Starlink is a go! Time for real rural internet!

[PotatoFarmer]

Very exciting day yesterday, the Feds gave Starlink the green light.

I know the telus hub is capable of 130/30 in the three days before i got throttled.

So is telus going to fix the Nat 3 issue, and open these boxes up to compete?

Also it sounds like you may get a public ipv6 address with Starlink, this would be handy for RTK gps on the farm. Also no mention of a data Cap yet!

Nice to know SpaceX is committed to closing the connectivity gap, and making their internet faster!

Cant wait for the Invite! Elon way to go!

[mbp]

They've got one level of approval. They're not quite at the point of fully offering the service in Canada yet. They're still missing approval for their ground stations in Canada.

At present Starlink is only in beta. The Canadian beta isn't expected to begin until at least December. IF you get invited to participate, it will depend on where you live. Only areas in Canada that are in range of the US base stations will even be considered by Starlink at this time. SpaceX has a list of rural Canadian communities they wanted in the beta but haven't publically disclosed which communities they are focusing on.

US beta users have also reported that Starlink has a habit of losing signal for 10-20 seconds every half hour or so. The dish currently seems to have a delay in switching satellites when one goes out of range.

Then there is the cost. In the US, they're charging $99 USD per month for the service, plus $499 USD for the receiver dish and hardware. For Canada, add the exchange rate and taxes. That's at least $132 per month, not including any of the usual exchange fees charged by financial institutions, or taxes. And the satellite hardware would be at least $661 before fees and taxes. People will have to decide if that kind of up front payment is worth it. You'd also need your own router as the Starlink gateway/modem only has a single LAN port on it.

[PotatoFarmer]

Actually they just got there second level of approval to operate their ground stations! Just this Friday!

I already pay $115 a month to telus for 24mbps/12up with a data cap.

I also had to pay $ 270 for a junk ZTE hub.

I cannot even connect to multiplayer with, and most ports are blocked and disconnects me from applications every 15 min.

Starlink is a bargain compared to all other Rural options.

Currently Starlinks Beta performs better than any rural internet option available. A few second disconnect during beta is better than rural providers days of outages. Also no data cap yet. And Super low pings. Also possible ipv6 public static ip.

The current Telus ZTE only has one lan port, Add a switch or a second router running NATless. Problem Solved. Having you own router is pretty standard.

Its worth it, so worth it, there is no option to starlink even close for Rural Areas!

[Jordan_k18]

I hope this brings some serious competition to the rural internet scene, as it should if it is as good as they make it out to be. I'd gladly pay 150 plus a month if what I am hearing from the early beta tests in southern Alberta are at ( 90-100mbps). There's some crooked providers charging that much for less than 10mbps (cough xplorenet cough)

I really hope this forces other rural internet providers who have been dragging their feet for the last 5-10 years to rise up to provide better service.

I am surprised rogers, telus or bell haven't tried to hold them up behind the scenes with the liberal government with some "canadian protectionist" loophole or bill.

Really looking forward to this. Good luck to all rural providers in the next year.

[PotatoFarmer]

Xplorenet just sent me an email saying that they doubled their speed *upto 50mbps. But its unlimited, rofl.

Telus throttled my original hub speeds of 130/30 to 24/12 with a strict nat that severely limits your ports. And your capped.

just got off phone with telus the answer is...... So far no plans to compete, change speeds, or NAT.

I expect Hughesnet and Viasat will be selling uneeded office space by this time next year. Soooo Slow.

But right now its still the lottery on who gets Starlink first. Hope i get it soon!

I also realize now that Starlinks beta speeds match the upper Fibre plan available in the nearest town to me.

[Jordan_k18]

Telus unfortunately doesn't really think the rural customer base is worth it as they have shifted much attention to expansion in urban zones to compete with bell, shaws and Rogers. Business dictates that is the smarter move for them. That's why they say they have no plans to compete. Their baby is fibre.

I think there will be a hidden consumer "fan base" that might end up wanting Starlink even in towns and cities that have access to fibre simply because it is tied to Musk. Their entry is straight up competition rather than just for rural customers in my opinion. Better for the consumer overall.

You're right about the likes of Xplorenet, viatsat, etc. They will feel this once this goes live across Canada. The COVID pandemic has exposed huge flaws in the fixed wireless network especially. Towers that were on the brink of being overloaded to begin with have been pushed over the edge and has forced throttling to prevent said overloads.

[terra3]

If Telus continues with this rather unpredictable and unreliable rural internet service through their ZTE hub (I've had one for 5 years now . . . dismal service the past two months), I'd pony up even the challenging dollars in support of this new service if it becomes available.  I'd do that much the same as I ponied up serious $$'s when Canada wasn't paying good attention to Sat service and the American offerings had footprints extending into my part of Alberta.

[xray]

If delivering fast Internet to remote areas was easy and profitable everyone would be doing it. The fact that Starlink has a business case for charging $649 up front and $129/month for 50-150 mbps service indicates how expensive it would be to deliver a comparable terrestrial solution. I wouldn't doubt that Starlink is loosing money at that price just to get customers on the system initially.

[WestCoasterBC]

Rural internet has never been good anywhere since the 90s. While there has been some advancement over the years, speed has always been an issue. 

While starlink seems good in theory real world usually ends up being something different. I don’t expect blazing speeds, and a slow down the more users that come onboard. Plus Starlink still needs to rely on a ground based fibre infrastructure from a provider themselves.

[PotatoFarmer]

Telus definitely could but chooses not too.

The first three days I had my hub it was consistently 130/30 Mbps. Now my speed tests look like hockey sticks as they start off fast only to get drug down to new lows.

Also my iphone gets a moderate NAT2, but the ZTE gets NAT 3 every time. Same tower same APN.

I laugh as a farmer hearing about Telus new venture into agriculture. Too bad they have made a habit of pissing us off by giving sub par service. I definitely know they have been gouging now.

I already know i will be disappointed by there AG tech cause if it needs connectivity its hard to find in the field. I spent a small fortune to get my own tower and radio gear for RTK gps because cellular was not reliable enough to pull it off. We are talking kb/s of data.

Starlink is definitely a glimmer of hope. Run by a guy who is always trying to improve the system.

[Jordan_k18]

The biggest challenge as stated by SpaceX is the cost of equipment. They are just scraping by at these prices they are being sold for. However that isn't much different than how Musk has been handling tesla, losing money to make it work and eventually make money. In both cases he is sacrificing business practices to get these technologies out there, for the benefit of people, something companies like Telus, Bell and Rogers wouldn't do. Most companies wouldn't willingly lose money just to benefit the general populace.

As for Starlink not performing as good in practice versus theory. Just search up how some peoples beta tests are. It has been mostly positive with the speeds exceeding expectations. Most likely as more people get on the system it'll slow. But SpaceX at this moment has the resources and backing to keep improving which they most certainly will. They are launching satellites every week.

This constant. "Well rural has always suffered slow internet, it's technically challenging to get it out to those people". If companies were truly willing to get all people connected with fast internet access, they would do it. However the almighty dollar speaks loudly. Companies like telus will chase what will get them a bigger return on investment. 5G is the next answer for Telus et al to provide better wireless performance. But I wouldn't hold my breath for when it could be available outside anything but a major city in the next 5 years.