scootr
Super Member
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- Temecula California
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- Kubota MX5200 HST, 773 Bobcat, Cat forklift
Mine points north here in Southern CA. I'm sure this will vary by location and satellite coverage.
Starlink
- Thread starter rekees4300
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ponytug
Super Member
It generally does. In the Northern hemisphere, Dishy mostly points north. Since the Starlink orbits are inclined with respect to the poles, optimal will generally be straight at the pole to average the north heading satellites and the south heading satellites (same satellite on the return trip). There are reports that on the East and West US coasts, Dishy seems to orient closer to NW on West coast, and NE on the East coast, with some suggesting it was done to reduce bandwidth congestion.
Personally, mine originally pointed due north, and then after six months or so, a new firmware revision dropped, and it shifted to the NW. Either way, zero average obstructions for me. YMMV.
@Torvy Again, your phone is your best friend on this one.
All the best,
Peter
Torvy
Super Member
Here's a fine situation, what would you do (mostly for those who have Starlink already).
Just got the email saying I have 7 days to accept my regular Starlink as it is ready.
Do I cancel that or cancel the roaming one?
Just got the email saying I have 7 days to accept my regular Starlink as it is ready.
Do I cancel that or cancel the roaming one?
BigBlue1
Elite Member
Are you going to use it in multiple locations? That means you're going to install it in such a way as to make packing it up and taking it with you fairly simple? If that is true and important to you then you likely want the roam version.
Torvy
Super Member
I ordered the roam version because I was on an undefined wait list. This is for our home property. It will feed two buildings about 15' apart. The roam was just waiting a couple of weeks to fulfill the order.
How much better is the residential version? Basically, what I need to know is more about do I take the bird (almost) in hand or wait for them to ship the other one here (2-3 weeks?)
Wife will probably consult on occasion and will need reliable service.
How much better is the residential version? Basically, what I need to know is more about do I take the bird (almost) in hand or wait for them to ship the other one here (2-3 weeks?)
Wife will probably consult on occasion and will need reliable service.
BigBlue1
Elite Member
I don't know what the service prioritization differences are with 'roam' versus residential. Back when RV plan first came out it was deprioritized against all other residential service in the cell. If that is what 'roam' means that still may be the case. Up to you to research that, but just know that prioritization matters. How it would affect you at your home depends entirely on the amount of other SL customers in your cell (which you can't really know).
ponytug
Super Member
Roam is and will be deprioritized relative to residential service.
While you could get the roam sooner and hope that at some point in the future you could upgrade it to residential, I think that your long wait list experience argues that getting residential in the future will not be quick.
I would take the residential service in three weeks, over the roam version in a week. That's from someone who wrote to SpaceX the day they announced asking to be permitted to be an early adopter. (Not that it got me anything; I think we were eighteen months behind @BigBlue1 in actually getting service.
All the best,
Peter
While you could get the roam sooner and hope that at some point in the future you could upgrade it to residential, I think that your long wait list experience argues that getting residential in the future will not be quick.
I would take the residential service in three weeks, over the roam version in a week. That's from someone who wrote to SpaceX the day they announced asking to be permitted to be an early adopter. (Not that it got me anything; I think we were eighteen months behind @BigBlue1 in actually getting service.
All the best,
Peter
Torvy
Super Member
Thanks. I'll try to get in contact in the morning to see how shifting will work. My roam system is already on the way...should be here tomorrow or Saturday.
Prioritization still exists. Cost is another issue.
In early-mid-2022, I needed internet at the place we bought out in the boonies. At the time, you could not buy the dish/router if you were in a service-not-yet-available region - period. I rather desperately needed the Starlink equipment and service to be able to maintain COVID-era work-at-home. Without an at least somewhat reliable internet service at the new house, I would have had to endure an ugly ~150 mile commute through the Wash., D.C. suburbs to/from my office every day.
To obtain the hardware, when I placed my order I identified an installation location in an area where service was already available (out west), but had the dish/router hardware shipped to my house in the east, knowing that we would soon be moving (btw, Starlink quickly caught on to people doing this "end-around" and stopped allowing it because it was adding congestion in areas that were already short on available bandwidth).
Initial cost was $99/mo., but only a few months later pricing had gone up. However, by this time, roaming had become available, so we shifted to a roaming plan at $120/mo. (which shortly became $145/mo.) to get "legal" and hopefully get better service.
During this time, Starlink had not launched enough satellites yet to support the demand in our region. As a result, initially the de-prioritized performance was downright terrible. I had to add a T-Mobile cellular Home Internet and an strong external cell antenna (cell reception out in the boonies is terrible, too) to have a back-up, which was frequently used.
Performance has slowly improved over the last year, but even up to a month ago there were definitely times in the evening when performance slowed to a crawl (when everyone with standard residential service is home using up bandwidth on Netflix or YouTube).
Fast forward to now: Last month a slot opened up,* and we were able to shift to standard residential service. Cost dropped from $145/mo. to $120/mo. The bonus is that because we are no longer de-prioritized, bandwidth and reliability have significantly improved -- so much so that this week I canceled the T-Mobile Home Internet service and have boxed up their receiver/router for return.
I suppose the real questions are how urgently do you need the service, and are you willing to put up with "generally satisfactory but occasionally lousy" roaming service.
*We actually started with a separate reservation which remained pending while we were on roaming to maintain work-from-home. When the earlier reservation finally came around last month, we explained that we had moved to a new home, already had the equipment from our roaming service, and only needed to be shifted from roaming to standard residential. Starlink customer service was kind enough to oblige, and we canceled the earlier reservation.
In early-mid-2022, I needed internet at the place we bought out in the boonies. At the time, you could not buy the dish/router if you were in a service-not-yet-available region - period. I rather desperately needed the Starlink equipment and service to be able to maintain COVID-era work-at-home. Without an at least somewhat reliable internet service at the new house, I would have had to endure an ugly ~150 mile commute through the Wash., D.C. suburbs to/from my office every day.
To obtain the hardware, when I placed my order I identified an installation location in an area where service was already available (out west), but had the dish/router hardware shipped to my house in the east, knowing that we would soon be moving (btw, Starlink quickly caught on to people doing this "end-around" and stopped allowing it because it was adding congestion in areas that were already short on available bandwidth).
Initial cost was $99/mo., but only a few months later pricing had gone up. However, by this time, roaming had become available, so we shifted to a roaming plan at $120/mo. (which shortly became $145/mo.) to get "legal" and hopefully get better service.
During this time, Starlink had not launched enough satellites yet to support the demand in our region. As a result, initially the de-prioritized performance was downright terrible. I had to add a T-Mobile cellular Home Internet and an strong external cell antenna (cell reception out in the boonies is terrible, too) to have a back-up, which was frequently used.
Performance has slowly improved over the last year, but even up to a month ago there were definitely times in the evening when performance slowed to a crawl (when everyone with standard residential service is home using up bandwidth on Netflix or YouTube).
Fast forward to now: Last month a slot opened up,* and we were able to shift to standard residential service. Cost dropped from $145/mo. to $120/mo. The bonus is that because we are no longer de-prioritized, bandwidth and reliability have significantly improved -- so much so that this week I canceled the T-Mobile Home Internet service and have boxed up their receiver/router for return.
I suppose the real questions are how urgently do you need the service, and are you willing to put up with "generally satisfactory but occasionally lousy" roaming service.
*We actually started with a separate reservation which remained pending while we were on roaming to maintain work-from-home. When the earlier reservation finally came around last month, we explained that we had moved to a new home, already had the equipment from our roaming service, and only needed to be shifted from roaming to standard residential. Starlink customer service was kind enough to oblige, and we canceled the earlier reservation.
ponytug
Super Member
Torvy
Super Member
Thanks, yes. I have a tracking number on the roaming and should be here very soon.
I will always wonder if ordering the roaming triggered a bump up the list or if this is completely random...I suppose there's an extremely outside chance my goddaughter heard through the family grapevine and asked hubby to look into it. I just don't think/know if he has that kind of pull. He's an EE, not into customer service or any of that. Then again, I don't know the company culture. I would never ask him to intervene despite the temptation.
I will always wonder if ordering the roaming triggered a bump up the list or if this is completely random...I suppose there's an extremely outside chance my goddaughter heard through the family grapevine and asked hubby to look into it. I just don't think/know if he has that kind of pull. He's an EE, not into customer service or any of that. Then again, I don't know the company culture. I would never ask him to intervene despite the temptation.
Torvy
Super Member
Box arrived a bit ago. I reached out to see what to do. It sounded like I could just use the app to change, but the option isn't there. I think it would be counting me twice and another spot isn't available.
ponytug
Super Member
Congratulations!
I would the app to get to support. Since you already have a slot, it isn't just buying a second one. I might also try via billing.
All the best,
Peter
Torvy
Super Member
Apparently they just switched it for me. I thought the dish thingy was different.
Either way, I have a project and perhaps internet soon!
Either way, I have a project and perhaps internet soon!
Fallon
Super Member
We hauled the 5th wheel from Colorado to my in-laws here in Indiana. On the 2nd night our campsite neighbor looked up & said "Oh, starlink". Sure enough there was a Congo line of 22 dots trucking across the sky. Think it was 1 or 2 nights after the launch on the 8th. Was really cool to see. Grabbed a photo, but it's pretty poor as I only had a minute or 2 before they disappeared behind a tree after they were spotted.
Service here in Merriville had issues on the ground. Moved the dish ontop of a 2 story shed & its been fine. Just downloaded a game at 200 megabit. Been on Zoom for a training all week with only a couple minor hiccups (most of those was my laptop as well as my phone was fine during the hiccups). I had a residential account + portability. I think it's still flagged that way, but they have messed with the plans since I looked at things.
As a gamer & IT professional I'm going to be more discerning than most on internet quality. It's plenty ok for me most of the time. I'd rather have wired, but can't beat the portability we need on occasion.
Most people really don't care about bandwidth either. 50megabit is plenty for streaming video, zoom & gaming. Connection stability & latency (ping) is more important than bandwidth.
Service here in Merriville had issues on the ground. Moved the dish ontop of a 2 story shed & its been fine. Just downloaded a game at 200 megabit. Been on Zoom for a training all week with only a couple minor hiccups (most of those was my laptop as well as my phone was fine during the hiccups). I had a residential account + portability. I think it's still flagged that way, but they have messed with the plans since I looked at things.
As a gamer & IT professional I'm going to be more discerning than most on internet quality. It's plenty ok for me most of the time. I'd rather have wired, but can't beat the portability we need on occasion.
Most people really don't care about bandwidth either. 50megabit is plenty for streaming video, zoom & gaming. Connection stability & latency (ping) is more important than bandwidth.
Torvy
Super Member
Ok, that was easy. I am coming to you via Starlink. For now, sitting in my garage as my house is not quite finished...you can follow that saga on another thread.
My only other option before now was to be outside and even then it was 2 bars max on cell service. Gaming and such can wait. I'm happy to have basic communication and research indoors! For the record it says I'm getting 102 Mbps.
My only other option before now was to be outside and even then it was 2 bars max on cell service. Gaming and such can wait. I'm happy to have basic communication and research indoors! For the record it says I'm getting 102 Mbps.
Fallon
Super Member
Forgot to upload the photo... Really dark & the flash didnt help, but you can see the line above the tree.
Torvy
Super Member
Very cool. Being so far from Civilization (pun intended) I may be able to see some out here.
check
Elite Member
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2008
- Messages
- 4,164
- Tractor
- 2009 Kubota BX25
Hey, guys, I am very interested in the reliability issues. I teach online, so I cannot have my Internet service go down for even a second. How often do you get old is it and how long do they last?
