Starlink

[civilian]

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I am with t, I don't understand the need or the science, but won't stop the research from being done. It is important to something outside of my direct needs. Jon

 

[lincmercguy]

Y'all have to read this article. You think worldwide internet travels by satellite? This is a story, a long, detailed and well written story about the companies that fix underwater cables across the world. Satellite internet is NOT the heavy hauler of data that keeps everything going. I should Capitalize EVERYTHING. Maybe one day things will change over to satellite but not anytime soon. Undersea cables are still the mainstay.

This is true the "backbone" of the internet is still fiber cable. Starlink just provides the ISP portion to get your connection to the internet just like the cable company. What makes it unique is that you don't need physical connection or RF/microwave connection and the very low Earth orbit cuts the latency way down. The SL signal connects to the internet through ground stations that have fiber connections from there.

Some of the future inter-satellite communications SL wants to do is really to extend range more than anything.

 

[dstig1]

Nothing beats a hard line, in the end. I have everything I can hard wired on ethernet in my house. Wireless is for portable devices or convenience for oddball items.

Starlink is for hard to reach end-users, and is great for that, or so it seems. I have a fiber connection so don't need it, but I am lucky where I am... Many around here are not so lucky.

 

[sd455dan]

This is true the "backbone" of the internet is still fiber cable. Starlink just provides the ISP portion to get your connection to the internet just like the cable company. What makes it unique is that you don't need physical connection or RF/microwave connection and the very low Earth orbit cuts the latency way down. The SL signal connects to the internet through ground stations that have fiber connections from there.

Some of the future inter-satellite communications SL wants to do is really to extend range more than anything.

it will be interesting to see if Starlink can do worldwide cell phone coverage, even if it is only used for 911

 

[lincmercguy]

Nothing beats a hard line, in the end. I have everything I can hard wired on ethernet in my house. Wireless is for portable devices or convenience for oddball items.

Unless it's too expensive to run. Cable and fiber is better than Starlink. Starlink is much better than DSL. I usually get 250mbps down. The downside of Starlink is that it goes down in bad electrical storms.

Ironically, the only thing I have on ethernet in my house is my printer. And that is because the Wifi in the printer quit working.

 

[stompybritches]

SL is the only thing saving my arse, without it Verizon cell drops calls, I have zero data capability though pay for it and cannot even send text messages or go online. I have to run everything on wi-fi thru SL. Just one mile down the road is the true dead zone, for miles and miles and miles. Broadband is a joke out here and way more expensive than SL.

 

[ponytug]

it will be interesting to see if Starlink can do worldwide cell phone coverage, even if it is only used for 911

You can easily run a bunch of VOIP / WiFi cell phones over Starlink. We do it routinely; like many others, our local rural telephone provider has absolutely terrible performance, despite the local (state) rules requiring a certain level of uptime. Starlink beats our old provider hands down for uptime.

A "bunch" is a bit elastic, as the details of the actual connection matter; bandwidth starts at about 15kb/s and goes up towards 3Mbit/s, depending on the codec, and other details. However, ten calls at high (3Mbit/s) fit in 10Mbit/s of upload, since conversations aren't continuous.

VoIP Bandwidth Calculator - Packetizer

Packetizer's VoIP Bandwidth Calculator will tell you exactly how much bandwidth you need for your VoIP calls. It will calculate the bandwidth required based on the CODEC used, the packetization, and even the bandwidth at each layer of the protocol stack.

www.bandcalc.com

All the best,

Peter

 

[BigBlue1]

Nothing beats a hard line, in the end. I have everything I can hard wired on ethernet in my house. Wireless is for portable devices or convenience for oddball items.

Starlink is for hard to reach end-users, and is great for that, or so it seems. I have a fiber connection so don't need it, but I am lucky where I am... Many around here are not so lucky.

Wireless is for portable devices or convenience for oddball items

You obviously don't have many network-connected devices. Though I totally agree that a physical wired connection is better from a networking perspective, in a home there are tons of clients that either 1) only connect via wifi so ethernet is out of the question; or 2) are in locations where running ethernet isn't going to be practical. For instance, I have: Traeger smoker outside, MyQ garage door management device in the garage, a pet feeder, smart TVs/streaming devices, etc. all over the house that just don't have ethernet jacks. And they work perfectly because I have a solid mesh wifi home network.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Ethernet is full duplex. 1 gigabit FIOS and 1 gigabit ethernet at 1-2 ms latency is great for internet, and I ran ethernet to the shop office to make it a potential business location. Yay tomorrow!

 

[BigBlue1]

You can easily run a bunch of VOIP / WiFi cell phones over Starlink. We do it routinely; like many others, our local rural telephone provider has absolutely terrible performance, despite the local (state) rules requiring a certain level of uptime. Starlink beats our old provider hands down for uptime.

A "bunch" is a bit elastic, as the details of the actual connection matter; bandwidth starts at about 15kb/s and goes up towards 3Mbit/s, depending on the codec, and other details. However, ten calls at high (3Mbit/s) fit in 10Mbit/s of upload, since conversations aren't continuous.

VoIP Bandwidth Calculator - Packetizer

Packetizer's VoIP Bandwidth Calculator will tell you exactly how much bandwidth you need for your VoIP calls. It will calculate the bandwidth required based on the CODEC used, the packetization, and even the bandwidth at each layer of the protocol stack.

www.bandcalc.com

All the best,

Peter

I think you're talking about two different things. What sd455dan is likely talking about is the future offering of cell direct-to-Starlink connectivity via new style modems in cell phones. Cell phones will be able to connect just like they are connecting to a cellular network but to Starlink satellites. Initially it will be for data only (no voice) but they plan to get to voice after not too long. For instance, you'll be able to be way out in the mountains far away from the nearest cell tower and be able to send an SMS message or activate emergency services (like a SPOT emergency beacon). And someday just plain voice and Internet.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

You obviously don't have many network-connected devices. Though I totally agree that a physical wired connection is better from a networking perspective, in a home there are tons of clients that either 1) only connect via wifi so ethernet is out of the question; or 2) are in locations where running ethernet isn't going to be practical. For instance, I have: Traeger smoker outside, MyQ garage door management device in the garage, a pet feeder, smart TVs/streaming devices, etc. all over the house that just don't have ethernet jacks. And they work perfectly because I have a solid mesh wifi home network.

Most of those devices would do fine with dialup speed. That said, wifi is way better than it used to be, and works fine for streaming video. Where ethernet shines is moving lots of data

 

[Fallon]

Wire is always going to be better than wireless unless you have mobility or access issues. The only reason WiFi is popular is because it's expensive to run Ethernet everywhere & you can't wander around with a wire plugged in easily. Wireless is less reliable, less private & shared rather than dedicated bandwidth. I have most everything at home wired, but some stuff is just to inconvenient or non-critical to bother with.

Starlink is no different. It just costs to much to run wire (or fiber now) in many instances. Or with the RV, boat or other mobility use case it's not an option at all.

None of the wired vs wireless addresses the quality of the infrastructure or ISP though. Good wireless can beat out old wiring or a poor ISP. Most problems with DSL is really old wire put in the ground 40 years ago or an ISP that is severely oversubscribed & lacks sufficient bandwidth upstream of the DSL connection itself.

I keep Starlink as a backup ISP or mobile ISP. A 100,000lbs dozer cable plow cruised through my yard the day I got my Starlink waiting list Email. My wife works from home full time & I work from home part time, so a backup is pretty important. My fiber ISP actually pays me in addition to my 10 gigabit connection. Lease for the rack behind my barn & power for said rack. As a new ISP they have had some stability issues at times. It's nice to have (and to be able to afford) a backup, not everybody has that. Starlink is ok for gaming, but 95-99% of the time my fiber is better.

 

[newbury]

I keep Starlink as a backup ISP or mobile ISP.

Whereas I keep my Mobley (~$25/mo) and my 5G phone for backup and mobile ISP connnections.
My Alexandria, Va ISPs all suck compared to my rural Mississippi ISP.

 

[dstig1]

Wire is always going to be better than wireless unless you have mobility or access issues. The only reason WiFi is popular is because it's expensive to run Ethernet everywhere & you can't wander around with a wire plugged in easily. Wireless is less reliable, less private & shared rather than dedicated bandwidth. I have most everything at home wired, but some stuff is just to inconvenient or non-critical to bother with.
....

Precisely my point. We don't have hundreds of devices here but we do have probably a couple dozen total. I specifically paid extra for the Roku with a wired connection for the TV. One less thing soaking up my wifi bandwidth and video is fairly heavy. But then I built my own house 11 years ago and put in a half mile of cat5e cable all over the place. Overkill for sure, as things have gotten more wireless, but I have a wire anywhere I might want. Everywhere I can - and assuming it makes sense, I plug it in. Everywhere wireless makes more sense I do that.

 

[Roric]

Does anyone have experience with the new Starlink router?
Good, bad or otherwise?
I'm wondering if it is worth the money.

regards,
R

 

[lincmercguy]

I went with w new TP Link router for my place. I originally got it to support mesh, but thr signal is strong enough with the new router that I don't need it. I also needed a wired connection for my printer.

I got the SL included router a couple of years ago, but the wifi wasn't that great.

 

[scootr]

Is anybody using Roku TV with Starlink?

 

[lincmercguy]

Is anybody using Roku TV with Starlink?

Yep, we got rid of Dish before getting Starlink. It works well. I think my wife has had pretty much every streaming service at some point with the free promos and I've not had any ISP issues with them.

Before Starlink, I had mobile internet that used T Mobile and some of the live services wouldn't allow it due to blackout rules. But I've not had that issue with Starlink.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I went with w new TP Link router for my place. I originally got it to support mesh, but thr signal is strong enough with the new router that I don't need it. I also needed a wired connection for my printer.

A month or so ago I installed a TP-Link X5300 Deco mesh router system and was pleased how easy it was to get the satellites working. But I wasn't at all impressed with the speed, as going through even a single wall or ceiling cut speed in half. So I'm back to running Ethernet to the satellite locations. One of those satellites supports a network file server, so I do really need the speed.

 

[plowhog]

Is anybody using Roku TV with Starlink?

I use several roku devices and they work fine.