Starlink satellite internet

[bp2008]

That is very interesting @pete_c. I didn't know Oracle offered cloud computing, let alone such a generous free tier:

Spoiler: Oracle Cloud Free Tier

Seriously I am in awe of that free tier. There has got to be a catch.

 

[pete_c]

They credit your account with play money for 30 days then continue to offer their free stuff.

"You have $261.96 left in your trial. When your trial is over, your account will be limited to Always Free resources. Upgrade at any time."

 

[eggsan]

Understand the Starlink v2 rectangular antenna have a detachable connector (like micro-usb type). The customer will bring the hardware (antenna/router + two mesh). The objective is to install several cameras around and existing house, while adding a new construction to an adjacent property. Since I have no experience with this particular product, will like to confirm the following:

1. The antenna will be mounted in an existing wall mount base (Dish), using the optional base adapter. Since the included cable (understand is about 100ft of included cable, even though the distance from antenna to main router is about 50ft.), can be detached from the antenna, an it will pass through an existing pvc 1/2”-conduit (about 8ft straight). That will be connected to the included main router.
2. The system include two wireless Mesh, in which one will be located in the office (about 20ft from the main router), where a Dahua NVR will be installed. Understand It need to add an Starlink network adapter, with an optional network switch in case I need to add more devices (future). The NVR is a 16CH, but initially it will only include 5 cameras.
3. The other wireless Mesh will be located at a guest room, about 25ft from main router. Since the customer wants to have a separate network, a router will be connected to the Mesh, using an additional network adapter.

Based on yours experience with this provider/hardware, do I need to be aware of any other issues I may encounter? Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

 

[Travis798]

It does have a removable connector that is USB-C(ish) but realize the connector is still proprietary and is still bigger than an ethernet cablet. I'll include a stock photo I found online of the ends. The smaller end will plug into the dish. I won't say it won't work through 1/2" conduit, but I won't say it will. I think I did a 5/8" hole in my soffit for mine. I'm pretty sure the stock cable length is less than 100'. Maybe 70ish feet, just guessing and going off of memory.

You will need a network adapter. Get it ordered as soon as the store allows you, because they have been running behind on them. I only had to wait a few weeks for mine, others have waited longer. Yes, it's stupid to include internet with a router and no ethernet. You will have exactly one ethernet port coming from your starlink. If you need more, you'll have to use a switch.

 

[eggsan]

It does have a removable connector that is USB-C(ish) but realize the connector is still proprietary and is still bigger than an ethernet cablet. I'll include a stock photo I found online of the ends. The smaller end will plug into the dish. I won't say it won't work through 1/2" conduit, but I won't say it will. I think I did a 5/8" hole in my soffit for mine. I'm pretty sure the stock cable length is less than 100'. Maybe 70ish feet, just guessing and going off of memory.

You will need a network adapter. Get it ordered as soon as the store allows you, because they have been running behind on them. I only had to wait a few weeks for mine, others have waited longer. Yes, it's stupid to include internet with a router and no ethernet. You will have exactly one ethernet port coming from your starlink. If you need more, you'll have to use a switch.View attachment 129107

from the drawing it looks like an straight connector, but your photo shows an angle between the body and the cable, making it wider. Not sure if will fit the 1/2” pipe. I will let the customer to order the adaptor asap. Thanks for your input.

Edit: is the cable fixed with that angle in the body, or it could bend a little for an straight position?

 

[Travis798]

from the drawing it looks like an straight connector, but your photo shows an angle between the body and the cable, making it wider. Not sure if will fit the 1/2” pipe. I will let the customer to order the adaptor asap. Thanks for your input.

Edit: is the cable fixed with that angle in the body, or it could bend a little for an straight position?

It can straighten out, you might have to tape it, but even so, with the connector itself I'm not sure if it will fit 1/2" conduit. I almost grabbed some 1/2" pvc and went to check, but my ladder is about 70' away and my back is bothering me today so I put it off. Pretty sure it would be a tight fit, if it will fit at all.

 

[eggsan]

It can straighten out, you might have to tape it, but even so, with the connector itself I'm not sure if it will fit 1/2" conduit. I almost grabbed some 1/2" pvc and went to check, but my ladder is about 70' away and my back is bothering me today so I put it off. Pretty sure it would be a tight fit, if it will fit at all.

appreciated, but I will check if pass on my next visit. I already contact the customer, regarding ordering the connector. It looks like is in backorder. They are on the web at 6x the original price. Thanks again for your help

 

[Travis798]

appreciated, but I will check if pass on my next visit. I already contact the customer, regarding ordering the connector. It looks like is in backorder. They are on the web at 6x the original price. Thanks again for your help

No problem. To get me by until I received mine I just purchased a wifi to ethernet adapter from Amazon. The speeds weren't great, and the cheap one I got was 2.4Ghz only, but it'll get you out of a pinch.

 

[pete_c]

Redid lab here to test. Here is an initial drawing.

Oracle free tier / OpenVPN server is working fine past 30 days of Oracle VPS testing.

Configured bridging on CPE which only worked via SLAAC and IPv6 and no IPv4. Went back to putting one port in a DMZ (with an IPv4 and IPv6 address).

Added a WLAN AP pcie card to the PFSense + testing box. PFSense + OpenVPN client on WAN works fine connecting to Oracle OpenVPN server.
Note that testing lab is autonomous from current ISP connection main home network.

 

[Jessie.slimer]

On Tue, Feb 21, 2023, 11:13 PM Starlink <no-reply@starlink.com> wrote:

The Starlink monthly service for residential customers is changing as follows: $10 increase in areas with limited capacity. New price will be $120/month. $20 decrease in areas with excess capacity. New price will be $90/month. As a current customer in an area with limited capacity, your monthly service price will increase to $120/month beginning April 24, 2023. For new customers in your area, the price increase is effective immediately. If you do not wish to continue service, you can cancel at any time on your account page. Your Starlink hardware can be returned for a full refund within 30 days of purchase, or a partial refund of $250 within 12 months of purchase. As the SpaceX team launches more satellites to increase capacity, the Starlink team is making continuous network updates to improve performance over time. Thanks for being a customer and for your continued support of Starlink! Space Exploration Technologies Corp | 1 Rocket Road, Hawthorne, CA 90250 | Questions? See Starlink FAQs

 

[Jessie.slimer]

I'm guessing the capacity is based on ground stations, as I can't imagine there are enough starlink dishes in my rural area to bring capacity to a limited status.

 

[Travis798]

I'm guessing the capacity is based on ground stations, as I can't imagine there are enough starlink dishes in my rural area to bring capacity to a limited status.

Same here. I really don't see any other starlink dishes in my area other than my own, yet I'm in a limited capacity area. I can't say I didn't see it coming. I knew going on that there would likely be price increases and usage restrictions over time, but what I didn't expect was those things combined with speed test on the range of 20Mbps download. At those speeds, my local wisp would be a better deal, albeit slightly, with the exception that I get consistently better upload speeds on starlink.

 

[Jessie.slimer]

Same here. I really don't see any other starlink dishes in my area other than my own, yet I'm in a limited capacity area. I can't say I didn't see it coming. I knew going on that there would likely be price increases and usage restrictions over time, but what I didn't expect was those things combined with speed test on the range of 20Mbps download. At those speeds, my local wisp would be a better deal, albeit slightly, with the exception that I get consistently better upload speeds on starlink.

My speed has decreased over the past year, likely due to additional users being added. Still no reliable IPV6, still some dropouts. I am getting a little better speeds than you @ ~ 40 to 50Mbps down and 10 up, so it is still a big improvement over my old dsl. Still worth it for me, for now. If 5G is ever available to me, I might reconsider.

I am curious to see if anyone actually got the $20 discount for being in an excess capacity area.

 

[sdkid]

EDIT: Here is a REALLY cool site that is live-tracking those satellites and has a very cool global graphic you can move around...

Starlink satellite tracker

Live view of SpaceX starlink satellite constellation and coverage.

satellitemap.space

 

[sdkid]

My speed has decreased over the past year, likely due to additional users being added. Still no reliable IPV6, still some dropouts. I am getting a little better speeds than you @ ~ 40 to 50Mbps down and 10 up, so it is still a big improvement over my old dsl. Still worth it for me, for now. If 5G is ever available to me, I might reconsider.

I am curious to see if anyone actually got the $20 discount for being in an excess capacity area.

This guy (in the reply) is running a commercial fishing vessel in the Bering Sea and the ship has Starlink...

 

[Jessie.slimer]

Well, after 2.5 years of using Starlink, I think I can say it's a pretty decent setup for those who have no other options for high speed internet. I've had a few small outages, but it has been very reliable, with speeds greater than I needed.

However, I may be moving on. 5G has finally come to my little town, and my new T Mobile gear will arrive tomorrow. They are claiming I will recieve better speeds while only charging $50/month unlimited versus the & $120/month unlimited I am paying for starlink.

They have a 15 day try-before-you-buy policy, so as long as I see no decrease in reliability or latency, I will move on from Starlink. I will probably give it a full month before canceling, to be sure. If it works out, I will likely switch our mobile phones over as well, as I just got a notice from Verizon that our grandfathered bill is now going up. T Mobile internet drops to $30/month with a qualified phone plan.

I'll still be on cgnat, no different than now, but from what I see they offer public ip addresses to certain business accounts. I may look into this.

Anyone else using T Mobile for their home internet? How has it been?

 

[bp2008]

I'll still be on cgnat, no different than now, but from what I see they offer public ip addresses to certain business accounts. I may look into this.

There are lots of free options for remote access still.
1. cgnat is only for IPv4. Use IPv6 instead for remote access.
2. Zerotier
3. Cloudflare tunnel.

 

[Jessie.slimer]

There are lots of free options for remote access still.
1. cgnat is only for IPv4. Use IPv6 instead for remote access.
2. Zerotier
3. Cloudflare tunnel.

Yeah, I use zerotier for cameras. Works great, but no full access to my lan from the outside. I will have to do some learning on ipv6, as I've heard t mobile uses it. Starlink was supposed to, but it was was very unreliable.

 

[samplenhold]

Realize that 'unlimited' with T-Mobile does not necessarily mean unlimited data at great speed. Usually these cellular companies throttle back the download/upload rates after a certain amount of data or if the tower is saturated. I have had the rate drop so low that I could not even get emails in a timely fashion.

 

[pete_c]

I am a happy camper here with T-Mobile which replaced my AT&T grandfathered account a few years ago. I am using a LTE-combo modem as a back up to my XFinity ISP.

The LTE combo provides a WAP, Switch, router-firewall, RJ11 (phone connection) Bridge connection to PFSense firewall.

5 SIM cards / $25 per month no contract (~ 10 years)

Note that your RTT times will be higher than Starlink on the T-Mobile network.