Starlink

[BigBlue1]

I know there are multiple (probably lots of) ground stations with fiber interconnectivity. Is the system smart enough to switch to an alternate uplink site should the one nearest you go down?

Also, how do these receivers mount? One would think that to be able to select between multiple birds it would need to face up...is there some sort of radome to shed snow (I would hope)?

No specific knowledge on the failover for the sat to ground connections, but one would assume there is redundancy. As far as I understand things, as the sats move they change which ground station they connect to, so while they are overhead your location they are connecting to the ground station in your area. But the cells are fairly narrow (7-10 miles?) so I'd suspect the sat can access several if needed.

The ground station components are inside domes. Here's a link with some info. There is more out there if you search around.

Canadian Man Discovers Prototype SpaceX Starlink Ground Station in Remote City

The ground stations are vital to the Starlink Network.

interestingengineering.com

SpaceX Starlink Gateway Stations Found In The United States & Abroad

SpaceX enthusiasts have seen Starlink Gateway stations across the world. They shared photographs of the ground stations via social media.

www.tesmanian.com

Rob

 

[rawright54]

I know there are multiple (probably lots of) ground stations with fiber interconnectivity. Is the system smart enough to switch to an alternate uplink site should the one nearest you go down?

Also, how do these receivers mount? One would think that to be able to select between multiple birds it would need to face up...is there some sort of radome to shed snow (I would hope)?

I've been a Starlink user for about three months now, and it's been interesting. Technically, we're still considered Beta testers, and the system's stated goal is to provide "better than nothing" service to people who can't get a decent connection. They already surpass that performance level, though. My previous ISP sold me 1 Gbps service and never for one second came close to that rate - 200 Mbps was the best they could achieve. They grossly oversold the service, I think, and reliability was horrible - I couldn't watch a single streaming TV show without interruption.

The Starlink system is currently slower than the poor performance of my previous ISP, but it's far more reliable. I still have outages, but that usually happens as the local temperature rises to 110° F and higher. The speed is more than adequate to support streaming video service, and I expect that to improve as the satellite network fills in. The basic mounting arrangement takes 3 bolts (not included) and mounts easily on my carport roof. It must have clear sky above and around it to ensure that it can find an available satellite. That's easy here in the desert - no trees!

Snow is not a problem I'll ever need to deal with, but there is no radome. The flat antenna/receiver might actually have de-icing capability built in; who knows? They provide zero documentation of any kind, so there's no way to know until it happens. You might try opening a support ticket on the website to ask. It would be good to know before you buy, and I've found their tech support to be excellent.

 

[plowhog]

I'm curious about equipment, power, and cabling requirements for Starlink. A dish location with an expansive view of the sky is several hundred feet away from available power. I need to get prepped to do an install ...whenever they might get around to me.

- Does Starlink have the traditional setup with a satellite dish / coax connection to a modem device? If so, is that RG-6 cable to connect them?

- I presume the dish does not require power, but the modem does?

- Is the modem powered by a "wall wart", and does it supply 12vDC?

- Is there any published spec on the max permissible distance between dish and modem?

- Does the modem supply a single ethernet jack, or multiple ones? Is it a true/plain modem or does it perform router functions?

 

[ponytug]

I'm curious about equipment, power, and cabling requirements for Starlink. A dish location with an expansive view of the sky is several hundred feet away from available power. I need to get prepped to do an install ...whenever they might get around to me.

- Does Starlink have the traditional setup with a satellite dish / coax connection to a modem device? If so, is that RG-6 cable to connect them?

- I presume the dish does not require power, but the modem does?

- Is the modem powered by a "wall wart", and does it supply 12vDC?

- Is there any published spec on the max permissible distance between dish and modem?

- Does the modem supply a single ethernet jack, or multiple ones? Is it a true/plain modem or does it perform router functions?

The dish does require power, which it gets from a power supply "brick". The dish has a 100' Ethernet cable built in. (Not RG-6) So, yes, you need to find power within 100'. You need to use the Starlink brick; it is a POE (PowerOver Ethernet) power supply, and Starlink has done some unusual things to get enough power to the dish. The power supply also provides power to the router, which is lower wattage than the dish.

In many ways, the dish is the modem, as what it sends down the ethernet cable is normal ethernet traffic. Starlink does provide a router (one free port) which does WiFi as well. Those are the components; dish with attached cable, power supply, router (with its own cable, though that cable can be replaced with a normal ethernet cable), plus whatever mounting hardware you order. Neither the power supply brick nor the router are water resistant. The dish is, and the dish cable is outdoor service Ethernet cable.

More over on the Reddit Starlink sub.

All the best,

Peter

 

[plowhog]

More over on the Reddit Starlink sub.

Thank you for the good information. Very helpful.

My prime Starlink dish location, unobstructed sky view, is 400 ft. from my residence. So I will get power out there, and plan to install ethernet/fiber modems since it exceeds the max Cat6 distance.

I noticed on Reddit they use 56V power. Not sure, but I think typical POE is 48V. Hmm.

Q1- Re: the Starlink router- does it do typical router tasks like port forwarding?

Q2- Is the user's Starlink IP address static (doubt it) or otherwise remotely addressable, so you could use a DynDns program to know how to get to it? I want to remotely connect to check status of various things (like power) and view IP cameras. HughesNet and their double layer system makes this very difficult, although not impossible. Hoping Starlink doesn't put similar roadblocks in the way.

 

[cqaigy2]

I'm wondering if at 110F if the dish circuitry is over heating?

 

[NoTrespassing]

When I go to starlink.com and put my service address in it just highlights the ORDER NOW box. How do I find out availability for my area? I checked a couple months ago and seem to remember a different message.

 

[/pine]

...The speed is more than adequate to support streaming video service, and I expect that to improve as the satellite network fills in...

LoL....you only need 8 or 9 MB to stream just about any of the streaming services...even on multiple devices...

What in the world do people think they need all that bandwidth for ?...I understand about moving large files and large amounts of data...but for the average user 25mb should be more than enough bandwidth for typical Internet use...

 

[ponytug]

Thank you for the good information. Very helpful.

My prime Starlink dish location, unobstructed sky view, is 400 ft. from my residence. So I will get power out there, and plan to install ethernet/fiber modems since it exceeds the max Cat6 distance.

I noticed on Reddit they use 56V power. Not sure, but I think typical POE is 48V. Hmm.

Q1- Re: the Starlink router- does it do typical router tasks like port forwarding?

Q2- Is the user's Starlink IP address static (doubt it) or otherwise remotely addressable, so you could use a DynDns program to know how to get to it? I want to remotely connect to check status of various things (like power) and view IP cameras. HughesNet and their double layer system makes this very difficult, although not impossible. Hoping Starlink doesn't put similar roadblocks in the way.

As I said, their POE is not standard, at least in gen 1 of the equipment. I think that there are a lot of reasons to expect that to change.

I don't have a Starlink router, so I am not an expert. Based on what I have read on Reddit, my understanding is that the IP address is not static, and the sort of remote lookup that you are suggesting has been a problem, but I would poke around there for details. I can think of a lot of reasons why Starlink would not support it, but that doesn't mean that they do or don't or won't. My $0.02 would be to do the reverse and have your cameras, etc. put their data elsewhere, and connect to that. Much safer.

Hughesnet has a legacy IP arrangement that more or less prevents them from doing it. Whether they could upgrade their equipment or not has never been clear. That they have no intention of modernizing their equipment has been very clear in my opinion.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ponytug]

When I go to starlink.com and put my service address in it just highlights the ORDER NOW box. How do I find out availability for my area? I checked a couple months ago and seem to remember a different message.

If you can get an order now that comes out at $499, you can have service now. If it says $99, that is a preorder, and it will say at the top of the page when they are projecting to service your area.

So, are you lucky, or not?

All the best,

Peter