Starlink User Opinions

Old406Kid

Old406Kid

Legend
I'm off grid in the sticks of NW MT and have a slow internet provider out of Missoula.
I just did a speed test and the download speed with only my phone on wifi calling and using the laptop I'm on is 3.17 mbps.
I'm not sure what we are paying, my wife's department, but I just looked up Starlink's 100 mbps Standard 4 residential plan which is 55$/month.
It sounds like you rent the equipment for a 20$ upfront charge but I'm not sure where it goes from there so any info or opinions appreciated.
We aren't gamers or, to my knowledge, have any other high demand uses. Basically, we use 2 laptops, youtube tv, 2 Blink cameras, and our phones on wifi calling as we have no cell service in the area and some occasional company.
 
I have no ground-based internet, signed up for starlink on the waiting list. I’m on the standard plan, paid $600 for the hardware and now $100+ per month. We stream tv and audio, I ran my business on it, its a big part of our lives and family connections. Speed right now 103 Mbps down, 14 up. Very reliable.

At this point, as far as I can tell, without fiber or other ground-based equipment, it’s the only way to get anywhere close to those speeds reliably. Some cellular stuff seems close but they aren’t there yet here.

Short answer: if you want the speed and reliability ya got only one choice right now.
 
We just moved to starlink. Loving it so far.

We also have starlink mini. Can take it on road trips, camping, hunting; boating, etc. That way 8 can literally work from anywhere.
 
I've used it when out hunting, works great. I haven't had a long enough cable outage on whidbey to turn it back on after moving to standby to test speeds for normal day to day stuff though.
 
Guy Gregory said:
At this point, as far as I can tell, without fiber or other ground-based equipment, it’s the only way to get anywhere close to those speeds reliably. Some cellular stuff seems close but they aren’t there yet here.

Short answer: if you want the speed and reliability ya got only one choice right now.
Click to expand...

This area of communication is changing very rapidly right now. Within a year or so, there will be other competitive companies.

Swimmy used StarLink successfully on his fishing excursions. I looked at it but do not have a clear view of the sky it requires.

For example: Space Mobile is one of the up and comers for fast internet and cellular access thru your phone with NO additional hardware. Connect your phone to satellite and stream to a PC or TV or modem. All 3 major cellular companies are/will being using Space Mobile. Besos is also getting in this arena.

I do know large thunder clap clouds and snow, both clouds and snow on the dish, interfere with DirecTV satellite signal. I am wondering if this also applies to StarLink and cellular signals. Anyone have experience with this?

I will make that decision next year.
 
Last edited:
RCF said:
I do know large thunder clap clouds and snow, both clouds and snow on the dish, interfere with DirecTV satellite signal. I am wondering if this also applies to StarLink and cellular signals. Anyone have experience with this?
Click to expand...
According to the neighbor that recommended it there's a heater for snow and ice. I'll have to ask him on the other issues.
 
My gen 2 dishy has a heater for snow and ice. I've had no weather related outages that I recall in several years.

As to competition, I hope so, very much. But as yet Space Mobile is for "operator partners". Not for me. And Bezos rocket just blew up on the pad. Starlink desperately needs competition, they raise rates on a whim and the customer service experience is legendary. Yes, it is that bad. Fortunately, once it's up and running, it's pretty idiot resistant.
 
If you're going to want the full blown internet experience you'll have to get the top tier package. Otherwise there is a data limit, so you need to go unlimited especially if you're going to be streaming.
 
_WW_ said:
If you're going to want the full blown internet experience you'll have to get the top tier package. Otherwise there is a data limit, so you need to go unlimited especially if you're going to be streaming.
Click to expand...
That's really good to know!
 
Guy Gregory said:
Starlink desperately needs competition, they raise rates on a whim and the customer service experience is legendary. Yes, it is that bad. Fortunately, once it's up and running, it's pretty idiot resistant.
Click to expand...
Hmmm... :confused:
 
I'm in the SE Seattle metro area suburbs, just east of Kent. Comcast is the big wired provider here. T-Mobile & Verizon both have 5G boxes that provide great 300-400 Mbps speeds for a wireless solution. Both that work in a power outage as long as you plug their power source into a generator. Major advantage over Comcast.
And even then, Starlink told me there would be a $1000 "Demand Surcharge" for my area. Excuse me???
Ah, yeah, go pound sand. That's 2 years worth of my T-Mobile. EDIT- Starlink is $55/month for 100Mbs???? Def not worth it to me. And I work from home!

Unless you have teenagers gaming, 300-400 is plenty fast for me to be on a Teams call on the work computer, stream YouTube on my personal computer, stream the ball game on the TV, all while my wife is scrolling cat videos on Insta or FB.

Again, go pound sand Elon. Now, you may not have that charge since you're in the sticks. I've seen plenty of the RV crowd (yes, I'm researching RVs on YouTube) give it very good reviews. Good luck!
 
Last edited:
Fourbtgait said:
And then there's the huge number of satellites up there now
Click to expand...

StarLink currently has about 15,000 satellites in space with a goal of 42,000 total.
Each Space Mobile satellite array is over 2,400 square feet. They are planning ~45 satellite arrays this year. And they are just starting....
 
Old406Kid said:
I'm off grid in the sticks of NW MT and have a slow internet provider out of Missoula.
I just did a speed test and the download speed with only my phone on wifi calling and using the laptop I'm on is 3.17 mbps.
I'm not sure what we are paying, my wife's department, but I just looked up Starlink's 100 mbps Standard 4 residential plan which is 55$/month.
It sounds like you rent the equipment for a 20$ upfront charge but I'm not sure where it goes from there so any info or opinions appreciated.
We aren't gamers or, to my knowledge, have any other high demand uses. Basically, we use 2 laptops, youtube tv, 2 Blink cameras, and our phones on wifi calling as we have no cell service in the area and some occasional company.
Click to expand...
I bought it for my off grid house outside of Wenatchee when it first became available. It just works.

I don't think you will have any issues using it with your devices. Even if you use them all at once. I bought it for the wifi calling on the cell phone. That works great.

The ice melt feature does use more "electricity" and that is an issue being off-grid. I just shut my heater off and then brush the snow off the dish. I believe once when I had ice on the dish I did turn on the heater.

Check prices and energy used by the various dishes. The newer dishes appear to use less energy than the Generation One and Two dishes I have owned. My current bill for the Generation Two dish is $175 and that includes the mobile feature. I just disconnect the dish and bought another router and a different cable so I could take it with me when I travel.

It is great on fishing trips.

I would give up my PUD fiber optic line before dropping StarLink.

I have been thinking about changing to a fixed site plan and than a mobile dish for traveling. I believe those prices are cheaper than what I am currently paying for mobile now.

The only reason Elon set up StarLink was to pay for his "trip" to Mars. Just in case, you don't get it he put a graphic on the router. At first glance it looks rather cool, but then you realize it is the flight path to Mars from Earth.

skyriver said:
And even then, Starlink told me there would be a $1000 "Demand Surcharge" for my area. Excuse me??
Click to expand...
That is because your in a city and you have other options.

StarLink was originally offered to rural residents. Even then for my "cell" I had to wait about six months before a slot opened up in Chelan County.

One thing Elon did right was limit the number of users given the satellite capacity. As the satellite capacity increased so did the number of "cell"s that offered StarLink. It has work for seven years flawlessly.

First time I ever got something before the city folks, unless you count Chelan County fiber!!

Guy Gregory said:
My gen 2 dishy has a heater for snow and ice. I've had no weather related outages that I recall in several years.

As to competition, I hope so, very much. But as yet Space Mobile is for "operator partners". Not for me. And Bezos rocket just blew up on the pad. Starlink desperately needs competition, they raise rates on a whim and the customer service experience is legendary. Yes, it is that bad. Fortunately, once it's up and running, it's pretty idiot resistant.
Click to expand...
Customer service is totally automated. You never talk to a human being.

That is why it is bad. If you are ok with talking to machines you will find it adequate.

It is "idiot resistant".

Unfortunately, if you don't realize that it is made for "idiots" you might screw up. The set-up instructions were THREE pictures and one of them was not necessary. Don't think that they missed some instructions, you might screw up.

My Generation One dish ended up with a wet power supply, due to me forgetting the capillary action of water. Thanks to StarLink I remember part of high school biology class. I emailed StarLink and they said sorry we don't have any power supplies anymore for Gen One dishes. You need to buy another dish.

I then got a power supply about a month later without notice or explanation. Then a couple of weeks later I got a complete Generation Two dish without any explanation.

Is that bad or good customer service? It is different.

You can shut off and on the service if your not using for a month. I have never used that feature but I do have friends that do that.
 
Last edited:
I have it and it works great if your only other option is satellite. I will say that I've noticed that it doesn't work as well as it did several years back. It seems that as more people in my area are using it, the slower it runs. They also just raised the unlimited price from 120/month to 130/month. Construction crews have been working for over 2 years now to get fiber-optic lines in. Supposedly it will be available to us around the end of this year, at which point I will promptly be cancelling Starlink. I can't wait to stop giving the richest douchebag in the world my money every month.
 
i have the starlink mini, and it has worked great for us. use it around oregon, and 2 trips down baja. always decent signal, even while driving.
 
It is amazing that someone with Aspergers had developed such a system. Every time those Starlink satellites go up as a group, my neighborhood nutcases freak out.
 
Waiting for Verizon to roll out it's service with AST Space mobile, due this year. For $10 a month the satellite service will kick in when a Verizon smartphone is out of cellular range, generating a message 'connect to AST?". Up on the caldera cell phone coverage drops for everybody.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top