Elon Musk's Starlink Satellite Internet

[bizlady]

Not holding my breath on the timeline, but living in a rural area, I would jump onboard once proved reliable.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...-internet-service/ar-BB1dxz0C?ocid=uxbndlbing

 

[ivinsfan]

Depending on where you live you won't have to hold your breath!


Do we have any Starlink users here?


We are in a beta area but waited through the first winter to see how it performs in extreme cold...

 

[Hermit]

I've paid my $100. I'm waiting for beta in my area. I figure it can't be any worse than the satellite service I have now and hopefully will be better. There is no cable and no cell service where I live so my options are limited.

 

[OldShooter]

It will be interesting to see the effect of the "internet everywhere" constellations, Starlink and two others I know of announced. Not only on rural areas, but also where governments are blocking internet access.

Take the quoted speeds from the beta with a pound of salt, however. With the minuscule beta traffic, the speeds better be breathtaking. When a large number of users start sharing a much smaller number of pipes, the real performance numbers will start to emerge.

 

[Koogie]

I am a Musk fan and been following it for that reason but also a rural dweller with poor internet access so it is of double interest to me.

Here is the experience of a recent adopter in Haliburton, Ontario who says the service is much better than cellular service and is if anything overperforming.

IT World Canada - Starlink Internet in Canada
https://www.itworldcanada.com/article/s ... far/442741

 

[Fermion]

I found it interesting that the "pricey" $500 dish you have to buy currently costs them about $2,000.

A pretty good deal right now!

 

[mpeirce]

I found it interesting that the "pricey" $500 dish you have to buy currently costs them about $2,000.

From what I've read, the initial cost was around $3K. Then 2K.

The most recent redesign on the terminal has supposedly brought it down to around $1.5K.

This will continue.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I have a cousin that has been using it for about 3 months and is absolutely in love with it. There is a Reddit page that has a lot of good information about it and the reports are about as real time as they come. I signed up (and was selected) for the beta roll out in our neck of the woods but they have put in fiber optic, so I "disenrolled" in the beta program. This will be a game changer when it comes to high speed internet in the rural areas of the world.

Latest posts on Reddit show that it works well even when the dish is covered with ice.

 

[MRG]

Sadly we have too many trees. They're getting really good numbers and are predicting much faster as they add more capacity.

 

[Hermit]

Sadly we have too many trees. They're getting really good numbers and are predicting much faster as they add more capacity.

The Hayman Fire about two decades ago solved that problem where I live.

 

[Chuckanut]

From what I've read, the initial cost was around $3K. Then 2K.

The most recent redesign on the terminal has supposedly brought it down to around $1.5K.

This will continue.

No doubt they will figure out a way to reuse old signals sent to the dish.

I wonder if the disk and other parts of the setup are 3D printed. I understand SpaceX uses 3D printing for its Merlin engine when they can.

 

[Bamaman]

My cousin spent the day with me last week, and he's looked into getting Starlink. Note: He used to work at a NASA subcontractor at a doctorate level job in computers.

We have Starlilnk available right now. But our current internet is very fast, and I was told there's no benefit from going with Starlink. But if I lived in Montana or somewhere the internet was either weak or not available, Starlink would be the thing.

They still have bugs to work out of the system. But much of the remote parts of the world will eventually be using it when that's all that's available.

 

[skyking1]

I just checked and you can't take it on the road, yet. So if you have an RV and want to travel, it will quit working once you leave your assigned cell. That is a dealbreaker for us ATM.

 

[ivinsfan]

I just checked and you can't take it on the road, yet. So if you have an RV and want to travel, it will quit working once you leave your assigned cell. That is a dealbreaker for us ATM.

So I was under the impression that you log out of your home area and log into your destination area...of course your destination area would need to be Starlink accessible.

 

[skyking1]

So I was under the impression that you log out of your home area and log into your destination area...of course your destination area would need to be Starlink accessible.

From the FAQ:
"Can I travel with Starlink, or move it to a different address?
Starlink satellites are scheduled to send internet down to all users within a designated area on the ground. This designated area is referred to as a cell.

Your Starlink is assigned to a single cell. If you move your Starlink outside of its assigned cell, a satellite will not be scheduled to serve your Starlink and you will not receive internet. This is constrained by geometry and is not arbitrary geofencing."

So no, not so simple. I think it should be, but they can't manage the bandwidth if we keep moving about. Truly a dealbreaker till it gets sorted, since we have two choices of cable and one DSL in my particular patch of the boondocks

 

[ivinsfan]

From the FAQ:
"Can I travel with Starlink, or move it to a different address?
Starlink satellites are scheduled to send internet down to all users within a designated area on the ground. This designated area is referred to as a cell.

Your Starlink is assigned to a single cell. If you move your Starlink outside of its assigned cell, a satellite will not be scheduled to serve your Starlink and you will not receive internet. This is constrained by geometry and is not arbitrary geofencing."

So no, not so simple. I think it should be, but they can't manage the bandwidth if we keep moving about. Truly a dealbreaker till it gets sorted, since we have two choices of cable and one DSL in my particular patch of the boondocks

I'm curious about this I'll be watching for news updates because I've heard people say differently (on You Tube, so taken with a grain of salt)...

 

[GTFan]

Yeah that statement makes no sense, you could just sign into a different cell. My guess is that they're keeping a tight watch over total users allocated per cell.

 

[ivinsfan]

Yeah that statement makes no sense, you could just sign into a different cell. My guess is that they're keeping a tight watch over total users allocated per cell.

In a beta project that would be more likely.

 

[OldShooter]

I have wondered whether the geographic fencing is also in anticipation of hostility from governments for whom a free internet is a threat. I hope not.

 

[dirtbiker]

I'm hoping that over time this type of satellite internet can replace cell towers, and we'll have reception virtually everywhere.

I do a fair amount of motorcycle travel, and tend to go to out-of-the-way places far from cell towers. My last big trip was the Trans Taiga Road, where I was literally hundreds of miles from the nearest cell tower at certain points. I carry an Inreach satellite communicator for emergencies, and texting the wife. It can take awhile to pick up good satellite fixes and texting speed is slow, but it works. I'd love to see this replaced with a cell phone that has reception everywhere... But the caveat is that I'd like it to work like a cell phone currently works, not like my satellite communicator works. I'm hoping Starlink will make that a reality one day.

 

[ivinsfan]

I have wondered whether the geographic fencing is also in anticipation of hostility from governments for whom a free internet is a threat. I hope not.

Actually this is one of the goals of Starlink to give people in certain areas a free voice.

 

[CaptTom]

Actually this is one of the goals of Starlink to give people in certain areas a free voice.

I think I read somewhere that one of the big obstacles to wider deployment is working with all the regulatory agencies in every country. I also wondered what happens when they hit a repressive government. Do they just ignore it and let the black market do its thing, or try to comply? I don't think they'd want their satellites jammed, or shot down.

 

[Koogie]

I do a fair amount of motorcycle travel, and tend to go to out-of-the-way places far from cell towers. My last big trip was the Trans Taiga Road, where I was literally hundreds of miles from the nearest cell tower at certain points.

{OT} Nice. Doing the James Bay Road up to Radisson is on my short list.

 

[dirtbiker]

{OT} Nice. Doing the James Bay Road up to Radisson is on my short list.

It's a very cool area up there. I love it. It's not to everyone's liking, but if you enjoy wide open areas and desolation, this is the place to go! If you're interested, I posted a couple of ride reports on advrider about my trips up there:

https://advrider.com/f/threads/thro...-to-james-bay-radisson-and-chisasibi.1009469/

https://advrider.com/f/threads/ridi...n-north-america-the-trans-taiga-road.1328281/

/end off topic chat!

 

[Sittinginthesun]

Received our dish two months ago and we are VERY happy with it here on our rural property. Outstanding speeds, regularly well over 200 mbps. Low beta downtime. One time in memory the service went down briefly that we were aware of (under 5 minutes). Really could not be happier and can now stream 4K movies, kids playing online games, updates on laptops take seconds not hours, etc. Thank you Elon!!