rural internet?

[Mk42gunner]

After about the nine bazillionth time (it seems that way anyway) of losing internet service after it rains, I am seriously looking for something different. Any suggestions?

I currently sort of have Centurylink, which is a leftover from the telephone company. Old twisted pair wiring at least on my side of the box across the road and down to the nice new(ish) supposedly weather tight box at the corner. Funny thing is when ever we have a big rain or even snow storm the internet goes out, sometimes taking the router with it.

That is what happened this time, along with the wait of a week for the router to get to me. One day of internet, then service is out again.

When I called today, the next available time for a tech to come argue on the phone with the home office (this has happened many times before) is the 9th of November.

Like I said, I am looking for something other than Centurylink.

I am located in western Missouri, if that helps.

Thanks for the chance to vent, and thanks for any suggestions,

Robert

[Winger Ed.]

If Centurylink there is anything like they are here----
you're kicking a dead horse if you think you'll EVER get decent service from them.

They think they're the govt. or something and you have no other options except them.

[Joe504]

Starlink is supposed to be going live soon

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Petrol & Powder]

Your options may be limited.
Whatever the physical infrastructure is (copper, fiber optic, coax, etc. ) you will likely be stuck with that for land based service.

The older satellite systems (like Hughes Net) will give you another option but they are seldom as fast as the land based systems and can be rather expensive. In some rural locations, that may be the only option.
I can't speak to Starlink.

There are a few remote rural communities that have some form of wireless broadband, but those seem to be on the decline.
Due to the madness surrounding COVID, some localities have purchased temporary, towable internet sites. The key word there is temporary.

You may already have the best option available.

[pcolapaddler]

I don't know what your cell service options are...

We recently moved to a more rural location. Our previous home had cable internet. It was expensive, but fart and reliable.

When we moved to our current location, our options were limited. Some DSL, phone company is about the only option.

Rather than take the plunge, we have been using our phones as hotspots. We have unlimited data through Verizon. Granted, after a certain amount of usage as a hotspot, the speed slows. However, it is still far enough to stream video, etc. Stuff just takes a bit longer to load.

Depending on your cell service, that may be an option.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I use Via Sat, which originally was known as Excel. You have a pipe pole with a satellite dish on it, much like Dish Network TV. I've found it to be highly reliable except during snow storms when I have to go outside and brush the snow off the dish. I used to have Century Link until I moved where it wasn't available, and would never go back. Via Sat is about 5 times faster. Another satellite computer service some around here use and seem to be happy with is Hughes.

[farmbif]

my phone company, frontier, just recently went belly up. the internet service they provided was the same cost as hughsnet or via sat and trying to send just an email though the system they have was problematic. supposedly there are two new competitors to Hughes and viasat coming online soon and competition has to be a good thing in this space.

[MT Gianni]

Two wireless providers in our valley use radio transmission.

[Shawlerbrook]

Same problem here in rural Central NYS with Frontier. Freeze ups and slow speed and if my wife is watching Netflix my internet is frozen. Had satellite ( Hughes net) way back when, bit expensive and very weather dependent. The last couple Farm Bills had $$ for rural internet but there is not a lot of interest in serving sparsely populated areas. Do not have an answer.

[farmbif]

isn't it amazing how all that $$$ for rural internet got spend and we still don't have what was promised when the discussed the big plan getting those funds appropriated. just another one of those reasons why I have no trust or faith in ANY politicians, red, blue, purple, white , black, brown, yellow none of em.

[dtknowles]

We can hope that Starlink goes live soon. Beta testing right now. Like Elon or not, I would cheer for Starlink.

Tim

[elmacgyver0]

Same problem here in rural Central NYS with Frontier. Freeze ups and slow speed and if my wife is watching Netflix my internet is frozen. Had satellite ( Hughes net) way back when, bit expensive and very weather dependent. The last couple Farm Bills had $$ for rural internet but there is not a lot of interest in serving sparsely populated areas. Do not have an answer.

That is the reason the least amount of government is best.
The fewer things they have their fingers in, the fewer things get screwed up.

[Petrol & Powder]

That is the reason the least amount of government is best.
The fewer things they have their fingers in, the fewer things get screwed up.

/\ Absolutely Correct /\

And well stated.

[Hossfly]

We had ATT DSL wire, now ATT offered (fixed wireless) which is an antenna attached to the outside of your house and is aimed at a cell tower closest to you. Ours is 4 miles to tower, have good broadband speed like from 10-30 GB, but when a lot of customers hook up this speed slows down to like 1.5gb.

We can also hook up with hotspot on cell phone, when speed drops off, and wait till can get back up on wireless.
But you got to watch your data usage.

The local rural electric co. Is working on grant money to get fiber piped to all their customers, about 2-5 years out.

I’m just glad we don’t get as much government as we pay for.

[JimB..]

People have been saying good things about using T-mobile’s wireless home internet. Apparently when you go to their website to prequalify you first have to put in 999-999-9999 for your phone number, then on the next screen your real number. I don’t know why.

There is no economical way to provide broadband to rural america. Starlink is doing everything it can to get government money. They recently launched service for a TX school district serving 45 student homes at a cost of about $500 per home per month. The government and some local charity is picking up the tab for a year.

[dtknowles]

People have been saying good things about using T-mobile’s wireless home internet. Apparently when you go to their website to prequalify you first have to put in 999-999-9999 for your phone number, then on the next screen your real number. I don’t know why.

There is no economical way to provide broadband to rural america. Starlink is doing everything it can to get government money. They recently launched service for a TX school district serving 45 student homes at a cost of about $500 per home per month. The government and some local charity is picking up the tab for a year.

Starlink's price point is supposed to be $99 per month.

https://news.yahoo.com/spacex-starlink-internet-service-99-a-month-045831110.html

Tim

[MrWolf]

I don't know what your cell service options are...

We recently moved to a more rural location. Our previous home had cable internet. It was expensive, but fart and reliable.

When we moved to our current location, our options were limited. Some DSL, phone company is about the only option.

Rather than take the plunge, we have been using our phones as hotspots. We have unlimited data through Verizon. Granted, after a certain amount of usage as a hotspot, the speed slows. However, it is still far enough to stream video, etc. Stuff just takes a bit longer to load.

Depending on your cell service, that may be an option.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

I did this before Frontier would admit they had service out to my place. I put up my own 42' cel. Tower and weboost amplifier. My speeds were actually better than Frontier. Careful with Verizon in that after 15 gig you are severely cut back till your new billing cycle. Yea, Frontier sucks and is in bankruptcy.

[Rcmaveric]

Look into satellite or Hotspot. Hot spots are mobile devices that use the 4g and 5g to connect you to the net.

So if your Cellphone data works great call the cell provider and see what your options may be.

Like right now I am traveling. So activated international data and add Hotspot to my phone. I have service where I am right now so I can plug my phone into any computer or even a Playstation and my phone will turn into a modem.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

[JimB..]

Starlink's price point is supposed to be $99 per month.

https://news.yahoo.com/spacex-starlink-internet-service-99-a-month-045831110.html

Tim

I’m aware. The business model doesn’t work at $99. They need other commercial applications (think package tracking, vehicle telemetry, etc), or government subsidies.

Federal subsidies for this stuff are complicated. They are currently working on 3 programs that I know of, the smallest is just a few hundred million a year, the biggest $16b and the middle $9b.

[Joe504]

I’m aware. The business model doesn’t work at $99. They need other commercial applications (think package tracking, vehicle telemetry, etc), or government subsidies.

Federal subsidies for this stuff are complicated. They are currently working on 3 programs that I know of, the smallest is just a few hundred million a year, the biggest $16b and the middle $9b.Elon might be a bad at a lot of things, but his is amazing at finding ways to get money into his companies.

Also, at $100 a month, if he can keep the speeds up, I think the market for this is much bigger than expected. This thread is an example.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[GhostHawk]

Last Jan through March we were traveling, used our phones as hotspot.

For 5 weeks my daily forum browsing, email, etc was no problem on our very limited data plan.
Then my wife bought a new computer and downloaded 40 gigs of updates. That cost us 20$ for Data.
Still it does work pretty well.

We use Consumer Cellular as our cell carrier and you do need a phone capable of being a hotspot in order for it to work.
After that it is just a matter of going into settings, turning it on and off.

Connect computer (password) once and it remembers the way.

At home I'm paying for Cable internet. But I'm supporting 2 laptops and 2 amazon fire Tv sets. So its worth it for me to have decent speed. Slows a little on weekends but not that much.

My computer and the Amazon Fire TV in the Living room both have Lan connections. So only 2 devices to share wireless.

[JimB..]

Elon might be a bad at a lot of things, but his is amazing at finding ways to get money into his companies.

Also, at $100 a month, if he can keep the speeds up, I think the market for this is much bigger than expected. This thread is an example.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Agree on both points. I’m also interested to see how well their “self install” process works.

Rough math on US residential market size. Assume US pop of 320mm, 10% rural, 2.3 ppl per hh, 10% penetration rate, $100/mo yields about $1.5b/yr gross revenue. Seems like a lot of money, wonder what it costs to maintain the satellites and the earth stations.

[farmbif]

this whole subject of rural internet sure has got stuck in my craw. when I was searching for a place to move having reliable internet was a criteria. the local electric coop here in the land of the TVA was gearing up and pre signing up people for super high speed fiber optic internet that they want to offer customers at a very fair cost since the power company is a coop and not a Wall Street or privately owned corporation. the proposal they came up with was fantastic and very realistic, the only hang up was getting over some sort of state legislative hurdles. well the state government here in Tennessee has stalled out their plans still to this day and now the phone company that provides service here is bankrupt and because of the way the mountains and valleys are here cell towers provide very poor coverage. I guess the politicians are getting paid off otherwise they would most likely have the area covered with fiber optic lines by now. problem is the politicians are professional politicians got the masses brainwashed into thinking they are the best option even though they have little to no interest in doing what is right or good for the bulk of the people who voted them in office. but they sure are great public speakers that can convince most people of just about anything.

[dverna]

Our Electric Co-op has been installing fiber optic but my area will never see it. There are only three of us using internet in a 2 mile radius.

So i am hoping StarLink works. $100/mo is not a deal killer for me but I hear the set up cost is $500 with no refund if it does not work. Hard to believe that. I have signed up for it and will try it if I know I will not lose $500 up front.

Currently using two Jet-Packs and Verizon. That gives us 30 GB which is not enough to support the laptop, two tablets and two cell phones. Might go with another 15 GB in the meantime. I would love to cut Dish TV but that would take more capacity.

[Wild Bill 7]

We had Comcast for a long time, then the price kept going up. So we switched to century link. What a mistake, starting price was good but with in two years it was up $120. Ended up being $280 per and the service was awful. TV was terrible and and internet would come and go. We would call them and they always our connection was faulty or something else was wrong. They would do a reset and things would be really good for maybe a week then back to crappy service. Got rid of them and went with Verizon. It’s frustrating as you all know that we have to pay outrageous prices for crappy internet. Must be the Chinese parts they are using. LOL

[oneofsix]

Copy and paste from another forum, hopefully I got all the typos out- if you have T-Mobile in your area...

Resurrecting this. Most of us will get a "Not available in your area yet" when we enter our info into TMobiles Home Internet web page. I did and others around me. Someone on the T Mobile Home Internet Facebook group posted a workaround to this. I did it Tuesday. Got my modem today. Have not had time to move it around the house to find the best location (letting the battery charge). But using the app on my phone it shows 2 bars (weak reception) in its current spot and it is averaging 16-19Mbps down around 3 up. Nothing fancy for most of you. But for people who have nothing or 10 or less it helps. Once the battery is charged I'll move it around to see if the speed gets better.
The workaround"
1. Go to the T Mobile website to check for availability here: https://www.t-mobile.com/isp/eligibility
2. For the telephone number on the first page enter: 999-999-9999. Use your CORRECT address. Hit Enter/Next or whatever the button says.
3. The next screen should say "Congratulations you qualify." On this screen you will enter in your CORRECT phone number (and correct address again).
4. Once you click submit (or whatever the button says) the next screen will say something like "Hold On. We're checking on things on our end. We will be in contact with you."
5. Instead of waiting I contacted T Mobile at 1-800-TMobile and told them I qualified and would like to get signed up today to have the router sent to me. You will be asked "Do you currently have T Mobile etc" I play along and say No but if this works I will consider switching Make sure to let them know you want to sign up for T Mobile Home Internet and it said you qualified. After a few minutes they will transfer you to that department to get an account set up. You will give the the CORRECT phone number you entered in step 3 when they ask. They run a credit check. $20 activation fee was waived for me. A friend had to call back twice to get set up. He said the first time the guy told him it would be up to 30 days before they contact him. Don't wait for them to contact you. Once you complete the above steps go ahead and call at 1-800-TMobile (unless it is after hours). Don't wait for them to contact you. Two friends also did this and have modems on the way,




Forgot to mention. Anyone trying to locate their local tower (or one with the most bands near them) this site helps with that.

https://www.cellmapper.net/map

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[oneofsix]

For the record, I tried the process I just posted above and 3 different reps told me they'd have to call me, they couldn't set up my account. Others were able to get it done, so YMMV.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[WebMonkey]

so what's the difference between starlink and all the other satellite internet systems?

i had one way satellite (direcPC) when it first came out. then i got the two way direcPC sytem.
22,000 miles up to the satellite, 22,000 miles back down (to where you were going) AND THEN the return trip.

latency is terrible so i'm wondering how can you defeat the speed of light (radio waves move that fast more or less) and get 20ms to 40ms latency times?

:)

[dverna]

so what's the difference between starlink and all the other satellite internet systems?

i had one way satellite (direcPC) when it first came out. then i got the two way direcPC sytem.
22,000 miles up to the satellite, 22,000 miles back down (to where you were going) AND THEN the return trip.

latency is terrible so i'm wondering how can you defeat the speed of light (radio waves move that fast more or less) and get 20ms to 40ms latency times?

:)

Low orbit satellites

[WebMonkey]

Low orbit satellites

thanks!

that explains it but i didn't consider it as almost all geosynchronous sats are in the clarke belt.

i spend a lot of time on amateur radio sats (only 1 is NOT low earth orbit, go ao-7!) and am always feel i'm 'rushing' to get the pc fired up to run doppler corrections on frequency and az/el the antennae.

:)

never occured to me that a geo-leo would be in the works for commercial comms.

my household is currently on fixed wireless internet.
(no stable cell signal and we are the last landline customer on the 'leg' so dsl is less than 1mbit)
a 5ghz parabolic antenna on one of my ham radio towers 'points' to another tower about 15 miles away.
(so on and so on)

it was ok but with the shutdown/quarrantine, the provider can't keep up with demand.
my 2mbit plan averages about 1mbit these days.

:(

[Mk42gunner]

Man I wish my local elec co-op would sponsor broadband, they have very good service.

Not real wild about having to upgrade my cellphone to provide a hotspot. I've said many times I won't have a phone smarter than I am; I'm currently using an old flipphone that barely texts.

My cousin (seventy miles away) has Hughes net via satellite, maybe I'll go visit to see just how it works.

Thanks for the ideas, I'll keep watching this thread as I can.

Robert

[Mal Paso]

thanks!

that explains it but i didn't consider it as almost all geosynchronous sats are in the clarke belt.

i spend a lot of time on amateur radio sats (only 1 is NOT low earth orbit, go ao-7!) and am always feel i'm 'rushing' to get the pc fired up to run doppler corrections on frequency and az/el the antennae.

:)

never occured to me that a geo-leo would be in the works for commercial comms.

my household is currently on fixed wireless internet.
(no stable cell signal and we are the last landline customer on the 'leg' so dsl is less than 1mbit)
a 5ghz parabolic antenna on one of my ham radio towers 'points' to another tower about 15 miles away.
(so on and so on)

it was ok but with the shutdown/quarrantine, the provider can't keep up with demand.
my 2mbit plan averages about 1mbit these days.

:(

Starlink satellites are supposed to hand off your connection as they pass. I can't wait. I'm on Hughes and I couldn't work today for several hours, the connections were so slow they timed out. Just the added bandwidth will take the pressure off existing satellites.

$100 a month was for less than perfect service. I read that as a price increase once the bugs are out.

[bmortell]

starlink is interesting, not even sure how many satellites they want to have anymore, ive heard from 12,000 to 42,000. once starship is flying should be able to launch about 400 at a time. as they say if brute force isnt working your not using enough of it lol

[farmbif]

from what I can gather this starlink system is just in beta testing phase right now, my hughesnet connection works right now to send this message. i can't see shelling out $500 plus $100 a month to be a test subject.

[JimB..]

this whole subject of rural internet sure has got stuck in my craw. when I was searching for a place to move having reliable internet was a criteria. the local electric coop here in the land of the TVA was gearing up and pre signing up people for super high speed fiber optic internet that they want to offer customers at a very fair cost since the power company is a coop and not a Wall Street or privately owned corporation. the proposal they came up with was fantastic and very realistic, the only hang up was getting over some sort of state legislative hurdles. well the state government here in Tennessee has stalled out their plans still to this day and now the phone company that provides service here is bankrupt and because of the way the mountains and valleys are here cell towers provide very poor coverage. I guess the politicians are getting paid off otherwise they would most likely have the area covered with fiber optic lines by now. problem is the politicians are professional politicians got the masses brainwashed into thinking they are the best option even though they have little to no interest in doing what is right or good for the bulk of the people who voted them in office. but they sure are great public speakers that can convince most people of just about anything.

Just a guess, but what happens in a lot of places is that the state guarantees the rate of return for the local phone company, usually 9% to 13%. If they allow, or in some cases encourage, a new carrier they end up paying the telephone company more and more as they lose customers. It’s a downward spiral that the PUC has no good way out of without legislative changes and legislatures are hard to move and slow when they do.

One other possibility is that some states watched municipalities spend taxpayer dollars to build networks to compete with private telephone companies and they didn’t like it, so outlawed the practice. Some got overzealous and locked out competition, no idea about TN specifically.

Call it what you will, but everyone on every side of this issue in every state is making significant political contributions.

[Hardcast]

Out here in the boonies, satellite is our only option for internet service. We have Hughsnet, which is the best available here, but it is expensive and it still sucks
compared to other internet connections. Goes out often when it rains, and snow on the dish stops the signal too, and I am too old to get up on the roof to
clean the snow off. Sometimes the connection slows down to near zero speed. On top of all this, I am limited to 30 GB per month of prime time service (8 AM to 2 AM). With this limitation, I cannot watch much youtube video or do streaming. So, I am of course wondering, will the new Starlink service be any better? It is still satellite signal, which is blocked by rain and snow, right?

[JimB..]

Out here in the boonies, satellite is our only option for internet service. We have Hughsnet, which is the best available here, but it is expensive and it still sucks
compared to other internet connections. Goes out often when it rains, and snow on the dish stops the signal too, and I am too old to get up on the roof to
clean the snow off. Sometimes the connection slows down to near zero speed. On top of all this, I am limited to 30 GB per month of prime time service (8 AM to 2 AM). With this limitation, I cannot watch much youtube video or do streaming. So, I am of course wondering, will the new Starlink service be any better? It is still satellite signal, which is blocked by rain and snow, right?

First let me suggest that you ask Hughesnet to come reinstall your dish, put it on a 6’ tall pole in the back yard so you can get to it to knock the snow off.

The LEO sats should suffer far less from weather related issues.

[Joe504]

Starlink will require a dish.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[MrWolf]

Out here in the boonies, satellite is our only option for internet service. We have Hughsnet, which is the best available here, but it is expensive and it still sucks
compared to other internet connections. Goes out often when it rains, and snow on the dish stops the signal too, and I am too old to get up on the roof to
clean the snow off. Sometimes the connection slows down to near zero speed. On top of all this, I am limited to 30 GB per month of prime time service (8 AM to 2 AM). With this limitation, I cannot watch much youtube video or do streaming. So, I am of course wondering, will the new Starlink service be any better? It is still satellite signal, which is blocked by rain and snow, right?

I use a long extendable lightweight pole and put a car snow brush head on it. Mine just screwed in. Works great for brushing snow off my satellite dish.

[Hardcast]

First let me suggest that you ask Hughesnet to come reinstall your dish, put it on a 6’ tall pole in the back yard so you can get to it to knock the snow off.

The LEO sats should suffer far less from weather related issues.

I have 2 posts in my yard from the previous satellite TV providers. I thought about that, but the post
is not as solid mounting system as the roof mount. If Starlink is available soon, mybe it will be a moot
point as I will likely be changing internet providers.

[marlin39a]

I’m in rural, northern Arizona. My provider is Bolt Internet. I pay $99.00 per month, with no caps or throttling. I watch streaming free TV, listen to internet radio, and surf the web all day.

[GregLaROCHE]

I’ve been living with expensive and crappy satellite internet for years. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Starlink works and soon, while I’m still around to use it.

[GregLaROCHE]

I just heard that Skylink is starting out at $99/month. That’s not inexpensive as they advertise at starlink.com

[cp1969]

After about the nine bazillionth time (it seems that way anyway) of losing internet service after it rains, I am seriously looking for something different. Any suggestions?

I currently sort of have Centurylink, which is a leftover from the telephone company. Old twisted pair wiring at least on my side of the box across the road and down to the nice new(ish) supposedly weather tight box at the corner. Funny thing is when ever we have a big rain or even snow storm the internet goes out, sometimes taking the router with it.

That is what happened this time, along with the wait of a week for the router to get to me. One day of internet, then service is out again.

When I called today, the next available time for a tech to come argue on the phone with the home office (this has happened many times before) is the 9th of November.

Like I said, I am looking for something other than Centurylink.

I am located in western Missouri, if that helps.

Thanks for the chance to vent, and thanks for any suggestions,

Robert

There's a phone company in LaCygne (People's) that's burying fiber all over the place, including north up in Miami County. I don't know how far east they're going or if they're crossing the state line but it might be worth checking out.

[Mk42gunner]

There's a phone company in LaCygne (People's) that's burying fiber all over the place, including north up in Miami County. I don't know how far east they're going or if they're crossing the state line but it might be worth checking out.
That is interesting, maybe something like that will happen on this side of the state line. I will tlk with the tech when he finally shows up on the ninth.

The really sad part of all this stuff (for want of a better word) with Centurylink, is the service techs tell me they just do the exact same thing I do with customer service reps on the phone. Several of them have told me there is no reason they need to come out for the people at the office to do their thing.

Now if they could make the boxes weathertight, I might be back on line at home.

Robert

Robert

[Mk42gunner]

Well I received a very pleasant surprise today at noon; the Centurylink tech called to make sure he was at my house. I was in town so I hustled on home.

He said he had gotten done with another job and was looking ahead.

When I got there, there were two trucks down at the corner (¼ mile away) working in the big box, while the guy that called me was busy digging out the pedestal that had gotten hit the last time the hayfield across the road got cut.

Turns out I was wrong on location of the leak, but it was a weather related short. He also replaced my new to me "reburbished" modem, or in his words "junk".

Anyway, I am back on line at home. I will still look for better internet service, but it looks like what I have is about the least expensive option right now.

I have always had courteous service from the guys that come to my house, but trying to get anything done over the phone just doesn't work with this company. Maybe if they hadn't outsourced the trouble call line to a certain sub-continent things would be better.

Thanks for all the replies,

Robert

[Handloader109]

I'll add a comment that the power coop based fiber works great, but is slow coming to a lot of places. A number of the coops in Arkansas are working on adding the service. I've been lucky enough to have had the service for 2 yrs. prior was either cell or satellite. The main holdup was they contracted out the replacement of all subpar poles before installing the cable.
But at $70 a month for good high speed gigabit service it was worth the wait

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[oneofsix]

Well I received a very pleasant surprise today at noon; the Centurylink tech called to make sure he was at my house. I was in town so I hustled on home.

He said he had gotten done with another job and was looking ahead.

When I got there, there were two trucks down at the corner (¼ mile away) working in the big box, while the guy that called me was busy digging out the pedestal that had gotten hit the last time the hayfield across the road got cut.

Turns out I was wrong on location of the leak, but it was a weather related short. He also replaced my new to me "reburbished" modem, or in his words "junk".

Anyway, I am back on line at home. I will still look for better internet service, but it looks like what I have is about the least expensive option right now.

I have always had courteous service from the guys that come to my house, but trying to get anything done over the phone just doesn't work with this company. Maybe if they hadn't outsourced the trouble call line to a certain sub-continent things would be better.

Thanks for all the replies,

Robert

This has been my experience as well- I get so frustrated with the people on the phone my blood pressure quickly shoots thru the roof. But the techs who show up are the most helpful, courteous and professional that it almost makes up for the frustration- almost.

[mowarren]

from the Reddit for Starlink https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/wiki/index#wiki_-_what_milestones_need_to_happen_before_i_can_sign_ up.3F

Elon: "Once these [launched on Oct 6th] satellites reach their target position, we will be able to roll out a fairly wide public beta in northern US & hopefully southern Canada." The first sub-group is expected to reach its target position in late November, the second sub-group is on track to arrive in mid-January. Public beta testing was planned to open around end of October/November starting with high latitudes. According to Shotwell SpaceX needs to launch 14 batches to "rollout service in a more public way" in order to have sufficient bandwidth. The company will take pre-sales for customer service, similar to what Tesla has done for new vehicles, Shotwell said during a media roundtable. Early customers will be part of the learning curve.

Elon: “As more satellites reach their target orbit, more planes come online. We should be at 36 planes with all faulty satellites replaced by spares by Jan. That will give us continuous coverage down to around 30 degrees.”

[PNW_Steve]

Starlink is supposed to be going live soon

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I got an invite a couple of days ago. I really want to play with it but they want $300 for the equipment and $99 a month. The price gives me some pause.

[dtknowles]

I got an invite a couple of days ago. I really want to play with it but they want $300 for the equipment and $99 a month. The price gives me some pause.

early adoption comes with a high price but it puts you on the bleeding edge.

Tim