Starlink fulfills a promise that has been made for decades: to get broadband Internet access in rural parts of the country. None were able to deliver the goods. So far. Elon Musk’s rather audacious proposal to put thousands of satellites on the air to reach remote customers is already paying off, according to our tests of the Starlink service still in beta.
In our initial review of Starkink, we found that it is simple to set up and faster not only than DSL lines, but also faster than many basic cable packages are actually capable of offering. Certainly as the only option for sparsely populated areas, Starlink could prove to be a godsend, albeit an expensive one. The basic hardware package costs US $ 499, plus US $ 99 per month for the service (shipping and taxes estimate the initial total at US $ 581.94).
Based on several weeks of testing, here’s what we’ve liked about Starlink so far – and what needs to be improved.
What is Starlink and how does it work?
So why is Starlink a savior? Because in many areas of the United States – not to mention parts of the developing world – there are no high-speed internet options or very few. At our bucolic test site in Vermont, for example, there is no cell service, cable service and fiber optics. And 5G is not going to help. The towers have to be too numerous to reflect the signals around the mountains, and the lower frequency version of the 5G, which offers more distance, is simply not fast enough. Sign in to the Starlink service.
Starlink uses a network of satellites in low earth orbit to bring the signal to you. There are currently more than 1,000 tiny Starlink satellites in the air, but thousands more are needed before the system is complete (each launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 carries 60 satellites).
Unlike Dish or DirecTV birds, these are not geosynchronous or geostationary satellites, so the Starlink dish used by consumers must be able to move automatically if they need to realign themselves to catch a new satellite. But the great advantage of Starlink is that satellites in lower earth orbit, which are about 340 miles above the earth, substantially reduce the delay or latency of the signal, especially in comparison with DirecTV satellites, which are situated at more than 22,000 miles above the planet.
Starlink review: price and plans
There are no official Starlink data plans yet to be announced. Starlink only offers the $ 99 per month fixed service at the moment, during the beta period. It is not known if this will change when the service goes live.
Starlink Review: Coverage
There is no official coverage map, but Starlink plans to offer its service worldwide. On a FCC file, the company revealed that it would initially offer “commercial service in the northern United States and southern Canada, and then expand rapidly to almost global coverage of the populous world by 2021”. Our tests were conducted in southern Vermont.
Starlink Review: What’s Included
Everything you need to get Starlink up and running comes in a single package: the large flat plate the size of a pizza box, a temporary tripod for the dish, a 30 meter connection cable and a Wi- Fi that connects to the dish. You don’t even have to connect things; everything is already connected. There is no user manual or instructions, just a piece of cardboard with a great 3-step chart setup guide.
The platter is motorized to automatically adjust its sights and heated to keep it free from snow and ice. To perform these tricks, he uses a special cable that is permanently connected to the antenna and carries not only the signal to the router, but also the power to the antenna. Therefore, if the cable is damaged, you cannot simply disconnect it from the antenna and buy a new one or use a basic coaxial cable.
Starlink Review: Installation
Unlike installing and pointing a TV satellite dish, getting the Starlink system up and running is a relative breeze. Simply push the cymbal holder onto the tripod and place it on the lawn outside, where there is an unobstructed view of the sky. Connect the internal Wi-Fi router and then just run the Starlink app to go online. (Note: if you do not have an Internet connection in the place where you live, remember to go to the city first to be able to download the Starlink app.) If you are fast, everything can be done in 10 minutes.
This assuming that everything goes smoothly. We encountered some obstacles.
The first problem was the length of the cable provided. The power cable over Ethernet is only 30 meters long, so if you have a large house (for installation on the roof) or have to place the dish away from home to have a tree-free appearance in the sky, you will have problems. And since it is permanently connected to the antenna, you cannot simply exchange it for a longer cable.
The second problem is that checking for obstructions can be a complicated process. We place the antenna in an open area, but we find the antenna pointing towards a northern part of the sky (versus south, where satellite TV antennas need to be directed). So, not surprisingly, we received the message “Obstructions are blocking your Internet connection about 9 hours a day”. It was accompanied by a graph showing the direction of the obstructions. The culprit: trees that are hundreds of meters away, but can obstruct the view.
The Starlink smartphone app has an option to check for obstructions as you move it using the phone’s camera. But placing the phone exactly in the proposed position of the dish and following the instructions on the screen to point the camera up or down is complicated, if not impossible because the camera needs to be knee-deep. We try to lie on the floor to see better.
After finding the ideal position for the Starlink antenna, the idea is to install it permanently. Roof locations will require additional brackets and hardware, which can be found online starting at around $ 15. If you need a pole support adapter, Starlink sells one for $ 24.
Starlink analysis: speeds and overall performance
We tested Starlink for several weeks in all types of weather and subjected it to typical Internet tasks, from streaming 4K movies and participating in Zoom conference calls to uploading and downloading bulky videos. In general, we have witnessed some impressive speeds, but we found that Starlink is still a beta work in progress. Still, anyone who has suffered from downloading hundreds of emails across the country or waited for an episode of Bridgerton to end the buffer will be thrilled to see Starlink deal with such tasks in fractions of a second.
Although the results of our speed tests vary widely, generally from download speeds of around 15 Mbps to about 50 Mbps, we reached a maximum of 89.48 Mbps on Speedtest.net. We received similar results on Fast.com. Upload speeds were generally slower, from 5 Mbps to 32 Mbps, and latency was usually around 32 ms.
So, why the great variation in speeds? Some of the results depended on the time of day. We checked and found that the number and location of Starlink satellites miscellaneous. Most seem to be concentrated in the northwestern United States and those we were aiming for were further north, in southern Quebec.
In turn, Starlink alerts beta users to expect speeds anywhere from 50 Mbps to 150 Mbps – and to expect some losses. In fact, the biggest annoyance in this beta test period is that the Starlink service will end without warning – only to reconnect milliseconds later.
In our zoom-obsessed world, video calls are an excellent test application. We did several sessions on Skype, Zoom, Facetime and Microsoft Teams to see how Starlink fared in such critical applications. Skype calls, for example, initially seemed clear and crystal clear – until they didn’t stop and people on the other end couldn’t hear half of what we said. We had the same experience with VoIP calls and we even encountered some problems with streaming services. In one instance. after broadcasting a 4K movie for half an hour, it suddenly stopped and had to be reloaded. The same comments apply to games: Starlink can be pretty quick, but dropouts during the beta period mean you won’t win any Call of Duty battles yet.
Given these caveats, Starlink shows tremendous potential and yet it was impressively fast, especially when compared to DSL in the same location. The best that the DSL fixed line could do on Fast.com was a 1.2 Mbps download, 320 Kbps uploads and 182 ms latency.
Finally, the satellite service can be vulnerable to snow and rain. Starlink prevents snow by heating the dish and melting the flakes as they land. During several heavy snowstorms, this worked well, especially compared to a TV satellite dish that we occasionally need to scan. However, we experience a reduction in bandwidth during heavy snowfalls and rains. Bandwidth would normally be cut in half during these periods for download speeds of around 20 Mbps.
Starlink Review: Initial verdict
Anyone who has lived in an area that does not have fast Internet access for some time will find that Starlink is worth the price. It is the only game in town until Amazon and others launch competing services (when applicable). Starlink is also aiming to improve and eliminate beta losses as the company places thousands of satellites above Earth.
In a recent tweet, Elon Musk promised that Starlink will reach speeds of approximately 300 Mbps later this year, when more satellites are installed. This may seem like nothing to city dwellers with fiber cables running through the streets, but to people in the countryside it is an Internet dream come true.