SpaceX Starlink Internet beta test

[tirebob]

I pay $120/month for 100gb of use at 16mb DL or less. I will sign up!

[The_Rural_Juror]

This thread is like the 7.2 club with all the vacation cabin owners.

[killramos]

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This thread is like the 7.2 club with all the vacation cabin owners.

Vacation cabins are why we will never hit 7.2

[rage2]

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Satellites cost more than fibre.

Currently paying $70 for 6 mbps at the lake so this is a bargain.

Ahh my bad. Didn’t know this was targeted at rural. Makes much more sense now.

Every starlink article has be thinking it’s the second coming of Jesus for internet competition. Serves me right for believing the shit out there.

[A790]

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Every starlink article has be thinking it’s the second coming of Jesus for internet competition. Serves me right for believing the shit out there.

Well, for rural, it kind of is... if it works as advertised.

[ExtraSlow]

What ever happened to the Facebook version of starlink for rural Africa?

[rage2]

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What ever happened to the Facebook version of starlink for rural Africa?

It wasn’t pass the evil test for a rollout.

[killramos]

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Ahh my bad. Didn’t know this was targeted at rural. Makes much more sense now.

Every starlink article has be thinking it’s the second coming of Jesus for internet competition. Serves me right for believing the shit out there.

The great thing is latency is irrelevant for streaming, so all the 4K Netflix I want but screw work calls haha.

[mazdavirgin]

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Satellites cost more than fibre.

Currently paying $70 for 6 mbps at the lake so this is a bargain.

Cell boosters with LTE are pretty much replacing the majority of rig satellite uplinks in both the USA and Canada. Massive cost savings for the data providers. LTE data rates are dirt cheap if you're a commercial outfit. I'm not convinced that Starlink can compete against LTE.

[killramos]

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Cell boosters with LTE are pretty much replacing the majority of rig satellite uplinks in both the USA and Canada. Massive cost savings for the data providers. LTE data rates are dirt cheap if you're a commercial outfit. I'm not convinced that Starlink can compete against LTE.

If someone wants to provide me with an unlimited data plan on LTE or 5G at competitive speeds and latency as Starlink I’m all ears.

Of course, we don’t even have any cell connection at the lake so Elon has managed to beat The incumbents to even providing me any service so I wouldn’t count him out.

[ExtraSlow]

Large areas have no cell connectivity as killer says. I'd take a strong 3g signal without complaints. I have previously tethers a laptop off that for work.

[jacky4566]

I manage the IT for a small company in the Foothills. We operate an online retail business through a 25mbps LTE connection. Its good about 90% of the time but when the towers get overloaded everything crawls and we can lose sales when our sales people can't connect to the sales software.
Starlink is going to be great for us as a secondary connection or load share between the two connections.

For Canada we won't see Beta for at least 4 months. Starlink has a BITS license which lets them APPLY for a spectrum license. no application has been filed yet. Its stupidly complicated and could easy get hung up by Telus/ Shaw throwing wrenches where they can.
https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gs...g/sf10750.html

You can see there is applications from February still under consideration.

[revelations]

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I manage the IT for a small company in the Foothills. We operate an online retail business through a 25mbps LTE connection. Its good about 90% of the time but when the towers get overloaded everything crawls and we can lose sales when our sales people can't connect to the sales software.
Starlink is going to be great for us as a secondary connection or load share between the two connections..

No other LTE /4g providers out there to help with load balancing during the slow times?

[never]

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Large areas have no cell connectivity as killer says. I'd take a strong 3g signal without complaints. I have previously tethers a laptop off that for work.

Yeah, my house is only 40 minutes SW of Calgary and no cell coverage. So either some cell coverage or better internet services would be awesome. Though Xplornet did do fine for the most part during WFH.

[jacky4566]

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No other LTE /4g providers out there to help with load balancing during the slow times?

From what I have researched there are 3 options for rural LTE based internet.
Telus Smart hub which seems the most reasonable. 1TB/ $110
Roger Rocket hub which the biggest plan is 50 GB for $120.
Xplodnet which has unlimited plans but we had TERRIBLE service with them. Constantly doing maintenance and killing our connection.

Plus they still all rely on the same backbone connection to Calgary which can be spotty sometimes.

Our building complex was promised fiber about a decade ago when it was new but the building associate doesn't care enough now to pay for it.

LTE + Starlink is hopefully going to provide a solid connection.

[tirebob]

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Cell boosters with LTE are pretty much replacing the majority of rig satellite uplinks in both the USA and Canada. Massive cost savings for the data providers. LTE data rates are dirt cheap if you're a commercial outfit. I'm not convinced that Starlink can compete against LTE.

For much of flat Alberta in the south this is true, but even for me where I live, the LTE system didn't work at all. We tried for over a year but we just can't get enough signal. Where you don't have line of sight to a tower, satellite is all you have.

[revelations]

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From what I have researched there are 3 options for rural LTE based internet.
Telus Smart hub which seems the most reasonable. 1TB/ $110
Roger Rocket hub which the biggest plan is 50 GB for $120.
Xplodnet which has unlimited plans but we had TERRIBLE service with them. Constantly doing maintenance and killing our connection.

Plus they still all rely on the same backbone connection to Calgary which can be spotty sometimes.

Our building complex was promised fiber about a decade ago when it was new but the building associate doesn't care enough now to pay for it.

LTE + Starlink is hopefully going to provide a solid connection.

The Rogers plan (Heavy) is actually quite reasonable, especially if you sign up as a PERSONAL (not business) account. The overage cost is/was something like 5$ for every 10gb you went over.

But sounds like Telus has a better offer now (looked into this last year and Rogers was the winner at the time).

I'd definitely use both rogers and telus esp, if its costing profits right now.

Also, with a booster (about 300$) you might be able to explore other LTE providers as well.

[spikerS]

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For much of flat Alberta in the south this is true, but even for me where I live, the LTE system didn't work at all. We tried for over a year but we just can't get enough signal. Where you don't have line of sight to a tower, satellite is all you have.

Yeah, your situation is perfect for starlink, and I would encourage you to jump on it as quick as you can. I tried every avenue I could to get you better service, but short of trenching out new lines out there, there isn't much I could do. I still feel bad I couldn't get you more reliable service.

[tirebob]

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Yeah, your situation is perfect for starlink, and I would encourage you to jump on it as quick as you can. I tried every avenue I could to get you better service, but short of trenching out new lines out there, there isn't much I could do. I still feel bad I couldn't get you more reliable service.

You should! I can't believe you would't rent all those machines and employees to run lines for 18 km's to my house!

[nzwasp]

Does Telus via DSL over POTS not work in rural areas?