cell service. Seen some not so good reviews ?

We have both Dish and Starlink and are also not happy with the Dish price increases. We tried to go streaming, but we need multiple services to get all the channels we want. The subscription costs weren't much cheaper than what we were paying so for now anyway, we're keeping Dish.

We also weren't happy with the freezing & buffering while streaming. Without additional hardware, we weren't able to record programs and watch later so we could edit out commercials.

Not sure if it's just our location or equipment, but there is also an annoying delay when using the remote while streaming. With Dish, it's instantaneous.

Just our experience (and our neighbors too) though, so yours may be different. YMMV.

 

[paulsharvey]

Tmobile home cellular wifi works well enough for us, for about 50% the cost of Starlink. It does get a bit iffy, when you get 15+ devices on it.

You start thinking of 5 cell phones, 3 lap tops, a couple TVs, 2 tablets, a Playstation, some security cameras, and all that, the devices really do add up; even if you dont do wifi on the microwave/fridge/washing machine/ect.

 

[EarPlug]

Boost Mobile will use either AT&T or T-Mobile network depending on the area you are located.

 

[Spike56]

Tmobile home cellular wifi works well enough for us, for about 50% the cost of Starlink. It does get a bit iffy, when you get 15+ devices on it.

You start thinking of 5 cell phones, 3 lap tops, a couple TVs, 2 tablets, a Playstation, some security cameras, and all that, the devices really do add up; even if you dont do wifi on the microwave/fridge/washing machine/ect.

No chance for us on T-mobile. Looking at the coverage map, our area is blotchy colored from no coverage all around.

 

[Jstpssng]

At this point AT&T couldn't pay me to use their products

Funny how things vary by region. I have my company phone (Verizon) set up so that I can use my personal phone as a hot spot. That's becoming more and more rare though, Verizon must be putting on more towers.
I'm comsidering Starlink and ditching my smart phone though, which currently is my only internet access.

 

[paulsharvey]

My boss has starlink at home, and he likes it. It does repeatedly, maybe for 30 seconds every 30 minutes slow to the point of making a Teams meeting hard, but it always recovers quickly.

During hurricanes, work does bring out a starlink set up, incase physical lines get damaged, and its been good.

With all that, StarLink isnt something you get if you have other decent options. Its expensive to set up, and expensive service. If there is traditional, even if not as fast, I would get those.

 

[Torvy]

They ran fiber down our road last year. Everyone still has Starlink. Starlink is more dependable. You expect problems with storms and power outages. Downtime with fiber or traditional cable is unpredictable and, in my experience, longer and more frustrating.

Since we rely on our internet service to get phone signal indoors, it is worth the money to have reliable service.

 

[JohnP3616]

We had Dish and Viasat for about fifteen years. Dish was okay except for the price and Viasat was not only pricey, but really wasn’t suitable for streaming. About a year ago we dumped them both and got Starlink. HULU, YouTube and Amazon Prime Videos have worked well for streaming. Our TVs were old, one didn’t support WIFI, so we upgrade both of those. TVs are pretty cheap these days. We are happy with our decisions. We watch what we want, when we want, and save money to boot.

 

[ponytug]

In the FWIW category: We run both Teams and Zoom without issues here, sometimes with multiple sessions going. For the most part, our Starlink "outages" are in the subsecond category. For us a long outage is five seconds, occurring perhaps one every couple of months. For the initial installation, I did go to a bit of effort to get the antenna installed at a location that has an unobstructed view of the sky.

The few times we have had noticeable connection delays, I have always been able to run the problem down to a device on our internal network having a meltdown for some reason.

As far as other obstructions, we almost never get 1+"/hr rains here, and the automatic heater keeps the antenna snow free during our infrequent snowfalls.

For us, the bandwidth of the gen 2 dish (basically the same as the mini) was more than enough bandwidth. If you have multiple active gamers and/or lots of webcams, that might not be the case for you.

All the best,

Peter