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September 13th, 2021 × #starlink#ruralinternet#cottagelife

Hasty Treat - Starlink Rural Internet

Wes Bos describes his experience getting Starlink satellite internet installed at his rural cottage, reviewing the speeds, latency, equipment, and networking setup.

Wes Bos

Wes Bos Host

Scott Tolinski

Scott Tolinski Host

or
Show Notes Transcript

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about Wes' new satellite internet setup — best use-cases and how to set it up.

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Show Notes

04:06 - Rural internet is huge for:

  • Access to information
  • Remote work
    • Opens up job opportunities for many residents who can't relocate due to family
  • Home values
    • Big city folk moving into rural areas and driving prices up is another issue alltogether
  • Smart rural home

05:46 - Previous setup

  • We have a cottage
  • LTE Routers
  • Yagi Antennas
  • Worked well, but slow
  • $4/gig over 100gb
  • Grey market - one went up/down
  • Alternatives
    • WISP - no access
    • XPLORNET @ (hughesnet) - BRUTAL
    • Bell LTE - $$$ - slow

08:35 - The signup, install, price

  • $129 CAD Deposit ($100 USD)
  • $650 for the dish
  • $120/month
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • Needs a clear view of the northern sky
  • Clear from obstructions is key
  • Every 1 foot up is 2 foot of obstructions cleared
  • I put it on a 25ft piece of wood
  • Bought a pipe adaptor from Starlink

09:59 - The performance

  • These numbers are not impressive to anyone with fiber, but are LIFE CHANGING to rural folks
  • From 30mbps - 200mbps down - some users posted ~350 down
  • Upload from 25mpbs - 80mbps (better than you can pay for where I live in the city)
  • Ping is around 40ms
  • Downtime is measured in seconds
  • Youtube streams super smoothly
  • Zoom works great
  • Facebook + Instagram issues
    • Many reported changing DNS fixed it

14:21 - The equipment

  • Starlink comes with a router
    • Does not support bridge mode
    • Doesn't have WPS
    • Only one hard-wired port
    • POE-only
  • UniFi Dream Machine
  • Three access points
  • POE switch for Starlink Router
    • Gives you stats
  • The ethernet is hard-wired into the dish, so you have to drill a huge hole in the house

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