Anyone here have SpaceX Starlink satellite internet? We had Hughes Net for more than 10 years at our ranch. The speeds were beyond abysmal, it was barely fast enough to browse the internet and check text email. But it was the only choice for the longest time. It finally crapped out altogether, which was an opportunity to look into Starlink.

I had been following Starlink for several years, but the service wasn't available in our area until last year. And the Starlink website gives you no ETA whatsoever as to how long it will take to process your order until you actually pay and order. There no customer service of any kind. No phone, no email, no chat/text...NOTHING. But, I went ahead and paid $710 and ordered on May 9 and got it delivered on May 16. After hearing about the long wait times, I really can’t believe how fast my order was processed and shipped.

Exactly one week from the time I ordered it, it was up and running yesterday evening within minutes. Speeds are light years faster than our old POS Hughes Net service. This is going to be a real game changer for us in an area where there is no cell service. Will allow us to get rid of the ~$175 monthly bill from Direct TV and stream YouTubeTV.

I've heard really good things about it.

Good to know. We recently looked into it, but it said it wasn't available in our area. When it becomes available, it might be time to buy.

Electric Co-ops have been aggressively placing fiber for fiber to the home. Anybody on Co-op power should contact your provider for availability.

You paid $710 for the equipment.

What speeds are you getting and what is your monthly cost?

I paid and am still waiting

I’ve heard good things. From people using it in Mexico.

Annoying but give it time. Quite an infrastructure to put together.

Once you pay your added to the list and wait. Sometimes could be a year.
Somehow they found 1000's of units to send to Ukraine how'd that happen?

Looking forward to it.

It’s not so much about the availability of Starlink equipment. It’s more about coverage and bandwidth capacity of a specific geographical area. They are careful about overloading the network while the infrastructure grows. Current local coverage also plays a major role.

https://spaceexplored.com/2022/03/3...aitlisted-currently-available-locations/

Starlink Kit USD 599.00
Shipping & Handling USD 50.00
Total Tax USD 61.01
Total Charges USD 710.01

They start the monthly service charge of $110 14 days after shipping.

The couple of speed tests were kind of all over the place, but I read that was common esp. in the first 48 hours. Down speeds ranged from 50-150. We never could get more than 5mbps with Hughes. Had normal cell phone conversations with minimal packet loss, that was never something we could do. Can stream TV apps, could never do that. Will allow for the ability to work from home- had to go to the nearest town 40 minutes away previously. I'm going back out there in 2 weeks to tweak it some more and probably set up mesh routers.

What is the delay time on the packets?

Didn't check. Had normal phone conversations with no lag. One 5-second period where I lost the other party. From what I've read, latency ranges from 20 to 40 milliseconds, but enhancements are supposed to bring it under 20.

I just got going with starlink last month, 14 month wait from paying my deposit. I absolutely love it. Hughes net averaged about 7mb down and I am now getting about 80mb down.

Is the advantage for this more for rural areas? How does it compare to a service in a major city?

This is for areas that don't have high speed alternatives. I live in Dallas and have gigabit fiber service from AT&T at home that is much faster and more stable than anything Starlink can provide. In fact, Starlink isn't even available in Dallas (or most other cities). If you do not have >300mbps service available in your area, Starlink is worth considering. And for people relegated to DSL or HughesNet/Viasat or even cellular hotspots, Starlink is likely a great solution (if it is available to you).

Starlink isn't available where I am and no fiber,or DSL. Best we can do is the AT&T cell based system.

I'm pirating with a 4g wifi router and an extra line on my cell plan. Getting 28-35 down and 5-8 up, paying another 30$ a month for the extra phone line. Cost me 140$ In equipment on Amazon. No dsl here, the line of sight went to [censored] last year when neighbors tree grew into my dishes path to tower. I love my new set up. No star link here yet, no dsl or fiber. Just Hughes (I can't do data caps, I game and stream) and the old service that I can't use anymore

On the list, should have it late Summer, early Fall.

We got it January 2022, It's great compared to what we had. 5 down & 2 up on a good day. Now the average is 80 down & 8 to 10 up.

I am in NE-Texas

I need to look into this for my area. There is no plant/hard line anything where I live, only Rockport Wifi and Hughes Net. I have both, and have to constantly toggle back and forth between the two when one of them slows down or quits. When they both act up my back up is using my phone as a hot spot. I'm currently working from home and it sure would be nice to have something faster & more reliable. I run a data base with remote servers, so everything's on the cloud. It's frustrating at times trying to upload/download files, and participate in conference calls.

Highly recommend getting in line if possible.