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I'm about fed up with my ISP. Rate increases. Paying for 15mbps and rarely even get 10.
I live 8 miles from town. About a year or so ago, they started laying fiber this way. They got about a mile out of town and just stopped. Coming from the other direction, they laid it all the way to the county line, (which is about 2 miles from me) and stopped.

I've been looking at Starlink for about a year now. It's finally available in my area. But have been putting it off because it's $120 per month. I'm sure there's taxes too. Plus there has been absolutely no one to talk to. Their customer service is all emails. I hear they respond pretty quickly. But if internet goes down, so does my email. Unless I walk outside with my phone. And even then it's shotty.

Does anyone else have Starlink?

I have starlink. I replaced DSL that was only getting 3mbps. I am happy with starlink.
Speed test from the starlink app

That's amazing. What's your customer service attempts been like?

With my phone company, I can call them with a problem and it's usually resolved that day or the next. Unless it's a weekend.
Or if I'm complaining to them about paying for 15mbps and only getting 3.

I have not had to contact starlink for customer service. I was an early adopter and pre-ordered and waited over a year for the service to be available. When it was they sent the kit and I set it up and no issues. Frontier DSL was a PITA. Every time you call you get the "You are in a high usage area" I would complain and it would speed up to the 20mbps I was paying for then a few days later back to 2 to 3 mbps.

Do you know any one who is connected by the fibre ?
While it is frowned on by ISPs there is nothing stopping you from either sharing their connection via a microwave bridge or getting second connection at one of the houses that have fibre and using a bridge.
Unless you have 10 kids all watching HD netflix at the same time you will never need anything better than 10MBS .
I use mobile Wi-Fi for the web
I have 2 phones and I never use them for anything other than making phone calls & taking to odd photo .
Some times check the weather if I am motorcycling
Both are very cheap prepaid yearly services ( $ 15 AUS / month ) and both give me 5 Gb of " free" data
So that is 10Gb at up to 30MBS for $ 30/ month
Down side is without an actual ISP you are limited to web mail services .
I still have a dial up email only account to preserver my old email addresses .
I used to have a DSL service but the data limit at "full" speed kept on dropping and the Peak hours kept on getting longer so I was always getting shaped to 256 kb .
When I bought it I got 20Gb at full speed during peak times 8am to 8 pm
When I dumped it that had changed to 5 Gb at peak which was 8 am through to 2 am

No Fibre here yet. I have a few of my networking clients setup with wireless links to barns and other buildings using ubiquiti Loco M5's.

You guys are complaining about speeds. Try starting out at 1200 baud, moving up to 33kbps, switching over to DSL when became available @ 3mbps. It was like night and day. Then when I moved and AT&T couldn't even provide DSL in my area so I went with Charter/Spectrum and got 10mbps. Currently they are promising 300mbps in my area but computer is limited to 100mbps. Anyway all I see is around 77mbps on downloads and around 12mbps on uploads. So it take around 4 minutes to upload a 350mb file. That is only slowness I notice here.

Now service rate $95 for internet is rough. But hoping the optic fiber system being installed will cost less but if I was will to pay for cell phone that I don't need then I can get 300mbps service from Verizon for $40. The problem is with the phone it costs more than what I am paying for the current service including the VOIP phone.

Anyway I watch TV and being on the computer at the same time without hiccups. So I can't complain about the service other than the cost.

When I was on DSL I couldn't stream netflix without buffering every couple minutes and any large file transfers just timed out. No problems on starlink

Still got a couple 1200 baud modems out in the barn. If you need them LOL

You should try downloading a 150mb file on 33K baud and everytime have someone pick the damn phone up during the multi day download. Getting a multiple download accelerator helped as I could restart downloads where the download got interrupted on the old system but DSL resolved that problem.

Now with the cable the download accelerator program is no longer of any use.

You have find ways to get done on slow connections. As TV I am lucky to be in an areas with 40+ channels over the air. Most are useless to me. Just watching (mainly listen to it) the new MeTV cartoon channel lately.

Anyway I got to get to the shop as I burning daylight and the heat will hit me later this morning.

So Starlink just called. The CS rep was very knowledgeable, nice and professional. He sold me. He said if I had any problems, I could just call that same number and id get support. But I didn't notice on their website that it's a monday through Friday type support.

Also, they offer refurbished equipment for over $100 less than the new. But it comes with the same 2 yr warranty.
I'm signed up and paid.
I'm going to use the Dish Network pole that's already mounted just outside the office window to mount the Starlink dish on. Hopefully, I can pull the dish cables out and simply run the Starlink cable through the same hole. (I should be so lucky).

I was watching this video about the pole adapter. They say it sucks. It only fits on the pole about 3/4" to 1." And it's only got one set screw. But in the link below the video, there's an aftermarket one that made to fit Starlink dish. It fits down the pole several inches and has like 6 set screws.

Be aware Dish satellites are geostationary over the southern US and starlink constellations are over the northern US. Hope you have a clear view of the northern sky. Your Dish cable is probably RG-6 coax and the starlink cable is a Cat 5e weatherproof cable with proprietary connectors.

Hammermechanicman said:

Be aware Dish satellites are geostationary over the southern US and starlink constellations are over the northern US. Hope you have a clear view of the northern sky. Your Dish cable is probably RG-6 coax and the starlink cable is a Cat 5e weatherproof cable with proprietary connectors.

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I used to app to find the clear sky, and where the Dish network equipment is mounted, I got an excellent reading.

If need be, I have these. lol

Looks like Amazons Kuiper internet is in the process of bringing competition to Starlink.

I've been using Starlink for about a year. Absolutely no complaints. I can have 4 TV's streaming shows at once and not even notice any slowing up. I got rid of Directv and use a few streaming services using Roku boxes. Even at $120 per month for Starlink and and chump change for a few streaming apps, It's cheaper than what I was paying for crappy internet and dish tv. When you first power it up, my dish turned straight up in the air and then tilted down and pointed at the satellite on it's own.

Dogjaw said:

I've been using Starlink for about a year. Absolutely no complaints. I can have 4 TV's streaming shows at once and not even notice any slowing up. I got rid of Directv and use a few streaming services using Roku boxes. Even at $120 per month for Starlink and and chump change for a few streaming apps, It's cheaper than what I was paying for crappy internet and dish tv. When you first power it up, my dish turned straight up in the air and then tilted down and pointed at the satellite on it's own.

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People still on Dish or Direct TV are getting ripped off. I'm paying less for all the premium ROKU channels I have, than Dish's lowest subscription price. Which doesn't have any premium, commercial free channels. Their top 200 is over $100 per month now. Plus you have the equipment rental crap. Buy the time they add everything up, it's close to $175.

One thing I noticed though, those premium streaming services are increasing ever so often. I dumped Disney/Hulu after the last episode of The Mandalorian.

I'm glad you brought up the streaming services. I just looked at all the ones I'm subscribed to, and realize I haven't watched some of them. So I'm going to cancel them for a while. Help make up the difference in the Starlink monthly charges.

A buddy of mine had HughesNet. He was always complaining about buffering & prices. I've heard that Dish or Direct were connected with HughesNet in some way.

PTmowerMech said:

People still on Dish or Direct TV are getting ripped off. I'm paying less for all the premium ROKU channels I have, than Dish's lowest subscription price. Which doesn't have any premium, commercial free channels. Their top 200 is over $100 per month now. Plus you have the equipment rental crap. Buy the time they add everything up, it's close to $175.

One thing I noticed though, those premium streaming services are increasing ever so often. I dumped Disney/Hulu after the last episode of The Mandalorian.

I'm glad you brought up the streaming services. I just looked at all the ones I'm subscribed to, and realize I haven't watched some of them. So I'm going to cancel them for a while. Help make up the difference in the Starlink monthly charges.

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I hope that you will be happy with Starlink.
We used to have DSL and Dish Network. The DSL was slow and buffering was a problem. Fiber was recently available and we jumped on it. We then added Roku devices and put up a 8 bay antenna and dropped Dish. It is so nice having that extra money that we spent on Dish.
We added a Philo subscription to Roku. Philo only costs us $28 a month.

MParr said:

I hope that you will be happy with Starlink.
We used to have DSL and Dish Network. The DSL was slow and buffering was a problem. Fiber was recently available and we jumped on it. We then added Roku devices and put up a 8 bay antenna and dropped Dish. It is so nice having that extra money that we spent on Dish.
We added a Philo subscription to Roku. Philo only costs us $28 a month.

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If you don't mind me asking, how much was you paying for Dish?

$28? That's higher than anything I'm paying for a premium channel. Maybe its worth it though, I'll check it out.

PTmowerMech said:

I'm about fed up with my ISP. Rate increases. Paying for 15mbps and rarely even get 10.
I live 8 miles from town. About a year or so ago, they started laying fiber this way. They got about a mile out of town and just stopped. Coming from the other direction, they laid it all the way to the county line, (which is about 2 miles from me) and stopped.

I've been looking at Starlink for about a year now. It's finally available in my area. But have been putting it off because it's $120 per month. I'm sure there's taxes too. Plus there has been absolutely no one to talk to. Their customer service is all emails. I hear they respond pretty quickly. But if internet goes down, so does my email. Unless I walk outside with my phone. And even then it's shotty.

Does anyone else have Starlink?

Click to expand...

I have starlink. It is awesome! The $120/ month is just that. When my 2 daughters and 3 grandkids come down with all their phones and video games, there are no slowdowns. It's $599 for the antenna and everything you need. BUT, make sure you get an extra length cable if you need it.

The cable from the antenna to the modem is what seems to be proprietary. They offer longer cables if you need them. Even though the customer service is through email, I have all good things to say about them. It is also portable for $30 extra per month. I recommend them highly!!

PTmowerMech said:

A buddy of mine had HughesNet. He was always complaining about buffering & prices. I've heard that Dish or Direct were connected with HughesNet in some way.

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Hughes net is horrible! After I cancelled, they kept taking $ from my credit card. I had to contact the FCC to finally get them to stop! Had a similar problem with DirecTV years ago.

PTmowerMech said:

If you don't mind me asking, how much was you paying for Dish?

$28? That's higher than anything I'm paying for a premium channel. Maybe its worth it though, I'll check it out.

Click to expand...

I was paying $150 a month.
The $28 charge for Philo gets me all of the channels that I usually watched on Dish.
I DO NOT watch news, sports, or weather.
That was one of the big turn offs with Dish. They would bundle news channels and all of the ESPN channels and didn’t offer anything without news or ESPN. I’m not paying for something that I don’t watch.

MParr said:

I was paying $150 a month.
The $28 charge for Philo gets me all of the channels that I usually watched on Dish.
I DO NOT watch news, sports, or weather.
That was one of the big turn offs with Dish. They would bundle news channels and all of the ESPN channels and didn’t offer anything without news or ESPN. I’m not paying for something that I don’t watch.

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Do you have commercials on Philo?

PTmowerMech said:

Do you have commercials on Philo?

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Yes

MParr said:

Yes

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Then why do you pay $28 for philo? From what I understand, you can watch almost anything that has commercials on a LOT of streaming platforms for free.

PTmowerMech said:

Then why do you pay $28 for philo? From what I understand, you can watch almost anything that has commercials on a LOT of streaming platforms for free.

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Almost anything. If you want to watch live programming that is found on cable or satellite, you are going to pay.

Im on Tachus fiber internet. Lightning fast, no. Fastest internet compared to other cable internet companies, Yes.

Scrubcadet10 said:

Im on Tachus fiber internet. Lightning fast, no. Fastest internet compared to other cable internet companies, Yes.

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If they'd have connected the fiber coming from town and the one from the other county (just down the road), I'd have stayed with them.

When I first moved here, 2.5 years ago, they said they were bringing fiber down this road. They got a huge government grant to pay for it, and construction was supposed to begin soon. So I waited for a year. Suddenly the fiber crews showed up in town and they started laying it. I got all excited. And I waited.
Then they just stopped.
Then I noticed the crews coming this way from the other direction. And got all excited again, and waited for more months. Then they stopped.

Now I noticed my bill going from $95 per month to $105 per month. Which is only $15 shy of what Starlink cost per month.
So screw it. I'm done waiting. I'm sure Starlink will increase their prices someday. Everyone does. But what are ya gonna do, right? When I'm getting 3 or 4 mbps and trying to watch a good show, that extra $15 per month is well worth it.

PTmowerMech said:

If they'd have connected the fiber coming from town and the one from the other county (just down the road), I'd have stayed with them.

When I first moved here, 2.5 years ago, they said they were bringing fiber down this road. They got a huge government grant to pay for it, and construction was supposed to begin soon. So I waited for a year. Suddenly the fiber crews showed up in town and they started laying it. I got all excited. And I waited.
Then they just stopped.
Then I noticed the crews coming this way from the other direction. And got all excited again, and waited for more months. Then they stopped.

Now I noticed my bill going from $95 per month to $105 per month. Which is only $15 shy of what Starlink cost per month.
So screw it. I'm done waiting. I'm sure Starlink will increase their prices someday. Everyone does. But what are ya gonna do, right? When I'm getting 3 or 4 mbps and trying to watch a good show, that extra $15 per month is well worth it.

Click to expand...

You will be happy with starlink.

davis2 said:

You will be happy with starlink.

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I'm already excited. I just ordered this 2 days ago and figured it would take a couple of weeks to get here. So I sort of took my time ordering the pipe adapter mount from Amazon. From what I understand, the Starlink mounts aren't good at all.

Anyhow, I got an email yesterday saying the dish would be here Thursday.
Having tech support I can call. Fast shipping. It's looking good already.

My house has a metal roof, so I have to use the wifi call feature on my phone. And it's bad. People on the other end always have an echo. I lose calls midstream. I hope this fixes that problem too.

PTmowerMech said:

I'm already excited. I just ordered this 2 days ago and figured it would take a couple of weeks to get here. So I sort of took my time ordering the pipe adapter mount from Amazon. From what I understand, the Starlink mounts aren't good at all.

Anyhow, I got an email yesterday saying the dish would be here Thursday.
Having tech support I can call. Fast shipping. It's looking good already.

My house has a metal roof, so I have to use the wifi call feature on my phone. And it's bad. People on the other end always have an echo. I lose calls midstream. I hope this fixes that problem too.

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I am on the Delmarva peninsula in Maryland. The cell signal is spotty out in the sticks as the city people say... I have a cell phone booster from we boost, but the wifi calling gives me great calls on my acre of lawn. You will be happy! I had to wait 4 months for my equipment, so you got a short wait! The service is very good, and considering it can be mobile, even with the extra $ it is a great deal, especially for country people like us!!!

Well, everything is connected, updated and working. I'm a little curious as to the 40 to 45mbps i'm getting on my PC. But everything else is up around 100mbps.

Is your PC wired or wireless?
If wireless how far from the router?
Open the starlink app on your phone and do the advanced speed test. Results?

Hammermechanicman said:

Is your PC wired or wireless?
If wireless how far from the router?
Open the starlink app on your phone and do the advanced speed test. Results?

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My PC is only a couple of feet from the router. And it's wireless.

PTmowerMech said:

My PC is only a couple of feet from the router. And it's wireless.

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That's weird. Any chance a firewall or other security system is not liking the new connection? Just throwing it up against the wall...

You will find many of your sites will be governed as to how fast they send data. Like Google here limits my upload speeds to 12 Mbps but downloads are around 50 Mbps. Also the carriers can limit you transfer speeds depending how compress the data is.

It is sorta like my accounting program that takes up 2.6 gigs of hard drive space but when I zip it to back it up it only takes up 360 megs. If send raw it transfer speed it lightning fast but when compressed it slows down a lot as there is little wasted white space to compress on transfers..

davis2 said:

That's weird. Any chance a firewall or other security system is not liking the new connection? Just throwing it up against the wall...

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No sir. No firewall or security measures.

If your phone gets around 100mbps and laptop around 45mbps it is probably just the wifi chip in the laptop. I will assume you didn't get the ethernet adapter so you can't do a hardwire speed test. If you have a poor signal from the router your speed can slow down because of so many packet retransmissions but you say they are close together so signal strength shouldn't be a problem. Can you tell if the laptop is on 5Ghz from the router?

PTmowerMech said:

No sir. No firewall or security measures.

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There has to be something weird going on. All my devices work great with starlink

davis2 said:

There has to be something weird going on. All my devices work great with starlink

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So I called Starlink today and asked them why I was always getting latency warnings when I was on the PS4. We switched the plan over to Priority (extra $20 per month). And had me use an ethernet cable to connect the game (and my PC).
Shazam. My game latency went from about 40 down into the 20's. My speeds increased from 40 to 50mbps to 241.

Will be joining the Starlink family in a few weeks when my kit arrives. Been having weekly DSL and phone outages that last up to 2 days. The last outage Monday afternoon which lasted into Tuesday afternoon tipped my hand and I ordered the kit, ETA is last week of this month. The $299 kit price must of been what a lot of people needed to make the jump. And what I am paying for 3 Mbps speed is outrageous. So planning on after I get the Starlink setup, and move my antivirus from the phone company then will be porting the landline to a cell. I think my phone, plus internet, plus antivirus with their added little easter egg charges is $228/month.

Another outage started half an hour ago

ILENGINE said:

Will be joining the Starlink family in a few weeks when my kit arrives. Been having weekly DSL and phone outages that last up to 2 days. The last outage Monday afternoon which lasted into Tuesday afternoon tipped my hand and I ordered the kit, ETA is last week of this month. The $299 kit price must of been what a lot of people needed to make the jump. And what I am paying for 3 Mbps speed is outrageous. So planning on after I get the Starlink setup, and move my antivirus from the phone company then will be porting the landline to a cell. I think my phone, plus internet, plus antivirus with their added little easter egg charges is $228/month.

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I was getting 2mbps on a good day with DSL. Most days was 1.5. Starlink generally gets 120mbps.

ILENGINE said:

Will be joining the Starlink family in a few weeks when my kit arrives. Been having weekly DSL and phone outages that last up to 2 days. The last outage Monday afternoon which lasted into Tuesday afternoon tipped my hand and I ordered the kit, ETA is last week of this month. The $299 kit price must of been what a lot of people needed to make the jump. And what I am paying for 3 Mbps speed is outrageous. So planning on after I get the Starlink setup, and move my antivirus from the phone company then will be porting the landline to a cell. I think my phone, plus internet, plus antivirus with their added little easter egg charges is $228/month.

Click to expand...

You will like Starlink. A bit pricey, but it can also go with you. And the speed is excellent