Starlink satellite internet

Jessie.slimer

BIT Beta Team
Joined
Aug 23, 2019
Messages
1,627
Reaction score
4,657
Location
Illinois
My At&t dsl, while slow, has been reliable for the past few years. A couple weeks ago, it has been dropping out for hours almost every night. After all troubleshooting on my end, I finally had to call them. They sent a tech out and said everything is working fine, all lines look good, but he is seeing a lot of line errors causing modem reboots. He said that since I am 6100 feet from the nearest central office (in town), my lines are unable to sustain the 18down/1up package that I have, and the modem keeps rebooting and trying to achieve those speeds. It does not make sense since its been reliable for years (even though I only get about 12 down, 1 up most of the time), nothing has changed, and my new problems are happening overnight at off peak times. After talking with customer service, they are sending out a line tech to test/measure the lines from the central office to my box out front. Doubtful they will find anything.

Yeah, I need Starlink to work out.
 
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
7,386
Reaction score
25,889
Location
Spring, Texas
How do these people get to be tech journalists?
They write articles and shop them around. Whomever takes it pays them a pittance. Nothing is ever edited by the publisher, not even screened for accuracy or truth. Most 'news' agencies these days have very little staff and no editors. They just pump out crap and don't give two hoots as long as people keep clicking to drive up the ad revenue.
 

looney2ns

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
Messages
15,521
Reaction score
22,657
Location
Evansville, In. USA
My At&t dsl, while slow, has been reliable for the past few years. A couple weeks ago, it has been dropping out for hours almost every night. After all troubleshooting on my end, I finally had to call them. They sent a tech out and said everything is working fine, all lines look good, but he is seeing a lot of line errors causing modem reboots. He said that since I am 6100 feet from the nearest central office (in town), my lines are unable to sustain the 18down/1up package that I have, and the modem keeps rebooting and trying to achieve those speeds. It does not make sense since its been reliable for years (even though I only get about 12 down, 1 up most of the time), nothing has changed, and my new problems are happening overnight at off peak times. After talking with customer service, they are sending out a line tech to test/measure the lines from the central office to my box out front. Doubtful they will find anything.

Yeah, I need Starlink to work out.
A connection on a pole somewhere that recently got wet.
My dad's had that experience multiple times with his. AT&T's infrastructure in his area is probably 40 yrs old.
 

Jessie.slimer

BIT Beta Team
Joined
Aug 23, 2019
Messages
1,627
Reaction score
4,657
Location
Illinois
A connection on a pole somewhere that recently got wet.
My dad's had that experience multiple times with his. AT&T's infrastructure in his area is probably 40 yrs old.
Come to think of it, we did have that derecho come through here a couple weeks ago. High winds and lots of rain. We hit 85mph. Damn, I did not think of that. The issue did start about that time. Thanks.

Maybe they will find something on that line.
 

looney2ns

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
Messages
15,521
Reaction score
22,657
Location
Evansville, In. USA
Come to think of it, we did have that derecho come through here a couple weeks ago. High winds and lots of rain. We hit 85mph. Damn, I did not think of that. The issue did start about that time. Thanks.

Maybe they will find something on that line.
Hopefully you get a lineman that has a clue what he's doing. :smash:
 

handinpalm

Getting comfortable
Joined
Sep 21, 2016
Messages
679
Reaction score
1,432
Location
Tampa Bay FL
Is it snow in the air that mucks it up, or accumulation on the receiver antenna?
Yes, it can be either, including rain or tree leaves. Anything between point A & B can attenuate the signal. Depending on how much "stuff" is out there. These are very low level RF signals with high gain antennas (dish/amplifiers).
 

sebastiantombs

Known around here
Joined
Dec 28, 2019
Messages
11,511
Reaction score
27,690
Location
New Jersey
The frequency they operate at, UHF, also gets attenuated easily by just about any kind of obstruction. In all fairness, I used Dish for a while here in NJ and only had dropouts during thunder storms from lightening ionizing the atmosphere for a few seconds at a time. Overall, it's actually pretty reliable unles you're somewhere prone to lots of heavy snow.
 

bp2008

Staff member
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
12,666
Reaction score
14,005
Location
USA
Is it snow in the air that mucks it up, or accumulation on the receiver antenna?
Using DirecTV for many years, the only major signal issues were when snow accumulated on the dish. There were occasional hiccups otherwise, but we usually watched recorded stuff and had no idea what the weather was like when that was being recorded.
 

Jessie.slimer

BIT Beta Team
Joined
Aug 23, 2019
Messages
1,627
Reaction score
4,657
Location
Illinois
Starlink is having a beta test for the northern U.S. and southern Canada, between 44 and 52 degrees latitude. There is a Reddit r/Starlink with more details. HERE
Also, check the Starlink website and sign up for access. HERE
Damn, I am 2 degrees off. Probably why they never contacted me, since I signed up a while ago. Thanks for the link though. Some good info in there.
 

Jessie.slimer

BIT Beta Team
Joined
Aug 23, 2019
Messages
1,627
Reaction score
4,657
Location
Illinois
Come to think of it, we did have that derecho come through here a couple weeks ago. High winds and lots of rain. We hit 85mph. Damn, I did not think of that. The issue did start about that time. Thanks.

Maybe they will find something on that line.
They still have not come out to test the lines, but I had no internet last night, so I called them so they could do their remote testing while the problem is happening. They ran a 900 second modem test (not sure what they were looking at), but they said the modem failed. It showed it was uploading and downloading, but not passing anything through to my LAN. I couldn't even log onto it's IP to look at settings or data. New one arriving tomorrow. They are sending an NVG599 instead of the Pace 5268ac that I have now. Fingers crossed.
 

juliand

Getting comfortable
Joined
Apr 9, 2019
Messages
386
Reaction score
565
Location
S.E.Fla.
early star link satellites are linking back to ground boxes right now. Extra hopping up and then back down, satellite to satellite is in its infancy with few satellites up in the air.
This will dramatically improve, probably next summer, a lot better speeds will be seen. I'm looking forward to it, but I live in fla so it will be a while.
I refuse to do business with comcast, so I have to deal with an at&t copper line, but I went with an out of state isp, so I dont have to deal with any of at&t rules.
I hope there are no caps of any kind. we'll see... rates are 80.00 I believe.. may get cheaper.. this will help fund spacex tremendously. waiting for i.p.o offer ???
 

Arjun

Known around here
Joined
Feb 26, 2017
Messages
9,015
Reaction score
11,032
Location
USA
What are the speeds like with Starlink Satellite Internet?
 

TheGooginator

Getting the hang of it
Joined
Jun 26, 2020
Messages
92
Reaction score
71
Location
California
Top