Starlink Beta

[ALBERTAFARMER4]

Anyone get a beta invite? I have a friend that did (49.5 degrees north). Anyone in Canada that is under 51 degrees north is eligible. Here is the email they sent....

Subject: Starlink Better Than Nothing Beta!


As you can tell from the title, we are trying to lower your initial expectations 😀

Expect to see data speeds vary from 50Mb/s to 150Mb/s and latency from 20ms to 40ms over the next several months as we enhance the Starlink system. There will also be brief periods of no connectivity at all.

As we launch more satellites, install more ground stations and improve our networking software, data speed, latency and uptime will improve dramatically. For latency, we expect to achieve 16ms to 19ms by summer 2021.

The Starlink phased-array user terminal, which is more advanced than what’s in fighter jets, plus mounting tripod and wifi router, costs CA$649 and the monthly subscription costs CA$129.

If this sounds good to you, then order here.

Thanks,
Starlink Team


To test the speed of your current connection go to http://www.fast.com http://www.fast.com

[farmaholic]

Under 51° north in the Prairies leaves out alot of the population. In those areas, below 51°, there can already be adequate service, except maybe the most remote areas

[woodland]

53.5 degrees here so no worries. I guess we’ll stick with getting it from a tower 10 miles away which is better than dialup.

Now if only the cell service could be reliable............. since Covid hit it’s been worse than 15 years ago.

[ALBERTAFARMER4]

Under 51° north in the Prairies leaves out alot of the population. In those areas, below 51°, there can already be adequate service, except maybe the most remote areas

I agree. They are focusing on the area above and below the US/Canada border to start. As they add more satellites the coverage area will expand. We have "high speed wireless" but the speeds are very inconsistent. From 1Mbit to 10Mbit. 50Mbit would be a huge improvement.

[farmaholic]

I don't claim to fully understand all the numbers but we receive our service via cellphone tower.

What an evolution I witnessed. From dial-up to WBBI to 1X? to are we on something "G" right now? But each step was an improvement over the last. I never had satellite internet service but never heard alot of good things about it. Obviously the Ghetto doesn't have fibre-optics either.

[Rareearth]

I just tested, used your link ( maybe they send me a invite)

Latency
Unloaded 42 ms
Loaded 49 ms

Internet speed 45Mbps
Upload speed 3.9 Mbps

30 Mb down
2.2 Mb up

Sask tel ok this morning


Thanks for posting, this is critical for rural, agriculture and business

[ALBERTAFARMER4]

I just tested, used your link ( maybe they send me a invite)

Latency
Unloaded 42 ms
Loaded 49 ms

Internet speed 45Mbps
Upload speed 3.9 Mbps

30 Mb down
2.2 Mb up

Sask tel ok this morning


Thanks for posting, this is critical for rural, agriculture and business

That is pretty respectable. Is that over cellular? Do you have data limits? Just to clarify that link at the bottom is just to test your current speed (I was mostly curious to see what a typical speed for AV was), the link to sign up for the beta is this one....

https://www.starlink.com https://www.starlink.com

[Rareearth]

Yes cellular, sasktel. No traffic this morning I guess. Yes they have limits, throttle etc

[Sodbuster]

These are my numbers, still seems slow compared to the city or other places.

[agstar77]

We are scheduled for fibre optic connection to the farm next summer. 800 connection and 150 a month. 1 gig download no limit. This under a local municipal program. We already have a lan for a 1 mile radius to share an over the air service at 20 mb. We will switch to new service next year. If this does not happen we may go satellite.

[Rareearth]

Your the first farm I’ve heard of that can get fibre
I would take fibre over any other technology, it’s stable, no storms, fires, etc

[agstar77]

We have not received it yet but it is part of a plan to have fibre for all of Rural Mb. This program is similar to one 30 years ago when rural phone line were buried.

[Dr Tone]

We have not received it yet but it is part of a plan to have fibre for all of Rural Mb. This program is similar to one 30 years ago when rural phone line were buried.

Nice! We in Sask could only wish.

[blackpowder]

Here in my corner of AB, have a small town right at the end of my lane so not really the sticks.
Fibre is something I'll believe when I see unfortunately.
Right now using an antenna line of sight to a tower. Zoom meetings challenge it.

[helmsdale]

Pay for 20Mbps down, 3up, unlimited data. When I speed test I generally end up with 15-16 down, 2.5-3 up, single to low double digit millisecond pings, and the same for jitter.

All over WiMax wireless tower system. Very reliable through shit weather, except long term power outages 1.5-2+ hours.

I'd have to disconnect everything in the yard to get a true download speed test. I have an Ayrstone 2x2 hub mounted 30ft up that gets wifi out to about a mile with line of sight. Hoping to get it up the full 45ft, but I'll need to drop the tower to do it... a missed step at 45ft is probably damn close to lethal.

Eventually, I'd like to expand my Ayrstone network with mobile hubs. Supposedly with line of sight you can get 2.5miles between hubs, and can daisy chain 3 hops to get wifi 7.5+ miles away from the farm, or use bridges for distances at 5+ miles. I'd like to plop weather stations on all "chunks" of farmland if I could. Potentially soil probes for moisture, nutrients, etc.