Starlink Mini as a failover

Post by wooger » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 10:38 AM UTC

lxgr wrote: post #72

Reubend wrote: post #42

A mobile failover would be cheaper and would give you better connectivity in heavy rain. A 4G dongle can be purchased for $15, rather than $200 for a Starlink Mini. Then, let's say your main internet source fails and you need to actually use the backup plan beyond the standby amount of 0.5 Mbps. That will cost you a minimum of $50 for Starlink, versus roughly $25 for a month of unlimited cell service. As for standby…

TFA specifically calls out not wanting to depend on 4G/5G coverage, which is anything but ubiquitous: > It has the advantage of working pretty much anywhere with a view of the sky so no relying on mobile network coverage. I'm also not sure if $25/month is anything close to the global average for unlimited 4G/5G data (if even available).

Post by wooger » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 10:39 AM UTC

alexfoo wrote: post #143

antonkochubey wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds way too high to me, I am paying €8.80/month for unlimited 5G, calls and texting

UK is a bit more expensive than that but not silly. I can get close to £10/mo but that's because I'm already paying that carrier ~£30/mo for two separate SIMs (mine and my kid's). The £9/mo deal offered below is just half price for 6 months, it then becomes £18/mo. https://5g.co.uk/unlimited-data-sim/ The bottom of the page does give some details about what "unlimited data" means here in the UK between the different…

Post by kotaKat » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 10:50 AM UTC

bsjshshsb wrote: post #183

kotaKat wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're in a rural area (and heck, even in an urban era) the primary ISP of a region dropping is likely to cause a lot of congestion from cellphones falling back to the operator network. I found it quite absurd that Spectrum (my cable operator) wants to sell me a modem with integrated 5G/4G backup knowing that as soon as the cable plant drops, hundreds of local phones are going to congest the network as well and my…

I noticed the pattern. 5G disappears when ISP is down. Everyone WFH trying to get on I guess.

Post by juggle-anyhow » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 11:16 AM UTC

alexfoo wrote: post #139

bdavbdav wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live a 25 minute train ride from london in a town with about 16000 residents, on a busy street 5 minutes walk from the main station. My cell is unusable.

Three in Hitchin? My personal mobile is on EE. My wife's is on Vodafone. My work mobile was on O2. (We don't have a fourth device that was on Three unfortunately, otherwise we'd have all of the major carriers covered.) There are plenty of places I've been around the UK where only one of our devices could get any kind of signal.

Post by forinti » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 11:43 AM UTC

inemesitaffia wrote: post #200

daemonologist wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Five or six! My kingdom for one fiber provider.

Might be shared infrastructure