Starlink Decision Time - Advice Appreciated

TooSerious2 on 10/08/2022 - 12:53

I'm close to placing an order with StarLink and would like some expert opinion, or opinionated inexpertise, before I go ahead.

We use NBN SkyMuster Plus, 25/10, $70 month, 50GB metered for streaming and VPN from 4pm-midnight, unlimited everything else. Speed tests show about 25Mb/s daytime, about 15 at night. Lag is terrible - kids say a ping of 600+ when gaming. Reliability is good.

Monthly usage is 250-300GB, including the 50GB metered, which just does us using throttled streaming.

Fixed 4G is possible but imperfect. There is no line of sight but Band 28 (lowest frequency) is accessed by neighbours. They get consistent 1-3 bars with high-gain rooftop antennae.

I guess we would need a 4G plan like Telstra's 400GB for $75 a month (I know there's cheaper but I'm skewing the numbers to support Starlink). They're vague on speed, but I'm guessing at least 50Mb/s. Ping would improve. Neighbour's say reliability is OK. Set up cost for antennae ($200 x 2), cable ($75 x 2), mount ($100), modem ($250) and patch leads ($50) is about $900.

Starlink costs $140 a month for unlimited, median speeds 115Mb/s, reliability reported as high. Outlay is $924, and I think there's free delivery at the monent (norm $115).

Pros:
High speeds
Can online game
No streaming restrictions
Tech excitement, being part of the space race (the next gen of these things will have lasers - LASERS)

Cons:
Double the cost
Backing Elon
Support supposedly good but all at a long distance - further than their satellites
Backing Elon in the space race
Kids will game and stream more
Helping Elon get lasers
Will Starlink keep meeting its promises to justify $900 on a one-use dish and router

Thanks for reading, if you made it this far. Look forward to some opinions.

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Comments

  • boomramada on 10/08/2022 - 13:05
    +2

    Based on your cons, look like you already ordered it :)

  • Ozbar Gain on 10/08/2022 - 13:07
    +9

    Sounds like you want a tesla but can only afford a starlink

  • Monojoker on 10/08/2022 - 13:12
    +3

    I imagine the speeds and reliability vary a lot between areas but I signed my friend's business up for it 12 months ago and we certainly haven't looked back. Mind you the only other option so far is Telstra ADSL where speeds were typically 3-5Mbps down and lucky to be 1Mbps up. So there was nothing comparable or even remotely reliable. After a second 5 day outage where Telstra only offered some spare mobile data for him (reception is 1 bar or non-existent for mobile where he is) he bit the bullet and signed up for Starlink.

    Took 2-3 months from memory for it to arrive and we got in before the price rise so he's still only paying $120/month for unlimited full speed which is typically 200-300Mbps rain, hail or shine. The service is shared between his business and his house and there's been only one dropout despite El Nina and 2 floods worth of rain events here this year (Feb and May). It lasted 30 mins and things were back to normal.

    Best to not think about Elon, it's a decision you make based on what's best for you internet-wise. When better options arrive you can always ditch him :) I expect Fibre will arrive to this place sometime this year, as it's about 10 blocks away and steadily rolling in from the highway.

    TL;DR version: if you're stuck with woeful internet and can stomach lining Elon's pockets, Starlink has been quite awesome as a solution for one country SEQld customer.

  • JimmyF on 10/08/2022 - 13:22
    +3

    We use NBN SkyMuster

    I stopped reading here…. Yes get anything else than this, it will be better.

    I've used Starlink a few times now, it's been near flawless and compared to what SkyMuster offers. Think comparing dialup to any modem day decent internet.

  • TooSerious2 on 10/08/2022 - 13:25

    Thanks for the reply. We're SEQ as well, but no fibre here for a long time - 7km along a dead end road up a valley leading into the Dividing Range.

    I haven't bought yet, but as you can tell, Jeez I want to.

    Don't know if this is a market where there will be a competitor - cost of entry must be extraordinary. That's why it's Elon or no one.

    • ESEMCE on 10/08/2022 - 13:54
      +1

      Bezos keeps talking about a competitor but;
      1) Is he any better than Elon?
      2) AFAIK, he's still years away from having an Orbital Rocket, let alone having had sufficient launches to put up a constellation.

    • prodrome on 10/08/2022 - 14:11
      +1

      We've had FTTN and 4G/5G in the past and Starlink has been the least trouble.

      If you can see the sky (i.e. no trees) , it just works as best it can. There is congestion in the evenings (at times) and outages (at times) but compared to alternatives it has been great.

      Downsides:

      • Risky and Erratic Musk Business: The service is good but the management is utterly hopeless. They might jack up the price, put a download cap on or charge extra for X.
      • The ping times have never been anywhere near the advertised 20ms and are more likely around 60ms
      • Support: If you need support (faulty dish for example) Starlink might not respond for a month or at all.
  • djkelly69 on 10/08/2022 - 13:32
    +1

    I've only looked at it briefly for a relative, but from memory for gaming on Starlink it is fine when connected, but dropouts due to weather/atmosphere/etc are reasonably common meaning online games will disconnect. Which means it probably won't be the greatest solution for that part of the equation.

  • Clear on 10/08/2022 - 13:47
    +1

    I have Starlink used in places where NBN isn't available, 4G is super patchy and Skymuster we all know is a pile of shit. I can vouch for it Starlink and say that the speeds and connection has been great.

    There's only been two downsides. No SMTP servers or SMTP relay, but this wouldn't impact the average home user and the antenna falling off in wind (dodgy tradies).

    • TooSerious2 on 10/08/2022 - 14:10

      Thanks clear. Can you ELI5 STMP?

      • Clear on 10/08/2022 - 14:12

        Do you have an ISP email like Bigpond?

        • TooSerious2 on 10/08/2022 - 14:14

          Yes, but unused, with Skymuster ISP. Have Gmail and have set up an account through my own site hosted on obble

  • ESEMCE on 10/08/2022 - 13:50

    As much as Elon is a, umm, "controversial" public figure.
    It can't be denied that SpaceX has and continues to be a groundbreaking company, in a lesser case, Tesla is also. But SpaceX is just killing it, even if the new mega rocket is unsuccessful for another decade. They've literally turned multiple things once considered impossible into a frequent occurrence and nobody else is remotely close to matching them in capability.
    Supporting SpaceX is supporting the best in the business at the moment. I see no shame in that, even if the CEO is toxic.

    Kids will game and stream more

    this will occur on a 4G connection as well. The real question is, will you use more than 400Gb on a faster 4G connection?
    Answer is probably yes, even if only cause you'd be able to stream HD instead of SD content for more of the month.
    So then you're back in much the same position as now, $900 in the hole.

    Clearly you're happy to pay extra for unlimited data, otherwise it wouldn't be a consideration. For similar upfront cost to a 4G connection, I think Starlink is a no brainer.

    US users are seeing speeds decrease as the connection numbers increase, but still well above what Skymuster can provide and quite possibly what a middling 4G connection can achieve too.
    However, Australia may not even experience such issues due to the much lower population count that are unable to get a half decent fixed line connection.
    As much as the NBN has been botched, we're still in a better national position than the US with its Regional Monopoly ISP's who do nothing but maintain the existing infrastructure and successfully lobby States to prevent overbuilding by community projects.

  • askbargain on 10/08/2022 - 13:55
    +1

    Isn't there a 30 day refund period so just test it out?

    • TooSerious2 on 10/08/2022 - 13:58

      That's my thought as well. Also, there's no contract and you can onsell the dish - but buyer could have problems if cells fill up.

  • chopsya on 10/08/2022 - 14:00
    +1

    Ive been using Starlink for about 8 months and it been pretty reliable in a work from home setting. I moved on from a FTTN NBN solution that used to maxout at 40Mbs.
    The Starlink ownload speeds are between 100-200Mbs. Uploads are between 20-40Mbs ping is around 40-50ms.

    If you are planning on connecting it hardwired to other networking equipment get the Ethernet Adapter add on.

  • genericozbargainer on 10/08/2022 - 14:10
    +2

    Why the hate for Elon? Maybe i'm out of the loop but genuinely don't understand.

    • askbargain on 10/08/2022 - 14:14
      +1

      People would rather follow the lives of celebrities because their life isn't as interesting.

    • burningrage on 10/08/2022 - 14:48
      +2

      This! Why the negative infatuation with him? He pioneered a lot of good things in life. Envy of successful people maybe? Tall poppy?

      • prodrome on 10/08/2022 - 14:56
        -1

        He might say so, but that isn't quite true. He's a non-stop embarrassment these days.

      • [Deactivated] on 10/08/2022 - 17:55

        I think it's the massive misalignment between his achievements and his lack of ethics/poor moral judgement.

        Being a d1ckhead is the icing on the unpalatable cake

    • DingoBilly on 10/08/2022 - 19:46
      -1

      He's become a giant narcissistic piece of shit over the last few years (or perhaps always was).

      His posts and messages are basically that of a 5-year old and he makes comments that make him and Trump look like they're on the same level.

      Basically, he may have some great ideas and push things well, but personally he's a egostical sack of crap with outdated views.

  • iDroid on 10/08/2022 - 14:25
    +1

    I was in a similar situation.

    I had working 4G which gave me about 10 - 20Mbps on a good day and was really unreliable and prone to congestion.

    I tried this for about 4 months until my Starlink became available.

    I've had Starlink since October 2021 and now have > 200Mbps at all times and no restrictions. Speeds are typically >300Mbps (best is 406Mbps).

    IMO If you can afford it, getting starlink is a no brainer compared to the other choices available right now.

  • ozhunter on 10/08/2022 - 14:25
    +2

    Elon

    Lol, seems settled, don't do it.

  • David2017 on 10/08/2022 - 14:52
    +2

    Starlink is great provided you understand the shortcomings. Pings can be inconsistent because you're connecting to satellites that are moving quickly overhead. The speed changes as the constellation is always moving so 50Mbps one minute and 800Mbps (crazy I know) the next. Upload speeds are really variable for the same reason. Streaming might be a little tricky at times. It has a tendency to be really unstable in bad storms. It hates lightning and if there's really heavy rain it can slow down a lot and sometimes disconnects completely. It's getting better than it was 8 months ago but it's far from perfect in bad weather. On a clear day with no obstructions it's amazing.

    The Starlink app has a feature where you can scan the area where you want to install it and it'll tell you if it'll work or not. The dish points south and needs about 160 degrees of unobstructed view of the sky. If there are trees in the way it's going to drop out. I've never used Skymuster but I've heard once people go onto Starlink they don't go back to Skymuster.

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 10/08/2022 - 15:10
    +2

    If you cannot get FTTN/C/P then Starlink is a HUUUGE improvement over Skymuster. Go for it.

  • Belistic on 10/08/2022 - 15:30
    +1

    I'm in rural Vic, and we've had Starlink since last year (round dish)
    Previously had skymuster, but was always going over the cap.

    I think we've had 2 x over 1min outage in that time. Stream, zoom, work etc, no issues.

    We currently have it on the ground, just haven't got around to installing it on the roof.

  • [Deactivated] on 10/08/2022 - 15:32
    +1

    I would get starlink over skymuster any day of the week. But in theory 4G/5G should absolutely destroy starlink for speeds if you have a good connection (it’s just physics, a fixed ground station should be faster lower latency and more reliable than a satellite, even in a low orbit).

    However there’s a chance you just get better line of site to a satellite depending on terrain. Some people are reporting starlink is now dropping as low as 40/5 down/up consistently in their areas though, as it gets more saturated. It’s going to really struggle in urban areas unless they introduce data caps because even with their full planned constellation the amount of bandwidth total per geographic cell is not that large, so even regional areas will struggle if they don’t keep the service much worse value than 4/5G.

    At the moment I would definitely go for 4/5G if wanting faster upload speeds, but starlink if wanting a large data cap. Ultimately I’d expect starlink to get worse, not better over time though, and 4/5G to get better.

  • bmxr on 10/08/2022 - 15:47
    +1

    From our extended family's observations for all of your use cases, get StarLink.

    As some have mentioned latency is generally <50ms on StarLink and >50ms on 4G/5G - regardless of the speeds

  • pformag on 10/08/2022 - 17:29
    -1

    What is your suburb? Any mesh options?

    • TooSerious2 on 10/08/2022 - 20:31

      Not a suburb - bush. A mesh project with neighbours might be the next big project if/when/if …

  • The Value on 10/08/2022 - 19:55

    I didn't know it could handle gaming. That's impressive.

  • Tyrx on 11/08/2022 - 21:12

    Starlink is bleeding money and those monthly fees are bound to go up. The age of cheap VC funding for technology companies is over.

  • the Unforgiven on 12/08/2022 - 01:00
    +1

    Join the starLink faceBook group. There are a few of them, join 1 or all, they have been there done that
    I was thinking about joining starLink, but I get stable ADSL now of ~ 12Mb/s
    It is not great for $90, but it is unlimited download, and I download heaps to try & fill up my DAS

    • TooSerious2 on 12/08/2022 - 07:16

      Thanks for the tip. Never think of Facebook but I should

      • the Unforgiven on 12/08/2022 - 07:27

        your welcome. I never think of faceBook either :p

  • taki on 19/09/2022 - 16:00

    Did U consider the Con: any American Co can spy on you (Patriot Act, even Angela Merkel could not avoid CIA monitoring, the reason Gov stores data on local/country servers)

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