Live data from Hacker News

I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

jeffgeerling.com

211–220 of 258 posts

Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dish won't work since it knows where it is via GPS and where it is supposed to be. There is a little bit of tolerance in where the dish can be moved, but certainly not 70 miles of leeway.

Ha, reminds me of the tiny 3G picostations you could get from your mobile operator for a while when 3G was in its infancy - if you said you had really poor signal at your home, they would send you a small 3G station you could use in your home and which used your own internet for data and calls....but the hardware had a GPS built in to make sure it was never moved from the address it was assigned to(otherwise you coul…

The GPS was also required for time sync for interconnectivity with the cellular network, to my understanding.

Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#212
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$140/month to get the most upload bandwidth possible at my house (35 Mbps through Spectrum). Then $99/month for Starlink (for now, at least). Meanwhile a few blocks away a friend has 500 Mbps symmetric access for $50/month.

Time to build a wireless link to your friend :)

Seriously though this is achievable with consumer hardware[0], as long as you have line-of-sight or close enough to it.

[0]: https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-300Mbps-dual-polarized-direct...

Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#215

I get it. If you already have internet, then Starlink is not for you. There are lots of questionable design choices (particularly in version 2), it's picky about placement, etc. etc. But if your other choice is HughesNet or its competitors, that throttles you after 15 GB (2 days of non-streaming usage for me), or 50 GB, the Starlink "shortcomings" are irrelevant. With Starlink, if you can get it, and if you can site…

What if you move, do you have to buy another kit??

Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is completely different than something like a military communications satellite where both ends of the connection are communicating through the same satellite. Tell us you know nothing about military satcom without telling us you know nothing about military satcom.

Well given that I worked on military comms for over a year I'd say I'm pretty knowlegeable. Let's see, this system predates even my birth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_Satellite_Communications... It's still in use as recently as 2009, by pirates however. Newer systems include some form of conditional access to prevent anyone with the gear from using them.

I mean, OK, sure, but even Milstar Block I (mid-1990s tech) had a crosslink capability. And Milstar has already been folded into the the AEHF program, and the ESS program is already on track to replace AEHF.

It's a bit like saying "a bicycle is different from an automobile, because automobile frames are made from wood", and then pointing to a Morgan to prove the point.

Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#218
post #27

If you can get high speed, low latency, affordable internet access another way then Starlink probably isn't for you. We've just moved to a place where our only other option was a £400 a month leased line delivering synchronous 100Mbps. For less than a quarter of that, Starlink gives us roughly 120-150Mbps down, around 7Mbps up, and pings around the 30 ms mark. Upload is slow but workable for now. It's easy to complai…

£400! Wow. I pay 36 euros for 500mbps in the south of Europe.

Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#219

I get it. If you already have internet, then Starlink is not for you. There are lots of questionable design choices (particularly in version 2), it's picky about placement, etc. etc. But if your other choice is HughesNet or its competitors, that throttles you after 15 GB (2 days of non-streaming usage for me), or 50 GB, the Starlink "shortcomings" are irrelevant. With Starlink, if you can get it, and if you can site…

> 15 GB (2 days of non-streaming usage for me) This sounds exceptionally high. What do you do that uses so much?

Perhaps I over estimated. I know that my 15 Gb hotspot allocation only lasted a few weeks (days was perhaps too strong). I used two carriers to get 30 Gb. But one MacOS upgrade (on one computer) and the allocation is gone.

And then there is Zoom.

I think that it is difficult to estimate one's internet usage if you can go somewhere else when you need do to something big. If 15 Gb is your only allocation, for home and work, it doesn't last long.

Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest gripe is the fact I can't transfer it to my cousin, who lives on a farm with 300 Kbps DSL, 70 miles away. Back when preorders started, it wasn't obvious how slow Starlink would be to expand, and it also wasn't obvious transfers wouldn't be a supported feature for many months. Even so, my cousin also signed up in hopes to get Starlink, and 11 months later her date was moved from 'late 2021' to 'late 2022'.…

Disclaimer: I am a very happy Starlink customer that has no other option for internet besides terrible LTE. Starlink never originally advertised the ability to transfer service or even sell your hardware. It was very clear from the beginning you had to use it for the address you provided, and their communication was very clear to that effect. You are definitely correct that logically you should be able to sell your k…

> even sell your hardware

If you can't sell it, is it really yours?

Post reply on HN