Got my Starlink today......

[docj]

I was notified this morning that my Starlink kit will ship this week.  My account has been charged for the $495.  I've even located an installer who should be able to mount it above the treeline at my location.  

We're in Rockport TX which is as far south as I have heard for any Starlink installations.  Can't wait to get mine set up!

[rpsinc]

On 10/27/2021 at 5:33 AM, Dutch_12078 said:

Yep, it has to be tiring carrying all that money to the bank.

Esp if he has to deal with some of the same regs that the 420 businesses do.  All cash, baby!!

[DanZemke]

43 minutes ago, docj said:

I was notified this morning that my Starlink kit will ship this week.  My account has been charged for the $495.  I've even located an installer who should be able to mount it above the treeline at my location. 

Congratulations!  I'm envious.  I have too many hills and trees around my house for Starlink to work for me at this location. 

[docj]

10 minutes ago, DanZemke said:

I have too many hills and trees around my house for Starlink to work for me at this location. 

We definitely don't have hills in south TX! 😁  We'll have to put it on a mast to get it above the live oaks, but the local microwave-based internet providers haven't had a problem with doing that.  We have a small "casita" and a small tower on top of it should suffice.

[DanZemke]

I described my situation poorly.   There's a stream at the rear of my neighbors houses across the street from me.  I'm in a small valley.  Most of my trees are over 25 foot tall.  My "hills" immediately behind my property are about 100 feet high. 

I am truly happy that a mast will work for you.   But the size of one required for my situation is not practical.

[Dutch_12078]

3 hours ago, DanZemke said:

I described my situation poorly.   There's a stream at the rear of my neighbors houses across the street from me.  I'm in a small valley.  Most of my trees are over 25 foot tall.  My "hills" immediately behind my property are about 100 feet high. 

I am truly happy that a mast will work for you.   But the size of one required for my situation is not practical.

Have you tested your sky view using the Starlink app?

[DanZemke]

11 minutes ago, Dutch_12078 said:

Have you tested your sky view using the Starlink app?

Yes I have/did.  I order a week or so after it was first available.  After my order, I used the app and it said my site was not acceptable.   I stopped the FedEx shipment before it arrived as my house telling FedEx I would refuse shipment if it arrived.

 

[Dutch_12078]

33 minutes ago, DanZemke said:

Yes I have/did.  I order a week or so after it was first available.  After my order, I used the app and it said my site was not acceptable.   I stopped the FedEx shipment before it arrived as my house telling FedEx I would refuse shipment if it arrived.

 

Ahh, okay, just wondered. That's a shame...

[Vladimir]

Just got back from my second hunting trip....puppy did point three birds!!!

Today went up to check on the vacation home and talked to my neighbor. 

He did set up his Starlink dish. It is a 100 feet from the power supply to the dish.  The router connection supplied by Starlink from the power supply to the router is ONLY 10 feet.  So he replaced it with a 125 foot direct burial CAT 7 cable.  It worked.

He is now 225 feet from the house to the meadow where the dish is located and a view to the north. 

Lantency is at 39, and he does get drop outs.  HOWEVER, unless your doing REAL TIME VIDEO you will NOT notice the drop outs since they come and go so quickly.  Not sure of his speed since he did not measure it, but it works and is as fast as his "home" system.

I am going back up on Tuesday to start my installation.  More details later. 

I do feel much better that the 125 foot CAT 7 cable worked.

 

[palmeris]

Interesting they went with cat7 and not cat 6a or cat8...cat 7 has a proprietary connector thats not your typical rj45 if I remember correctly, special crimp tools, etc. Does the starlink dish / router use the CG45 connector instead of a typical 8p8c rj45? Just wondering as my starlink is still on order saying late 2021....

[dewilso]

When did you go on the list Doc?

[docj]

11 hours ago, dewilso said:

When did you go on the list Doc?

I think I put my deposit down like in February.

As an update to my previous post, my Dishy still hasn't shipped, despite the fact that I've been charged for it.  I guess it's sort of like buying a Tesla in the early days.

[Chalkie]

3 minutes ago, docj said:

I think I put my deposit down like in February.

I too put my deposit down in February. Now they are saying in my area will not be until late 2022 or early 2023. Seems like an awful long time to let the richest man (or second richest depending on source) in the world use my money interest free. Maybe that is why he is so rich??

[docj]

On 11/16/2021 at 8:04 AM, Chalkie said:

I too put my deposit down in February. Now they are saying in my area will not be until late 2022 or early 2023. Seems like an awful long time to let the richest man (or second richest depending on source) in the world use my money interest free. Maybe that is why he is so rich??

This morning I finally received tracking information from FedEx for my Dishy.  It's been >2 weeks since I was charged for it.  Making money on other people's money is the way the rich get richer.

[durangodon]

39 minutes ago, docj said:

This morning I finally received tracking information from FedEx for my Dishy.  It's been >2 weeks since I was charged for it.  Making money on other people's money is the way the rich get richer.

I recently ordered a whole house generator installed at my home.  All of the bids I received required 1/2 cost deposit.  The lowest bid I got was over $11,000.

The kicker is that they all estimated delivery and installation at least 8 months out, due to generator shortage and high demand.  Talk about using my money for a while.

[Ray,IN]

docj, is it the old model dish or the new square dish?

[Vladimir]

Went out today and set up the dish.  Didn't have much time to experiment so picked my best spot and placed the dish there.  I hooked up the dish to a Honda 2000 generator since I didn't want to run a long extension cord.

Set-up is pretty simple.  You do NOT need any tools.  There are no instructions except for the pictures.  It would be helpful to watch a utube video on setup since you want to DO THINGS and the set up is basically plug it in!!!

It takes about 10 minutes for the dish to locate the satellites and start moving.  The software then asks for a name for the router and if you want to use a password.  That's it. 

It starts working and you connect to it like any router.

After connection, standing next to router....running speednet the ping was 36 and the download speed showed as 200 MBps.

After a couple more minutes I ran the speed test again.  This time the ping was 39 and the download speed was 91 Mbps with the upload speed of 13.30.

I then moved 135 feet from the router.  Still outside, but direct line of sight.  The download speed was 70 Mbps and upload speed of 17 with the ping being 32.

I then moved inside the house about 160 feet from the router.  Download speed was about 30 Mbps and upload speed stayed at 17.

Zero Azimuth is true north.  I am blocked from about 30 degrees down to 170 or so.  Good horizons to the west and north until I hit that 30 degree mark.  There are large ponderosa pine trees that block the view in that direction.  To are probably in the neighborhood of 60 degrees in that direction.

So I am impressed. 

I think unless you live in a TOTAL forested environment you can make the dish work.  I was surprised how far the router reached out and if needed I could add a wi-fi booster at the house end.

Since I am off-grid I am going to get a solar panel to charge a 8D AGM battery with a on/off switch to set it off when not using it.   Trying to figure out how to mount the dish on the solar panels and add a panel just to charge the battery for the dish.

We do rent the house as a vacation rental. 

Most of our guests do NOT want internet because of their kids, but we do lose some rentals by not having it.  The on/off switch will keep the battery fully charged until needed and the parents can always walk at to the solar panels, flick the switch and take their kids right off line without saying a word.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[docj]

4 hours ago, Ray,IN said:

docj, is it the old model dish or the new square dish?

I won't know until I receive it on Friday.  I'll post when I get it.

[RV_]

Sounds great Vlad. Did you see the new much smaller rectangular not square Starlink dish now coming out? https://teslanorth.com/2021/11/10/spacex-unveils-all-new-starlink-dish-with-more-mounting-options-pics/#:~:text=SpaceX has unveiled a new Starlink satellite dish%2C,dish is not available outside the U.S. yet.

 

Edited November 18, 2021 by RV_

[Ray,IN]

Thanks for the correction Derek. I thought it is square.

[Vladimir]

1 hour ago, RV_ said:

Sounds great Vlad. Did you see the new much smaller rectangular not square Starlink dish now coming out? https://teslanorth.com/2021/11/10/spacex-unveils-all-new-starlink-dish-with-more-mounting-options-pics/#:~:text=SpaceX has unveiled a new Starlink satellite dish%2C,dish is not available outside the U.S. yet.

 

I just did.  Not sure what to think of it.  Mounting TWO pieces instead of ONE, might not be that much of a bargain.

At this point, I would be very, very interested in a RV setup.  I would wait for that.  I am impressed with the design skills of the StarLink employees.  Great job.

I kinda mentioned it in my post, but the dish comes with a 100 foot power cable, and I was out 135 feet from the router.  So basically, I was out 235 feet from the dish and had 25 Mbps service inside the house.  That does not include putting a wifi amplifier at the house end!!!

I was worried that I would have to much distance to make it work.  Pretty close to a football field with just the standard setup.

I think almost everybody could make it work.

I was impressed with the ease of setup.

[RV_]

For folks unfamiliar with how it moves this video is pretty good.

 

[docj]

All I can say is WOW!  Dishy arrived today (it's the "old" round style).  Assembly was virtually nothing and the initial "survey" of obstacles took ~30 minutes.  I lucked out in that the best view is nearly free of trees and other obstacles.

Initial speed tests have been in the 150-250 Mbps ranger (using FAST.com).  Streaming video has very clearly been at 1080p with no rebuffering.  So far I haven't experienced any dropouts.

[Zulu]

7 minutes ago, docj said:

Initial speed tests have been in the 150-250 Mbps ranger (using FAST.com).  Streaming video has very clearly been at 1080p with no rebuffering.  So far I haven't experienced any dropouts.

Amazing, isn’t it?

Check out STATS in the Starlink app. Very addictive.

[docj]

4 hours ago, Zulu said:

Amazing, isn’t it?

Check out STATS in the Starlink app. Very addictive.

Tomorrow I'm going to put the Dishy on a more permanent mount which will involve moving it a bit.   Do I need to get it to start over and look for obstructions, etc?  If so, how to I do that?

Answered my own question--Put it into Stow position and then disconnect.  When re-connected the dish will automatically regain it's position.

Edited November 23, 2021 by docj