Starlink Broadband
Discussion
For some people their livelihoods literally depend upon good connectivity - not outright speed, but availability and stability.
I get connectivity from a local wireless ISP and Vodafone 4G but both are far from perfect and so would be complemented by a service like this, especially if reliable.
I've ordered this but it's saying mid to late 2021 in my area (Shropshire). Is this dependent upon latitude? Is anyone getting it outside the southern most counties yet?
I get connectivity from a local wireless ISP and Vodafone 4G but both are far from perfect and so would be complemented by a service like this, especially if reliable.
I've ordered this but it's saying mid to late 2021 in my area (Shropshire). Is this dependent upon latitude? Is anyone getting it outside the southern most counties yet?
theboss said:
I've ordered this but it's saying mid to late 2021 in my area (Shropshire). Is this dependent upon latitude? Is anyone getting it outside the southern most counties yet?
Service coverage s certainly dependent on latitude at the moment - a useful resource for seeing current satellite positions and estimated coverage areas is here : https://satellitemap.space/# (I'd recommend closing the satellite list with the "Showing [-]" button top left, as otherwise just moving the mouse over the list will jump focus to specific satellites, which is annoying to say the least).If you select 'Active' satellites you can see quite regular gaps in coverage in north of the UK, and bear in mind the coverage area needs to encompass both your receiver station and also one of Starlink's ground stations, the nearest which I think are currently in France. e.g.
So more satellites plus more ground stations will increase coverage. If you select 'All' satellites you can see the slowly expanding trains of recently launched batches of satellites, including the first launched into polar orbits to provide coverage for higher latitudes - these are the first fitted with peer-to-peer laser links so that in areas where no ground stations are available the satellites can forward traffic to those which do have a downlink, and the laser links are expected in time to become standard and have the potential for low latency long distance traffic.
What is it like in snow/heavy rain/clouds?
My satellite TV can be off hours at a time.
Also what is the upload speed/latency like? Same as download?
All considered it sounds very very good considering it was designed for places hundreds of miles away from anything like wired or 4G mobile masts in decent range etc.
I’m not sure it was designed to out-compete traditionally good connections like wired or 4/5G in local range was it?
My satellite TV can be off hours at a time.
Also what is the upload speed/latency like? Same as download?
All considered it sounds very very good considering it was designed for places hundreds of miles away from anything like wired or 4G mobile masts in decent range etc.
I’m not sure it was designed to out-compete traditionally good connections like wired or 4/5G in local range was it?
Mr Whippy said:
What is it like in snow/heavy rain/clouds?
My satellite TV can be off hours at a time.
Also what is the upload speed/latency like? Same as download?
All considered it sounds very very good considering it was designed for places hundreds of miles away from anything like wired or 4G mobile masts in decent range etc.
I’m not sure it was designed to out-compete traditionally good connections like wired or 4/5G in local range was it?
Supposedly fine in bad weather, and the dish melts snow that lands on it.My satellite TV can be off hours at a time.
Also what is the upload speed/latency like? Same as download?
All considered it sounds very very good considering it was designed for places hundreds of miles away from anything like wired or 4G mobile masts in decent range etc.
I’m not sure it was designed to out-compete traditionally good connections like wired or 4/5G in local range was it?
Claimed latency is 50ms, upload speeds something like 40Mb/s.
Mr Whippy said:
What is it like in snow/heavy rain/clouds?
My satellite TV can be off hours at a time.
Also what is the upload speed/latency like? Same as download?
All considered it sounds very very good considering it was designed for places hundreds of miles away from anything like wired or 4G mobile masts in decent range etc.
I’m not sure it was designed to out-compete traditionally good connections like wired or 4/5G in local range was it?
Well, with all the glorious weather we've been having recently, hard to tell how it performs under inclement conditions. My satellite TV can be off hours at a time.
Also what is the upload speed/latency like? Same as download?
All considered it sounds very very good considering it was designed for places hundreds of miles away from anything like wired or 4G mobile masts in decent range etc.
I’m not sure it was designed to out-compete traditionally good connections like wired or 4/5G in local range was it?
Really, I haven't noticed any significant degradation when it's been absolutely pissing it down, we haven't had any snow to speak of but as noted the dish can defrost itself to a degree - I did notice it had iced up slightly one morning, but it didn't appear to affect the service.
Currently the bandwidth is asymmetric - I've just run a speed test and getting 160Mbps down, 18 Mbps up and 31ms latency - uplink is generally more towards the 30 Mbps range, and downlink usually slightly slower.
As you say, it won't compete on price with traditional connections, at least for a while. Long term, Starlink are reportedly aiming for 10Gbps bandwidth - whether terrestrial networks would be able to offer that in the same timescale, I don't know. I do remember that my cable bandwidth in Brackell went from I think 250Kbps in the NTL days to 200Mbps with Virgin Media over the years, coming down the same bit of cable but with obviously much better kit pushing the signal through it.
Talking of NTL, and the God-awful cesspit of incompetence, indolence and downright malevolence they described as "Customer Support", it is refreshing to note that - for the moment at least - Starlink's customer support appears to be staffed by irrepressibly cheerful and helpful Californians (not sure if they've fixed it yet, but their portal mangles UK postcodes so I contacted them to make sure the delivery would actually arrive...)
El stovey said:
Looks amazing.
Can you take your dish with you when you move about like on a second home or RV/caravan or something?
Pricier and slower than my current Wi-fi though so hard to justify despite it all looking very cool.
At the moment no. The satellites “assigned” to you at any one time only cover your home area, so if you move outside that you lose cover.Can you take your dish with you when you move about like on a second home or RV/caravan or something?
Pricier and slower than my current Wi-fi though so hard to justify despite it all looking very cool.
I think you’ve over 100 miles of radius, but no good if you are going from the UK to Spain, for example.
They really need the laser interlinks working before it becomes viable the UK , as this is currently restricting service to were the uplink and downlink are covered by a single footprint.
Once this is working correctly - then the latency will improve as well ( as you wont be going to ground in france when your data needs to hit the US )
Given that the earlier satellites didn't even contain the hardware to support the interlinks - its going to take a while before starlink rectify this.
IF you happen to be in the right place ( rural valley in devon and cornwall ) then it looks ideal.
Number of users in a footprint would appear to be the next issue.... UK/europe population density in remote areas is comparatively high .. so contention ratio might start becoming an issue if they start promising above 100Mb per user
Once this is working correctly - then the latency will improve as well ( as you wont be going to ground in france when your data needs to hit the US )
Given that the earlier satellites didn't even contain the hardware to support the interlinks - its going to take a while before starlink rectify this.
IF you happen to be in the right place ( rural valley in devon and cornwall ) then it looks ideal.
Number of users in a footprint would appear to be the next issue.... UK/europe population density in remote areas is comparatively high .. so contention ratio might start becoming an issue if they start promising above 100Mb per user
Northernboy said:
El stovey said:
Looks amazing.
Can you take your dish with you when you move about like on a second home or RV/caravan or something?
Pricier and slower than my current Wi-fi though so hard to justify despite it all looking very cool.
At the moment no. The satellites “assigned” to you at any one time only cover your home area, so if you move outside that you lose cover.Can you take your dish with you when you move about like on a second home or RV/caravan or something?
Pricier and slower than my current Wi-fi though so hard to justify despite it all looking very cool.
I think you’ve over 100 miles of radius, but no good if you are going from the UK to Spain, for example.
It has been reported that they have demonstrated use of Starlink from an aircraft, so potentially could massively increase the in-flight bandwidth available to airlines. Strong turbulence or El Stovey's hand flying might bugger up the beam-forming though. Ditto use from land vehicles in motion.
eharding said:
Roaming about with the Starlink dish is something they apparently intend to support eventually, but for the Beta programme at least the agreement is that the equipment is used at a specified location - whilst the dish does have a GPS on board, I don't think this is actively geofenced so much as there potentially simply not being any coverage at present outside of defined areas.
It has been reported that they have demonstrated use of Starlink from an aircraft, so potentially could massively increase the in-flight bandwidth available to airlines. Strong turbulence or El Stovey's hand flying might bugger up the beam-forming though. Ditto use from land vehicles in motion.
I was just working out where to attach the dish for least drag but still getting a good signal. It has been reported that they have demonstrated use of Starlink from an aircraft, so potentially could massively increase the in-flight bandwidth available to airlines. Strong turbulence or El Stovey's hand flying might bugger up the beam-forming though. Ditto use from land vehicles in motion.
I agree, this could really improve Wi-fi on flights and in cars/trains/boats etc
El stovey said:
eharding said:
Roaming about with the Starlink dish is something they apparently intend to support eventually, but for the Beta programme at least the agreement is that the equipment is used at a specified location - whilst the dish does have a GPS on board, I don't think this is actively geofenced so much as there potentially simply not being any coverage at present outside of defined areas.
It has been reported that they have demonstrated use of Starlink from an aircraft, so potentially could massively increase the in-flight bandwidth available to airlines. Strong turbulence or El Stovey's hand flying might bugger up the beam-forming though. Ditto use from land vehicles in motion.
I was just working out where to attach the dish for least drag but still getting a good signal. It has been reported that they have demonstrated use of Starlink from an aircraft, so potentially could massively increase the in-flight bandwidth available to airlines. Strong turbulence or El Stovey's hand flying might bugger up the beam-forming though. Ditto use from land vehicles in motion.
I agree, this could really improve Wi-fi on flights and in cars/trains/boats etc
Nobody knows - at least not anybody who's telling - how good the Starlink kit is at overcoming random motion - vehicle vibration, ship rolling etc - older technology made use of gyro stabilised platforms, and the dish does seem to contain IMU devices to detect attitude as well has having the capacity to pitch and yaw, although it just seems to do that at startup from the stowed position and doesn't move after that - mine has adopted a jaunty ~10 degree angle facing north, but that might be just to help drain off the rain.
eharding said:
. . , although it just seems to do that at startup from the stowed position and doesn't move after that - mine has adopted a jaunty ~10 degree angle facing north, but that might be just to help drain off the rain.
Shouldn’t it be pointing south? Sounds like it’s broken, poke it with a broom and see what happens? Show that dish who’s boss.El stovey said:
eharding said:
. . , although it just seems to do that at startup from the stowed position and doesn't move after that - mine has adopted a jaunty ~10 degree angle facing north, but that might be just to help drain off the rain.
Shouldn’t it be pointing south? Sounds like it’s broken, poke it with a broom and see what happens? Show that dish who’s boss.Interestingly - mildly, anyway - my Starlink external IP address swapped from being located in London - as far as the various geolocating services can tell - to Frankfurt for a few hours yesterday morning. Whether it was some sort of failover, or they were testing out their infrastructure in Germany ahead of the rollout there, I don't know.
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