Starlink

We don’t have fiber in our parish although I can pee on the fiber my neighbor in another parish has from the east side of our property. We don’t have cable access.

We have used HughesNet and Viasat. Viasat was the better of the two. It allowed us to stream although we experienced a lot of buffering.

Then we got Starlink in June 2022. In that time we have buffered less than 10 times. This is while streaming on 2-3 TVs and gaming on an Xbox simultaneously.

Although many people have much better options, it is the only workable one for us as we also sit in a gap between coverages of cellular internet options.

It was a game changer for us.

Pricey for bandwidth you get. Great if no other options.

If sky is clear it is stable. Does have lots of short outages (less than 15 seconds). Speeds and latency vary greatly across day.

My solution was to get a Peplink and a backup SIM card as a failover/load balance. More $$ but don’t have other options.

Also, the router it comes with is not great. Have to buy a separate adapter to bypass and use your router.

Keep an eye out for all the cellular based companies adding the 5g home internet to towers nearby.

Lifesaver for me. We moved to the country and had been using Verizon hotspot (3 lines w a lot of hotspot data) or Samsung casting thing to save hotspot, but alway nervous w two kids and work, and it sucked on my firm network. Nothing else is available here at all.

We have enough of a clearing that it’s mostly unobstructed. I’ve just had it temporarily on ground. Don’t want to mount on roof because not all that clear and I also want to be able to grab it for boondock camping trips.

I’m about to mount it on a wooden fence post. It’s so far from house I use mesh wifi in a weatherproof clear container sort of hidden from sight, by Dishy and send it to a node under carport then in nearby window.

We have the Roam account bc Residential isn’t available here yet. Plus it’s plenty fast and we can pause if we go on long trips.

I’m getting 30-100mbps. More like 70 usually when I check.

Does great with Roku TVs and work system. Incredibly easy to set up. I don’t even think it came with instructions except a couple pics on the box.

Finding the best spot for your Starlink antenna is key to getting the best signal with fewer interruptions. Before you order, download the Starlink app, find the most open view to the northern sky, and the app uses the camera on your phone to scan the sky to check for obstructions.

My sister who lives in the mountains near Asheville, NC, and my daughter who lives in the mountains near Winchester, VA, both say it’s great. My sister was able to get rid of her rented office and start working from home with Starlink (she’s a consultant).

The only downside is the initial investment in equipment which can be expensive. My sister is going to have to put in a tower in March because there’s too much foliage around her house. My daughter’s house is in a clearing, so no issues for her. Starlink doesn't provide email, so you'll need a separate email service if you don't have one already.