Starlink satellite internet

Yeah, I was just reading that.
 
That was an expensive mistake.

It is kind of funny reading the comments (not necessarily in the linked article, I probably read them somewhere else this morning) where people are joking that SpaceX forgot to check the space weather forecast. Except I think some of those people are being serious, like they think one of the world's leading space technology companies doesn't know how to do their jobs.
 
Given we can't normally get a weather forecast for Earth, in a local area, right what makes people think we can forecast weather on the Sun with any accuracy at all?
 
I know of one place near that tiepoint that got lit up Dec. 7th, has 50M down and 50M up; I know to you city dwellers that sounds like crap but when you've had ADSL with 1.5M down and 512K up since '09 it'll feel like a rocket blast.

Pretty sure that's correct and that was the speed at a local church. Their web site states up to a gig is available but we'll just have to wait see.
It could also be something special they negotiated. I know in our small town we negotiated with a fiber provider to get a discounted rate, basically by just being honest about the church being empty (except for the pastor) 5+ days a week, and on Sunday's there might be slightly more usage due to wifi usage after service.

They discounted the regular rate something like 50%, and everyone was happy (especially the church on a tight budget). They were able to stream to Facebook over that fiber connection during all of COVID (fortuitous), but eventually they'll drop to the same insignificant usage and happily pay their discounted rate forever (win-win).

When they finally built out to my house in the same city it was a no brainer to support their efforts and switch from Comcrap. Am considering Starlink for backup purposes but a little too costly atm for that purpose.
 
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I'm still trying to figure out what everyone is doing with these super fast plans. Netflix and porn will be the same on a 100 connection vs a gigabit connection.
As someone that works remotely, its really nice to have 60/30 OVER VPN when connected to work. We are 100% streaming (nothing over the air), so it's nice to know different TV's in the house can have 4-5 streams from different services going "no problem". Running a persistent site-to-site VPN that's now 30Mbps for Blue Iris, you know important things! (I do acknowledge your point, since 4k streams are around 25Mbps each, so 100Mbps is still quite a bit to play with unless you only have 4k TVs and a bunch of roommates.)

I guess the main thing is I don't really think about WAN bandwidth anymore. When I had 25/6 everyone was stepping all over each other and data caps on top of that. During COVID when coworkers were pivoting to home offices they would join Zoom calls and go robot mode and have to run down and tell their kids to stop streaming so they can get through a work call. I remember, but don't experience those problems anymore. It's also very nice to be able to say, "No, pretty sure it's not MY internet connection that's causing the problem" regardless of the scenario.

It didn't hurt that it was $49.95/month. TBH coming from Comcrap I didn't understand why adoption was mid-50% when we joined, but now it has soared to over 90% of households have local municipal fiber. Comcast can't give away service here even offering discounts off $80/mo for 1200+Mbps. Doesn't keep them from spending a fortune fighting every new municipality trying to light their fiber with negative ad campaigns etc.

2013: Comcast CEO says no one needs gigabit internet - I think he was almost right, no one wanted their gigabit internet for $300/month.
2021: Comcast plans to offer 3Gb service nationwide although its 3000/3000 "if your location is located where they can provide it" and its estimated to cost $1000 install/equip + $300/month.
 
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That was an expensive mistake.

It is kind of funny reading the comments (not necessarily in the linked article, I probably read them somewhere else this morning) where people are joking that SpaceX forgot to check the space weather forecast. Except I think some of those people are being serious, like they think one of the world's leading space technology companies doesn't know how to do their jobs.
When I was following Dish Network YEARS ago, they would send satellites into space from Kazakhstan. When one blew up, Charlie Ergen stated that because of the risk and the expense of the payload, there is no insurance available for rocket launches and the loss is all on Dish. I imagine that it is still the same game and the loss is all SpaceX's burden.
 
I got my Starlink dish installed a few weeks ago. The initial speed test was disappointing since my fixed cellular service through T-mobile was comparable. Afterwards the numbers picked up quite a bit. I was able to download a 2GB Linux .iso from Distrowatchwatch.org in about 2 minutes. My thoughts are that speedtest sites are fudged to fluff numbers. Certainly the test you get from the starlink app will inflate their numbers.
 

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My personal timeline regarding Internet access:
  • May 2004 to Feb. 2006: HughesNet satellite, 1.5M down, 512K up, FAP, data cap
  • Feb. 2006 to Feb. 2009: Wild Blue satellite, 1.5M down, 512K up, FAP, data cap
  • Feb. 2009 to Nov. 2019: CenturyLink ADSL, 3.0M down, 512K up, no cap, public WAN IP
  • Nov. 2019 to Present: AT&T Fixed Wireless, 47M down, 11M up, 300GB cap, no public IP (CGNAT).
  • June 2021: registered with Starlink and paid the $99 fee.
  • July 2021: Local electric co-op began stringing fiber ("Sprout") in phases.
  • Dec. 2021: Local electric co-op strung fiber down our road, projected to be lit up June 2022.
  • Feb. 2021: Spectrum out of NY began field survey in area for fiber, went down our road yesterday Feb. 10th.
  • Feb. 10, 2022: cancelled my signup with Starlink, got the $99 credited to my Visa.
We now have one very viable ISP upcoming (Sprout) and one very possible (Spectrum). It's famine or feast, boys & girls......after 18 years of Internet service that was akin to using 2 Dixie cups with string and that went out when the wind blew or a squirrel farted, we are in the contention for something that will have decent speeds and (hopefully) some dependability!

Yee Haw! :p:p:p

EDIT 11/16/22 @ 1322 CT: Got my Sprout fiber on 9/28, have 1Gig down and up, a static PUBLIC IP, all for $89.99/mo. The static IP was $10/mo. extra, the 300 Meg down/up was only $20/mo. cheaper so I jumped in with both feet, went from famine to feast and lovin' it !!
 
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I got my Starlink dish installed a few weeks ago. The initial speed test was disappointing since my fixed cellular service through T-mobile was comparable. Afterwards the numbers picked up quite a bit. I was able to download a 2GB Linux .iso from Distrowatchwatch.org in about 2 minutes. My thoughts are that speedtest sites are fudged to fluff numbers. Certainly the test you get from the starlink app will inflate their numbers.


Those abysmal speed tests aren't your day to day norm, right? If they are I'd start a ticket, and see what support has to offer in terms of improving things. You should be seeing speeds closer to 50-300 DL, and 10-30+ UL.


EDIT: Ok, I see they are comparisons between the two providers. Still, if the SL speeds don't multiple geometrically from those above, start a ticket. You should be around 150-250 DL.
 
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@NightLife My speeds did pick up after that. I am not always local and when I am, I am bogged down with catching up. As mentioned above, I did download a 2GB file in about 2 minutes. Also I think the speed tests were done while the dish was on the ground and not on the roof. Another factor was that it was wifi from the starlink router vs. wifi from an asus router. I did finally get the ethernet adapter and piped it into the asus router and got better results. I am not unhappy at all. It is cheaper than the TMobile and faster. My Journey has been much like @TonyR above.
 
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@NightLife My speeds did pick up after that. I am not always local and when I am, I am bogged down with catching up. As mentioned above, I did download a 2GB file in about 2 minutes. Also I think the speed tests were done while the dish was on the ground and not on the roof. Another factor was that it was wifi from the starlink router vs. wifi from an asus router. I did finally get the ethernet adapter and piped it into the asus router and got better results. I am not unhappy at all. It is cheaper than the TMobile and faster. My Journey has been much like @TonyR above.


Ah, ok, that sounds much better. Thanks for the update. I posted the above speed test prior to seeing you had followed up with another reply. Disregard. Enjoy! :)
 
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Question with regards to running a speed test. Whether I am running it at home hardwired to the internet, or on my Verizon phone via LTE/5G, it is pumping 400-1300MB of data back and forth. Does this hit my data cap?
 
Starlink Logo
Due to excessive levels of inflation, the price of the Starlink kit is increasing from $499 to $549 for deposit holders, and $599 for all new orders, effective today. In addition, the Starlink monthly service price will increase from $99 to $110. The new price will apply to your subscription on 5/8/2022.

The sole purpose of these adjustments is to keep pace with rising inflation. If you do not wish to continue your service, you can cancel at any time and return your Starlink hardware within your first year of service for a partial refund of $200. If you have received your Starlink in the past 30 days, you can return it for a full refund.

Since launching our public beta service in October 2020, the Starlink team has tripled the number of satellites in orbit, quadrupled the number of ground stations and made continuous improvements to our network. Going forward, users can expect Starlink to maintain its cadence of continuous network improvements as well as new feature additions.

Thank you for being a Starlink customer and your continued support!

The Starlink Team
 
Writing up a DIY on the PFSense (Netgate) forum for those using Starlink and T-Mobile's Internet using Oracle's free tier service and OpenVPN server.

To implement this DIY you need to:
1 - Upgrade your PFSense Community Edition to PFSense + (its free) or purchase or build a PFSense box and then update it.

2 - Create a free tier on Oracle ==> Oracle Free Tier

I can also post it here for those interested.

Quickie drawing. PFSense is connected to your Starlink hardware or T-Mobile hardware.

This will enable you to to VPN to your home if you are using Starlink or T-Mobile ISP's.
OpenVPN.png
PFSense + Teardop (VPS) and OpenVPN
 
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