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Starlink is a game changer especially when looking at a rural setting (farm, acreage). We have come a long way since the dial up internet days (no doubt), and with the new Starlink system we took a massive leap forward in overall speeds and reliability. All of our customers from the launch of Starlink have been rural, with varying geography's and landscapes but consistently excellent speeds. Not everyone knows this but Starlink actually approves the purchase of a system to the rural and un-tested areas a lot faster than towns and city's with a more established high speed internet infrastructure (naturally). Majority of the rural setups we have done needed some sort of customization in order to mount the Dishy in an open and stable area. So we finally have a power house of an ISP (great!), but now the question is, how do we find a good location that will provide year round signals and protection for the expensive equipment? Being a self tracking low orbit satellite system they require a 360 degree field of view in order to keep your internet connected as the low orbit satellites are constantly moving. The Dishy it self is NOT constantly moving, in fact it rarely moves. When initially installed it is supposed to lock on to one band of satellites in the low orbit and as that grouping of satellites slowly moves over the Dishy field of view you have a continuous stream of satellite internet signals being broadcast out, received by Dishy and re-broadcast throughout your home via the provided Starlink router. On the off chance that your system locks on to an entirely different grouping of satellites - is the main reason a 360 degree field of view is required. Minimal down time is the aim, and the more open sky that is available the better your chances of ultra reliable internet. Check Out This Video on Finding a location. https://satellitemap.space/ (Live Starlink Satellite and Coverage Map) We have talked about some of the alternative mounting options in a previous blog post: https://www.starlinkcommunityforums.com/post/dishy-alternative-mounts on that previous blog post we didn't get in to as much detail about the locations, which is of vital importance for the aforementioned reliability. So lets set the stage; say we have a 4 bedroom bungalow nestled away somewhere off the beaten path. You moved here to get away from the hustle and bustle and hopefully find some peace and quiet. The house is surrounded by trees and that's the way you like it, but you have a business to run from home which requires video conference calls, document downloads and significant file uploads on any given day. You start to realize very quickly that the average rural ISP is going to fall short for your needs, especially when compared to what you were used to in the city. So you have heard of Elon Musk's internet and decide to give it a try, you place the order wait a few weeks and it shows up at your door... now what? Although the install instructions seem very self explanatory there is often more than meets the eye with these systems, especially when working in remote areas. Some of the biggest hang ups come from the field of view that was mentioned earlier, and the majority of those obstructions in the field of view (ie: trees) are found outside of the city. Where to start Our recommendations come from years of experience in the satellite TV, and rural internet game. 1st step is to find the most open area you can manage, while still having the ability to run the cable in to your residence and feed Wi-Fi throughout the home. 2nd step is to make sure the open area you have selected is safe to get to (ie: snow, rain, ice, etc). We understand that every scenario will be different and not every step can be followed to perfection, but our recommendation (if a roof mount is required) is to try and have the dish accessible from a ladder, as most roof gradients can become dangerous when exposed to the elements. And the 3rd step (maybe the most important step) is having the proper mount, and mounting supplies to keep your Dishy safe during strong winds, as well as minimizing any chance of future leaks. Starlink has a plethora of mounts that they sell for both generations of the Starlink Dishy and this allows for those remote locations to have access to high speed internet. https://www.starlink.com/ Starlink has also created a fairly tough and robust dish (1st and now the 2nd generation), being as they are not a "fixed" dish system it is hard to keep them out of the elements (underneath a roof overhang for example). For the price though we hope that the Dishy does last for a good long time before replacement is needed. That being said, we believe that if you follow the 3 key steps that have been out lined above, you will have a much better chance of making Starlink your long term internet service with minimal down time or interruptions caused by a poor installation. We hope this has been informative when installing your own Starlink internet. Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions regarding your system and we would be happy to help. Thanks for reading.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine went on to Elon Musk’s Twitter and solicited him to please activate Ukraine onto the Starlink network for his country. In a not so surprising move in this day and age of technology Elon Musk responded back and within a few days the Ukrainian people had multiple Starlink systems in their hands. Truly a bold statement and leading gesture by Elon, but nowhere near as bold as Ukrainian people and their leader president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who now can tap into a new age of internet bandwidth being delivered by Starlinks satellite network coming from space, not the ground. So why is this a big deal? Let’s break this down as to just how significant this is for the Ukrainians and the world as a whole. I don’t want to use the word Russian loosely here as there are many good Russian people and some I’m sure that disagree with their leaders agenda, so let’s just say Vladimir Putin and his cronies that choose to follow and work with him whether they be oligarchs(very wealthy) or poor citizens of Russia they’re following an agenda that I don’t believe anybody truly knows the end of, but it does have the stage of a WW3 scenario. One thing Putin has done is managed to get a huge majority of the world to unite, and Elon Musk is no exception. On February 26th Mykhailo tweeted at Elon asking for help, with a very direct and urgent tone. The request was for Starlink's Internet capabilities. Why would he ask for this? Just one of the many revolutionary developments of Starlink is its ability to be disconnected, which seems counterintuitive as the whole reason for the Starlink is to connect. So what does this mean? With the Starlink constellation of satellite systems you don’t need to be close to a live fiber tower that can be dismantled or destroyed, you don't have to have a cable feeding into the system. Starlink connects from the base station that you and I have in our homes to Satellites 400-600 kilometers above the earth's surface. In modern war, armies attack communication networks, TV towers, cellular networks, radio-stations, all these are connected through long lines of cabling above and below ground, making them easy targets due to their vast size. Typical internet towers can hit ranges of 50 kilometers away from them, that ends up being a 100 kilometer full radius coverage area around the tower. (One Starlink satellite can have a 400 kilometer coverage radius) The large towers are often some of the first hit structures, taking out other radio-systems that run on them. leaving people without the ability to connect, disrupting their chain of communication. Ukraine's fight is no different. These tower systems and fiber lines are being destroyed, they form the bulk of the country's communication delivery infrastructure. With the Starlink system there are no towers, and the ground stations can be set-up anywhere the satellites roam to be tied iback into a safe ground network, Starlink has become the worlds network doctor. The true value of Starlink is seen as it becomes large and important communication network within a few days! In order to stop the Starlink communications they would have to take out every Starlink Dish system that is on the ground, which is rather small, making them easy to hide, unlike a tall 300 ft tower and they offer mobility. Giving full connectivity that can be critical, life saving, and will change the face of war as we know it. Will be fully connected to communicate to loved ones, feeds and streams will be uploaded to be viewed by the world, but more importantly is that the Ukrainian Government has the ability to stay in open communication , giving them a way to connect even to the UN Council with live video feed! Maybe the cronies can shoot down the satellites? Or attack the base systems using the signal to target there location. Elon posted a tweet about this later, warning the Ukranians using the system to only use when needed and keep the Dishy as far away as possible. It would be extremely difficult to try and take down the satellites that are moving above Ukraine, no small feat as these satellites are moving at 45’000 plus kilometers an hour and they’re many of them, oh ya there also in low earth orbit 500 kilometers away Unlike the traditional wires in the ground to connect people the Starlink network does this without any cable being run to a tower or home. This futuristic technology is able to connect us without putting millions of dollars of infrastructure into the ground. It is unfortunate that in 2022 the world is seeing another war. We are deeply disturbed that families just like yours and mine are being forced from their homes, being made to fight for their land, their homes. Elon made this gesture of goodwill to help our Ukrainian brothers and sisters. This just goes to show us how far reaching the power of technology is and how it's connecting us. In Elon's stepping up, hopefully the world and the Governments will take note as well. If you're looking for ways you can help we suggest contacting your local Ukrainian Clubs, Churches and Stores. Maybe join them in their rallies and whatever else they may ask or need. Contact your local government and elected official's and find out what you can do.. The world needs to be united when dealing with such an intense situation, united we stand divided we fall. The links from twitter Elon Musk's account https://twitter.com/elonmusk/with_replies Find Ukraine on the Starlink Satellite Map https://satellitemap.space/ Check out our YouTube video on testing Starlink WIFI. Starlink Community Forums Join for free today We hope you enjoy!

Tools and Materials Making the Decision Drilling Through Sealing it Up The Conclusion It is up to you on whether or not to hire out a contractor for your Starlink system. I'm thinking that most people are going to try and tackle this themselves in order to try and save some money...well possibly save some money. If this is not done right, or a mistake happens along the way the outcome could be that you'll end up paying more than if you would've hired a professional. That being said this isn't rocket science, so it really shouldn't be that hard. There are just some key details that if followed will make your installation be top notch. We're going to break this down into categories and over a few posts, so if you're looking for another installation tip then try using our search engine to find more. DRILLING THROUGH A WALL There is such a wide variety of homes using varying materials that there really isn't a one answer fits all. That being said, we're going to cover some of the more well known materials that have been used, will go through and list helpful tools and tips to help make your installation as easy as possible. The Tools. A good drill and long sharp drill bits 1 inch diameter recommended, sealant, tuck-tape... A decent drill, one with a hammer function really helps if you're going through Stucco or small amounts of concrete and brick. If you're trying to penetrate through a concrete foundation then you'll need a large hammer drill, they can be rented for fairly cheap and make a huge difference. Generally you're not going to be drilling through the foundation but we have seen a material in modern homes called block forming in which the walls have a thick concrete core where a regular drill will not work, you'll need one of these larger drills to get through thick concrete. Sealing is extremely important here, a proper seal will prevent rot, mold and little critters and bugs from gaining access into your home. make sure you have good sealing products to help. Scouting your property. As an installer for 20 years I've drilled a lot of holes. When you're out in the rural area you don't always have a hardware store close by, so you learn to improvise and work smartly. Take your time and get measurements, the old carpenter rule is "measure twice cut once". Depending on what generation Starlink system you have, your cable may have 75ft,100Ft and 150Ft cable lengths to work with. This will factor into where you'll be able to place the cable run. I'm usually eyeing up the corners, where the line runs straight down the seam looking very inconspicuous. If you have vinyl siding then you could look at running the cable in behind. be careful with this as you need the right tools to snap the siding in and out. If the siding is older then I wouldn't advise pulling it off as it rarely goes back the same way and you'll end up fighting with it to get it just right. The other option is you might be able to go through the attic dropping the cable down, this is a good option but be prepared to suit up, as you'll be working in insulation. Dress up covering all exposed skin and wear a mask, if you're fortunate to have enough room to maneuver around without disrupting the installation then this certainly makes it more appealing. Will cover attic work in another article. How's your home built? Once you've identified the material you're drilling through, you need to make sure you have a drill bit long enough. The drill bit needs to have extra length to compensate for the piece that is in the drill chuck, minimum 2 inches but hopefully more. Example: Your wall is 14 inches thick you'll need a minimum 16 inch bit. The material you're cutting through will tell you what kind of bit you'll need. Don't use a spade wood bit to cut through stucco, although you might get it through you'll damage the bit and create a messy cut. Use the right bit for the job. Stucco, especially older stucco will need a masonry bit in order to cut through it. Drilling through a wall, you need to map out as much area around, above and below, looking for electrical outlets or old wall plates, something you can use as a marker. Look inside and outside, sometimes conduits can be run on outside walls. I usually like to head right to the basement utility room, if you're lucky you will find some open ceiling in the basement where you can map out how electrical, water and gas lines are run. You can usually find a great place to enter a home as the gas/water and electrical lines exit the home here. The lines are usually fed just above the foundation and usually come into the furnace/breaker panel room. you can find the older tv cables and telephone lines as well. These won't be any use to you for Starlink but sometimes they can be used for tracking and fishing for your cable run. If you have a modern home with Cat5E cabling then you could possibly tie into that cabling, this can really save you a lot of time and give you a robust professional home network, hardwired speeds are always better and more consistent. Follow where the gas, water, electrical lines are going to the outside, you can tell from here how high up the foundation has been poured and if you can come in beside these lines, it makes for an easy entrance into your home. (If your basement is completely finished or the utility room is central then this will be more difficult to feed too. I would use a long thin pole(Fish Pole), remove the conduit covers and see if there is enough room in one of them to push your pole through and see if it can stretch all the way to the utility room. If it goes through with ease then this is an option, jobs like this are better with 2 people, as one can be inside while the other is outside to help pull the cable through. With so many options for bringing the cable in, you have to plan out where the best entrance will be. Placing the router in a central area, covering as much of your home is ideal but not always the most practical. If you have already been using the Starlink system(Which I highly recommend) then you already have a good idea of its range capabilities. Homes around 2000 sq ft can easily be covered by the factory router with proper placement. So we've weighed out the options and have decided to drill through an upper floor wall where there was an old line. Before drilling, mark out all areas and use a stud finder that has the ability to detect electrical current to make sure you're not going to hit any power lines or going straight through a stud(Beside a stud is ideal). If you see an outlet on either side of your selected location then there is a chance that a cable could be linking the two together. If you don't have a stud/current finder then take your time, being extra careful not to cause any damage. So we've looked at both the inside and outside and it looks clear, let's go inside and start cutting. If you're planning on putting up a wall plate to make it look pro then place your box on the wall and cut out the inside diameter using a drywall-knife, once you have the drywall piece cut out you will see a thin plastic barrier, this is known as a vapor barrier. This is used to prevent water from being able to get into your wall which can lead to mold and rot. You're going to want to make sure to seal this back up as much as possible. Use your knife, put a slit down the center big enough to get your 1' drill bit through. Behind the vapor barrier is insulation. Take your drill bit with just your hand, using the chuck side of the bit (not the cutting side) and push into the insulation while moving it in a small circular motions, this is separating up the insulation well checking for any other cables or water lines that could be in there, hence the reason you use your hand for this. The purpose of doing this is to prevent the insulation from getting caught and twisting around the bit while drilling. The insulation will try to get back to its original shape so this must be done somewhat quickly. Once you have opened the insulation around the bit, place it into your drill and insert it through the opening till you feel the tip hitting on the outside wall. Slowly begin drilling and watch for any catching insulation. If it starts to catch then go back a step and clear it out. If it turns without catching any insulation then slowly pick up the speed of the bit while applying moderate pressure. I say moderate pressure for a reason, a sharp bit will cut easily and produce a much cleaner finish, a dull bit requires a lot of pressure possibly causing a blow-out at the end from all the pressure being used. I've seen lots of cracked siding and large stucco pieces from installers using dull tools with too much pressure. You should be able to feel the bit cutting through the wood, as it gets to the siding you will feel it get a bit springy, like it is pushing back. Lighten up on the pressure and just use the bit for cutting with minimal pressure. This will help to cut a nice clean circular hole on the outside. You will feel it pop out as the siding gives way. If you're going through stucco or brick then make sure you're using a concrete bit and place your drill on hammer mode. You have to put moderate pressure when cutting through these materials but don't be over aggressive, let the bit do the work for you. Once you've popped through, check the outside hole for burs or any sharp objects that could damage your line and remove them. You managed to get a nice clean cut 1" hole through your wall, congratulations! Now we need to get the Starlink cable through it. Depending on the depth of the hole you might be able to just push the cable through, but make sure to tape it up, covering the connections. You can do a lot of damage to the connection by shoving it into a fiberglass and wood chipped filled hole, tape it up covering up all parts of the connection. If needed attach your cable using the tape to your fish to help feed it through deeper holes. Pull the cable through the hole with the extra slack being brought inside or left up at the dish. Quick note here for running outside lines horizontally, place clips a minimum 2ft apart to prevent cable sagging, this will help the cable to stay in place making it look professional over time. Head outside to seal up your hole, place a drip loop on your exterior line. This will be a 6-8 inch loop that dips just below the entrance hole. This will help prevent extra water from penetrating the hole by dripping off of the bottom of the loop. You won't be able to prevent all water but every little bit will help the hole to stay sealed for a long time to come. Install your sealing product while the line is loose to help plug the inside of the hole. Once the drip loop is installed then reapply more sealant all around the hole, making sure that every little bit is sealed. If you're working with brick or stucco then make sure you're pre-drilling your clamping holes, using the lowest speed as well, maybe even hand-tightening the clamps to prevent twisting your cable and damaging it. Head back inside, take your tuck tape and place it around the sliced vapor barrier and cable line to help seal the inside. Place the cable through the wall plate box and cover plate and install. These plastic boxes come in a variety of styles so make sure to follow the instructions for yours properly. All the parts we used today we're found in our local hardware store. Well you've done it, made a plan and managed to install your cable just how you hoped. The Dishy cable has been brought through a wall and is working top notch while looking professional. There are many other styles of home that we've come across, log homes, straw-bail, metal... are all out there, although these homes are less common. Each one needs to be handled differently, make sure to consult with a pro if you have any doubt at all. Most professionals will at least guide you in the right direction, and give you a free quote so you know just how much it would cost to get it done by them. We hope you have enjoyed this article, please become a member to stay up to date with everything Starlink.

Index: UNIFI by Ubiquiti The most capable EZVIZ long range WIFI BLINK very easy to install Results the winners are in Starlink internet speeds are in some cases 10-20x faster than their competitors, with more speed comes more options, like running large security/surveillance systems. Many clients have asked what are some good options for their Starlink system. We fortunately have installed a lot of security systems over the years and have already installed multiple on the Starlink system for clients as well as tested on our own. We’ve completed Installations for small and large businesses, residential and remote view systems, So we’ve put together our Top Three Modern Surveillance/Security Systems that are compatible with Starlink. So you’ve received your Starlink, Yeah! Now you're thinking about putting in a better security system into your home/office. We have found a lot of success with a range of (remote view capable) camera systems running on our 1st Gen Starlink internet. We have kept everything original as far as equipment (Router, Power Supply, etc.) To date we have worked with around 10 different camera systems from Hard Wired to Wireless as well as Hybrid Wireless systems, there are a lot to choose from and it can be daunting to find the right fit. So today we are going to jump in to a few of our surveillance favorites, and hopefully guide you in the right direction if you are looking at a setup for your own home or business, but don't know where to begin. Hard wired (top choice) Ubiquiti makes some truly impressive scalable cameras, they offer an expansive range of equipment at many different price points and can be utilized anywhere from personal home use to your business (small, medium or large). They are our top choice first and foremost because of the ease of use, and second due to how customizable they are. The shout out to ease of use comes from the highly rated and well thought out app and software that Ubiquiti has created. We have worked with many different brands and manufacturers over the years and it seems like the majority of the budget has gone towards the cameras themselves, which is all well and good until you need to check up on your property while away (done via an app). This is one area where Ubiquiti's Unifi Protect products shine. https://ca.store.ui.com/collections/unifi-protect The other highlight that we pointed out is the customizability; it is truly second to none (in our experience). I had mentioned earlier that this is a scalable system, when you compare this to a traditional legacy camera kit which saves all of the recordings to a NVR or a DVR and from said recording device you need to have every connection cable run from that point to each individual camera's location. Depending on what kit you purchase it will have a fixed amount of ports on the back of the device and limits you for future expansion (larger NVRs or DVRs can be purchased at an extra cost). This is not to say that the legacy systems are no good but more so to point out the age and the limitations when going this route. The Unifi Protect products have a similar concept but can be achieved (on a large scale) with more ease. When storing video clips and images one option is the Cloud Key. It is roughly 1/5th the size of a traditional NVR or DVR and is a hybrid of sorts that combines secure cloud storage and backup as well as on board storage with an expandable hard drive. Just like computers have come a long way in processing power and size, so have products such as the Cloud Key. Legacy systems are tried and true and have their place, but the advancements and attention to detail that Ubiquiti brings should set the standard for other security companies and brands (similar to the surge forward that Elon Musk and Starlink has brought). Any of the Ubiquiti cameras can also be seamlessly added into your Unifi Protect network, from small HD indoor cameras to a variety of outdoor cameras in 1080P or 4K quality, small (easy to mount and hide) or larger fixed optical zoom cameras all the way up to a robust pan/tilt/zoom camera that provides a whopping 22x optical zoom. You can mix and match for your needs and have them connected under the same account and viewed through the same clean and easy to use interface. It's kind of like Apple products with all of the polish and appeal they bring, while still delivering a high functioning and well thought out product. All of this excellence does come at a cost though, and you will find yourself spending a fair chunk more (in most cases) compared to a legacy camera kit, that being said the scalability of the Unifi Protect products means you can slowly build your system a few cameras at a time without breaking the bank. Which leads me to perhaps the biggest drawback right now with Unifi products is that they're hard to find. With very limited supply, if you can find them then buy them. 2nd Place Hardwire Choice, Hikvision. These are great systems at half the cost of Unifi, and are extremely rugged and reliable. The main reason it didn’t come first is that Unifi functionally is the best in the industry and the set-up of the Hikvision system is not for the faint of heart. Hybrid Wireless (top choice) EZVIZ packs a punch in a small package, with some of the best night vision capabilities on the market (specific models), we certainly have not tested every brand out there but can safely say (of the ones we have tested) the EZVIZ lineup of cameras is one of the best bangs for your buck. Another excellent feature is the onboard storage via an SD card slot, no on site recording device needed as these cameras connect wirelessly to your Wi-Fi which in turn gives you remote access to your clips and recordings (saved on the SD card). The one caveat with these cameras is that they are a Hybrid Wireless system, basically this means you have to have continuous power (110V-120V plug) connected to the camera's power supply. It does not have a battery power option or a POE for power option, and this is why we are referring to it as Hybrid Wireless. This can be a pro or a con depending on the location of your camera relevant to a power outlet. A pro because you never have to change batteries in the camera or a con because you are limited to the placement of the camera and or having to install power nearby. Aside from the potential power road block you will find an intuitive and easy to use app, as well as a camera that talks to you and walks you through the installation steps, it really doesn't get much easier than the EZVIZ cameras. Aside from the need for a continuous power source it's hard to find many flaws with these cams, if you are looking for a few individual quick setup cameras then look no further. https://www.ezvizlife.com/ Wireless (top choice) Blink is the most affordable camera system of the 3, being an Amazon company it often goes on sale and is well priced for the kits. They are a completely wireless system that run on two lithium AAA batteries and can last up to two years before replacement is needed(depending on the settings, we typically see battery replacement needed 1-2 times a year.). They have a bright and crisp picture, are very small and can be hidden easily which is a huge bonus for capturing footage with less chance of being seen and compromised. Another bonus with being an Amazon company is that they have good funding, and have put a lot of thought and money into creating a sleek and functional camera system for the masses. They also have the most aftermarket mounts of any system that we have seen, including a neat bird house style mount that can attach to your rain gutter, as well as a quick release mount for when you need to change the batteries, just to name a few. When it comes to storage they have two options; you can either pay a monthly fee for a cloud based storage service or you can purchase a micro SD card that inserts into the camera system module (communicates with cameras from inside the house near Wi-Fi). Now the main drawback that sticks out in our minds is motion detecting distance (25' max). Not exactly a deal breaker, but can definitely be an inconvenience for some people trying to cover a large area with cameras. For smaller properties and homes, Blink is an overall excellent choice in the wireless category and that is why it made the list today. https://www.amazon.ca/ Surveillance/Security System Breakdown Chart In conclusion, all these systems work well with the Starlink system. The one you choose really depends on your needs, budget and tech capability. We feel all these systems are worth the investment. A surveillance/security system helps bring peace of mind, letting you know when and even who is on your property while your away, from catching the delivery guy to scaring away criminals. We hope you have found this article helpful in choosing a camera system to pair with your Starlink internet. We would like to hear about your experiences, with so many systems on the market we know there are other systems that will work well, and some that won't. Join our forums and get in on sharing and learning with other Starlink users. If you have any further questions regarding Starlink and or Camera systems please leave a comment or send us a message and we would be happy to help.

We recently installed a Starlink system for a honey farm near Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. The property has 3 buildings on it, one is the customers home, one is used for honey production, and the other for creating and producing honey based alcohols (mead), among many other quality handmade products - https://www.bbbhoneyfarm.com/ Each building is approximately 60-80' apart, so we were tasked with setting up a reliable and efficient way of sending the Wi-Fi signals to each building, and all over the property. For these distances we ended up going with a few D-Link meshing routers to bridge the gap, and provide a minimally intrusive way to share the Starlink internet over the whole farm, and throughout each building. These routers broadcast both 2.4ghz and 5ghz signals providing decent range for meshing between multiple buildings within a 100' range (the range we have found the most success). These D-Link routers require some programming in order to have them communicate with each other, but that programming is fairly easy to do with the D-Link Wi-Fi App (https://ca.dlink.com/en/consumer/apps). When all was said and done with the installation, we were able to walk around the farm and experience great speeds in any location. We have done a fair number of setups similar to the one done at the BBB Honey Farm, but no property is the same, and adaptability, as well as Wi-Fi Alternatives is key to utilizing and dispersing your Starlink internet anywhere you need it. The beauty of the Starlink system is the speeds that it can achieve (especially in a rural setting), you can send it to multiple buildings and have multiple networks ran off of a single ISP while still maintaining some pretty impressive averages. One of the alternatives we have setup is the Ubiquiti Loco M series links (point to point). Although there is some price up front for the links (as well as programming and cabling needed) they provide an excellent option for long range internet sharing (up to 13km (M2) P2P) and can save you money in the long run. We have seen a few cases where our clients were trying to run a rural business and had a separate internet service, and provider, for each out building on the property (ex: office/shop/barn) just to be able to handle the demands of the business and avoid the risk of internet down time. Now enter Starlink onto the scene and customers finally get what they pay for, one internet provider and one monthly fee gives you a world of possibilities for your home and your business. Another great option (and the most stable) if you are within a 100m (328') range would be a direct hard line (using approved Cat cable) from a switch to each location - This is what we will be doing for some of our clients in the near future - Once you have the hard line ran over, you can then add that to a network switch feeding internet throughout the building via pre plumbed Cat cabling, or straight in to a wireless router that disperses the Wi-Fi. We have seen vast differences in the speeds between a hard wired system and a strictly wireless system. Although we aim to get the most out of a system, any speed test software, or app should be taken with a grain of salt (many factors play into the final numbers). The main things that we want to see in the end result is a happy customer and a stable internet umbrella covering any and all areas that Wi-Fi is needed. All 3 methods of connection outlined in this post have been successful for us, and our customers, and can be customized to fit any businesses needs. To summarize; D-Link meshing routers -For short distance internet sharing. -Easy setup and no extra supplies needed. -1 router per building required https://www.amazon.ca/ref=nav_logo LX1870 from $140-$190. Hard Line Cat Cabling -For up to 100m or 328' from switch to each buildings router. -Trenching and conduit often required -Router at each location -Price varies depending on labor cost/time and cabling price per ft. -On average the most expensive, but the most stable option. https://www.amazon.ca/ref=nav_logo Ubiquiti M Series Loco -https://www.amazon.ca/ref=nav_logo $80-$120/link: for long distance internet sharing (Ubiquiti M2 or M5) (2 needed for point to point link) -Moderate setup -Able to send signals over a very long distance -Extra supplies needed (J-arm/mounting pole/cat cable/silicone..) -Installer may be needed (hourly rate) -Router at each location -Middle of the pack for overall price, still a very stable option (with good line of sight) If you would like to learn more about this and other topics feel free to leave a comment on this post, continue browsing this website or visit our YouTube channel: Thanks for reading!

Starlink updated their speed test in the app again! The new speed-test has three meters for testing. The one on the left is green and the one in the middle blue and the right is white. There has been some confusion around what these tests mean exactly . We are going to give you the best breakdown we can to help you use this tool properly. First off why have a speed-test? What is it's purpose and can it help my internet experience? An internet speed test is a very handy and useful tool, this helps you understand how much bandwidth you have at your disposal. Think of it as a car on the highway going fast, how fast you say? Well looking at the speedometer tells you exactly what speed you're traveling at to prevent you from getting any tickets. The speed test in your Starlink app is telling you just that, how fast your internet is moving. To run the speed test is very simple just push the speed icon in the opening page of the app. It takes around 1-2 minutes for the test results to be finalized, That is the easy part, understanding the results is a bit trickier so lets take a look at a few results. Looking at the Starlink speedtest screen in the app. The Green circle shows you how fast the internet speed is to your device, (so essentially how fast your device is driving around the house - using our analogy). The Blue Circle number that shows up is what speed the internet was coming into your location. The third white circle is how fast your devices(Phone) Wi-Fi connection is. Lets start with the green circle we have an 87 Mbps Download result. Just below the dials is a graph chart in which you can follow the speed over the testing period, looks like we peaked at just over 100 Mbps. Most speed tests will start off gradually and then peak quickly and taper off as you see in this graph. Just below the download speed result you see 3 Mbps upload 43 ms latency is the upload speed for that device, as you see here our result was 3Mbps. I'm not going to break down the difference between upload and download speeds and what they mean here, but all I will say is that the majority of users are using download on any given device, so the number is often going to be 10 fold that of the upload. So through this test we can see that the device (keep in mind this test will change depending on distance from the router and what is in between) has achieved 87 download and 3 upload which is pretty good (taking into consideration many on site factors). That speed is more than capable of running many tasks with ease, including streaming live videos, zoom meetings, etc. One quick but very important note inside the app check for what band your device is on. In the home browser select network then tap on your device and check what connection bandwidth your on and how strong you're device connection is. .You have probably heard about 2.4 GHZ and 5 GHZ network connections in wireless routers, the Starlink has a smart system built into it that detects the best possible connection to the router and will switch this automatically according to the need and performance requirements. The big thing to note here is that you will usually see big speed differences between these 2 frequencies, lets go back to our driving analogy. Think of the 5 GHZ band as having the fastest road speed signs, but the roads are very short. So although you can travel at the fastest speed, you're very limited to how far you can travel on that road. The 2.4 GHZ band has much slower speed limits (actually 1/3rd the speed of 5 GHZ) but it has really long roads, making it better for long trips far from your home. So depending on your location and need for bandwidth the Starlink router will assign you to either network. Most likely it will assign you to the 5 GHZ when you're close to the router or have very little interference between the router and your device, and in turn will assign the 2.4 GHZ to devices that have some distance between the router and device, and or a lot of interference. A special note here is that you can manually set up the 2.4 and 5 networks in the Starlink system. I wouldn't recommend this unless you have some knowledge of networking as you can do more damage than good. The AI in the Starlink I would say is pretty darn accurate in its decisions, thank you Mr Musk. So the main point here, is that when using this test take note of what network you're on and move closer or further away from the router to get accurate tests. If possible get the devices within range of the 5 GHZ network or better yet a hardwire connection (which still to this day is the best connection), we've consistently doubled our Starlink speeds by hardwiring our device's. The blue circle is your true internet speed, unlike the green which gives us the speed to our device the blue circle calculates our total bandwidth being delivered to the location. The test reflects your Starlink systems connection to the world wide web (outside the home) unlike the green which is all about the inside connectivity to a single device in the home. So this test represents just how much bandwidth you have to split over all your devices. Lets take a look at our results and break it down a little. So we have 192Mbps download average speed being sent from servers around the world beaming down via satellites to our Dishy and 10 Mbps upload is what we can send back to the world wide web. Wow this was a good test, So in theory if I run one device on this network, having all the bandwidth to itself then this would be its performance. But we all know that there is usually multiple devices connected all sharing the network, well kind of sharing. Some devices absorb a lot more bandwidth and are essentially hogs when it come to the internet being shared. But that is a topic for another day. The 3rd white circle lets you know how strong your device is. This is very handy if your having connection issues with devices. This is not your internet speed, but rather what your device would be capable of if you had the bandwidth. Where this test helps is when you're looking for dead spots within the house or comparative network connectivity . So our Starlink system clearly has a great connection to the Satellite Network and is able to feed multiple devices easily with these speeds. Lets do another test this time with my phone connected to the 2.4 bandwidth. Notice that the green circle has dropped quite a bit in speed (90 Mbps) and it is well under the systems potential at 139 Mbps. Notice my device connection was very poor as well at 95, this might have governed the green test...In order to get my phone on the 2.4 Starlink network I moved between rooms in my house to put some resistance between the devices. This is why the 2.4 Ghz network is still used today, because it has such a long range it helps with those hard to get spots still offering decent performance with range. Looking at our connection now, we are on the 2.4 GHZ, which if you remember is a network that runs at 1/3rd the speed. The blue circle isn't impacted by this as it is reading from the modem (dishy) to the satellite 400-600 miles up and in the low earth orbit. One thing to note: is that the satellites are moving in orbit, unlike previous satellite technology that had a geo-stationary orbit and stay constantly connected to your system, the Starlink satellites are constantly changing through out the day. This leads to a lot of fluctuation when testing, (doing multiple tests back to back we see big jumps of over 100 Mbps.) You can see on this screen shot from https://satellitemap.space/ that the satellites are in constant movement above, meaning that Dishy can switch between satellites to deliver the best signals possible, but with that there can be some delay if your Dishy is attached to a distant satellite. Now lets take a look at another speed test with a different result. 5 Ghz Speedtest. With this test our device speeds ended with a decent 109 Mbps, the blue circle ended up at 118 Mbps speeds and the white was a whopping 264Mbps! The 5 Ghz connection held true at only 9 Mbps difference. The other factor here that will mess with our consistency is changing between satellites and weather will cause a lot of variances. So don't get to caught up in these numbers, but rather on the overall experience you're having with the system. Most people wouldn't realize the difference between 25 or 100 Mbps running to their device as both are more than enough to perform a lot of bandwidth heavy tasks. How can this help you? There are a lot of ways this app can help you manage your networks health and understand what's going on. First off the connection status tells a lot about how strong your signal is. The connection here is 5 Ghz with only a 34% connection to the router. I purposely did this test outside of my house to create as much interference as possible. This number will change as you walk form room to room placing walls between you and the router, at 34% it is still operational but the test was only 13 Mbps meaning that it would start to really lag on the load times. Knowing this, I now have a few things I can try to rectify this problem. I could reposition the Starlink router to bring it closer to the area being serviced. We could also add a booster to help push signals instead of the afore mentioned step. Keep in mind this would be at a cost and would require some extra set-up. Another option is to replace the Starlink router with a more powerful unit (lots of good options on the market), and most mainstream routers work just fine with your existing Starlink system. Special note that Starlink has 2 generation systems, so make sure to get the proper accessories for extending the system. The 2nd generation doesn't come equip with a ethernet port this is optional. Testing The Device. Being in the internet industry as long as we have has improved our speed and efficiency when diagnosing poor internet for our clients (even with new systems like Starlink). The one thing that no client wants to hear, is that it is their device acting up and it has nothing to do with the ISP. This speed test can help you in pinpointing problem devices by simply using it to find the best possible connection location and running your suspect device there as well. Now if your device is the suspect it gets a little bit trickier, but is much easier if you have a few devices to verify it on, most homes have multiple cell phones in them, so downloading the app on each device will help with figuring out the problematic device. Every device has its own WIFI processor, and older processors or faulty ones just can't keep up with the new technologies that are arriving everyday. Upgrading devices has become somewhat normal as much as we don't like it, if you want good internet that performs well it has just as much to do with your equipment inside the home as it does with your ISP's equipment outside the home. Blue Circle Router Speeds Are Always Low. This could be stemming from multiple problems and we definitely recommend contacting Starlink if this is your case, but before you do make sure to check the dish for interference (trees or buildings) that could be blocking or interfering with the signal. If your tests fluctuate a lot (good one day and not the next) then there could be some other interference in the area. Although not common it definitely isn't out of the realm of possibility. Best way to rule out external interference is to power down devices that are suspect (if possible) and rerun the test until you can pinpoint the problem. Bottom line here is that if the blue circle router speeds are constantly low it doesn't matter how much you adjust or replace equipment on the inside, as the problem is more than likely external, (if not Dishy or attached cabling/which is only serviceable by Starlink). In Conclusion We love that Starlink has built this into their app, its usefulness when needed is fantastic. It can really help you understand your networks health and make improvements as necessary. Starlink has come on the scene blistering fast, and with it has come a lot of questions and curiosity. This app has helped us to understand a lot about the behavior of the network allowing us to make articles like this for you. If you have enjoyed this article please make sure to subscribe to our site to stay up to date on our Starlink journey. Check out our YouTube video on testing Starlink WiFi. .

Starlink Router, How to reset and troubleshoot? The Starlink system is so new that the product has not been proven yet and remains to be seen how the future will look for them. But so far so good, the Starlink router has proven to be both fast and reliable....at least for the most part. There has been a few little hic-ups along the way. Noooooo! The Red Light of Death on your Starlink Router, what to do! First off, panic! The Red light means you’ve lost connection, you have no internet! No Tv Streaming, No video games, No Alexa! Oh my…but wait all hope is not lost. There are a number of things you can do if the red light has shown up for you. We need to establish at just what point did the red light show up, are you just activating and haven’t used the system yet or its worked perfect for months but just the other day it reared its bright little red laser beacon. If you're new then keep reading if your system has worked for a while then you can skip down to the next step, but please feel free to keep reading if you wish. Always good to do a review. If you're new and the dish has just been activated then be patient. It can take awhile for these little systems to come online. I’ve heard of them starting up the next day after sitting left powered on. However with the dozen installs we’ve done we ran into a few issues but by far the majority we’re plug and play and the issues we did have we’re solved within a few hours. First Check Location... My first experience with the Starlink Red Light was due to a location error. The physical address Starlink had on record was different from my actual location. This was a tough one to figure out as it booted up and worked fine but then would go out a few minutes later, repeating this cycle over and over no matter what adjustments I made. It would run 150Mb, then 7Mb, then the red light would flash on. As it turned out we checked the profile settings in the Starlink Account and found the address was out by 10 miles, it was several Canadian township roads away. So with a quick adjustment inside the Starlink account and voila, it started working, the red light stayed out, speeds also improved hitting over 200Mb speeds. Now I don’t presume this will be a big issue but it did happen again to us at another job site. So now we're in the habit of checking that the location in the account matches our GPS location. It takes minutes to do and can be a big time saver. This must be done online as it can’t be done through the APP The steps are simple. Go to Starlink.com and login to your account On the far top right of the screen there is a profile icon, login here 1. Click on the Icon and select profile. 2. Find the addresses section and click edit.(The little pencil Icon) 3. Select Location Map (Black Button) Make sure the Icon is directly over your map location. If you gave them the wrong address completely then contact Starlink and see what they can do, you can also try to resubmit your new location which we did and it worked for us. 2nd Check be patient soft reset Okay so we’ve established that our location is fine but we still have the red light. Be patient, leave it powered on for an 1hr. Well you're waiting, you can follow the troubleshooting list in the Starlink app and submit a ticket to let them know at www.starlink.com, if after some time your patience has worn thin then the next step for us is a soft reset on the Starlink. Starlink soft reset/reboot. Locate the power brick that comes with the Starlink system. A soft reset is simply unplugging the unit from the electrical outlet for 30 seconds, then plugging it back in and waiting 10 mins for the system to reboot. System rebooting can be done though the Starlink app for the modem and router as well, I just prefer the other way as then I know for sure everything has been powered down. 3rd Factory Reset Well we’ve waited for 10, 20, 30 minutes and still the red light flashes. Next step is to factory reset the router. Flip the router upside down looking at the bottom of the router, there is a tiny little hole. Inside the tiny little hole is a button that takes a very thin stiff object to pressure down, a tack or pin works just fine. Press down briefly, 2-3 seconds and then the blue light should flash quickly before the router reboots. Because we're factory resetting the router the network ssid and password will need to be redone through the Starlink app, I know this is a pain. To make it easier use the same ssid and password then hopefully every device that was previously on the network will automatically configure and hook up. If you change the ssid and password then plan on going through your network devices and connecting them to the new network id. CHECKLIST Check Starlink account address settings Wait an hour, email Starlink through the app and submit a ticket. Soft Reset Factory Reset 4th Step Patience... This little process takes a couple hours to complete but so far it has held true and we’ve been able to get back online, knock on wood as this won’t always be the case. Sometimes equipment fails, if this is the case then follow up with the ticket and make sure to let them know and hopefully then send out equipment asap to get you back online again. Enjoying all the novelties that come with having a true high speed internet system for your home. Our experience with Starlinks customer service has been good. Yes it is all done online, there is no talking with a rep on the phone but that is just the way it is nowadays. There is a thank you email that gets sent out if they received your ticket giving you a timeframe that you can expect a follow up response to come. I have seen this take 24 hours, and then you're waiting for equipment to be delivered. Very annoying but this is hopefully an anomalia, as by far the majority of systems have held up very well, with very little issues and speeds well beyond its competitors. So far we’ve been able to fix all but one system in which the Starlink router crashed. We were able to take another router the client had and installed it into the Starlink modem and it worked well. So they didn’t lose their internet while waiting for the replacement router to be delivered. So there are always options. If you’ve run into issues and have found some workarounds then let us know below, we would love to hear from you. Make sure to sign up to stay up to date on our latest news and reviews. For a little more help check out our YouTube Video

New to the internet game Starlink has come in swinging with excellent download and upload speeds out of the box, and a better than average experience for users (even in the Beta stage). We at AMS are sold on the system, but we don't speak for everyone, especially when looking at the price point to acquire a system for yourself. In this Blog we are going to do some comparisons on a few rural internet providers here in Canada, and help those on the fence make an informed decision on an internet system for your business or household needs. Lets first talk about Bandwidth: -Bandwidth is measured by how much data can be moved between two points within a network- Often confused with speed, bandwidth is the VOLUME (amount) of data that can be transferred, compared to Download or Upload rates (which is the SPEED that the data can be transferred at). When considering an ISP (Internet Service Provider) remember to not only base your decision on the download and upload speeds but also the infrastructure in your area that is supplying the internet connection to your home or business. Many rural internet providers are ran off of LTE systems which use wireless antennas to receive signals from a tower in your area, many factors contribute to the quality of your connection including the landscape, distance to tower, physical location or tower capacity (the users on said tower at any given time). This doesn't often (but should always) play into the decision of what provider to go with. Now lets take a look at Price: Starlink(New Satellite Internet Provider): -Monthly Charge: $129CAD+Tax (unlimited data) $135.45 per month. (only one package available at this time) -Equipment Charge: $649CAD+$65CAD shipping and handling+Tax - $750 total (customer owns the equipment) -Speeds: Ranging anywhere from Download 60MBPS-300MBPS+ Upload Range From 10MBPS-30MBPS (these are an approximates based on personal experience over a year of testing) Ping times average 30-40MS (will vary) -Extra Fees: No rental fees. No contract. No service fees. No installation fees (unless contractor is needed) What you see is what you get. Xplornet(Rural Canada Wide LTE Provider): -Monthly Charge: $109.99CAD+Tax (unlimited data) $115.50 per month (after 1 free month) (multiple package options) -Equipment Charge: Equipment is under a rental program (covered under plan) Can rent a wireless router for $6 per month added to bill -Speeds: Top Package provides up to a Download of 50MBPS and an Upload up to 10MBPS. Ping times average from 20-30MS (will vary) -Extra Fees: requires a one or a two year contract. Two year contract provides a free installation. One year contract is a $49.99 installation fee on the first bill. Xtra care warranty can be purchased for $7.50 per month (labor and service calls are not covered after 1st year of service) this will cover most service calls to the premises (with some restrictions) MCSNet (Largest Rural Alberta Highspeed Provider) -Monthly Charge: $149.95CAD+Tax (unlimited data) $157.50 per month (densely populated areas will receive $10 off the monthly bill) -Equipment Charge: Equipment is under a rental program (covered under plan) -Speeds: Typical users will experience speeds up to 40MBPS download and 10MBPS upload (multiple packages available - only one unlimited data package available) -Extra Fees: No term or two year contract. Two year contract provides a free installation. No contract is a $199.95 installation fee on the first bill. On site service calls are NO charge unless issue was caused by customer damage, error or neglect (minimum $75 site charge + $75 per hour) When comparing these 3 rural providers it really is a broad sweep of prices, download speeds, upload speeds, etc. Each provider has its pros and its cons. I really appreciate that MCSNet recognizes the limitations in certain geographical areas and provides a $10 discount for those experiencing slower speeds due to their location and the load on the tower. Although they are the highest priced option customers seem satisfied with the service. Xplornet having the lowest price point for an unlimited package offers some perks when comparing to Starlink, main one being equipment rental instead of purchase and one year of warranty for on site service calls. Starlink at the 2nd highest price point has been able to back up the cost with some incredible rural speeds, ease of setup and use (self Install), and quick response in the app through the support tab. One thing they all have in common though is the option for unlimited data so you never have to worry about how much you and your family, or your business is utilizing the internet, What we have found over the years working with different internet companies (whether we are installing the services or experiencing it for ourselves) unlimited data doesn't matter if your internet service and or your customer service is poor. No company is perfect but I for one am willing to pay the extra monthly charge for stability and peace of mind. For AMS, Starlink is the clear winner for our needs as a small business (they didn't pay me to say this..), the reason I say that; is the sheer capacity Starlink has for running a host of devices and tasks all at the same time, we have tried to crash the system with a huge amount of streaming, uploads and zoom calls across 15+ devices all at once and Starlink handled it all in stride (with some minor slow down). On top of excellent speeds SpaceX has been working hard to launch more than 2000 satellites (to date) into orbit, and they are authorized for a total of 4408... so far. We are not saying that we haven't had any down time over a year of testing the Dishy, but more so want to come back to the point of stability and peace of mind, which Starlink seems to provide an abundance of. Combine that with the drive they have to provide internet service worldwide with another phase of 30,000 satellites in the works, I have a feeling we aren't going to see much for slow down due to capacity issues. Video Proof of the Starlink Capacity It wouldn't be fair to wrap this up without reiterating that the Starlink system has the potential (just like every other rural internet) to become overloaded with customers. If we look back earlier in this Blog when Bandwidth was mentioned and the explanation of what that means, it should help with the understanding of any systems limitations. With Starlink we are looking at a satellite system where the satellites have been launched into low orbit (first of its kind in that regard) this allows it to be very competitive with Latency (ping times) in comparison to any tower based LTE systems. Like I mentioned earlier though, none of that matters if the companies infrastructure cannot handle the customer base and provide solid customer service. Time will tell if they have sufficiently prepared for the influx of customers that are coming. However this plays out, I am happy to see the competition lowering prices and increasing the incentives in order to stay relevant, as well as providing Canadians with stable high speed connections. Thank you Starlink for bringing the change! I hope this article has helped you in your decision. Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions. Thanks for reading, and take care, AllMediaServices.

There are many options available from Starlink when it comes to mounting your Dishy, whether it be the first generation dish or the latest 2nd gen dish you are sure to find something for any mounting application. We have had the pleasure of working with, and installing this revolutionary system for a handful of our valued customers. To date our most applicable "aftermarket" Dishy (Gen 1) mount has been a 3' tripod with included mounting pole. This setup has been widely used by our crew (All Media Services) for Satellite TV systems over the years and provides a solid and universal platform to find and maintain the signals our customers need in many remote locations (IE: Campgrounds, Acreages, Treed Properties, ETC). The first generation dish from Starlink fits well into the mounting pole with very little modification needed for a solid and long lasting mount, which gives you the ability to mount your Dishy over the peak of a roof, on a flat roof or even somewhere on the property to get beyond obstructions such as trees, or other buildings. You may be asking what about the 2nd generation Dishy which is a different size, weight and shape? Even though we do not have a 2nd gen Dishy as of yet, the dimensions for the mast are very similar (only 0.1 inch smaller diameter and slightly shorter compared to Gen 1) and we are confident that this tripod with mounting pole will make for an excellent option whether working with a 1st Gen or a 2nd Gen Starlink system. If you are looking for a cheaper alternative and would like to use the base that comes with your Starlink Dishy, consider our most popular Starlink mounting kit which utilizes the existing feet on the base and allows that same base to be mounted on to a roof of almost any gradient, as well as incorporating a fitted foam-rubber underneath to prevent leaks on a tin or asphalt style roof. If you are looking for the most affordable option possible, and are handy with some basic tools, checkout our Video below where we utilize an old J-Arm and modify it to be used with the Starlink Dishy! Whatever you decide for your Dishy we are just happy to see the advancements in internet service around the world. Starlink and Spacex have created a ground breaking product and All Media Services has built this website to be an outlet for the Starlink worldwide community as we grow together and surge forward into the future. Thank you for taking the time to read this post and please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have in regards to the Starlink system or anything tech related and we will do our best to help.

So you got Starlink and now your wondering if you can cut your cable bill and use free streaming devices instead. Cable cutting has been happening for years now, with the dawning of faster internet speeds has come more options to watch your favorite shows by streaming (online)using internet bandwidth. Companies like Netflix and Tubi have been grabbing cable company customers for years now, this option has only more recently become available for rural internet users as the LTE and Satellite ISP's(Internet Service Providers) have been trying to offer fast enough speeds to accommodate the high need for bandwidth in our modern homes running ten, twenty, thirty or more devices all at the same time. Popular boxes like Google TV, Firestick TV and Roku and many more all offer options that include a lot of TV. These systems work great if your internet speed is fast enough, if your speeds are low or borderline you get a lot of lagging, poor picture quality and even worse the spinning wheel of death, strong reliable internet is needed to run these devices smoothly. "Streaming is okay providing there was no one else using the internet, once someone else starts using the WIFI my show would be a bit grainy and start buffering." This is a sign of weak bandwidth when there is a larger draw on the system the ability to watch something starts having issues seamlessly is gone. so how will Starlink do when running theses devices, how many can it run and will the fluctuations in satellite technology hold up? Starlink has proven to be able to handle the TV streaming devices with ease, integration and compatibility is quite easy on the mainstream boxes. We have pushed and tested the Starlink network with 40 connected devices. We've had 10+ devices all watching shows from YouTube to Netflix and Prime and it never missed a beat. Now there have been times where my picture started to get a little grainy, heavy rain and clouds could do this briefly. Another time you might not be watching TV when the Starlink does it's updates in the very early hours, for us it consistently at 3:00am MST. This doesn't happen all the time, only when Starlink releases an update. When this happens I would loose my internet for 3-10 mins. Other then these times for the most part it has worked great, I've been enjoying TV though my FireCube, which comes with it's own remote that you can talk to instead of pushing the buttons. 4K shows and movies are not a problem, even with multiple devices going we would get very little lag if any. Not that Starlink is perfect as there has been some small annoying issues that appear occasionally, usually fixed with a power reboot from the Router. The story is usually the other way around, I remember very vividly one of our clients that turned on his streaming box after Starlink was installed, he was shocked to see the thumbnails loading in beside all of his shows, he didn't even no they existed when using his previous LTE provider. So the story here is Starlink has no problem streaming on any mainstream device, so if your thinking of cutting the cable bill to help cover the Starlink bill, we can say quite confidently think that you'll definitely be good to due so. The biggest challenge you'll face with using streaming devices will be the connection from the router to the device. Most streaming devices use WiFi for connection, if your Starlink router has a few walls between the device, plus it's tucked in behind a large screen TV this will seriously lesson the strength of signal passing through. This is why router placement really needs to be considered when installing the Starlink system. Usually finding the most central point of the house is ideal but there is obviously a lot to factor into placing a router of which we wrote a little more in-depth article on. But proximity is very important, if your having issues with a device then bring it closer to the router and if that improves the stream clarity then you know your getting to much interference in between. Inconclusion the speed from Starlink can handle streaming device easily, connectivity is the weak spot. Making sure you have a good connection will vary from device to device but it is easily diagnosed with a little know how, helping you to cut the cable and deliver high quality 4K video streams for all the family to enjoy. If you've enjoyed this article then make sure to subscribe for more, Thank you! #digitaldesign #top10 #digitaltrends #digitalportfolio #productdesign

Starlink updated their speed test in the app. The new speed-test has two meters for testing. The one on the left is green and the one on the right is blue. There has been some confusion around what these tests mean exactly . We are going to give you the best breakdown we can to help you use this tool properly. Before we start we would like to mention that Starlink has updated there app since this article and we have rewritten it to match better, check the updated app version by clicking the link starlink-app-speedtest-v2 First off why have a speed-test? What is it's purpose and can it help my internet experience? An internet speed test is a very handy and useful tool, this helps you understand how much bandwidth you have at your disposal. Think of it as a car on the highway going fast, how fast you say? Well looking at the speedometer tells you exactly what speed your traveling at to prevent you from getting any tickets. The speed test in your Starlink app is telling you just that, how fast your internet is moving. To run the speed test is very simple just push the speed icon in the opening page of the app. It takes around 1-2 minutes for the test results to be finalized, That is the easy part, understanding the results is a bit trickier so lets take a look at a few results. Looking at the screen you have a green circle and blue circle that are most prominent. The Green circle shows you how fast the internet speed is to that device, (so essentially how fast your device is driving around the house - using our analogy). The final number that shows up is what speed the internet was coming in at once the test finished. So as you see in our green circle we had a 90 Mbps result. Just below the dials is a graph chart in which you can follow the speed over the testing period, looks like we peaked at just over a 100 Mbps. Most speed tests will start off gradually and then peak quickly and taper off as you see in this graph. Inside the green circle is the download speed result, and just below where it says upload, is the upload speed for that device, as you see here our result was 7 Mbps. I'm not going to break down the difference between upload and download speeds and what they mean here, but all I will say is that the majority of users are using download on any given device, so the number is often going to be 10 fold that of the upload. So through this test we can see that the device (keeping in mind that it is testing only the device that is running the app) has achieved 90 download and 7 upload which is pretty good (taking into consideration many on site factors). That speed is more than capable of running many tasks with ease, including streaming live videos, zoom meetings, etc. Now just before we go on to the blue circle there is one quick but very important note from the bottom of the app to watch for every test you do. Where it says Connection 5 GHz (100%) this is telling us the frequency as well as the strength of the connection. You have probably heard about 2.4 GHZ and 5 GHZ network connections in wireless routers, the Starlink has a smart system built into it that detects the best possible connection to the router and will switch this automatically according to the need and performance requirements. The big thing to note here is that you will usually see big speed differences between these 2 frequencies, lets go back to our driving analogy. Think of the 5 GHZ band as having the fastest road speed signs, but the roads are very short. So although you can travel at the fastest speed, you're very limited to how far you can travel on that road. The 2.4 GHZ band has much slower speed limits (actually 1/3rd the speed of 5 GHZ) but it has really long roads, making it better for long trips far from your home. So depending on your location and need for bandwidth the Starlink router will assign you to either network. Most likely it will assign you to the 5 GHZ when you're close to the router or have very little interference between the router and your device, and in turn will assign the 2.4 GHZ to devices that have some distance between the router and device, and or a lot of interference. A special note here is that you can manually set up the 2.4 and 5 networks in the Starlink system but I wouldn't recommend this unless you have some knowledge of networking as you can do more damage than good. The AI in the Starlink I would say is pretty darn accurate in its decisions, thank you Mr Musk... So the main point here, is that when using this test take note of what network you're on and move closer or further away from the router to get accurate tests. The 2.4 GHZ will usually be much slower then the 5 GHZ by as much as 1/3rd the speed so if possible get the devices within range of the 5 GHZ network or better yet a hardwire connection (which still to this day is the best connection), we've consistently doubled our Starlink speeds by hardwiring our device's. The blue circle takes an average speed, unlike the green which gives us just a single moment of speed, the blue circle averages out the speed over the duration of the test, but more importantly here, is that the test reflects your Starlink systems connection to the world wide web (outside the home) unlike the green which is all about the inside connectivity. So with this being said lets take a look at our results and break it down a little. So we have 239 Mbps download average speed being sent from servers around the world beaming down via satellites to our Dishy and 11 Mbps upload is what we can send back to the world wide web. Wow this was a good test, especially if this is the average over the duration. So our Starlink system clearly has a great connection to the Satellite Network and is able to feed multiple devices easily with these speeds. Notice that the green circle has dropped quite a bit in speed (45 Mbps) and it is well under the systems potential. The reason being is simple to explain. If you look at our connection now, we are on the 2.4 GHZ, which if you remember is a network that runs at 1/3rd the speed. The blue circle isn't impacted by this as it is reading from the modem (dishy) to the satellite 400-600 miles up and in the low earth orbit. One thing to note: is that the satellites are moving in orbit, unlike previous satellite technology that had a geo-stationary orbit and stay constantly connected to your system, the Starlink satellites are constantly changing through out the day. This leads to a lot of fluctuation when testing, even within doing multiple tests back to back we see big jumps of over 100 Mbps. You can see on this screen shot from https://satellitemap.space/ that the satellites are in constant movement above, meaning that Dishy can switch between satellites to deliver the best signals possible, but with that there can be some delay if your Dishy is attached to a distant satellite. Now lets take a look at another speed test with a different result. With this test our device speeds ended with a phenomenal 240 Mbps! Very fast but our blue circle only ended up at 136 Mbps speeds. Your connection was slower to the router than to the device...this can be explained by understanding that the green circle "device speed" was a single moment at the end of the test where the speed ended on 240mbps, where as the blue circle router speed is an average over multiple pings, when you look at the graph you see that the green line crept up very slowly at first and then seemed to hold closer to the halfway point throughout the test. if you were to average out your speed on the green circle over the graph you would be well below the 240 that it ended with. So it is possible to have faster speeds to your device if you're looking at just glimpses of speed recordings, the same could be said for the router if we just took the best possible result instead of the average overall. Unfortunately you're unable to see the graph for the blue circle. On top of this if you happen to change satellites between or during tests you're going to get a lot of variances. So don't get to caught up in these numbers, but rather on the overall experience you're having with the system. Most people wouldn't realize the difference between 25 or 100 Mbps running to their device as both are more than enough to perform a lot of bandwidth heavy tasks. How can this help you? There are a lot of ways this app can help you manage your networks health and understand what's going on. First off the connection status tells a lot about how strong your signal is, look at the percent number beside the connection type. The connection here is 5 Ghz with only a 34% connection to the router, I purposely did this test outside of my house to create as much interference as possible. This number will change as you walk form room to room placing walls between you and the router. at 34% it is still operational but the test was only 13 Mbps meaning that it would start to really lag on the load times. Knowing this, I now have a few things I can try to rectify this problem. I could reposition the Starlink router to bring it closer to the area being serviced. We could also add a booster to help push signals instead of the afore mentioned step. Keep in mind this would be at a cost and would require some extra set-up. Another options is to replace the Starlink router with a more powerful unit (lots of good options on the market), and most mainstream routers work just fine with your existing Starlink system. Testing The Device. Being in the internet industry as long as we have has improved our speed and efficiency when diagnosing poor internet for our clients (even with new systems like Starlink). The one thing that no client wants to hear, is that it is their device that is acting up and it has nothing to do with the ISP. This speed test can help you in pinpointing problem devices by simply using it to find the best possible connection location and running your suspect device there as well. Now if your device is the suspect it gets a little bit trickier, but is much easier if you have a few devices to verify it on, most homes have multiple cell phones in them, so downloading the app on each device will help with figuring out the problematic device. Every device has its own WIFI processor, and older processors or faulty ones just can't keep up with the new technologies that are arriving everyday. Upgrading devices has become somewhat normal as much as we don't like it, if you want good internet that performs well it has just as much to do with your equipment inside the home as it does with your ISP's equipment outside the home. Blue Circle Router Speeds Are Always Low. This could be stemming from multiple problems and we definitely recommend contacting Starlink if this is your case, but before you do make sure to check the dish for interference (trees or buildings) that could be blocking or interfering with the signal. If your tests fluctuate a lot (good one day and not the next) then there could be some other interference in the area. Although not common it definitely isn't out of the realm of possibility. Best way to rule out external interference is to power down devices that are suspect (if possible) and rerun the test until you can pinpoint the problem. Bottom line here is that if the blue circle router speeds are constantly low it doesn't matter how much you adjust or replace equipment on the inside, as the problem is more than likely external, (if not Dishy or attached cabling/which is only serviceable by Starlink). In Conclusion We love that Starlink has built this into their app, its usefulness when needed is fantastic. It can really help you understand your networks health and make improvements as necessary. Starlink has come on the scene blistering fast, and with it has come a lot of questions and curiosity. This app has helped us to understand a lot about the behavior of the network allowing us to make articles like this for you. if you have enjoyed this article please make sure to subscribe to our site to stay up to date on our Starlink journey. (Follow the link for Version 2.0 blog on the Starlink app speed test) https://www.starlinkcommunityforums.com/post/understanding-the-starlink-app-speedtest-v2 Check out our YouTube video on testing Starlink WiFi. .

Is The Starlink System Completely Mobile? If not how far can it be moved? Starlink has just updated there Portability Option as of May 4th 2022, please check out the new article by clicking on the image beside this text We have been asked many times "is the Starlink system portable/movable" to a whole new location (camping, vacation home, etc). The answer at this time is that the system can be moved within a very limited range, (Our system tested1.5Kilometer Radius). If you happened to have a guest house with access to power and the outbuilding is on the same property, there is a high chance that you could relocate the Dishy and have no issues. Packing it up and taking it down the road is a whole other question that is a little more complicated to answer. There have been claims of Starlink being completely mobile by a few YouTubers who show they have a roaming featured turned on. . I'll link the videos below. Homie at Large MikeOnSpace Their claim is that the "Roaming" feature found in the app under advanced support Debug Data is set to true. They give a clear demonstration of how the mobile system is working for them. Elon opens up Starlink Mobility, as of March 3rd 2021 Elon has allowed mobility of the system to the recently added Starlink network in Ukraine. Thus proving that it is possible and will be something that will happen in time. But we don't know when, so for now we work with what we have. The system, for the time being, is geo fenced. This means that when you sign up for Starlink and input your land location it essentially locks you to that area. Basically meaning that once you move the dish out of the service area it loses connectivity. In order to get the signal back you have to try and change your service address location in your Starlink account, be warned hear though if you're lucky and they can activate you in your new area, great! But when you go back to your original area you have to reapply again to get your Starlink internet reactivated. If your spot has been taken you're going to have to wait until there is an opening...and we know how that has been going so far with long wait times for many customers trying to get their own. So is it worth the risk? You decide. If I lived a nomadic style life in an RV I would definitely be trying everywhere I go, matter of fact, the area with reception might even be the place I stop when work is required for sure. But as it settles right now I don't have an RV to siesta in, and the Starlink system is much to valuable as we use it for work full time. I don't know of any other rural provider that can deliver the bandwidth that Starlink does, we've tried many (have worked for some), and to be honest they are not even playing the same game. Starlink in some cases has delivered 100X the speed! It is a no brainer for now, but the future does remain to be seen. 5G will definitely change the internet landscape in some rural areas.. but enough of my rant.. With our testing so far our range has only been about 1.5 KM, keep in mind that this will change with satellite movement and where you're located in the beam bandwidth. Those who are directly below the Satellites might have a little larger circle to move around in, while those on the edge of the beam might find a lot less mobility. So unless all your plans for bringing dishy around are in your service radius then plan on turning off the connection. AMS installed a Starlink system for a customer recently where the wireless internet connection (coming off of Starlinks provided router) kept dropping connection every minute or so upon initial testing , after a fair bit of trouble shooting we found out that the shipping address was correct, but not the service address on the customers account. Long story short, as soon as we changed the service address to the correct location, within 10 minutes the Starlink internet started working flawlessly(after a soft reset on the router). A quick fix, but an important step in the functionality of the current non-portable version of the Starlink Dishy. Although we are locked to a single location with Dishy at this time, Elon Musk and SpaceX have hinted at making this system portable. This could mean high speed internet service almost anywhere (in theory). Although the idea of having Internet be that portable is very exciting, we also have to wonder if they will have a portable sized Dishy. The current system can be rather cumbersome especially when your situation would involve relocating it fairly regularly. If you have the dish mounted to the roof of your main property with the pre attached 100' cable... taking it down, and taking it with you camping, or on vacation is not ideal. All that being said, Elon if you are reading this (and I am sure you aren't), please make the portable option for Dishy - FREE, approximately the size of a dinner plate, and experience zero down time no matter the location.. thanks. May be to much to ask. Whatever the case may be, I am sure we will have the answers soon, and I for one am looking forward to the continued advancements from Elon Musk and SpaceX! Check out more articles in our blog, and make sure to subscribe for free to get the latest news.