It ain't cable or fiber, so if that's your expectation, you may as well send it back now. But if you don't have other good options, give it a few days to settle in, gather data, and adjust itself (which it will likely do several times in the first few days). We got ours fairly early into the beta test, and it has adjusted itself many times. This is all about managing expectations and tradeoffs. If you live in an area where you could get cable or fiber or even strong cellular internet designed for the home, and just didn't, you're likely never going to be happy. But if you live in an area where the choice is Starlink or some cobbled-together wireless system, you'll be ready to send Musk a fruit basket even if his non-Starlink antics leave you scratching your head. I work every weekday with many Zoom and Teams meetings, stream video, have an automated house, and generally live a normal "connected" life on an island in a lake in rural Maine, all thanks to Starlink. When you don't have other options, it's freakin' amazing!
Anyone in the US still on the Starlink wait list?
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Texas-Mark
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I've had sat internet of some sort since the days of using a dial-up modem for uploads and the dish for downloads, so I am well aware of expectations regarding non-cable/fiber options. What I am expecting, is some reasonable consistency. But going from 120Mbps to 12Mbps (within the hour) is not what I am paying for. That sounds more like the "best effort" they were trying to pawn off on us. And I am using their speed test (advanced sat-modem) as well as observation of performance.
After it sat all night, it reported no obstructions, so that is not it (and I did not think it was). I have not had a chance to mess with it any more since I have other projects I am working on. I currently pay $85 month for a WISP with 25Mbps service. At least it is stable and rarely drops below 22Mbps.. For $120 month, there should be a minimum "guaranteed" speed, and it should be at least 50Mps.
I'll give it some time because I already paid for a month, but for the price (equipment and service), I was expecting more.
Starlink speeds will vary as the satellites are moving quickly overhead and handing off the connection between satellites as they move out of or in to your cell. Your wisp connection will always have a more stable speed.
Our Starlink speeds have increased as more satellites come online but they still vary. Literally from minute to minute. Sounds like the wisp provider might be a better choice for you. Can you ask your wisp provider if they have the bandwidth to up your speed?
Texas-Mark
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Yes, I know how it works. It's supposed to be seamless (like cell tower hand-offs). The point is the speeds should not vary by 1000%. Also, while I realize some people are thrilled with their service, there are plenty who are not. My biggest gripe is that I waited 2 years for non-neutered service, but yet that seems to be what I got anyway (and am paying full price for it),
Aridom82
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When i first got starlink it started with a lot of speedbumps, constant interruptions and the price was 100 eur/month. It tooks around 6 months to start working really well, and after 1 year or so they dropped the price to 70 eur/month. In another 6 months they dropped the price to 50 eur/month. Understand that i did not ask for a lower price, they lower the price by their own initiative twice.
As frustrating as it is after a long wait my advice would be to be patient, easy for me to say i know but my experience is that it gets better much with time. I really dont know what is their business model or the reason for bumpy service at the beginning and bill reduction, but i can say that today i appreciate their service and i feel like putting a good word for them.
Aridom82
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That's actually my neighbor's house. I am still planning going there with a shovel to see if there is a pot of gold.
stienman
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Yeah, that's pretty terrible. Make sure the starlink is absolutely stable - if it's teetering on three legs and the wind can move it then you'll experience the problem you're describing. If you're in a windy place you may need to weight down the legs to make sure it doesn't move. Even a tiny motion will cause the beam power to drop signficantly.
Secondly, go into the app and check the outage report. It should list the time, duration, and reason of each disconnect from the satellites. If it's frequent then it might help you understand what needs to be done to improve it.
Lastly, the wifi router is, at best, ok. It's not good. If you're in a crowded wifi area, or wifi signal penetration is poor in your building then it's entirely possible the speed issues are between the device you're running speed test on and the router, and not due to the satellite connection. If you use the starlink app speed test, choose "advanced test" after it runs the regular test. It will test the speed between your device and the router, and then between the router and the satellites. If there's a huge discrepancy then wifi may be the issue.
It's entirely possible that the satellites are oversubscribed and you're actually experiencing terrible starlink service, but doing a little bit of work to make sure it's not a local setup issue might be useful.
PreppenWolf
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I'm in NH. We got Starlink in the spring. Just ordered and it showed up 3 days later. No wait. Our speeds are very good. Anywhere from 50-350. We use it as a backup to our cable (450 solid) because we are very rural and my wife and I both work from home. We have about 10 outages per year due to weather.
Bad weather can interrupt the signal, but it's usually only for a short period and very rare. When we lose cable it's usually 1-3 days offline.
Bad weather can interrupt the signal, but it's usually only for a short period and very rare. When we lose cable it's usually 1-3 days offline.
Texas-Mark
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It's anchored to concrete.
Speeds are a bit better overall, but it seems to be a congestion issue as it always goes to crap in the evenings.
Now, we just had some "medium" rain. It was not even a typical Texas downpour, and it was going in and out. Way more than when I had sat TV. This will suck when we actually get into the rainy season.
robby
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Just my 2 cents and experiences on a few of the Statements above.
Price Dropping: Elon is certainly not a Philanthropist. Based on posts I have read on Reddit from owners in different counties he either raises the Price or Drops the Price based on what the Local ISP's are charging and he factors in the coverage that they offer (Low Price but not Wired to reach many customers means he wont lower his price). This also applies to speed, which is why some countries have great Speeds like 250Mbs and also have low prices.
Speed: I get between 90Mbs and 160Mbs. It drops in speed a bit during prime streaming time but typically hover at 140Mbs. I do know some people in saturated areas in the Southern states have reported speeds dropping to 15Mbs during peak hours on a Weekend.
Rain: It only drops out under very Intense rain and even then it's for a few seconds until a satellite is overhead and it comes back in. The Buffering of shows Streaming usually negates any effects but I still have 1-2 dropouts during a show maybe once every two weeks. During Heavy rain it may happen 2-3 times during each one hour show. This is typically not annoying while watching regular TV but it is if a live sporting event is happening.
Transitioning: This is typically seamless as it hands off from one Satellite to the next. I only see slight speed changes but not enough to disrupt a 4K stream on any of the services.
Price Dropping: Elon is certainly not a Philanthropist. Based on posts I have read on Reddit from owners in different counties he either raises the Price or Drops the Price based on what the Local ISP's are charging and he factors in the coverage that they offer (Low Price but not Wired to reach many customers means he wont lower his price). This also applies to speed, which is why some countries have great Speeds like 250Mbs and also have low prices.
Speed: I get between 90Mbs and 160Mbs. It drops in speed a bit during prime streaming time but typically hover at 140Mbs. I do know some people in saturated areas in the Southern states have reported speeds dropping to 15Mbs during peak hours on a Weekend.
Rain: It only drops out under very Intense rain and even then it's for a few seconds until a satellite is overhead and it comes back in. The Buffering of shows Streaming usually negates any effects but I still have 1-2 dropouts during a show maybe once every two weeks. During Heavy rain it may happen 2-3 times during each one hour show. This is typically not annoying while watching regular TV but it is if a live sporting event is happening.
Transitioning: This is typically seamless as it hands off from one Satellite to the next. I only see slight speed changes but not enough to disrupt a 4K stream on any of the services.
Not so sure about this. I live in rural Maine with NO true broadband options, and our price dropped by $20/month a few months ago, because use of the Starlink network is not excessive in our area, they say. We pay $90/month. If you're in the $110/month areas, seems they're trying to weed people out via pricing to avoid overcrowding.
Same. And I routinely have evening Zoom calls for a non-profit board on which I serve, with no problems.
That's even more of an issue than we're having. We end up with a buffering problem perhaps once per month. I've noticed a few seconds of problem when it's raining cats and dogs, but that's so rare as to be a non-issue. And I've seen the dish coated with a couple of inches of snow and icicles a foot long, but still chugging right along. It does soon melt the snow off (which is how we get the icicles). We had one issue last winter after really heavy, wet, rapid snow that took it down for about an hour as I recall, then it cleared itself.
Same. I do still see very, very brief handoff problems on Zoom or Teams calls. Because we both work from home, we handle this by having a second (generally somewhat slower) internet feed from a local WISP, going into a Peplink router that keeps both connections "hot" during Zoom and Teams calls, and for any use of Microsoft products, via their "Speedfusion" service (it knows based on the server its connected to, as I understand it). So, when Starlink has a little "microdrop" of even a partial second, it keeps the connection streaming and doesn't affect my calls, or use of Office services. I have two employees in the Philadelphia area on fiber connections, and they have far more problems with online meetings than I have (likely due to their lousy ISP-supplied routers/wifi devices). I was on a Zoom call yesterday with a person who uses only Starlink and lives perhaps two air miles from me, and I noticed the partial second to maybe one second microdrops from his end a couple of times during the 30-minute call, but it wasn't enough to be distracting.
Texas-Mark
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Workaround for what? Anyone could get "roaming" for quite a while now (at least a year or more).
stienman
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Our speeds slow down for heavy downpours, but I've been surprised at how well it handles weather. But here in Michigan we don't get rainstorms with so much water it hurts to be outside in them, so I'm sure it's worse in the south.
I've never noticed handoff. My understanding is the dish is in constant contact with at least two satellites so handoff is transparent to us. Since it takes under 3 minutes for a starlink satellite to go from horizon to horizon, if transitions were a problem you'd see a disruption every 1-2 minutes.
I've never noticed handoff. My understanding is the dish is in constant contact with at least two satellites so handoff is transparent to us. Since it takes under 3 minutes for a starlink satellite to go from horizon to horizon, if transitions were a problem you'd see a disruption every 1-2 minutes.
robby
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Starlink Has now added an Interactive speed map.
Hover the mouse over the area you live in and see the expected Speed.
Use the Mouse wheel or pinch to Zoom in on the Area of interest.
Starlink Speed Map
BTW you can Toggle the Download map to Availability, Upload Speed or Latency Maps using the Pull down tab in the top menu.
Hover the mouse over the area you live in and see the expected Speed.
Use the Mouse wheel or pinch to Zoom in on the Area of interest.
Starlink Speed Map
BTW you can Toggle the Download map to Availability, Upload Speed or Latency Maps using the Pull down tab in the top menu.
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Thanks for sharing this. They always seem to be coming out with neat new features
Funny enough my entire state it’s colored “slowest” and I’ve never had an issue
robby
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It’s interesting that you say that you have no speed issues.
There are some guys on Reddit living in those same slow areas saying that they get 15Mbs during prime time on Weekends and then it returns to around 100Mbs the rest of the time.
while others living within 60 miles of them say they have no issues. It makes sense that a lot of users in a small area can have a huge impact on speed. The big question is what is a lot, how much BW can each satellite supply.
I should clarify. I do see decreased speeds on weekends with heavy tourism
But I’ve maintained service enough to continue what i was doing. We are off grid so our alternative is Hughes and the like so for us it’s awesome
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