Starlink

AAZ

My current Sky internet is very rubbish although they say up to 67 MBS realistically it is in 37 -40 range which is not much issue in normal day but every so often the speed drops to low 20 and that is when problem start. I now do lot of work from home zoom/Teams and was looking for a reliable internet. What are people experience with starlink in UK, I live in Colchester if anyone uses in this part of patch ?

400ixl

Zoom and Teams require about 4mbps in bandwidth for video conferencing, les than half of that for voice only.

Starlink is expensive for a similar bandwidth to what you have now.

It sounds like your exchange is over subscribed which is why you see the variation in speeds. It doesn't sound like it degrades to a point of being an issue for Zoom / Teams.

As exchanges get upgraded to FTTP then the issue of over contention tends to go away as they are built for higher capacity.

37-40mbps is fast enought for 4-5 people to be streaming HD content  at the same time.

Neil_Jones

AAZ said:

My current Sky internet is very rubbish although they say up to 67 MBS realistically it is in 37 -40 range which is not much issue in normal day but every so often the speed drops to low 20 and that is when problem start. I now do lot of work from home zoom/Teams and was looking for a reliable internet. What are people experience with starlink in UK, I live in Colchester if anyone uses in this part of patch ?

You don't need copious amounts of bandwidth for Zoom or Teams.

If the issue of which you speak is caused by a line/exchange fault then it will occur whoever you're with as a landline provider, so you need to inform Sky of the problem first.

That being said, what sort of "problems" are you having at 20mbps?

BeerSavesMoney

If your device is connected by WiFi, try an Ethernet cable if you can to see if this improves your connection/speeds.

New_in_the_fens

I live about 100 miles north of you in Lincolnshire. I’ve been on starlink for about 8 months now. Living rurally, poor mobile phone signal and only basic broadband through BT (6mbs), we couldn’t stream, I couldn’t use my camera on teams etc (also WFH in the main).  

Starlink has been a lifesaver and in reality a small price to pay for consistent internet, Wi-Fi calling support on mobiles etc. it’s been robust and low issue with speeds consistently 50-125mbs. 

Having said all of that, if I had alternatives at a better cost, I’d probably take them. I’m going to have to buy another node for the system (more expense) as we do have poor signal in parts of the house further from the router. 

AAZ

New_in_the_fens said:

I live about 100 miles north of you in Lincolnshire. I’ve been on starlink for about 8 months now. Living rurally, poor mobile phone signal and only basic broadband through BT (6mbs), we couldn’t stream, I couldn’t use my camera on teams etc (also WFH in the main).  

Starlink has been a lifesaver and in reality a small price to pay for consistent internet, Wi-Fi calling support on mobiles etc. it’s been robust and low issue with speeds consistently 50-125mbs. 

Having said all of that, if I had alternatives at a better cost, I’d probably take them. I’m going to have to buy another node for the system (more expense) as we do have poor signal in parts of the house further from the router. 

Great to hear, What has been the experience on cloudy/rainy days do you still get good internet on those days and what is nodes ?

AAZ

400ixl said:

Zoom and Teams require about 4mbps in bandwidth for video conferencing, les than half of that for voice only.

Starlink is expensive for a similar bandwidth to what you have now.

It sounds like your exchange is over subscribed which is why you see the variation in speeds. It doesn't sound like it degrades to a point of being an issue for Zoom / Teams.

As exchanges get upgraded to FTTP then the issue of over contention tends to go away as they are built for higher capacity.

37-40mbps is fast enought for 4-5 people to be streaming HD content  at the same time.

At 37 I don't have issue but on days when it drops to 20 then I struggle with zoom specially if someone is concurrently watching Netflix downstair !!! 

New_in_the_fens

AAZ said:

New_in_the_fens said:

I live about 100 miles north of you in Lincolnshire. I’ve been on starlink for about 8 months now. Living rurally, poor mobile phone signal and only basic broadband through BT (6mbs), we couldn’t stream, I couldn’t use my camera on teams etc (also WFH in the main).  

Starlink has been a lifesaver and in reality a small price to pay for consistent internet, Wi-Fi calling support on mobiles etc. it’s been robust and low issue with speeds consistently 50-125mbs. 

Having said all of that, if I had alternatives at a better cost, I’d probably take them. I’m going to have to buy another node for the system (more expense) as we do have poor signal in parts of the house further from the router. 

Great to hear, What has been the experience on cloudy/rainy days do you still get good internet on those days and what is nodes ?

No issues regardless of the weather. Just needs an unobstructed view of the sky and copes really well. It also has an inbuilt heater to melt snow if needed.

A node is an extension to the coverage. So it needs to be within the range of the original router, then it will give you additional coverage in an area where the signal is weaker. I suppose it’s like a booster (not a tech wiz!)

alanwsg

New_in_the_fens said:
It also has an inbuilt heater to melt snow if needed.

I understand that the feline population has also discovered this!
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/outdoor-cats-are-using-500-starlink-satellite-dishes-as-self-heating-beds-180979401/

New_in_the_fens

alanwsg said:

New_in_the_fens said:
It also has an inbuilt heater to melt snow if needed.

I understand that the feline population has also discovered this!
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/outdoor-cats-are-using-500-starlink-satellite-dishes-as-self-heating-beds-180979401/

Luckily the flat roof isn’t accessible to cats, but I suspect it might interfere with the signal 😂

housebuyer143

How is your 5g reception? If you can get it on your phone you can run your house off it and get quite good speeds. 
We bought a 5g router and run our house from it on an unlimited EE SIM. We are quite rural so can only get 30mbps on a wired connection. Getting over 100mbps on the 5G.