Starlink - techy question…

[slackjawedyokel]

We’re thinking about getting Musk’s Starlink because our current broadband provider doesn’t seem able to provide a service of the quality we need. I was wondering whether anyone else uses Starlink bb in the way we would like to, and whether it is likely to work well.

We’re currently on a max 50gbps service, which generally works fine for general browsing, streaming etc. It’s a local provider (only office in the local town) but we don’t have fttp (it stops in the village a couple of miles away). The provider gets bb to us via (probably a series of) point to point bridges over a few miles; fine in good weather but storms wreak havoc with the system (still v low data and high latency following Babet).

The main issue is that my wife is a hospital consultant and, as is the way of the world, she ends up doing more and more working from home; signing letters, digital dictation etc. This uses Remote Access Servers; she has to log in to the health trust’s VPN and then open the various dictation tools, document viewers and so on from there. The service we are getting is not good enough to allow this; massive frustration, frequent hangs and re-boots of the VPN, lost work and VERY unhappy wife. She finds it more productive to make the hour and a half round trip to her office in the hospital rather than persevere with the inadequate bb at home.

I doubt the issue is speed as such; it’s generally 40+mbps when tested. Something else is causing the foul-ups- I suspect that her work system wants to be ‘always on’ once connected but our bb might keep dropping out momentarily; not a problem for general browsing/streaming but no good for her work system.

Does anyone use Starlink in this sort of way? I don’t begrudge spending the money if it works (minimum 2.5X our current spend pm plus high setup costs) but it would be annoying to be out of the frying pan into the fire!

Thanks, David.

 

[e3120]

We’re thinking about getting Musk’s Starlink because our current broadband provider doesn’t seem able to provide a service of the quality we need. I was wondering whether anyone else uses Starlink bb in the way we would like to, and whether it is likely to work well.

We’re currently on a max 50gbps service, which generally works fine for general browsing, streaming etc. It’s a local provider (only office in the local town) but we don’t have fttp (it stops in the village a couple of miles away). The provider gets bb to us via (probably a series of) point to point bridges over a few miles; fine in good weather but storms wreak havoc with the system (still v low data and high latency following Babet).

The main issue is that my wife is a hospital consultant and, as is the way of the world, she ends up doing more and more working from home; signing letters, digital dictation etc. This uses Remote Access Servers; she has to log in to the health trust’s VPN and then open the various dictation tools, document viewers and so on from there. The service we are getting is not good enough to allow this; massive frustration, frequent hangs and re-boots of the VPN, lost work and VERY unhappy wife. She finds it more productive to make the hour and a half round trip to her office in the hospital rather than persevere with the inadequate bb at home.

I doubt the issue is speed as such; it’s generally 40+mbps when tested. Something else is causing the foul-ups- I suspect that her work system wants to be ‘always on’ once connected but our bb might keep dropping out momentarily; not a problem for general browsing/streaming but no good for her work system.

Does anyone use Starlink in this sort of way? I don’t begrudge spending the money if it works (minimum 2.5X our current spend pm plus high setup costs) but it would be annoying to be out of the frying pan into the fire!

Thanks, David.

Twenty odd years ago when we only had isdn or broadband in its infancy, I used some bandwidth-heavy apps at my work. Utter frustration. I became aware of remote desktop so connected in to a desktop at work (over vpn) that ran all the apps and only keystrokes & screen images needed to be transmitted. Worked very well and reduced the data loss issue you mention.

A 2g connection via a Nokia brick was adequate to open several nasty access databases.

 

[slackjawedyokel]

Twenty odd years ago when we only had isdn or broadband in its infancy, I used some bandwidth-heavy apps at my work. Utter frustration. I became aware of remote desktop so connected in to a desktop at work (over vpn) that ran all the apps and only keystrokes & screen images needed to be transmitted. Worked very well and reduced the data loss issue you mention.

A 2g connection via a Nokia brick was adequate to open several nasty access databases.

My wife is dealing with the NHS. I doubt the IT folks are going to want to tailor things to one worker (and there are confidentiality issues obviously as patient-identifiable data is going through all the time). Not sure how digital dictation would work…

I think we really need a more reliable/stable broadband.

 

[e3120]

My wife is dealing with the NHS. I doubt the IT folks are going to want to tailor things to one worker (and there are confidentiality issues obviously as patient-identifiable data is going through all the time). Not sure how digital dictation would work…

I think we really need a more reliable/stable broadband.

I did fear the NHS effect. If their IT was near standard (some chance) she wouldn't need any tech support. Just vpn in with her laptop and connect to any desktop. As secure as sitting in front of it. In theory the dictation should work. But it's the NHS.....

 

[Adam@Rumen]

Slightly different, but we use VOIP phones which require stable internet and have found Starlink to be very good in a rural location, much better than the original copper wire and 4G router.

 

[BrianV]

We’re thinking about getting Musk’s Starlink because our current broadband provider doesn’t seem able to provide a service of the quality we need. I was wondering whether anyone else uses Starlink bb in the way we would like to, and whether it is likely to work well.

We’re currently on a max 50gbps service, which generally works fine for general browsing, streaming etc. It’s a local provider (only office in the local town) but we don’t have fttp (it stops in the village a couple of miles away). The provider gets bb to us via (probably a series of) point to point bridges over a few miles; fine in good weather but storms wreak havoc with the system (still v low data and high latency following Babet).

The main issue is that my wife is a hospital consultant and, as is the way of the world, she ends up doing more and more working from home; signing letters, digital dictation etc. This uses Remote Access Servers; she has to log in to the health trust’s VPN and then open the various dictation tools, document viewers and so on from there. The service we are getting is not good enough to allow this; massive frustration, frequent hangs and re-boots of the VPN, lost work and VERY unhappy wife. She finds it more productive to make the hour and a half round trip to her office in the hospital rather than persevere with the inadequate bb at home.

I doubt the issue is speed as such; it’s generally 40+mbps when tested. Something else is causing the foul-ups- I suspect that her work system wants to be ‘always on’ once connected but our bb might keep dropping out momentarily; not a problem for general browsing/streaming but no good for her work system.

Does anyone use Starlink in this sort of way? I don’t begrudge spending the money if it works (minimum 2.5X our current spend pm plus high setup costs) but it would be annoying to be out of the frying pan into the fire!

Thanks, David.

Had Starlink for well over a year with no problems what ever, son has it as well at his place & it caused trouble after a violent thunderstorm, he phoned them & within 2 days they sent him a whole new latest version at no cost whatever, can't do better than that.
Current download speed at 2.15 pm.

 

[Kidds]

I have Starlink, I don't use it in the way you want to and don't even understand all of what you said tbh.
It is very reliable, very fast and doesn't drop out. Best internet I have ever had, it just works like they all should but in rural areas none of the others do.

 

[HatsOff]

4G router with mobile sim card with unlimited data here.

While it has slower download than Starlink, the upload is just as fast (~20Mbps up & down). Having good upload is important for remote working as you want to send data both ways.

 

[slackjawedyokel]

4G router with mobile sim card with unlimited data here.

While it has slower download than Starlink, the upload is just as fast (~20Mbps up & down). Having good upload is important for remote working as you want to send data both ways.

Alas I don’t think that’s an option. We’re on o2 (as far as I’m aware it’s the best mobile signal here); my wife has used her work phone at times as a hotspot and while it’s been better than using the home bb at times, it isn’t good enough.

O2 reception here appears worse than it used to be. It’s often back to 3G these days.