Starlink

   / Starlink #1,061  
TL;DR It is fast, low latency, and has variable amounts of interruptions during the day. Having a clear view of the sky in all directions is critical to reduce interruptions. I.e. you may need an antenna tower or a roof mount.

If you plan on critical Zoom calls, have a router that can load balance over multiple WANS (not failover, load balancing).

More on this thread, and over on Reddit.

If you have doubts, don't do it. Let someone else use it who is willing to put up with the "Better than Nothing Beta".

All the best,

Peter
 
   / Starlink #1,062  
I have it. Had it since March. For the first month it was noticeably in beta. Since mid April stability has improved dramatically. I use it for my main internet connection now, including full time work-from home IT job with WebEx/Teams/Zoom meetings with VOIP and video. I get fewer than 2-3 noticed blips a week and they are only momentary. Speeds vary but are typically 40-200Mb/s. Latency is about the same as the LTE hotspot I've used as primary Internet for the past couple of years. Never an issue.

Go back through the thread and learn. Bear in mind that service is much better in the last 2 months. Also check out the Starlink section on Reddit which is very busy with users and potential users: r/Starlink

In short, I'd definitely give it a try with the mindset that it is about production-ready. Might want to keep your other ISP for a couple months but I think by fall they will declare it out of beta.

Rob
 
   / Starlink #1,063  
Thanks. Sounds like it isn't quite ready for prime time and I should check again after they announce non-beta launch as it also sounds hopeful.

re: LTE hotspot, I hear you, for my first 5 years in this place cellular internet was all I had. Even DSL is a step up, until the kids visit with all their apple watches, ipods, ipads, and mac computers, all of which are trying to share cat and baby videos, pictures, and songs with the icloud. At that point my internet is dead in the water, it can't handle that kind of abuse. I secretly retreat to the cellular network most of the time when they visit :)

re: AWS SSH, depends on what you do. If your remote session is interactive, such as editing files remotely, a 1+ second packet delay makes it unusable.
 
   / Starlink #1,064  
Thanks. Sounds like it isn't quite ready for prime time and I should check again after they announce non-beta launch as it also sounds hopeful.

That's not the takeaway I was presenting. I'm using it for full time WFH and it is working great. At this point it is nearly as my LTE hotspot which would have short dropouts once a week or once every other week. Starlink has maybe 2 a week. And by dropout I'm talking just enough to blip a VPN to cause a reconnect and things are back in 20 seconds. It's not cable modem ISP solid but on part with LTE, DSL, etc. I simply suggested keeping your other ISP for a bit in case they have an occasional longer outage of a few minutes, which is still a potential during the beta. But it is a solid service now.

If you pass on your chance to sign up when it is open in your cell you may not have another opportunity until towards the end of the year. Bear that in mind in your decision.

Rob
 
   / Starlink #1,065  
re: AWS SSH, depends on what you do. If your remote session is interactive, such as editing files remotely, a 1+ second packet delay makes it unusable.

I'm SSH'd into servers much of each day. Even when the VPN has to reconnect those sessions stay fine. I've never lost a thing or had to do anything except wait 15-20 sec for the VPN to re-establish itself. And again, that is something like 1 or 2 times in a 50 hour work week. Given what I'm used to with LTE, Starlink is no different.
 
   / Starlink #1,066  
I'm SSH'd into servers much of each day. Even when the VPN has to reconnect those sessions stay fine. I've never lost a thing or had to do anything except wait 15-20 sec for the VPN to re-establish itself. And again, that is something like 1 or 2 times in a 50 hour work week. Given what I'm used to with LTE, Starlink is no different.
I think you missed my context on the latency w.r.t. remote machine access. Starlink's claims of 20ms sound _great_, if that's what you're getting. It was the old school satellite internet setups of 10 years ago that had unworkable latency for remote work (or games).
 
   / Starlink #1,067  
I think you missed my context on the latency w.r.t. remote machine access. Starlink's claims of 20ms sound _great_, if that's what you're getting. It was the old school satellite internet setups of 10 years ago that had unworkable latency for remote work (or games).

I've heard that claim for years about old school sat ISPs. I avoided them for that reason. I believe they truly were issues. I think their latencies were often measured in tenths of a second, not ms.

My internet options are slim in my rural area though, and when I got a cheap $20/mo LTE plan to supplement the (barely) 5 Mb/s DSL I signed up immediately. The LTE hotspot gets latency numbers very much in line with what I see on Starlink. 30-50ms. I used that as my primary ISP for 3 years before Starlink and latency for VPN/WebEx/SSH/streaming/etc has never been a problem. It wasn't with LTE and it isn't with Starlink. The HS kids even game with their Playstation and Xbox (online) without issues. I'm pretty sure I exercise my Internet connection as hard as pretty much anyone, with the exception of content creators uploading monster video files, so I am telling you the issues you are worrying about are not affecting me.

Rob
 
   / Starlink #1,068  
I’m currently running 29ms over LTE, and I keep ssh sessions open all day and work in them.
 
   / Starlink #1,069  
I pre-ordered back in February, in the confirmation e-mail it said to expect service in mid-to-late '21. Hughesnet Gen 5 is all I can get, worked pretty good until the covid hit and now I'm lucky to get 2 mbps down and almost no upload.
 
   / Starlink #1,070  
Glad to see all the "hope" for starlink. I am waiting for the stock ipo!
 

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