FYI Starlink and weather

[Neal]

I read on a FB post about Starlink not working in light rain. Keep that in mind in that cellular is still a good idea for reliable Internet. Don't forget satellite connectivity can be affected by weather and meteorological events. I personally don't recall ever really having an issue with Dish but I'm keeping this in mind in my Internet setup.

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

We have only had the Starklink RV account for about a month, but rain has not impacted our service yet.

The other night around 2am, we had a significant storm, and the heavy rain on the roof woke me up. For a brief moment I considered getting up to check the Starlink speed in heavy rain, but it didn't happen. So I am still left wondering how much heavy rain will impact Starlink.

But I agree, keeping cellular as one of our 3 internet options.

 

[docj]

We've had Starlink for more than 6 months and rarely have had any weather issues. Surely no more than one might experience with satellite TV.

 

[Hoofaaa]

I’ve had Starlink for about 6 months, and during the middle of the day, for the last month, it’s been slow. I tried watching YouTubeTV this morning, and it couldn’t even find the network, even though it’s the only network I have! Right now it’s 6:50, and the download speed is 3.4. The last time I had good speed was a month ago, when it was 140. Anyone else notice it?

 

[docj]

I’ve had Starlink for about 6 months, and during the middle of the day, for the last month, it’s been slow. I tried watching YouTubeTV this morning, and it couldn’t even find the network, even though it’s the only network I have! Right now it’s 6:50, and the download speed is 3.4. The last time I had good speed was a month ago, when it was 140. Anyone else notice it?

Do you have Starlink Residential or Portable or RV? I have residential and rarely ever measure less than 100 Mbps. Both Portable and RV Starlink are deprioritized; you can't compare their performance to Starlink residential.

 

[Jim]

We've had Starlink here at the RV Park for several months, and always been happy with the performance. But today, for some reason, everyone is complaining about intermittent dropping of signal.

I'm almost afraid to go down to the park for fear of the cross burnings that I'm sure are taking place . . .

 

[docj]

There appear to be a lot of people who think that it makes more sense to repeatedly test their download speeds rather than to ask "is my speed enough for what I need to do?"

Furthermore, I suspect that quite a few of those posting on forums such as this are using Starlink portable or RV service, both of which are defined to be deprioritized services. IMHO, if you subscribe to a deprioritized service you have no right to complain about the speeds you measure.

 

[Neal]

Remember all, we are only at the beginning of this new Internet. Just be lucky to have the connectivity we do. Here is a video I skimmed recently that may be of interest. But I'm not sure how up to date it is with portability rules etc. My RV plan has been working great to date, not super duper high speed but it's working just fine in my inner loop circle of the US from WI west to SD, CO, down through TX and east.

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

Furthermore, I suspect that quite a few of those posting on forums such as this are using Starlink portable or RV service, both of which are defined to be deprioritized services. IMHO, if you subscribe to a deprioritized service you have no right to complain about the speeds you measure.

IMHO, letting interested people know how Starlink works and how the speeds can vary is important for a few reasons:
- educates others who are considering the purchase - if this will work for their use case
- for a mobile set of users having information around how much deprioritization is being experienced in an area provides insight to others considering travel to that area
- helps us have a shared understanding so we can have a United voice to SpaceX that RV internet is important and needing sufficient resources to address. The more noise is heard to meet RV needs, the more likely that companies will take notice and work to address this market

 

[Hoofaaa]

Do you have Starlink Residential or Portable or RV? I have residential and rarely ever measure less than 100 Mbps. Both Portable and RV Starlink are deprioritized; you can't compare their performance to Starlink residential.

I have the RV. At first I signed up for residential, but thought it might not work everywhere, so I cancelled and got the RV. I waited like a month waiting to hear about the residential, but the Arab was shipped to me within 2 weeks. The first month was well over 100 all the time. Sometimes it gets as slow as 3 Mbps More satellites are getting sent up weekly though.

 

[docj]

The more noise is heard to meet RV needs, the more likely that companies will take notice and work to address this market

Given the hundreds of thousands that Starlink is already reaching world-wide, I think it is naïve to believe that pressure from the US RV user community will cause Starlink to change its business practices. Having a deprioritized tier of service available allows the company to sell otherwise unused capacity. That's a good business position IMO.

 

[docj]

I have the RV. At first I signed up for residential, but thought it might not work everywhere, so I cancelled and got the RV. I waited like a month waiting to hear about the residential, but the Arab was shipped to me within 2 weeks. The first month was well over 100 all the time. Sometimes it gets as slow as 3 Mbps More satellites are getting sent up weekly though.

As long as the RV service is sold as deprioritized service then the fact that more satellites are launched is rather irrelevant. More satellites will provide more base capacity but that doesn't mean that the increased base capacity will be allocated to RV customers. More likely is that the expanded base capacity will be allocated to new residential customer and the RV customers will continue to use "excess" capacity on a deprioritized basis. That would make the best business sense.

 

[lemondrop9344]

Just an observation on Starlink RV Package performance being reported.
My son & I are sharing a Starlink Residential Package with roaming enabled. I presently have it installed on my RV at the campground where I'm parked. On the speed tests I've run, I consistently see download speeds in the neighborhood of 200 Mbps & upload speeds in the neighborhood of 40 Mbps. However, from time to time I do see some buffering when streaming media to my TVs. The TV buffering issue was also present in my 'sticks & bricks' residence with a cable provided ISP rated at 300 Mbps.
The point I'm tryhing to make, to some degree (IMHO) the results of a 'speed test' are not always informative to assess the observed performance of an internet signal. There are so many things 'happening' between where the data originates & how you observe it on your device. To determine a particular device or service is the 'culprit' for perceived sub standard performance can be misleading, if not downright wrong.
While I am by no means a network guru, if something was working great & it's now performing in a substandard fashion, the 1st question I would ask myself ............. what has changed? Yes, an ISP signal source could be over saturated, however I don't believe it's in the best interest of the ISP to allow so many clients to attach to the signal that it degradates the signal to point where it's is unusable without some sort of disclaimer in the Terms of Service.
Without details, I believe it can be misleading to blame the sub standard performance on the ISP
Just my thoughts, not intended to be a contrarian.