Starlink

[ponytug]

I had a Zoom meeting today from noon until 1, had buffering several times.

Well, that's annoying. You seem to be pretty adept/expert at computers and networking, but in the interests of potentially debugging Starlink issues, can I ask some dumb questions?
Have you looked at your Advanced Debug data, (Settings, Advanced, "Debug Data") for things like;

Dish data:

PopPingDropRate,​

FractionObstructed, (both should be close to zero, if not actually zero)​

PopPingLatencyMs​

AverageProlongedObstructionDurationS, (and Interval) The first should be short, (under 1sec) and the second should be long) At the moment for me, the first runs around .5sec, and the second is running 6hours (21,600s). I.e. Starlink has had one .53 second outage in the last six hours. That's not long enough to stutter zoom.​

Router Data:

PingDropRate should be zero, if not you probably have a hardware or cable issue​

PingLatencyMs should match the Dishy PopPingLatencyMs number.​

If the obstruction numbers aren't zero, then while the freeze is definitely Starlink's doing since it couldn't see the satellite(s), it is also site specific and addressable. The Dishy/router custom connectors can spark or corrode if not 100% fully seated, or if exposed to humidity or water. They have a lot of power flowing through a relatively small connector.

There is also the potential other causes, e.g. local WiFi, or Ethernet issues, and of course, your device failing to prioritize zoom. I have seen all of the above be an issue. As @BigBlue1 mentioned above, even something as simple and seemingly benign as kinking a cable can cause issues, sometimes permanently.

All the best,

Peter

 

[IXLR8]

Well, that's annoying. You seem to be pretty adept/expert at computers and networking, but in the interests of potentially debugging Starlink issues, can I ask some dumb questions?

All the best,

Peter

When I installed my dishy, it was pointed north and I had zero obstructions. About a month ago my dishy changed and is now pointed east and I have obstructions every 2 minutes, but my speeds are faster. It is pointed at some trees, but due to shoreland zoning here, I can't cut or trim them. I would rather have the slower speeds and no obstructions but Starlink doesn't seem inclined to put it back.

I told my neighbor how to access the additional wifi info on his MacBook so he could see what channel his units were on, what frequency, what Tx speeds were and how much noise he was seeing. Haven't heard back from him yet to see what his test results looked like.

 

[cqaigy2]

When I installed my dishy, it was pointed north and I had zero obstructions. About a month ago my dishy changed and is now pointed east and I have obstructions every 2 minutes, but my speeds are faster. It is pointed at some trees, but due to shoreland zoning here, I can't cut or trim them. I would rather have the slower speeds and no obstructions but Starlink doesn't seem inclined to put it back.

I told my neighbor how to access the additional wifi info on his MacBook so he could see what channel his units were on, what frequency, what Tx speeds were and how much noise he was seeing. Haven't heard back from him yet to see what his test results looked like.

I'm assuming didn't have an issue when it pointed more north, but you are having more issues now that it's moved? Not counting being faster as an issue.

Mine was always, "2 minutes obstructions" because of trees and a ridge that pokes up to the north of here. I assume that is why i get buffering at times, but it seems worse in the evening, more like an oversubscribed ISP or service. I didn't really notice it getting worse, until reading post here. I got mine during the beta period, when the service was getting faster and better because of more sats.

I connect directly to Dish via ethernet back to firewall.

My high usage devices except one are wire connected. PC, Nvidia Shield, SiliconDust DVR and "smart" TV wired. I have a SiliconDust ethernet attached TV Tuner connect via point to point, it take OTA TV and sends it to DVR or NVidia Shield, has very little Internet traffic, mostly xml TV schedule.

I haven't actually kept track of "downages" but it does seem to be a bit worse in the evenings, when i'm assuming higher traffic either ISP or streaming services.

 

[kf4uda]

I think this may be the highest that I have seen with my "best effort".

 

[cqaigy2]

I just found this video about setting up a secure connection to your resources inside your network, like a VPN, but uses Cloudflare Tunnels. Does it without poking holes into your firewall and should work with CGNAT like Starlink. I haven't tried it out yet.

Cloudflare Tunnel Easy Tutorial

 

[sd455dan]

I think this may be the highest that I have seen with my "best effort".

View attachment 787943

Received our Residential? kit and we have been getting between 130-168 on the download when run on a 5G phone.

It drops into the 30-40s when run back to back on my old laptop.
So I guess wlan in my laptop is old and slow and just limits speeds.

 

[Fallon]

I just found this video about setting up a secure connection to your resources inside your network, like a VPN, but uses Cloudflare Tunnels. Does it without poking holes into your firewall and should work with CGNAT like Starlink. I haven't tried it out yet.

Cloudflare Tunnel Easy Tutorial

VPNs are a great business. Easy to deploy, low risk, high profit & easy to promote on YouTube. For most users though they do little for security at best & create the very security hole they claim to fix at worst.

Many of the cheap VPN providers actively snoop on their users data, log things they claim they don't & provide a nice centralized location to collect data to sell. A large number of these VPN providers are located in China or other locations that have espionage issues with the West.

For consumers it just encrypts your data between your machine & the VPN provider. If you don't trust your ISP there is value in that. But that data is then running across the rest of the Internet outside of the encrypted tunnel for the rest of the connection. If your app isn't properly encrypting its traffic these days, you really need to get rid of it. It's massively insecure & a VPN won't help.

Personally I use a VPN at DEFcon, who pretty accurately claims to have the the most hostile network in the world. But I don't anywhere else, even the free airport WiFi.

There can be value to spoof your location for streaming services & to bypass region locks. But that's a pretty small use case.

VPNs do have value for corporate systems, but they are quite different in their deployment & usage in ways that home users wouldn't get value. This is roughly analogous to the video. It's a bit more complex to get a VPN into your home network. You may not need to open holes on your firewall in the traditional sense. But if you can get into your network, an attacker can use a similar method to do the same unless you are really ontop of setting up & maintaining things correctly.

 

[cqaigy2]

VPNs are a great business. Easy to deploy, low risk, high profit & easy to promote on YouTube. For most users though they do little for security at best & create the very security hole they claim to fix at worst.

Many of the cheap VPN providers actively snoop on their users data, log things they claim they don't & provide a nice centralized location to collect data to sell. A large number of these VPN providers are located in China or other locations that have espionage issues with the West.

For consumers it just encrypts your data between your machine & the VPN provider. If you don't trust your ISP there is value in that. But that data is then running across the rest of the Internet outside of the encrypted tunnel for the rest of the connection. If your app isn't properly encrypting its traffic these days, you really need to get rid of it. It's massively insecure & a VPN won't help.

Personally I use a VPN at DEFcon, who pretty accurately claims to have the the most hostile network in the world. But I don't anywhere else, even the free airport WiFi.

There can be value to spoof your location for streaming services & to bypass region locks. But that's a pretty small use case.

VPNs do have value for corporate systems, but they are quite different in their deployment & usage in ways that home users wouldn't get value. This is roughly analogous to the video. It's a bit more complex to get a VPN into your home network. You may not need to open holes on your firewall in the traditional sense. But if you can get into your network, an attacker can use a similar method to do the same unless you are really ontop of setting up & maintaining things correctly.

Sure. BTW did you check out the info about Cloudflare Tunnel?

 

[sd455dan]

I think this may be the highest that I have seen with my "best effort".

View attachment 787943

Just moved the dish and ran the advanced test on my phone

the wifi and router Upload speeds?

 

[BigBlue1]

Received our Residential? kit and we have been getting between 130-168 on the download when run on a 5G phone.

It drops into the 30-40s when run back to back on my old laptop.
So I guess wlan in my laptop is old and slow and just limits speeds.

How old of laptop? Is laptop connected via wifi or ethernet? Wifi standards could have been less capable if it is quite old.