SpaceX Starlink Internet beta test

[tirebob]

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Nice! Did they provide any kind of timeline?

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Nice! Please provide feedback on your experience!

Supposed to ship immediately... My visa has already been billed lol.

I will report back for sure. Super excited to try this out!

[jacky4566]

We have had Starlink at the business for just over a month now.
It works pretty good. It seems to drop connection every once and a while for less than a second which sucks for our VOIP system but otherwise speeds are amazing. I have it tied dual wan with a Telus LTE box so our connection is rock solid which is critical to the sales guys.

There has been so many floating rumors about heating elements such let me put it to rest. The dish has a method of self heating by using the internal RF elements. It consumes ~120W normally which is plenty of heat already.
The newest firmware includes a Snow Melt Mode
Deployed basic Snow Melt Mode, during which Starlink produces additional heat to mitigate signal attenuation caused by snow build-up on the face of the user terminal.

Need to get the dish up on our roof for slightly better reception. I think the warehouse is blocking a bit.
Fence post mounting:
https://imgur.com/kEP6X0R

My only wish is they would allow you to move the dish. At the moment they are geo locked to your billing address but eventually i want one mounted on a travel RV, be a fully time ski bum with a remote job.

@tirebob mind disclosing your rough location. I'm curious where the Calgary people are getting them. We are 5 minutes south of High River at the Airport.

[tirebob]

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We have had Starlink at the business for just over a month now.
It works pretty good. It seems to drop connection every once and a while for less than a second which sucks for our VOIP system but otherwise speeds are amazing. I have it tied dual wan with a Telus LTE box so our connection is rock solid which is critical to the sales guys.

There has been so many floating rumors about heating elements such let me put it to rest. The dish has a method of self heating by using the internal RF elements. It consumes ~120W normally which is plenty of heat already.
The newest firmware includes a Snow Melt Mode
Deployed basic Snow Melt Mode, during which Starlink produces additional heat to mitigate signal attenuation caused by snow build-up on the face of the user terminal.

Need to get the dish up on our roof for slightly better reception. I think the warehouse is blocking a bit.
Fence post mounting:
https://imgur.com/kEP6X0R

My only wish is they would allow you to move the dish. At the moment they are geo locked to your billing address but eventually i want one mounted on a travel RV, be a fully time ski bum with a remote job.

@tirebob mind disclosing your rough location. I'm curious where the Calgary people are getting them. We are 5 minutes south of High River at the Airport.

I will be roof mounting mine for sure. I am out about 3.5KM west of Water Valley. It's funny because a month or so ago I signed up listing my location as Water Valley and no reply, so today I signed up again with a different e-mail address but I used the actual plus code for the GPS coordinates of my property and they replied almost right away. Maybe that is a trick to try for those not yet invited?

[revelations]

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For something that small...wrap it in plastic wrap...repeat as needed when damaged.

are you going to climb up to the roof every time it snows?

[AndyL]

think rolling plastic like they do on f1/nascar/etc cameras. roll off one drum onto the other, just need to ensure the film doesn't do worse than snow for blocking tranmission. Automating it could be fun.

[ExtraSlow]

Don't even need to motorized or automate it. Have a drum of clear (or transparent to the signal) material on bearings and as snow builds up it will roll over. Every warm day it will melt off the bottom.

[killramos]

You an EIT or something?

[ExtraSlow]

I can design anything given a few cocktail napkins. Jist don't ask me to use decimals. Those rustle my jimmies.

[AndyL]

Actually - a really good wax / rainx treatment would probably do it since it does have an internal heat source.

As long as it wasn't pointed directly up, but it tracks satellites, so I'd imagine that wouldn't be a consistent position.

[ExtraSlow]

Rolling drum if icy death is cooler.

[ZenOps]

If its already putting out 120 watts all you would probably need to do is get a foldable reflector, mid day on a sunny day and waste 15 minutes lazoring the underside from the ground.

That said, it will be easier to lazor if you mount it on the edge of a building.

Other idea: Just get a couple or four waterproof 10 watt USB foot warmers and attach it to the underside with long cables, sure you will have lots of cable voltage loss, but thats what you want anyhow - just enough extra heat to get it above zero for enough time for the snow to slide off.

[jacky4566]

Its a pretty constant position. The motors are just to get a decent average position. Ours is around 20 degrees from horizontal due north.

All the satellite tracking is done digital with a Phased Array. Those little guys cross the entire field of view in about 120 seconds.

[tirebob]

Just got an email saying my Starlink setup has shipped! Whoot!

[Thaco]

hmm now i might have to put off my home purchase... i dont want to be impatient now and regret it forever

[ZenOps]

Meanwhile in Russia:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021...ernet-service/

[tirebob]

Well that was fast! Just got the call my system has arrived at the shop. Going to grab it tomorrow or Wednesday and hopefully get it all set up this week. Stupid cold front coming in though and I just realized I need to shovel a shit ton of snow off my roof where it is going to go! First world problems...

[tirebob]

Have the unit in my hands now... Will post the unpackaging tonight!

[tirebob]

Looks like a piece of cake so far...

[bjstare]

I entered my email for the house I'm toying with offering on, and not 24h later got an invitation to purchase. That was too fast. (thatswhatshesaid)

I guess on the off chance that I move out there, I'll have to try again. Good to know it's available though. I'm very surprised due to the close proximity to city limits (<2km) - I assumed that they would be opening this up to folks in locations more like Bob as a priority.

[killramos]

Lucky. I still haven’t gotten anything from Starlink...