The Verge Reviews Starlink

Zulu · May 16, 2021

I don't think the author understands the plight of many rural folks (and RVers).

Randyretired · May 17, 2021

2 hours ago, Zulu said:

The Verge - Starlink Review (5/14/21)

I don't think the author understands the plight of many rural folks (and RVers).

X2 where we are building Hughesnet is the only option. Slow, limited and expensive. A few months after their installer installed the dish it quit receiving. $175 to have it realigned. VOIP doesn't work unless you pay an additional $40 monthly. If you have problems good luck. Starlink looks like gold!

Kirk W · May 17, 2021

First, thank you Zulu for posting the link as I had not see that review. I found that review to be the most comprehensive that I have found and pretty much the only one that didn't tend to parrot much of the company publicity. So why do you think he doesn't understand the problems of a rural community? Since I come from a farm and still have several relatives who live on farms as well as a couple of friends on WY ranches, I thought it was a pretty honest review as most of them are being told that Starlink will make all of their connection problems dissappear.

Dutch_12078 · May 17, 2021

As a review of the current state of the incomplete Starlink beta test system, I think the review is fairly accurate. The reviewer does seem a bit shortsighted on the future of Starlink as a worldwide Internet connectivity solution especially for the more remote parts of the world, including the under served rural areas of North America. Until all of the planned satellite orbital locations are filled, including those that cover the reviewer's NY location, there will continue to be areas with less than 24/7 uninterrupted coverage, and LOS angles will be subject to the tighter tree cover restrictions. If/when the FCC approves the requested lower elevation orbital slots, the speeds and latency will continue to improve as more satellites are launched. SpaceX is currently capable of launching up to 60 satellites per Falcon 9 launch with 28 Starlink missions completed so far. When the in development Starships becomes fully operational, they'll be ale to launch up to 400 Starlink satellites per launch. That rate should speed up constellation completion and reliability significantly. With the upcoming addition of marine and land mobile installations, I think RV'ers and other mobile users have some interesting options coming.

DanZemke · May 17, 2021

I found the review interesting.

This is the beta phase of a gen-1 product. Musk tweeted: "Speed will double to ~300Mb/s & latency will drop to ~20ms later this year" which I find plausible.

noteven · May 18, 2021

So, like, at my summer base I have cell tower hotspot that is tied to this "home tower".

500 gig is CAD$80 / month which would be around USD$67 / month

Speed just now is - hold onto your Stetson - 15.08 Mbps down 13.41 Mbps up ping 44 ms

Are you saying Starlink may be faster 🤣

Zulu · May 18, 2021

17 hours ago, Kirk W said:

So why do you think he doesn't understand the problems of a rural community?

Here's someone who commented on the Verge article. I think he's spot on:

You’re coming at it from the wrong direction. Is it a good alternative to gigabit fiber? No. But for those of us in the country, where it’s the alternative to spotty WISP that gets 3MB on a good day ("good" in this case meaning "sunny and not windy"), goes out for hours or even days at a time, and costs $65 per month anyway, it’s been an amazing improvement. Even with the 25 we’ve been averaging so far, even with the occasional dropouts (none of which have lasted more than 20 minutes, and which I expect to be drastically reduced once I get off my ass and mount Dishy in a better place), even with the increased cost, I never want to go back to our old provider.

17 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Since I come from a farm and still have several relatives who live on farms as well as a couple of friends on WY ranches, I thought it was a pretty honest review as most of them are being told that Starlink will make all of their connection problems dissappear.

My download speeds range from 50 to 250 Mbps with 120 or so being average. Also, while I've had a 1 hour lost service outage, typically it's just a few minutes a day . . .

Zulu · May 18, 2021

5 hours ago, noteven said:

Are you saying Starlink may be faster 🤣

Just a bit . . .

Kirk W · May 18, 2021

4 hours ago, Zulu said:

My download speeds range from 50 to 250 Mbps with 120 or so being average. Also, while I've had a 1 hour lost service outage, typically it's just a few minutes a day . . .

I don't doubt that Starlink has potential and may be the next step in the right direction, but I have seen too many announcements by new products that they will be the ultimate answer to not retain some skepticism. Folks in rural areas of the country have very similar problems in getting services that we who live fulltime in RVs experience in that there are two small a share of the market to get much attention from big business and too few in votes to have much political impact. The reason that my rancher friends in Wyoming do not have cell service or a host of other services is the cost per customer. Starlink isn't going to change that so only time will tell if what Musk has promised actually happens.