Author Topic: Starlink RV review: the dawn of space internet to go  (Read 1967 times)

rcjordan

  • I'm consulting the authorities on the subject
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 16268
  • Debbie says...
    • View Profile

Drastic

  • Need a bigger hammer...
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3084
  • Resident Redneck
    • View Profile
Re: Starlink RV review: the dawn of space internet to go
« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2022, 10:38:20 PM »
Wow, this tech has come a long way. Camping looks a lot more attractive.

ergophobe

  • Inner Core
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 9255
    • View Profile
Re: Starlink RV review: the dawn of space internet to go
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2022, 03:03:28 PM »
Quote
The problem with going off-grid is the lack of connection.

Well... some might also argue that is the whole point.

We ended up with the RV Starlink first because, for some unknown reason, you could jump the waitlist if you got the RV version (the kit is identical). By the time it arrived, we had gotten notice we could get regular Starlink, which we did because:

1. it's cheaper
2. it doesn't get throttled in the same way (if local circuits are busy, RV users get throttled first)
3. We didn't plan to take it with us anywhere

Anyway, as you might know from other threads, despite a huge number of obstruction, it actually works pretty well for everything other than real-time apps (SSH to command line on a server; Facetime; Zoom) and that's what the RPi project will hopefully address.

The shocking thing is that it is usable - the Starlink app says we have an interruption every 5 seconds. I don't know what this number is. I think it's a worst-case number because even after a few weeks it keeps going down. It originally told us to expect an interruption every 46 seconds, then 27, then 15, then 7 and now 5. Meanwhile, the total outage per day has not changed (50-60 mins per 12-hour period, so about 1:40 to 2 hours per day).

This is not as bad as it sounds. The majority of that comes in outages shorter than 10 seconds. So a page load fails, and you reload. Or your download fails and you try again. For those of you with fiber internet, that may sound horrible. The thing is, with geosync satellite, downloads often fail too, but they fail 20 minutes into them. If the initial connection works, the download is usually fast.

I also think that Hughesnet games the system. To qualify as broadband, they need to speed test at over 20mbps (or is it 25?). It typically does, commonly hitting 30mbps. But when you do a download, you see that speed for less than a minute, then it slows to a crawl. If your download is larger than a handful of MB, it takes forever. I think they have a burst mode that lets them pass FCC testing to qualify as broadband. Think Volkswagen and emissions controls.

So... we would sometimes try to download a TV show over Hughesnet. A one-hour show would commonly take 2 hours to download and that download would usually fail. If we really wanted to watch something and didn't have something downloaded, we would drive to the top of the neighborhood and use the 10mbps LTE connection to download it (yes, in theory it is 1/3 as fast, but in practice it is 10X faster for a large download, making it worth driving 2 miles, waiting, and driving back vs trying to download a 1-hr show over Hughesnet).

Enter Starlink. My wife decided to see how long it would take to download a one-hour show. It took under 10 seconds. Next one, same thing. Then sometimes it will fail due to obstructions, and you just try again. It is typically in the range of 50-60mbps, which is revolutionary in rural areas. But we occasionally will see speeds of 160mbps. It's not uncommon to speed test at 100mbps.

I have not noticed significant degradation due to clouds. The "problem" is all the trees (I hate to call trees a problem, but there it is).

Anyway, overall, we continue to be surprised at how well it works for most things that are not real-time despite having an installation that Starlink says is completely out of spec.

rcjordan

  • I'm consulting the authorities on the subject
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 16268
  • Debbie says...
    • View Profile
Re: Starlink RV review: the dawn of space internet to go
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2022, 02:03:27 PM »
Starlink’s Dishy McFlatface internet now available for Boaty McBoatfaces — just $5,000 per month ....After a $10,000 hardware purchase


https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/8/23199866/starlink-maritime-water-price-speed

rcjordan

  • I'm consulting the authorities on the subject
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 16268
  • Debbie says...
    • View Profile
Re: Starlink RV review: the dawn of space internet to go
« Reply #4 on: August 31, 2022, 12:57:34 PM »