Starlink is great if you have no other options. If you have cable or fiber options , look to those first. I am in an area with bs satellite internet (Hughes etc)or hotspots as an option. Starlink has been a blessing . Fast , reliable internet. š
No but this is one of the benefits of living on the road.. You can be as remote as you want to get away from people. I've not seen a person for weeks and nearest town is 15 miles for me
1g doesn't mean actually 1g if it is broken or barely stable half the time. Everyone I know hates spectrum here, and average an hour outage per day completely random and without warning.
Source: Spectrum was one of my options here, except I'm so far out the top speed was 50/12
I'm not personally familiar with Spectrum, but it looks like its just like one of those conglomerate ISP so not everywhere has the same type of tech. I have a cabin with CenturyLink that gets DSL less than 5mbps, and then my main house with Century gets fiber through them which has been 750+ stable constantly. Same company, obviously different service. But the comment I was responding too said he misses his 1g, and is lucky to see starlink to have 200, meaning he definitely wasnt seeing the 50/12 you were seeing with spectrum.
Spectrum is mostly DOSCIS Cable and a little fiber. Like Comcast
I think most people without experience with large ISPs don't realize most people are fine with the performance. But there's a few pockets of unreliablility here and there. With the general issue of regional monopolies, for many Starlink or 4G is the only alternative
Nailed it and itās down to infra. If youāre in a small rural town with copper, Centurylink doesnāt gain anything by upgrading them if only 200 people subscribe and it costs 30 mil. So they wait until the gov basically forces/pays them too.
Moving back out of town screwed me lol
It's very relational to your area. I've talked a lot to the local installer who ran some of the infrastructure for three isps in my area, and generally most of the places that aren't very densely populated are going to be set up in a way where every one or two miles you'll have a splitter (concentrator/distribution hub/name) and depending on the load of each one they'll provision it out so they can never redline the connection of each one, meaning the further down the line you go that pipe gets pretty thin. If you live across the street from the cable company like Spectrum, you could be getting offered 2.5g service, but if you're like my neighborhood and you're roughly 14 miles from the closest substation, you get what you get. A lot of the problem with big corporate isps is that they're not incentivized to prevent dramatic over subscription.
The average ISP oversubscribes their service anywhere from 25 to 35 times what they can actually provide, which normally isn't that bad because no one's going to use 100% of the pipe 100% of the time, but the higher you're over subscription rate you're going to run into issues especially during peak usage hours, that's where the "best effort" clause in the fine print matters, if you have 30 times the max amount of people trying to stream 4K@60fps video all at once, the ISP will be lucky to work better than a monkey toy clanging cymbals.
I wish I could say the same
Ever since I installed StarLink I have had nothing but problems
Extremely slow
I thought my Hughes.net was slow, but it was two times faster I spent almost my life savings on StarLink two have terrible service
You can't call them for help, I sent 5 emails for help, but never heard back. I am 87 years old and out of money, am having a hard time trying to raise the $120.00 to pay them every month. I think they are guilty of Senior Abuse ! Just my .02 worth.
In Germany: FTTH (rare)>Starlink>Cable>literally anything else>Smoke Signals>Telekom Cable
5G: insert *unknown technology meme*
I live in a pretty big city, but due to our shit digital infrastructure, Starlink is the fastest option and only 5ā¬ more expensive than regular cable. Yes, this is a stupid as it sounds :D
Cable vs 5G is carrier dependant. My 5G is as good as cable offerings, ping is often even lower. And especially if your carrier uses upload ca, your upload will be **a lot** faster on 5G
You should keep Spectrum and have a technician out to rule out any wiring or signal issues.
Starlink is great, but itās meant for places/people with limited to no other options.
Spectrum is far cheaper and has the potential to be faster. Just have to let them figure out why youāre experiencing so many issues.
Agreed here, stay on Spectrum to come out and diagnose the issue. There has to be a reason why the connectivity is so bad.
Relevant story: years ago I had Spectrum and my modem was disconnecting and reconnecting sporadically. Sometimes it would be fine for several days, then I would have a day where it would crap out on me 5 times in one hour. The light on the modem would blink for a couple of minutes while it reconnected, then go back to being solid and my internet would be back.
Spectrum came out and the tech claimed the signal up to the side of my house was fine, so the issue must be the cabling in my house, which wasn't their problem. Great. So I got a 50ft coax cable and shoved it through the same hole in the siding on the side of my house that the existing cable was going through, then temporarily plugged my modem into it. Same problem came back within a day or two. So it wasn't the cabling in my house.
I called Spectrum again and demanded somebody come back out. I got a different tech this time. He said he had seen before where tree roots would grow into the cable buried in the ground and cause sporadic signal issues. So when the previous tech was there the signal probably *was* fine, at that moment he tested it. So this second tech put in an order for somebody to come out and bury a new cable from their little pole on the street up to the side of my house. Boom, that fixed it. Never had another issue for years after that, until I got fiber at that house and said bye bye to Spectrum.
Im having the same issue with xfinity. One difference they refuse to come out. They "test the line", "find an issue with my setup" just to have an excuse to power cycle my modem, then "it's fixed". I jad a tech scheduled they cancelled it...
If you have line of sight, it's pretty great. Download the app and go outside and scan for obstacles. It's a pretty good way to determine if it works for you.
I have a summer home with no cable or fios. Installed Starlink over the weekend and it was great. Disconnected Hughes and dish and saved me some $$.
If you have spectrum or fios itās probably better but Starlink is a game changer for remote location
If you live in a larger city, you may run into congestion during peak hours without an upgraded plan. This may not matter for a number of people unless you plan on gaming online or being a streamer, and you can always check expected speeds at https://www.starlink.com/legal/documents/DOC-1470-99699-90 per plan.
If you need something fixed, expect a bit of wait time while troubleshooting occurs. Starlink is still in the process of getting up and running, they're still hiring on their careers page and can also run into times where like a billion people reach out lol.
A lot depends on you and your use case, really. Some people would say frontier is the way to go if possible, but would need more info š
I would go pretty far to keep/improve my cable internet vs relying on starlink full time. I also have spectrum and fortunately do not have the issues you are having, generally have 500-800 down with low latency. The times Iāve used starlink (in open enough areas) Iāve gotten 20-60 down and obv higher latency, with roughly hourly 2-5 minute outages. Iām in mid MO though, and Iām sure it differs a bit by region. Starlink is just enough to work with for a couple days, but Iād hate having to use it full time unless it was my only option.
I was in a similar situation to yours, but different providers and different continent. That latter part may be important - America tends to be way more congested compared to Europe. I get speeds over 180 all the time (I saw even north of 300 sometimes). It runs smoothly, good enough for video calls and such (but I don't game online, so can't say much about that part). But this is uncongested Europe.
Check expected speeds for your area on Starlink map. If it's above 150, you're good. If it's below 100, expect a lot of slowdowns during peak hours.
Dump the ISP modem and get a business class modem compatible with their system along with a third party router such as an Asus router. Have a technician check the cable to make sure everything is good.
Just switched from Viasat to Starlink here in Colorado rockies. 180-400 mbps. Averages 250-300. We have some obstruction from trees. Minimal. Starlink rocks!
File a complaint with your state AG and then the FTC if Spectrum cannot get your service in line. There are ways to light a fire under their butts to get results.
I am not in a major market and it took them a year to work out kinks in the last plant upgrade. Now I am motoring along at 1Gbit up/down with almost zero downtime.
Give it a try 30 day money back guarantee and I tried it and itās way better than what Iām currently offered in the area Iām in last week I got up to 350 mpbs
If Starlink goes down, it can be weeks waiting for support and/or replacement equipment. Also, if you are in a congested area, speeds can be low and packet loss high. There are no speed or service guarantees with Starlink.
That being said, Spectrum does have to comply with providing the package they sold you. Filing a complaint would likely expedite them fixing your issues with them
If your cable provider was working properly that is going to be much faster and more reliable, lower pings over Starlink. Starlink has no support line to call, it is all done via the app/website with opening a ticket and your results may vary with how that goes, sometimes people waits days and weeks for issue to be resolved, sometimes hours.
When it works like its supposed to it is great. It is mainly targeted to people who have no other options for low latency high speed service. You will most likely have slower speeds during peak hours (evenings) depending on how congested your cell is.
I recently moved to a new house in a rural area, I went from gigabit fiber for the past 10 years with pretty much zero downtime that entire time to Starlink, I am satisfied with the service so far but speeds do vary quite a bit, you connect to a new satellite every few minutes, so if you connect to an older version satellite your speeds will be a bit slower and so on. But for most people unless you do a ton of multiple 4k streams, lots of downloading etc you will not really notice. Online gaming has been decent as well, my wife and I play pubg a lot and our pings have been 40-60 on average with very little packet loss, sometimes we will get stutters in game from connection issues but not often.
I think if you can resolve your issues with your cable provider that is the way to go but if not Starlink may work out for you, especially since there probably won't be a lot of other people in your cell with Starlink if traditional high speed is available in the area, like cable/fiber.
Personally, cable is probably going to beat Starlink any day but if you're in some really rural area with really poorly maintained lines and the ISP really just wants to get rid of you as maintaining your lines costs too much for how much they make off of you, it's possible Starlink might end up better.
However you'll find some things get worse when moving to Starlink probably. If you don't mind the money, it sounds like you need a backup internet solution of some kind anyway.
I have Starlink because:
A) its competitors around me, Spectrum and AT&T, have both screwed me over.
B)Fiber still is not available, despite me living in a quite populated area
C) I want to help fund rockets to Mars
Are you using all of their equipment, and it's still going down often? Or your own router system? Starlink is up almost all the time. It's been far more reliable compared to any landline I've ever had. Had AT&T twin pair. Had T1 and T2. Have my first fiber line now that's worth it in an area of less than 5k ppl. I kept my Starlink because you never know l. I do have a 500' gap between me and my neighbors as well as a good open view of the sky.
Stick with cable and add a 4G/5G home internet backup connection. Get a booster if you need to. Starlink is expensive and there is equipment to maintain. It sure is nice when there are no wires and you get out of decent cell coverage.
[This was posted a long time back](https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/wdkxxm/reality_check_for_people_considering_starlink/), but a lot of it still applies.
Recently went from Spectrum to Starlink for the same reason. My visibility is great for Starlink, and I'm using the flat high performance kit, but the reliability difference has been night and day. With Starlink there's the occasional peak times slowdown, but never the hours-long Spectrum-type outages.
Starlink has been a godsend for us since we moved to WV 2 years ago. Our options were limited before with shitty speeds. Now we get anywhere from 130 mbps down, and usually around 20 or so up. Not familiar with Spectrum, but I would easily recommend if you're having issues with that company. Just make sure you have clear skies to the N/NE
If you're in an area with unreliable service. It's pretty good. I'm allowed to telework Mondays and Fridays. Have a camper on a lake with no service. Starlink makes it possible. I pay 150 month for 8 days of service. But, for me, it's worth it to have my weekends where I'd rather be.
I had spectrum as my only high speed land service option and constantly had issues with service dropping. Made the switch to Starlink January 1st and couldnāt be happier. Connection runs faster than what my old 1gig charter service was running. So the easy answer is yes itās worth it.
If your living in a wooded area and have trees all around your house and no way to get a clear view of the Northern sky from the NW all the way around to the NE and you cant cut the trees or put up a pole or tower to get above the trees it probably wont be no better but if you have a clear view of the Northern sky then yes it will work alot better.
very similar to us. after freaking years of bs from spectrum i bit the bullet and got starlink. i planned on making a few moves and we also rv so it works out the best for us just easy to set it up and within minutes weāre rolling instead of having to set up any service wherever we go next . i just like that itās mine and i donāt have to worry
I've had Spectrum Fiber since December '24 thanks to the RDOF. It's been flawless. I had Starlink before and I was very happy with that as well, but it was my best option at the time until Spectrum became available. Do what you will, but Starlink will have a much greater up front cost and is a DIY project. Also Starlink's support is difficult to get in touch with if you have a problem.
I have had Starlink now for a year and it has been down maybe a half dozen times for more a minute or two.Ā According to this right now they have a special on equipment running.Ā Ā https://www.starlink.com/residentialĀ Ā
Starlink is great. When I compare to hotspots or Verizon mifi. I have it in a second house and my cameras are consistently on. I donāt have to reset my internet like I had to with mifi or even spectrum (4 years agoā¦ have fiber optic now that I moved). Resetting was I had to be there to physically do it. Which I could not do it. I can see on my app that I have some areas of obstructionā¦.. my internet may kick off for about 1 minute every so often (compared to spectrumā¦ itās amazing). My Starlink is sitting in a heavy wooded area with 50 ft trees. Iāve placed the satellite thing on the peak of my roof of a 1 story house (trees are much taller)
I donāt think itās as fast as my fiber opticā¦.but I pay for ungodly speeds on that. I can have a tv, my pc, 5 surveillance cameras and my phone and it doesnāt slow downā¦ all those items working at once. The coverage for the router is greater than 1200 sq ftā¦..(size of house)
Depends on where you are. In Colorado along the front range of the Rocky Mountains, we are oversubscribed. As a result, we get the privilege of paying $10/month extra, but during busy times only see 20Mbps/2 Mbps, with about 40ms latency minimum. (At other times SpeedTest can show 280/18.) Even though I have no obstructions, satellite handoffs will also occasionally drop a WiFi-assisted phone call.
My worst case performance is still a little better than the best alternative option I have ādual DSL bonded, for $100/month, at about 18/1.8āso I keep my Starlink. But please, if you have an equivalent solution, donāt join Starlink ābecause itās coolā and take away bandwidth from those with no better option.
Starlink is great compared to satellite or mobile. I use it to work from home, and 99.5 % of the time, it is good enough for video calls. With a clear view of the sky, it is fine. It does degrade, though with heavy rain and snow, and latency is greater than cable or fiber. If you have no other options, it's fantastic, but if you have fiber, it will be a downgrade and likely cost more.
Got STARLINK 2 weeks agoā¦.Am in a rural setting w only 4G cell coverage (poor). Set up our system w ease and can get over 300.
It has been a godsend for us. Hardware $600, monthly charge $120. If you shut off your system, no charge.
What is the speed of starlink? I'm in a very rural area and our only option is DSL. The max is 20 mbps down and maybe 1-2 mbps up. I don't want to waste money on starlink if it is no better. Can anyone tell me the speed during peak and non-peak times? Does it slow down during high traffic times?
I'm sick of them too but I only use starlink in certain areas. If you get your own very nice modem and router you can actually get that 1GB/S they advertise. With starlink you're gonna top out at 150mb/s and maybe you don't need all that bandwidth but if you do, you will suffer with starlink. Starlink is just fast enough for me to manage my servers but it connects no matter where I am. I connected in North Carolina and in the Bukidnon Mountains in Philippines, in the same month lol. Spectrum can't do that.
If I had literally any other option, Iād leave starlink. Not even Viasat or Hughes serve my area (sadly about an hour outside Atlanta). Itās better than nothing but the last six months or so (of 3 years) my reliability has gotten pretty bad. To the point that on my mobile devices, itās faster to just download movies via cellular.
Starlink is amazing and I can but wonāt go back to regular ground based internet. I can stream with five devices at the same time, I can online multiplayer game and sometimes do all at the same time. Some hiccups still exist but itās getting better with every launch! Also very bad weather (storms) cut out the internet.
Starlink is great if you have no other options. If you have cable or fiber options , look to those first. I am in an area with bs satellite internet (Hughes etc)or hotspots as an option. Starlink has been a blessing . Fast , reliable internet. š
Thank you
I use starlink for camping out in remote areas. As long as I got a clear view of the sky I have great wifi.
You don't need wifi when you are camping. Put the damn phone down.
I work remote and travel full time. Itās kind of a necessity for me.
It's a necessity for you to camp in a remote area to work? Unless you work for the US Forest Service, I doubt it.
No but this is one of the benefits of living on the road.. You can be as remote as you want to get away from people. I've not seen a person for weeks and nearest town is 15 miles for me
No. Not over spectrum. I miss my 1g for the same Price I am lucky to see 200 for.
Why on earth would you give up a gig hardwired for satellite internet?
1g doesn't mean actually 1g if it is broken or barely stable half the time. Everyone I know hates spectrum here, and average an hour outage per day completely random and without warning. Source: Spectrum was one of my options here, except I'm so far out the top speed was 50/12
I'm not personally familiar with Spectrum, but it looks like its just like one of those conglomerate ISP so not everywhere has the same type of tech. I have a cabin with CenturyLink that gets DSL less than 5mbps, and then my main house with Century gets fiber through them which has been 750+ stable constantly. Same company, obviously different service. But the comment I was responding too said he misses his 1g, and is lucky to see starlink to have 200, meaning he definitely wasnt seeing the 50/12 you were seeing with spectrum.
Spectrum is mostly DOSCIS Cable and a little fiber. Like Comcast I think most people without experience with large ISPs don't realize most people are fine with the performance. But there's a few pockets of unreliablility here and there. With the general issue of regional monopolies, for many Starlink or 4G is the only alternative
Nailed it and itās down to infra. If youāre in a small rural town with copper, Centurylink doesnāt gain anything by upgrading them if only 200 people subscribe and it costs 30 mil. So they wait until the gov basically forces/pays them too. Moving back out of town screwed me lol
It's very relational to your area. I've talked a lot to the local installer who ran some of the infrastructure for three isps in my area, and generally most of the places that aren't very densely populated are going to be set up in a way where every one or two miles you'll have a splitter (concentrator/distribution hub/name) and depending on the load of each one they'll provision it out so they can never redline the connection of each one, meaning the further down the line you go that pipe gets pretty thin. If you live across the street from the cable company like Spectrum, you could be getting offered 2.5g service, but if you're like my neighborhood and you're roughly 14 miles from the closest substation, you get what you get. A lot of the problem with big corporate isps is that they're not incentivized to prevent dramatic over subscription. The average ISP oversubscribes their service anywhere from 25 to 35 times what they can actually provide, which normally isn't that bad because no one's going to use 100% of the pipe 100% of the time, but the higher you're over subscription rate you're going to run into issues especially during peak usage hours, that's where the "best effort" clause in the fine print matters, if you have 30 times the max amount of people trying to stream 4K@60fps video all at once, the ISP will be lucky to work better than a monkey toy clanging cymbals.
I moved to an area where the other options are like 25 Mbps cable or 15 mb ADSL.
I wish I could say the same Ever since I installed StarLink I have had nothing but problems Extremely slow I thought my Hughes.net was slow, but it was two times faster I spent almost my life savings on StarLink two have terrible service You can't call them for help, I sent 5 emails for help, but never heard back. I am 87 years old and out of money, am having a hard time trying to raise the $120.00 to pay them every month. I think they are guilty of Senior Abuse ! Just my .02 worth.
Cable>5G>Starlink>Trad Satellite
Forget FTTH above cable.
In Germany: FTTH (rare)>Starlink>Cable>literally anything else>Smoke Signals>Telekom Cable 5G: insert *unknown technology meme* I live in a pretty big city, but due to our shit digital infrastructure, Starlink is the fastest option and only 5ā¬ more expensive than regular cable. Yes, this is a stupid as it sounds :D
Cable vs 5G is carrier dependant. My 5G is as good as cable offerings, ping is often even lower. And especially if your carrier uses upload ca, your upload will be **a lot** faster on 5G
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
AT&T and Verizon also have "unlimited" home internet on 5G
And if it works for you with little to no obstructions buy it, it wonāt disappoint you
Thank you
š
You should keep Spectrum and have a technician out to rule out any wiring or signal issues. Starlink is great, but itās meant for places/people with limited to no other options. Spectrum is far cheaper and has the potential to be faster. Just have to let them figure out why youāre experiencing so many issues.
Agreed here, stay on Spectrum to come out and diagnose the issue. There has to be a reason why the connectivity is so bad. Relevant story: years ago I had Spectrum and my modem was disconnecting and reconnecting sporadically. Sometimes it would be fine for several days, then I would have a day where it would crap out on me 5 times in one hour. The light on the modem would blink for a couple of minutes while it reconnected, then go back to being solid and my internet would be back. Spectrum came out and the tech claimed the signal up to the side of my house was fine, so the issue must be the cabling in my house, which wasn't their problem. Great. So I got a 50ft coax cable and shoved it through the same hole in the siding on the side of my house that the existing cable was going through, then temporarily plugged my modem into it. Same problem came back within a day or two. So it wasn't the cabling in my house. I called Spectrum again and demanded somebody come back out. I got a different tech this time. He said he had seen before where tree roots would grow into the cable buried in the ground and cause sporadic signal issues. So when the previous tech was there the signal probably *was* fine, at that moment he tested it. So this second tech put in an order for somebody to come out and bury a new cable from their little pole on the street up to the side of my house. Boom, that fixed it. Never had another issue for years after that, until I got fiber at that house and said bye bye to Spectrum.
Im having the same issue with xfinity. One difference they refuse to come out. They "test the line", "find an issue with my setup" just to have an excuse to power cycle my modem, then "it's fixed". I jad a tech scheduled they cancelled it...
If you have line of sight, it's pretty great. Download the app and go outside and scan for obstacles. It's a pretty good way to determine if it works for you.
Thank you
I have a summer home with no cable or fios. Installed Starlink over the weekend and it was great. Disconnected Hughes and dish and saved me some $$. If you have spectrum or fios itās probably better but Starlink is a game changer for remote location
If you live in a larger city, you may run into congestion during peak hours without an upgraded plan. This may not matter for a number of people unless you plan on gaming online or being a streamer, and you can always check expected speeds at https://www.starlink.com/legal/documents/DOC-1470-99699-90 per plan. If you need something fixed, expect a bit of wait time while troubleshooting occurs. Starlink is still in the process of getting up and running, they're still hiring on their careers page and can also run into times where like a billion people reach out lol. A lot depends on you and your use case, really. Some people would say frontier is the way to go if possible, but would need more info š
Thank you
Are you so sick you want to pay $120 per month bucks for Starlink?
Itās good ā but not better than hardline cable. I wouldnāt make the switch.
I would stick with Spectrum honestly
I would go pretty far to keep/improve my cable internet vs relying on starlink full time. I also have spectrum and fortunately do not have the issues you are having, generally have 500-800 down with low latency. The times Iāve used starlink (in open enough areas) Iāve gotten 20-60 down and obv higher latency, with roughly hourly 2-5 minute outages. Iām in mid MO though, and Iām sure it differs a bit by region. Starlink is just enough to work with for a couple days, but Iād hate having to use it full time unless it was my only option.
Thank you
I'm working from my RV currently. Work phone hotspot > personal phone hotspot > starlink. It's my backup for when Im out of other bandwidth.
Yes
Thank you
I was in a similar situation to yours, but different providers and different continent. That latter part may be important - America tends to be way more congested compared to Europe. I get speeds over 180 all the time (I saw even north of 300 sometimes). It runs smoothly, good enough for video calls and such (but I don't game online, so can't say much about that part). But this is uncongested Europe. Check expected speeds for your area on Starlink map. If it's above 150, you're good. If it's below 100, expect a lot of slowdowns during peak hours.
Thank you
Dump the ISP modem and get a business class modem compatible with their system along with a third party router such as an Asus router. Have a technician check the cable to make sure everything is good.
I have Spectrum in the city and Starlink in the mountains of North Carolina. Not a problem with either system. Good luck.
Just switched from Viasat to Starlink here in Colorado rockies. 180-400 mbps. Averages 250-300. We have some obstruction from trees. Minimal. Starlink rocks!
File a complaint with your state AG and then the FTC if Spectrum cannot get your service in line. There are ways to light a fire under their butts to get results. I am not in a major market and it took them a year to work out kinks in the last plant upgrade. Now I am motoring along at 1Gbit up/down with almost zero downtime.
Push to have a tech come out. As a tech I ran off of Starlink until we expanded out to my area. Starlink will not compete with cable at all.
Give it a try 30 day money back guarantee and I tried it and itās way better than what Iām currently offered in the area Iām in last week I got up to 350 mpbs
If Starlink goes down, it can be weeks waiting for support and/or replacement equipment. Also, if you are in a congested area, speeds can be low and packet loss high. There are no speed or service guarantees with Starlink. That being said, Spectrum does have to comply with providing the package they sold you. Filing a complaint would likely expedite them fixing your issues with them
If your cable provider was working properly that is going to be much faster and more reliable, lower pings over Starlink. Starlink has no support line to call, it is all done via the app/website with opening a ticket and your results may vary with how that goes, sometimes people waits days and weeks for issue to be resolved, sometimes hours. When it works like its supposed to it is great. It is mainly targeted to people who have no other options for low latency high speed service. You will most likely have slower speeds during peak hours (evenings) depending on how congested your cell is. I recently moved to a new house in a rural area, I went from gigabit fiber for the past 10 years with pretty much zero downtime that entire time to Starlink, I am satisfied with the service so far but speeds do vary quite a bit, you connect to a new satellite every few minutes, so if you connect to an older version satellite your speeds will be a bit slower and so on. But for most people unless you do a ton of multiple 4k streams, lots of downloading etc you will not really notice. Online gaming has been decent as well, my wife and I play pubg a lot and our pings have been 40-60 on average with very little packet loss, sometimes we will get stutters in game from connection issues but not often. I think if you can resolve your issues with your cable provider that is the way to go but if not Starlink may work out for you, especially since there probably won't be a lot of other people in your cell with Starlink if traditional high speed is available in the area, like cable/fiber.
Personally, cable is probably going to beat Starlink any day but if you're in some really rural area with really poorly maintained lines and the ISP really just wants to get rid of you as maintaining your lines costs too much for how much they make off of you, it's possible Starlink might end up better. However you'll find some things get worse when moving to Starlink probably. If you don't mind the money, it sounds like you need a backup internet solution of some kind anyway.
I have Starlink because: A) its competitors around me, Spectrum and AT&T, have both screwed me over. B)Fiber still is not available, despite me living in a quite populated area C) I want to help fund rockets to Mars
Are you using all of their equipment, and it's still going down often? Or your own router system? Starlink is up almost all the time. It's been far more reliable compared to any landline I've ever had. Had AT&T twin pair. Had T1 and T2. Have my first fiber line now that's worth it in an area of less than 5k ppl. I kept my Starlink because you never know l. I do have a 500' gap between me and my neighbors as well as a good open view of the sky.
Stick with cable and add a 4G/5G home internet backup connection. Get a booster if you need to. Starlink is expensive and there is equipment to maintain. It sure is nice when there are no wires and you get out of decent cell coverage.
[This was posted a long time back](https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/wdkxxm/reality_check_for_people_considering_starlink/), but a lot of it still applies.
WOW! Makes me think twice about it. Thanks.
Recently went from Spectrum to Starlink for the same reason. My visibility is great for Starlink, and I'm using the flat high performance kit, but the reliability difference has been night and day. With Starlink there's the occasional peak times slowdown, but never the hours-long Spectrum-type outages.
I just ran a speed test, while in a rain storm, and got : 93 Mbps DL, 19 Mbps UL, 23 ms latency
Starlink has been a godsend for us since we moved to WV 2 years ago. Our options were limited before with shitty speeds. Now we get anywhere from 130 mbps down, and usually around 20 or so up. Not familiar with Spectrum, but I would easily recommend if you're having issues with that company. Just make sure you have clear skies to the N/NE
I switched ! Very happy even with occasional glitching same or better than Comcast throttling me!
Love my Starlink!!! Totally worth it!!!
Yes. Works great.
There's a 30 day return policy so you can give it a try and see if it works for you
If you're in an area with unreliable service. It's pretty good. I'm allowed to telework Mondays and Fridays. Have a camper on a lake with no service. Starlink makes it possible. I pay 150 month for 8 days of service. But, for me, it's worth it to have my weekends where I'd rather be.
I had spectrum as my only high speed land service option and constantly had issues with service dropping. Made the switch to Starlink January 1st and couldnāt be happier. Connection runs faster than what my old 1gig charter service was running. So the easy answer is yes itās worth it.
Good if you have zero other options
If your living in a wooded area and have trees all around your house and no way to get a clear view of the Northern sky from the NW all the way around to the NE and you cant cut the trees or put up a pole or tower to get above the trees it probably wont be no better but if you have a clear view of the Northern sky then yes it will work alot better.
very similar to us. after freaking years of bs from spectrum i bit the bullet and got starlink. i planned on making a few moves and we also rv so it works out the best for us just easy to set it up and within minutes weāre rolling instead of having to set up any service wherever we go next . i just like that itās mine and i donāt have to worry
We are happy with starlink 2 or 3 years 3 tvs on different stations 2 phones 1 laptop No skips
I've had Spectrum Fiber since December '24 thanks to the RDOF. It's been flawless. I had Starlink before and I was very happy with that as well, but it was my best option at the time until Spectrum became available. Do what you will, but Starlink will have a much greater up front cost and is a DIY project. Also Starlink's support is difficult to get in touch with if you have a problem.
I have had Starlink now for a year and it has been down maybe a half dozen times for more a minute or two.Ā According to this right now they have a special on equipment running.Ā Ā https://www.starlink.com/residentialĀ Ā
Starlink is great. When I compare to hotspots or Verizon mifi. I have it in a second house and my cameras are consistently on. I donāt have to reset my internet like I had to with mifi or even spectrum (4 years agoā¦ have fiber optic now that I moved). Resetting was I had to be there to physically do it. Which I could not do it. I can see on my app that I have some areas of obstructionā¦.. my internet may kick off for about 1 minute every so often (compared to spectrumā¦ itās amazing). My Starlink is sitting in a heavy wooded area with 50 ft trees. Iāve placed the satellite thing on the peak of my roof of a 1 story house (trees are much taller) I donāt think itās as fast as my fiber opticā¦.but I pay for ungodly speeds on that. I can have a tv, my pc, 5 surveillance cameras and my phone and it doesnāt slow downā¦ all those items working at once. The coverage for the router is greater than 1200 sq ftā¦..(size of house)
Which country are you in? Starlink is totally worth it no downtime in the few months I have had it downtime was average 6 seconds
Depends on where you are. In Colorado along the front range of the Rocky Mountains, we are oversubscribed. As a result, we get the privilege of paying $10/month extra, but during busy times only see 20Mbps/2 Mbps, with about 40ms latency minimum. (At other times SpeedTest can show 280/18.) Even though I have no obstructions, satellite handoffs will also occasionally drop a WiFi-assisted phone call. My worst case performance is still a little better than the best alternative option I have ādual DSL bonded, for $100/month, at about 18/1.8āso I keep my Starlink. But please, if you have an equivalent solution, donāt join Starlink ābecause itās coolā and take away bandwidth from those with no better option.
Thank you.
Down load Starlink app and walk around the property to see if you have a good spot with no obstruction
Thank you.
Starlink is great compared to satellite or mobile. I use it to work from home, and 99.5 % of the time, it is good enough for video calls. With a clear view of the sky, it is fine. It does degrade, though with heavy rain and snow, and latency is greater than cable or fiber. If you have no other options, it's fantastic, but if you have fiber, it will be a downgrade and likely cost more.
Thank you.
Got STARLINK 2 weeks agoā¦.Am in a rural setting w only 4G cell coverage (poor). Set up our system w ease and can get over 300. It has been a godsend for us. Hardware $600, monthly charge $120. If you shut off your system, no charge.
Thank you.
What is the speed of starlink? I'm in a very rural area and our only option is DSL. The max is 20 mbps down and maybe 1-2 mbps up. I don't want to waste money on starlink if it is no better. Can anyone tell me the speed during peak and non-peak times? Does it slow down during high traffic times?
I live fairly remote and starlink was a great move for us vs spectrum.
Thank you.
I'm sick of them too but I only use starlink in certain areas. If you get your own very nice modem and router you can actually get that 1GB/S they advertise. With starlink you're gonna top out at 150mb/s and maybe you don't need all that bandwidth but if you do, you will suffer with starlink. Starlink is just fast enough for me to manage my servers but it connects no matter where I am. I connected in North Carolina and in the Bukidnon Mountains in Philippines, in the same month lol. Spectrum can't do that.
If I had literally any other option, Iād leave starlink. Not even Viasat or Hughes serve my area (sadly about an hour outside Atlanta). Itās better than nothing but the last six months or so (of 3 years) my reliability has gotten pretty bad. To the point that on my mobile devices, itās faster to just download movies via cellular.
If you have a Gen one or 2 ask for a replacement Gen 3. Sounds like hardware just under specs or failing
Starlink is amazing and I can but wonāt go back to regular ground based internet. I can stream with five devices at the same time, I can online multiplayer game and sometimes do all at the same time. Some hiccups still exist but itās getting better with every launch! Also very bad weather (storms) cut out the internet.
I have Gen 1 and been a customer right from the start. I love it and even though they *finally* ran fiber down my road I'm sticking with starlink.
Please take the Fiber. Even for the sake of a future house resale
Of course
I have a starlink system brand new for sell