Star Link in Rural France: Installation and review
Discussion
Speeds should increase with the longer its online.
Weirdly, it always thinks I'm in London, I'm in Cumbria. It must be the location of the ground station.
I get closer to 200-250mb on the Starlink router, but using a mix of Powerline adapters and Mesh Wifi to get it around my house.
Upload still sucks.
Weirdly, it always thinks I'm in London, I'm in Cumbria. It must be the location of the ground station.
I get closer to 200-250mb on the Starlink router, but using a mix of Powerline adapters and Mesh Wifi to get it around my house.
Upload still sucks.
Good news on you finally getting connected.
I have had one for nearly a year now in the Var and get between 200 and 300 Mbs download and usually above 35 Mbs ocassionally nearly 80 Mbs upload.
Sometimes in the early evening around 17:30 last autum it would loose connection briefly then reconnect, but no problems since. Even with the very close lightning strikes knocking out the electriciaty as soon as the power comes back the starlink sytem is up and running again.
Compared to my previous connection of 0.54 Mbs download and 0.24 Mbs upload its a revalation. Would thoroughly recomend it to anyone in a rural area.
I have had one for nearly a year now in the Var and get between 200 and 300 Mbs download and usually above 35 Mbs ocassionally nearly 80 Mbs upload.
Sometimes in the early evening around 17:30 last autum it would loose connection briefly then reconnect, but no problems since. Even with the very close lightning strikes knocking out the electriciaty as soon as the power comes back the starlink sytem is up and running again.
Compared to my previous connection of 0.54 Mbs download and 0.24 Mbs upload its a revalation. Would thoroughly recomend it to anyone in a rural area.
First working day and it’s been a revelation ….especially with syncing One Drive and Dropbox.
Have a few teams meetings today, looking forward to actually staying on them without the inevitable SFR dropouts.
I should have bought the Ethernet adaptor on this order, but one is now ordered so I can ‘network’ the house.
Kent next ?
Although one day is hardly a comprehensive test, I’m seriously considering a switch in Kent, there I have 2-6 Mbps connection.
Holding a £250 / month offer for fibre from BT….ouch!
Have a few teams meetings today, looking forward to actually staying on them without the inevitable SFR dropouts.
I should have bought the Ethernet adaptor on this order, but one is now ordered so I can ‘network’ the house.
Kent next ?
Although one day is hardly a comprehensive test, I’m seriously considering a switch in Kent, there I have 2-6 Mbps connection.
Holding a £250 / month offer for fibre from BT….ouch!
rolster said:
Good news on you finally getting connected.
I have had one for nearly a year now in the Var and get between 200 and 300 Mbs download and usually above 35 Mbs ocassionally nearly 80 Mbs upload.
Sometimes in the early evening around 17:30 last autum it would loose connection briefly then reconnect, but no problems since. Even with the very close lightning strikes knocking out the electriciaty as soon as the power comes back the starlink sytem is up and running again.
Compared to my previous connection of 0.54 Mbs download and 0.24 Mbs upload its a revalation. Would thoroughly recomend it to anyone in a rural area.
I have Starlink envy..... I have had one for nearly a year now in the Var and get between 200 and 300 Mbs download and usually above 35 Mbs ocassionally nearly 80 Mbs upload.
Sometimes in the early evening around 17:30 last autum it would loose connection briefly then reconnect, but no problems since. Even with the very close lightning strikes knocking out the electriciaty as soon as the power comes back the starlink sytem is up and running again.
Compared to my previous connection of 0.54 Mbs download and 0.24 Mbs upload its a revalation. Would thoroughly recomend it to anyone in a rural area.
My upload speed is a real pain WFH.
Very interesting! I might look into this for my place in North Italy, although the local EOLO radio-based provision is generally good enough.
On a slight tangent, by whom, if anybody, is this Starlink provision regulated? With the legislation currently being proposed in the UK, could this be a way of avoiding the intrusion of the busybodies?
On a slight tangent, by whom, if anybody, is this Starlink provision regulated? With the legislation currently being proposed in the UK, could this be a way of avoiding the intrusion of the busybodies?
Just a suplimental bit of information; before buying just download the starlink app on your phone and take it out to where you want to site the dish and follow the instructions on screen. It does its own mapping and lets you know where the satelites are and coverage so you can find the best position for it.
Decide then on how you are going to fix it to your roof, or pole, or other structure and get the correct accessories to mount it in advance. It will make it much easier. I used the ground bracket, that came with it ,for a while just out in the garden and ran the cable in through a window, until i picked up a wall mounting bracket and fitted it. There were post purchase options for accessories but they did not seem to work for me at the time so went to my next best thing, Amazon for the 90 degree wall mounting bracket that holds a vertical pole out beyond the roof tiles.
I see the latest versions are smaller and lighter, with the dish being a sort of oval now, whereas mine was round.
You will also need a decent size and length of drill for the cable. I think in the end, as i had stone walls, I ended up with a 25mm diameter 500mm long masonary drill bit that went through the outside wall into my loft and then through the loft concrete floor to the rooms below. The early unit i had, had the wire fixed into the dish at one end and then there was a plug and ferrite suppressor around the other end of the cable that had to be fed through the holes so could not just put a cable sized hole in.
There was a small issue in France as the government tried to recall the license they issued to starlink to operate in France, however after petitions and such Starlink sorted it and all is good shortly after that the monthly subscription came down from Euro 100 to Euro 50 a month.
Best of luck to all thinking about or purchasing the system, its well worth the money.
Decide then on how you are going to fix it to your roof, or pole, or other structure and get the correct accessories to mount it in advance. It will make it much easier. I used the ground bracket, that came with it ,for a while just out in the garden and ran the cable in through a window, until i picked up a wall mounting bracket and fitted it. There were post purchase options for accessories but they did not seem to work for me at the time so went to my next best thing, Amazon for the 90 degree wall mounting bracket that holds a vertical pole out beyond the roof tiles.
I see the latest versions are smaller and lighter, with the dish being a sort of oval now, whereas mine was round.
You will also need a decent size and length of drill for the cable. I think in the end, as i had stone walls, I ended up with a 25mm diameter 500mm long masonary drill bit that went through the outside wall into my loft and then through the loft concrete floor to the rooms below. The early unit i had, had the wire fixed into the dish at one end and then there was a plug and ferrite suppressor around the other end of the cable that had to be fed through the holes so could not just put a cable sized hole in.
There was a small issue in France as the government tried to recall the license they issued to starlink to operate in France, however after petitions and such Starlink sorted it and all is good shortly after that the monthly subscription came down from Euro 100 to Euro 50 a month.
Best of luck to all thinking about or purchasing the system, its well worth the money.
tight fart said:
Is it correct that it will only work at the location specified, or could you fit one to a motorhome and use it while travelling?
Their website is quite helpful 
https://www.starlink.com/roam
(Yes - but it's £85/month)
tight fart said:
Is it correct that it will only work at the location specified, or could you fit one to a motorhome and use it while travelling?
TF…. Search YouTube and you’ll see many RV /Motorhome reviews. I was experimenting with a location specific installation. But also have an eye on it as a solution on a motor yacht.
They have a flexible PAYG for roaming by the month.
The whole thing is relatively compact, you can even buy a travel case for it.
I thought I would add to this post as an overseas user for over 12 months. I have Starlink in Greece. It is exceptional and gives me at least 250mb download and 30mb upload. However, I regularly get 350mb as frankly I think I might be the only person in Greece using it.... (The connection is shared with the people in your local area, so it can be over saturated).
Some observations; getting Starlink here is tough as they won't post equipment to a PO Box. Most Greeks seem to use PO Boxes so that was quite an issue to overcome. In the end I ordered my Starlink to my UK address and then had to jump through lots of hoops to move country. It can be done, but I had to insist on speaking to a manger. Once onboard they were really helpful. (Of note, the EU cost is less than than the UK).
Cons: One odd thing about Starlink is you cant contact the customer service until you have an account with them. When I joined you needed to buy the equipment before you could ask questions. Latency ranges from 35ms to over 100ms weather dependent.
Pros: Speed anywhere, (see above). The up-time for the last 12 months has been exceptional and actually better than my 1gb virgin connection in London.
Some observations; getting Starlink here is tough as they won't post equipment to a PO Box. Most Greeks seem to use PO Boxes so that was quite an issue to overcome. In the end I ordered my Starlink to my UK address and then had to jump through lots of hoops to move country. It can be done, but I had to insist on speaking to a manger. Once onboard they were really helpful. (Of note, the EU cost is less than than the UK).
Cons: One odd thing about Starlink is you cant contact the customer service until you have an account with them. When I joined you needed to buy the equipment before you could ask questions. Latency ranges from 35ms to over 100ms weather dependent.
Pros: Speed anywhere, (see above). The up-time for the last 12 months has been exceptional and actually better than my 1gb virgin connection in London.
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