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Journal by khallow
This journal will be a bit superficial.
Well, I have an update on my use of Starlink. Back in late December, I installed a Starlink flat dish (the later model is a rectangular phased array antenna) at a dorm in Mammoth Hot Springs (my winter seasonal work is there), and used it steadily through a few days ago when it was packed up for a move.
Through that time, I noticed the service interrupted twice due to the router ceasing to communicate on WiFi. Powering the router off and back on fixed the problem each time and I was highly demotivated at the time so I didn't attempt to diagnose. As far as I can tell, communication with the satellites never went down over the entire stretch. Some shows that my *mumble* watched occasionally showed jitter, but that site had shown jitter before with connectivity that was known to be good. So don't think it's Starlink at fault for that one. I have loaded moderate sized files (hundreds of megabytes) without feeling like I'm waiting much so subjectively seems good to me.
I haven't run any bandwidth or performance tests.
In any case, I didn't see any significant problems. Obviously, if you're thinking of using Starlink for high reliability use, you'll want to research these issues, but for casual, high bandwidth use, it seems to work well.
I'm hopping between properties right now as we open up various locations (Old Faithful area will be next week). Presently, with the exception of Mammoth Hot Springs, we're expecting the first full opening since pre-covid. Mammoth will properly open sometime later this summer as the permanent sewer system becomes operational (that's the last obstacle so I hear). The old sewer system was completely washed away in last year's record flooding and the present system (which was in use over the winter) is a temp solution that can handle only light usage and occupancy.
Anyway, I'll be working at my normal place, Lake Yellowstone Hotel some point in early May and should have the antenna and system up shortly after. I had forgotten in the last journal, that I had purchased an option called "Starlink Roam" which allows me to use Starlink anywhere on the continent (at least according to the contract) without having to tell Starlink first about address changes. The antenna must be stationary though. One can buy "in-motion hardware" for a mere $2500 more.
I imagine the setup process will be much the same as when I set it up in Mammoth. We'll see if I have a good enough view of the north sky or if vehicles moving through the edge of the field of view cause problems. But I think I can find a site that handles both issues well.
If you want me to try some testing or such, I can do that when I get it running again.
Well, I have an update on my use of Starlink. Back in late December, I installed a Starlink flat dish (the later model is a rectangular phased array antenna) at a dorm in Mammoth Hot Springs (my winter seasonal work is there), and used it steadily through a few days ago when it was packed up for a move.
Through that time, I noticed the service interrupted twice due to the router ceasing to communicate on WiFi. Powering the router off and back on fixed the problem each time and I was highly demotivated at the time so I didn't attempt to diagnose. As far as I can tell, communication with the satellites never went down over the entire stretch. Some shows that my *mumble* watched occasionally showed jitter, but that site had shown jitter before with connectivity that was known to be good. So don't think it's Starlink at fault for that one. I have loaded moderate sized files (hundreds of megabytes) without feeling like I'm waiting much so subjectively seems good to me.
I haven't run any bandwidth or performance tests.
In any case, I didn't see any significant problems. Obviously, if you're thinking of using Starlink for high reliability use, you'll want to research these issues, but for casual, high bandwidth use, it seems to work well.
I'm hopping between properties right now as we open up various locations (Old Faithful area will be next week). Presently, with the exception of Mammoth Hot Springs, we're expecting the first full opening since pre-covid. Mammoth will properly open sometime later this summer as the permanent sewer system becomes operational (that's the last obstacle so I hear). The old sewer system was completely washed away in last year's record flooding and the present system (which was in use over the winter) is a temp solution that can handle only light usage and occupancy.
Anyway, I'll be working at my normal place, Lake Yellowstone Hotel some point in early May and should have the antenna and system up shortly after. I had forgotten in the last journal, that I had purchased an option called "Starlink Roam" which allows me to use Starlink anywhere on the continent (at least according to the contract) without having to tell Starlink first about address changes. The antenna must be stationary though. One can buy "in-motion hardware" for a mere $2500 more.
I imagine the setup process will be much the same as when I set it up in Mammoth. We'll see if I have a good enough view of the north sky or if vehicles moving through the edge of the field of view cause problems. But I think I can find a site that handles both issues well.
If you want me to try some testing or such, I can do that when I get it running again.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
(1)
Do not use if foil seal is broken.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 20, @11:43AM
Is it this VOIP, https://www.mumble.info/ [mumble.info]
Or ???
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 20, @04:54PM (1 child)
Are you allowed to access Twitter?
(Score: 5, Touché) by Tork on Thursday April 20, @06:23PM
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Tork on Thursday April 20, @06:20PM (5 children)
This may not help you at all but I was curious if there was lightning around the time that it happened? A few years ago I was in Los Angeles and I had a Wi-max portable hotspot (remember those?) I used for backup internet. One day I was messing with it and LA had a rare lightning storm. Every time there was a flash from outside I had to restart the hotspot. I didn't have an abundance of opportunity to find out if that hotspot was just shitty or if that storm's characteristics were unique.
Starlink is an entirely different animal so I don't really expect that to be the issue. But it might be a useful data point if you have another outage and some time to troubleshoot it.
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Thursday April 20, @09:59PM (4 children)
I'll keep that in mind. I think I might see more disruptions at the RV site since it has trees around and a road to the north of the site. But I think I can situate the antenna so that it has a good view of the north sky while being far enough away from the road to be minimally affected. We'll see.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday April 21, @12:13AM (3 children)
Thank you for the real-life info on Starlink. I've been wondering how good they are in actual use.
Do you know if you can get permission or license to re-transmit the signal? Like you'd put the antenna in a better spot and downlink it to a Wifi hotspot or something similar that's closer to where it's needed (where the people are).
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Friday April 21, @12:53AM
I believe they'll want more money for that option. I dimly recall seeing something about that. When I get to a better place in my moving, I'll see if I can update this.
They didn't care when four devices were hitting the antenna at once. So a few people probably could use it without consequence. I don't know what they would do to someone who clearly is running internet for a huge number of people, say like a hotel. But they must have a way to shut things down.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21, @06:10AM (1 child)
You can run Ethernet off it, so I doubt they'd even notice. Besides, a client is a client to the router without them running some serious analysis to tell the difference between a power user and a repeater/bridge.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22, @03:53AM
You run the serious risk of misunderestimating khallow's porn hand. On a scale of one to five, how many starlinks does it take to fully Elon, to anti-Ari, to "repeater"; to appreciate the finer things in life? [wikipedia.org]
The truth need be told.