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What's wrong with your wired internet that you're considering Starlink? It's better than rural WISPs by far... most of the time... but even compared to DSL it

by Syonyk 5y ago

What's wrong with your wired internet that you're considering Starlink? It's better than rural WISPs by far... most of the time... but even compared to DSL it loses out on things like consistent latency and packet loss. Yes, you do see the 300+Mbit spikes, but it's realistically closer to 50Mbit average - which, again, for rural areas, is really quite good. I have it, I mostly like it, but it's still my backup/bulk transfer connection, and I keep a rural WISP for my primary work connection because it's less prone to the random glitches and hiccups that Starlink suffers, and because I have a public IP instead of CGNAT, my VPN devices and SSH connections all seem to recover a lot more reasonably from packet loss on that link than on Starlink. For mobile use (RVs and such), absolutely, it makes a lot of sense (if you can handle the power use). But I didn't think cell roaming was enabled yet - maybe I missed something.

topspin 5y ago
> What's wrong with your wired internet that you're considering Starlink? One problem is that wired service relies on commercial power. When you have 100+ miles of unmanaged tree growth between you and your power company you lose power a lot. 'Lot' is several times a year for anything from a few minutes to a few days. Everyone that lives as I do has some degree of backup power. Internet service that can run on such backup power is rather appealing.
rootusrootus 5y ago
> What's wrong with your wired internet that you're considering Starlink? We had a one week Internet outage earlier this year and there was not a single peep from Comcast. They couldn't say whether they were even working on it, or give any ETA on having it up again. I understand outages, especially related to weather, but the utter lack of any kind of communication infuriates me. I rely on Internet to get my work done, so I wanted an alternative. Ideally I'd keep both. But that would be a moderately expensive luxury to avoid an occasional outage. I'm definitely more interested in the mobile possibilities, the farther I get from the outage earlier this year and my anger recedes :)

by Syonyk 5y ago

topspin 5y ago

> What's wrong with your wired internet that you're considering Starlink? One problem is that wired service relies on commercial power. When you have 100+ miles of unmanaged tree growth between you and your power company you lose power a lot. 'Lot' is several times a year for anything from a few minutes to a few days. Everyone that lives as I do has some degree of backup power. Internet service that can run on such backup power is rather appealing.

rootusrootus 5y ago

> What's wrong with your wired internet that you're considering Starlink? We had a one week Internet outage earlier this year and there was not a single peep from Comcast. They couldn't say whether they were even working on it, or give any ETA on having it up again. I understand outages, especially related to weather, but the utter lack of any kind of communication infuriates me. I rely on Internet to get my work done, so I wanted an alternative. Ideally I'd keep both. But that would be a moderately expensive luxury to avoid an occasional outage. I'm definitely more interested in the mobile possibilities, the farther I get from the outage earlier this year and my anger recedes :)