Starlink

[Lynx]

Any experiences / thoughts on Starlink? Looks horribly expensive at the moment:

Starlink's beta project is said to have an upfront cost of £439 (or $600) for equipment and setup, and a subscription cost of £84 ($120) per month thereafter — much more expensive than any other currently-accessible form of broadband.

https://www.uswitch.com/broadband/guides...-starlink/

[Seán]

So far I have no experience of Starlink, let alone intend ordering due to the high cost. However, from the demonstration videos I've seen on YouTube, the download and upload speeds are generally very good with the download speeds sometimes exceeding 300Mbps and the upload hitting above 50Mbps. Latency is usually consistent at around 30-40ms, good enough to game on. However, the stability is not perfect yet due to occasional brief outages, although this should be fixed soon with Starlink aiming for global coverage by September.

The following YouTube channel, Irishpixel is well worth watching. He is based in the UK and has regularly reported speed and stability reports up until July:

https://www.youtube.com/c/Irishpixel/videos

[Patrick]

Starlink is accepting orders now from Ireland, as opposed to just taking deposit and put on waiting list. I'll be installing one for someone whenever it lands.

[Eagle]

I'll probably buy it if I can sell my netgear MR5200 for 500 euro or so

[elbob]

Hi,

i ordered Starlink back in February and my equipment arrived in August.

The service itself is fantastic. Getting up to 290Mb downloads so about 5 times faster than my DSL connection. Latency is comparable with LTE with consistent latency of around 31ms

Service was a bit flaky at the start with several minutes downtime or no satellites available however since the start of October it's absolutely rock solid.

It does use CGNAT which means you won't be able to open any services behind it.

You do need a clear line of sight to the sky! Any obstructions will affect the service. Particularly trees. I have mine mounted on a pole that ensures clear coverage.

It is expensive to buy but I reckon the €99 per month after is definitely worth it. Especially as the speeds are supposed to increase over time.

[Seán]

That's a great improvement, especially if it's very stable. Indeed, obstructions such as trees seem to be the main culprit for small drop-outs that I've heard of, especially if the Dishy is installed in the garden or somewhere low down.

Going by the following coverage tracker link, it mainly depends on clear sky coverage to the south. So for anyone mounting the near the roofline or on the gable where the roof partially obstructs the sky, Disky needs to have complete clear view of the southern sky from east to west.
https://starlink.sx/

Good to know about the CGNAT, which is the same with most fixed wireless and LTE providers. Even Three appears to gone CGNAT in some areas with its mobile broadband.

[Patrick]

Installed a Starlink today. It doesn't need that much view of the sky, able to mount off single story wall above the roof instead of on the chimney as I though I would. Got "Poor ethernet connection" message and speed was 5 or not working. Other people have had this issue, some saying loose connections are the issue. They did seem loose so put something under cable to keep it up. Not sure if this worked but was ok eventually. Got between 100-290Mbps. Disappointed at the issue though especially if the loose connections are the problem.

[elbob]

Installed a Starlink today. It doesn't need that much view of the sky, able to mount off single story wall above the roof instead of on the chimney as I though I would. Got "Poor ethernet connection" message and speed was 5 or not working. Other people have had this issue, some saying loose connections are the issue. They did seem loose so put something under cable to keep it up. Not sure if this worked but was ok eventually. Got between 100-290Mbps. Disappointed at the issue though especially if the loose connections are the problem.

When I got mine first I got the "Poor Ethernet Connection" issue as well. My speed throttled itself to 100Mbps.

I opened a support ticket using the app. To my amazement they actually phoned me about 40 minutes later. Decided the issue was either the PoE injector or the cable to dishy and said they would send me out an entire replacement kit. I got notification the following morning that it had shipped and just short of 24 hours later it arrived! They sent the shipping tags for the defective one to be sent back as well.

No issue since with the replacement hardware.

I have to say I've never been so impressed with any company's support team up to now.

[Patrick]

Installed a Starlink today. It doesn't need that much view of the sky, able to mount off single story wall above the roof instead of on the chimney as I though I would. Got "Poor ethernet connection" message and speed was 5 or not working. Other people have had this issue, some saying loose connections are the issue. They did seem loose so put something under cable to keep it up. Not sure if this worked but was ok eventually. Got between 100-290Mbps. Disappointed at the issue though especially if the loose connections are the problem.

When I got mine first I got the "Poor Ethernet Connection" issue as well. My speed throttled itself to 100Mbps.

I opened a support ticket using the app. To my amazement they actually phoned me about 40 minutes later. Decided the issue was either the PoE injector or the cable to dishy and said they would send me out an entire replacement kit. I got notification the following morning that it had shipped and just short of 24 hours later it arrived! They sent the shipping tags for the defective one to be sent back as well.

No issue since with the replacement hardware.

I have to say I've never been so impressed with any company's support team up to now.

Wow, that's impressive. Good to know it will be sorted if there is a problem. Still disappointing that that problem is there in the first place. They can create a network of satellites but not a good quality ethernet connection. Mine was only going to 5 or so, not sure since as haven't heard back. 
On a separate note Starlink has thrown up an issue I didn't have to consider up to now. 100Mbps equipment. Only dawned on me later why the TP-Link DecoE4R mesh system only gave 60-80 and the Starlink router 200+. Use the Tendas myself, think both the MW3 + MW6
are 1G? If they wont upgrade I'll probably put the Starlink in kitchen and cable the Deco down the hall with the 2nd unit in far room (it's a big house) and all on same SSID and password. I saw your past comment Sean where this works ok bar if moving between while streaming or on video call. I've seen reports where people say the wifi is poor from the Starlink router. I assume the best option is discard the router and just use 1G mesh, with the downside of not being able to access the Starlink stats.

[Patrick]

Installed a Starlink today. It doesn't need that much view of the sky, able to mount off single story wall above the roof instead of on the chimney as I though I would. Got "Poor ethernet connection" message and speed was 5 or not working. Other people have had this issue, some saying loose connections are the issue. They did seem loose so put something under cable to keep it up. Not sure if this worked but was ok eventually. Got between 100-290Mbps. Disappointed at the issue though especially if the loose connections are the problem.

Went back a week later to tidy up, had to plug everything out to move it, when reconnected, no problem with "Poor ethernet connection"  this time. So unlikely a hardware issue? Working great, up to 228 Mbps, pings 25 to 40.

[elbob]

Installed a Starlink today. It doesn't need that much view of the sky, able to mount off single story wall above the roof instead of on the chimney as I though I would. Got "Poor ethernet connection" message and speed was 5 or not working. Other people have had this issue, some saying loose connections are the issue. They did seem loose so put something under cable to keep it up. Not sure if this worked but was ok eventually. Got between 100-290Mbps. Disappointed at the issue though especially if the loose connections are the problem.

Went back a week later to tidy up, had to plug everything out to move it, when reconnected, no problem with "Poor ethernet connection"  this time. So unlikely a hardware issue? Working great, up to 228 Mbps, pings 25 to 40.

Sorry for such a late reply. If you're getting those speeds then they're around exactly what you should expect. The Poor Ethernet Connection message according to Starlink Support can often be a result of a loose connection into the PoE brick.

Are you still getting the message?

[Patrick]

Installed a Starlink today. It doesn't need that much view of the sky, able to mount off single story wall above the roof instead of on the chimney as I though I would. Got "Poor ethernet connection" message and speed was 5 or not working. Other people have had this issue, some saying loose connections are the issue. They did seem loose so put something under cable to keep it up. Not sure if this worked but was ok eventually. Got between 100-290Mbps. Disappointed at the issue though especially if the loose connections are the problem.

Went back a week later to tidy up, had to plug everything out to move it, when reconnected, no problem with "Poor ethernet connection"  this time. So unlikely a hardware issue? Working great, up to 228 Mbps, pings 25 to 40.

Sorry for such a late reply. If you're getting those speeds then they're around exactly what you should expect. The Poor Ethernet Connection message according to Starlink Support can often be a result of a loose connection into the PoE brick.

Are you still getting the message?

No, it was fine the second day, despite moving everything around. Not convinced it was loose connection now, don't know what it was..
People are thrilled with it though. Changed their life, can be at home more now as before had to stay at work longer to do video meetings.