Starlink

[ponytug]

I have been on the wait list since feb 2021. I was looking online at the accessories. It looks like the longest cable to connect the dish is 100 feet. How are you all overcoming that limitation. I was hoping to mount it on a post or pole in the front yarrd/field. With the wind we get here, mounting on the roof seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

You didn't say how far you want to run the signal, but Ethernet has a limitation due to signal degradation/collisions of 330'/100m over copper, and miles over fiber or radio links. With Starlink, the hard limit is basically the 150' cable between the router and the antenna due to power losses.

I looked for a location where there was already power within 75', and then put the Starlink antenna up where the app said that it would have 100% obstruction free visibility. The app was right. I have had zero obstruction reports. I looked into running fiber from the Starlink router to the house, but decided that for me, the trenching was going to be too complicated. So, I used the Starlink Ethernet adapter, wired that to a radio link and then used a radio link to beam the signal to the house (e.g. a Ubiquiti Nanobeam, or Gigabeam). It works great.

All the best,

Peter

 

[dmccarty]

I got one of the StarLink mesh routers a few days ago and put it into service. The StarLink router is in the center of the house near the wiring closest but the devices are at the end of the house. The StarLink mess router just had to be plugged in and then it shows up on the StarLink phone application where you just have to tell it to connect. Easy Peasey. We were getting good speeds but it is faster with the mesh router. I doubt we will really notice the difference in normal web browsing but downloads are faster. There are "better' mesh routers out there but for what we need, StarLink's device will get it done.

Regarding the roof mount. I too am concerned. My temporary installation is a bunch of 2x4s screwed together as a base to hold Dishy. I weighted it down eight or so heavy edger that are 20-25ish pounds each. This is on a low slope part of the roof and I doubled up one of the 2x4 sections so the "mount" is more level. We have had some very strong winds, one storm took out 50ish feet of the top of a hardwood tree. Dishy was fine. Eventually the roof edge mount arrived and I will install that when the temperature gets more reasonable. Going to have to figure out how to really attach that roof edge mount to handle the winds. I want to double up the structure at the roof eave and maybe through bolts every thing....

Later,
Dan

 

[Cougsfan]

Fortunately my microwave internet provider was able to boost my speed up to 25mbs. Not nearly as fast as Starlink, but fast enough to stream Fubo TV and ditch Dish TV, who keeps raising their price while dropping the little programing that I watch. My internet service is considerably less money than Starlink, so I can quit waiting for Starlink to become available. Some of my rural neighbors who have also been waiting for Starlink just have been provide with fiber optic links as they were fortunate enough to have fiber optic lines routed near their homes. They are now no longer waiting for Starlink either.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I have been on the wait list since feb 2021. I was looking online at the accessories. It looks like the longest cable to connect the dish is 100 feet. How are you all overcoming that limitation. I was hoping to mount it on a post or pole in the front yarrd/field. With the wind we get here, mounting on the roof seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

It does look north. Not sure about clearing the trees to your north. I put mine on front of garage.
I have RV version, could bring it down sometime if you want to check the angle.

I bought the long cable just in case I need it.

 

[John_Mc]

I have been on the wait list since feb 2021. I was looking online at the accessories. It looks like the longest cable to connect the dish is 100 feet. How are you all overcoming that limitation. I was hoping to mount it on a post or pole in the front yarrd/field. With the wind we get here, mounting on the roof seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

It does look north. Not sure about clearing the trees to your north. I put mine on front of garage.
I have RV version, could bring it down sometime if you want to check the angle.

The Starlink app on your smartphone will tell you what you need for sky visibiity. It's free, and you don't need to be a Starlink subscriber to use it.

Imagine a cone a little over 90˚ wide. That's the area of sky coverage you need (the open sky needed seems to get a bit less as they launch more and more satellites). I'm told that over most of the continental US the dishes do point a bit north. It varies depending on where you are in the country. In my area (Vermont), the dish points about 20˚ north of straight up.

 

[BigBlue1]

I have been on the wait list since feb 2021. I was looking online at the accessories. It looks like the longest cable to connect the dish is 100 feet. How are you all overcoming that limitation. I was hoping to mount it on a post or pole in the front yarrd/field. With the wind we get here, mounting on the roof seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

Wouldn't a roof mount be more stable than mounting on a pole?

As others have noted, the new version of the dish comes with a 75' cable but you can buy a 150' cable to swap.

If you need a longer distance to mount it you'll have to look at a solution where you provide power and weatherproof enclosure within 150' of the mount, then connect the LAN signal back to your house. Outdoors the best solutions would be a wireless bridge or fiber. Ethernet cable can be used but apparently is prone to lightning damage. If mounted on an outbuilding that shares electricity with the house you could also look into powerline ethernet.

Your roof is probably the best place for it though. Just use the obstruction checker in the app to see if you can get a good, clean view.

As a side note, you can get Starlink service immediately if you choose the 'RV' version. That service isn't subject to location/cell availability restrictions to provision service. However, your connectivity is 'second class citizen' to other residential customer needs within your cell and can be deprioritized during busy times.

Rob

 

[LouNY]

My dish points within a couple of degrees of true North (about 13 Deg from magnetic North), with a 30 degree slope towards the North.

 

[newbury]

I know this is a starlink thread but it seems to be the main thread for internet related questions.
I JUST got fiber installed, with claimed speeds of 100 down and up, replacing my 7 down 0,7 up. Speeds per Speedtest by Ookla.
After the install the tech looked at his phone and told me he was getting 104 down/101 up (don't know what app).
I pulled out my phone and confirmed with about the same numbers with Speedtest.
Later, after he left I tried numerous times with my laptop, never got better than 50 down/ 50 up.
Called up tech support, they gave me a bunch of mumbo jumbo about packet size etc.
Now I'm doing this in rural Mississippi where a bit is what goes in a horses mouth. I'm thinking that they are just trying to give me a tobacco enema because I've never heard of packet size affecting speed that much. And I been in computers since IBM first put 3 transistors on a chip in about 1972. (I was cutting chips at IBM then.)

So for the TBN crew - What is the best (reliable, accurate) free speedtest?

 

[mrmikey]

I've used Ookla since forever...........Mike

 

[riptides]

I know this is a starlink thread but it seems to be the main thread for internet related questions.
I JUST got fiber installed, with claimed speeds of 100 down and up, replacing my 7 down 0,7 up. Speeds per Speedtest by Ookla.
After the install the tech looked at his phone and told me he was getting 104 down/101 up (don't know what app).
I pulled out my phone and confirmed with about the same numbers with Speedtest.
Later, after he left I tried numerous times with my laptop, never got better than 50 down/ 50 up.
Called up tech support, they gave me a bunch of mumbo jumbo about packet size etc.
Now I'm doing this in rural Mississippi where a bit is what goes in a horses mouth. I'm thinking that they are just trying to give me a tobacco enema because I've never heard of packet size affecting speed that much. And I been in computers since IBM first put 3 transistors on a chip in about 1972. (I was cutting chips at IBM then.)

So for the TBN crew - What is the best (reliable, accurate) free speedtest?

Speedtest is just a tool. You sound like you have hardware laptop limit or laptop to router limit or router limit. 50mbs sounds like a WiFi laptop issue.

 

[ponytug]

+1 on Ookla, but I have had reasonable experiences with others, except for carrier specific speed tests which have to be used on that network only. If you can, run your speed test over an Ethernet cable plugged directly into your fiber modem, with an Ethernet adapter capable of 1Gbit/sec. Anything else gets into testing your WiFi configuration, distance to the modem, and local interference.

Of course, once you confirm 100Mbit/s at the modem, and only 50Mbit/s on your phone, you will probably want to start exploring some of those pesky WiFi issues, including how old is your phone, MIMO support, what all do you have on your network, and can you partition your slower devices such as IOT and older electronics onto your 2.4GHz network instead of your separate 5GHz network. I am not a fan of 2.4 and 5GHz networks sharing the same SSID, as I have seen too many networks get snarled up due to one device that doesn't play well with the concept of moving dynamically between one and the other.(DFS)

All the best,

Peter

 

[buckeyefarmer]

On my router the 2.4 will sometimes stop working, but the 5G will still be working.

 

[JethroB]

For fun I just ran speed tests from three test providers. I’m on StarLink using a wifi only iPad (2020) 12ft from StarLink router WiFi . Lots of variables to consider I’m sure.

OOKLA 72/9
Speedcheck.org. 27/6
AT&T 63/9

FYI, StarLink advanced app says router to internet is 68/7

 

[LittleBill21]

fast.com seems to be by far the most stable for me

 

[buckeyefarmer]

This is weird. This is first time my app has shown anything in the Network box. It was always grayed out before and you could not access it

And there is an update to the speed test in advanced mode. It now shows speed across WiFi.

 

[ultrarunner]

Internet sharing?

I managed a 4-plex at one time all rented to college students.

The had a single account and shared password and had great cheap internet.

It would seem this could be a neighborhood thing but so far my only encounter was in a single 4 unit building.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

And starlink won’t let me cancel the deposit on my home unit I ordered. The link to cancel doesn’t work.
And I accidentally placed an order on that account instead of my RV account which has separate login.

 

[JethroB]

This is weird. This is first time my app has shown anything in the Network box. It was always grayed out before and you could not access it
View attachment 757004
And there is an update to the speed test in advanced mode. It now shows speed across WiFi.
View attachment 757005

I looked at my Network box and see 8 devices connected. Huh??? Further investigation I see devices I don’t think about. Like an Ecobee thermostat in the shop and a Roomba vacuum cleaner. We’ve come a long way baby. (Roomba, what a waste of $$$).

 

[riptides]

I looked at my Network box and see 8 devices connected. Huh??? Further investigation I see devices I don’t think about. Like an Ecobee thermostat in the shop and a Roomba vacuum cleaner. We’ve come a long way baby. (Roomba, what a waste of $$$).

Me thinks you need to lock down your network. That's crazy that things like that are allowed to connect out-of-the-box.

Or am I mistaken on the connections and they were added by you?

 

[JethroB]

Me thinks you need to lock down your network. That's crazy that things like that are allowed to connect out-of-the-box.

Or am I mistaken on the connections and they were added by you?

I added them but my point was we, or I, have started to take this connected stuff for granted.
I haven’t put a password on my StarLink setup yet as I’m pretty remote. (Country life!) Lazy too about passwords. Getting old helps.