Setting up Starlink • Hacker News Board

Re: Setting up Starlink

#211

Post by garaetjjte » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 7:27 PM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #191

wyager wrote: post #179

I’ve been using Starlink for a few months now. It’s great for the cost. One annoying thing is their super non-standard and kind of broken network setup if you want to use your own router. They have two subnets with different IP ranges (cgNAT and local) on the same Ethernet link. You have to do some weird manual routes, interface resets, and dhcp client configuration if you want things to work reliably.

The issue you're seeing there, using your own router, is that during a network-unavailability outage, the starlink terminal will continue serving as a DHCP server to whatever you plug into it. When the network is up and you plug a router into it that's a dhcp client, it'll get an IP address in cgnat space and periodically renew it. When they're doing network maintenance/beta downtime/terminal firmware updates, your r…

Seems weird. I think they could just always assign local address and route all traffic from CGNAT address to it? It would mask real address from connected device, but as it is CGNAT it isn't very useful anyway.

Re: Setting up Starlink

#212

Post by wdb » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 7:29 PM UTC

nly wrote: post #128

teh_klev wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> interestingly they start slow (around 60 Mbps) For many of us that's reasonably fast ;). In the UK, FTTC provided over POTS (often BT or some form of unbundle), the top end is 80Mbs/20Mbs. I don't know what you'd expect with cable provisioned areas supplied by the likes of Virgin (DOCSIS).

Virgin provide up to 300 or 500 Mbps depending on area

Wow that's nice. Virgin. I never seen any cable in the houses I lived in London. Maybe it's not common in Zone 1?

Re: Setting up Starlink

#213

Post by wdb » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 7:32 PM UTC

Amazing that satellite internet can be faster than internet here in (West) London (W9)

Re: Setting up Starlink

#214

Post by rubatuga » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 7:33 PM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #73

I'm using Starlink right now. AMA. I'm in East Idaho. Currently my dish angles itself to the north. It rarely moves itself north/south, and slightly moves east/west throughout the day. I've read that right now it locks onto a single satellite, although they're adding multi-satellite support later. My speeds are inconsistent, and interestingly they start slow (around 60 Mbps) but after a couple seconds they'll get to…

We actually launched a service that provides you with a public IPv4 address and a /56 IPv6 block over WireGuard. It bypasses CGNAT and provides unblocked ports, including port 25. The cheapest plan starts at $8/month. Here's a link!

https://hoppy.network

Re: Setting up Starlink

#215

Post by Baeocystin » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 7:35 PM UTC

ianlevesque wrote: post #196

walrus01 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a few people from the Seattle area who do part time work there - unless you enjoy and agree with religious fundamentalists, die-hard MAGA anti maskers or people whose personality revolves around owning 35 guns, you might want to spend some time there first... Boise by comparison is much more secular and liberal than some of those areas.

I’m sure the generalization earned the downvotes but candid opinions good and bad help paint a more well rounded picture, thanks.

Eh. They aren't wrong per se, but there are a lot of folks that might look like the fit the picture, but are just from a different cultural background. A little tolerance goes a long way in any direction.

Re: Setting up Starlink

#216

Post by nemo1618 » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 7:37 PM UTC

jws wrote: post #124

nevi-me wrote: post #10

The cell grouping is interesting. A colleague likes the outdoors, so he's preordered one for his Suzuki Jimny, to mount on it. I wonder if Starlink are considering this use case. I haven't been able to preorder mine, because we're planning on moving out from the city to a small village next year, but the Starlink website requires a street address. Our villages are quite primitive, no street names (I think it's cos no…

You don’t need an address. I’m in the preorder queue for a small island with no streets, much less addresses.

whoa. Is it your island? What region? How large is it? I need more details.

Re: Setting up Starlink

#217

Post by simfree » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 7:40 PM UTC

minhazm wrote: post #207

walrus01 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's typical on DOCSIS3 cable since they intentionally allocate and bond a much greater number of channels for downstream capacity, to match the usage patterns of hundreds of users in aggregate. The actual amount of RF available for upstream is quite small in a typical configuration.

You can get a modem with 32 down and 8 up channels. 8 up channels can support over 200 Mbps. But Comcast will still limit you to 5-10 Mbps. Then there's DOCSIS 3.1, which actually supports up to 1 Gbit/s up, but Comcast still only gives you 35 Mbps on their gigabit plan. IMO it just comes down to Comcast and other cable providers being cheap and not investing in their infrastructure to provide better upload speeds, e…

Nearly all cable networks use a low split, cutting off around 42Mhz for upstream bandwidth. Not all bandwidth from 0 to 42Mhz is usable due to external interference, most cable systems are able to get 4 full sized 8Mhz Docsis 3.0 channels into this space and one partial channel of 3 to 4Mhz.

Certain ISPs like Cox have started using OFDMA (Docsis 3.1) upstream channels as it is 50% more efficient than classic Docsis channels and you can operate it closer to spectrum with interference since it can run subchannels at lower modulation

Re: Setting up Starlink

#218

Post by LimaBearz » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 7:43 PM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #73

I'm using Starlink right now. AMA. I'm in East Idaho. Currently my dish angles itself to the north. It rarely moves itself north/south, and slightly moves east/west throughout the day. I've read that right now it locks onto a single satellite, although they're adding multi-satellite support later. My speeds are inconsistent, and interestingly they start slow (around 60 Mbps) but after a couple seconds they'll get to…

Hows the gimble, I read its auto stabilizing is that true? And how well built is the dish, do you think it can handle long periods of constant wind exposure of 15+ knots

I've been contemplating putting one on my boat for use while at anchor. There is constant movement but its horrible

Re: Setting up Starlink

#219

Post by m463 » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 7:46 PM UTC

ericmay wrote: post #84

7e wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you compare with T-Mobile’s 5G home Internet plan? Similar numbers advertised, $60 a month, no caps.

I can't compare but I think one of the selling points is going to be the satellite coverage for Starlink versus T-Mobile's cell towers. I do like T-Mobile's offering as an alternative to these crappy cable companies.

Thinking about it, they may complement each other.

t-mobile will probably have cell towers/coverage where people live vs starlink which grants coverage where people do not live.

Re: Setting up Starlink

#220

Post by andrepd » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 7:47 PM UTC

paranoidrobot wrote: post #40

andrepd wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just coordinates? Talk about overcomplicating.

Probably because a plus code is harder for someone to screw up. Find the place on Google Maps, copy the plus code. Rather than entering lat/lon coords... except did you get the sign right, or maybe you flipped lat/lon, or got a significant digit out.

I prefer an unambiguous and open way of communicating locations on the surface of the Earth, to a proprietary service from a company with a long history of pulling the plug on products.