Being as I live like a massive 14.9km outside a major regional town/city the only access to the NBN I have is skymuster satellite.

No 5G tower, and no line of sight to any cell tower anyway.

Telstra don't provide any access to internet whatsoever, they tell me "sorry, but you have to go elsewhere at that address". Elsewhere is only Skymuster.

But there is no unlimited data on Skymuster from any provider. As they call "peak" 7am to 1am and you are pretty well limited to somewhere around 50MB on "peak" on any plan then I run out of data every month. Last 10 days or so of every month I get throttled right back to 128kbps (or something similar and less if network is busy) download speeds.

In real terms data transfer over VPN is around 40 kbps, so slow might as well send a pigeon. Latency is 600ms, so work VPN doesn't like it too much and kicks me out every 5 minutes thinking it is being bot-hacked. Extra data for the skymuster costs more than a Prince Andrew lawsuit.

The local library free internet caps at 500MB per day, so OK unless transferring something big - which is almost everyday, plus it is full of freaks and weirdos, most probably covid ridden or maybe even rabies or something and the staff are getting twitchy when I rock up in my raincoat and start downloading internet stuff everyday whilst giggling to myself.

Oh yeah, the copper cable still runs to my wall, worked so much better than NBN, would still work fine except for the administration of the politics of it. No technical reason it doesn't work, just that I got kicked off it. Progress they say.



Anyways - anyone using Musk's Starlink ? Is it OK ? Worth the effort ?

Looks like over about 12 months it will be cheaper than NBN anyway, and if anything I see on youtube is true it would be almost infinitely better at 200Mbps vs 20kbps download and <40ms latency.

But I can only watch youtube for first 3 days of each month so not sure how many people have had issues with it.

But mainly I hate Musk because he is a twat#, but I may have to relent, put my prejudices aside and give it a go.



#mainly also hate the idea of covering space in satellites so don't want to encourage it in anyway

Oh yeah, also anyone run Windows on an Apple M1 processor ?

Is it easy to setup with that Parallels stuff ? or do you have to sell your soul to the devil and give them your identity, bank accounts and DNA sequence to be able to get a copy ?

May as well get new laptop with Starlink, at least that way they can all **** themselves together ??

I have been on the Starlink waiting list for over a year now. As far as I can tell, unless you were part of a trial, its just not available (yet?)

It used to be that they only had a license for outside of capital cities, but I think they now have a license that covers that as well, not that it has changed their deployment.

So, you should be fine as you live outside a city, and it will be perfect.

For actual connection information, talk to mr M Scien, as he seems to ocassionaly say how great it is, despite not having it. He probably has his cows on it now.

There is no 3G tower line of site near you either?

What a farce. 14.9 k from perth?

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FormulaNova said..
I have been on the Starlink waiting list for over a year now

Ordered it and paid a deposit waiting list or just some fill in your name to get on beta program list ?

and no, not 14.9km from Perth. I like to take to the eastern estates during the summer months. I find the heat in Perth uncomfortable during the summer, plus I am not allowed back it. I shall be back to oversee the landholdings in the western colonies some time in the autumn.

You have to pay a hardware deposit in order to go onto their waiting list.

Maybe you can tell them you are 'Carantoc' and get priority?

They also say that you can go to their site to get an ETA on when your area will be serviced, but stuffed if I could find that except '2022'... which I think was 2021 before.

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FormulaNova said..
.. tell them you are 'Carantoc' and get priority?

Nah mate, it doesn't work like that.

It's more like 7 of 9 of the borg, or even the Queen.

It is "we are Carantoc".


Starlink web says "late 2021 / early 2022" for my address.

But it is a bit hard to get an exact date as the estate runs over a whole bunch of different addresses and across several postcodes. I had to limit the address to the Tymirooup Ranch Valley Manor Estate Eco Lodge, just to get it narrowed down a bit.


From what I can understand the whole country is now covered by satellite (since they got the bandwidth licenses for everywhere) so anywhere can theoretically connect to the satellite, but the ground stations are limited, so the sat can't necessarily get your message back to earth.

And as they have more orders than hardware kits available they pick and chose what address they want to sell a connection to based on who-knows-what metrics, but they aren't trying to compete with fibre, so are generally going where fibre doesn't first.

I was seeing if anyone had an actual real experience with Starlink. One query is where to put it and how visually obstructive it is. Maybe I'll just stick it on the stables then I won't have to worry.

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Carantoc said..

FormulaNova said..
.. tell them you are 'Carantoc' and get priority?

Nah mate, it doesn't work like that.

It's more like 7 of 9 of the borg, or even the Queen.

It is "we are Carantoc".

Good. Thanks. I was wondering how you and Macro communicated, but now its clear. Has he been disconnected from the hive because of comms issues on the cow farm? "Hive" connectivity over SKyMuster? You are doomed.

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Starlink web says "late 2021 / early 2022" for my address.

But it is a bit hard to get an exact date as the estate runs over a whole bunch of different addresses and across several postcodes. I had to limit the address to the Tymirooup Ranch Valley Manor Estate Eco Lodge, just to get it narrowed down a bit.

Pay your money and takes your chance.

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From what I can understand the whole country is now covered by satellite (since they got the bandwidth licenses for everywhere) so anywhere can theoretically connect to the satellite, but the ground stations are limited, so the sat can't necessarily get your message back to earth.

And as they have more orders than hardware kits available they pick and chose what address they want to sell a connection to based on who-knows-what metrics, but they aren't trying to compete with fibre, so are generally going where fibre doesn't first.

I was seeing if anyone had an actual real experience with Starlink. One query is where to put it and how visually obstructive it is. Maybe I'll just stick it on the stables then I won't have to worry.

I also chose one of my country estates for the deployment address, but it seems to have made no difference. Last year they said 'late this year'. This year they say '2022'.

You would think that they would target the service to very remote areas where there is next to no service from anything, but they seem to charge the exact same price everywhere. I am not sure they are doing it to be a commercial success, just a way to spend money on stuff.


Edit: Try whirlpool if you really want to find info on this. I am sure there are many more people there that have heard of it, and no doubt some that have been on the trial.

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FormulaNova said..
Good. Thanks. I was wondering how you and Macro communicated..

I communicate mainly in the English language, although I can also communicate in other languages, generally by talking much louder, slower and with a funny accent but using the same English words with an additional letter on the end of them. Australian is one such language.

But whatever, my communication is always in a terrestrial language, something that is recognized by human beings from plant earth.

Macro on the other hand ... meh ?

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FormulaNova said..

Why did you sign up though ?

Skymuster no good, or just a Musk fanboi ?

You don't seem to have too much interest in crypto so I don't think it is just FOMO.

What problem do you have with your internet that you think it will solve ? Need seven connections to get all your Seabreeze comments out ?


Me - I am working on the premise that Skymuster is ****e, surely anything is better.

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Carantoc said..

FormulaNova said..

Why did you sign up though ?

Oh you were joking about the country estate? I wasn't.

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Skymuster no good, or just a Musk fanboi ?
...
Me - I am working on the premise that Skymuster is ****e, surely anything is better.

I used to work on satellite internet connections and I understand well the issues with latency. Its a shame as your video conferencing should be able to get a rock-solid downstream to you, yet the uplink is more of a challenge. A good excuse to go audio only. Your VPN is probably a bit chatty though so may ultimately limit the throughput.

You had ADSL before or something? Its a wonder you can't get it through the NBN choice of technology thing. I haven't looked into it, but you would hope that if it's technically possible and they are still operating the same DSLAM that they could provide it. Then again, I don't know the insides of the NBN services, so maybe there is something prohibiting it.

There was a guy I worked with that was living in Armidale and had fixed wireless to his property. Again, it may not be an option and you wouldn't know unless you asked NBN.

As for satellite offering 'unlimited' downloads, its too expensive. Satellite bandwidth is quite expensive as its a shared medium. The uplink is worse as you lose a lot of potential bandwidth.

There's an app to check your availability to Starlink . The system is set to a location and you buy a link which is only to that location. You can't travel with Starlink as it's fixed to your location and that limits the connections to a particular satellite. Therefore not lowering upload download speeds. It's not a mobile network or you can't make calls unless you use an app.
A corporate farm I worked at used it and staff could also connect to it for communication via an app.
I hope that makes sense.

There's an app to check your availability to Starlink . The system is set to a location and you buy a link which is only to that location. You can't travel with Starlink as it's fixed to your location and that limits the connections to a particular satellite. Therefore not lowering upload download speeds. It's not a mobile network or you can't make calls unless you use an app.
A corporate farm I worked at used it and staff could also connect to it for communication via an app.
I hope that makes sense.

Use starlink.sx to check the reliability of the starlink connection for your location.
Use the "Set home location" (top right) then. let it run for an hour or two to confirm the expected quality of service you will get (theoretical).
The main restriction in Australia is the number of base stations. Here in WA, there are no base stations in the north, so if you are north of Gero, it's a waste of time.
beachandbush is right, your "Dishy" is geolocked to a 200 square km area so if you move, you need to ask for the service to be moved as well. As for connecting to one satellite, not the case as there are just over 2000 up there now (With about 4400 when it's fully rolled out. As for the specific app, that sounds like a restriction put in place by the farm/connection supplier (via a proxy or similar). Starlink is an open internet connection and will support VPN connections quite well.
The low latency of the service is appealing for streaming or live video/calls etc. They are talking up using lasers to help "mesh" the satellites so they can hop to another satellite to connect to a ground station. I don't think all satellites support this so it could be a bit hit and miss.
Don't bother paying the deposit, wait until you can actually order the service. Elon does not need your money that bad.

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westozwind said..
Use starlink.sx to check the reliability of the starlink connection for your location.
Use the "Set home location" (top right) then. let it run for an hour or two to confirm the expected quality of service you will get (theoretical).
The main restriction in Australia is the number of base stations. Here in WA, there are no base stations in the north, so if you are north of Gero, it's a waste of time.
beachandbush is right, your "Dishy" is geolocked to a 200 square km area so if you move, you need to ask for the service to be moved as well. As for connecting to one satellite, not the case as there are just over 2000 up there now (With about 4400 when it's fully rolled out. As for the specific app, that sounds like a restriction put in place by the farm/connection supplier (via a proxy or similar). Starlink is an open internet connection and will support VPN connections quite well.
The low latency of the service is appealing for streaming or live video/calls etc. They are talking up using lasers to help "mesh" the satellites so they can hop to another satellite to connect to a ground station. I don't think all satellites support this so it could be a bit hit and miss.
Don't bother paying the deposit, wait until you can actually order the service. Elon does not need your money that bad.

Our satellite connection was south from Kangaroo Valley NSW.

Our friends on a farm near Yea, Vic had horrible internet. Slow speeds and phone calls dropping out.

They are in the Starlink trial area. They ordered the gear and it arrived about 8 days later. Plugged it in. Turned it on. Blindingly fast internet. Reliable calls.

They claim it's 100 times faster than Skymuster but I don't know any numbers to verify that claim. Apparently when the trial ends and other people are using it then it will drop back to be only 10 times faster.

We bought one for a job in central west NSW, other options there were 4G (terrible, horribly congested), and conventional satellite which was really expensive. I think we ordered it around July and it showed up around November last year.

Obviously not using it for anything life threatening or critical, but its been great, generally between 65-200Mbps down, and around 20-25Mbps up. We have 10-20 users on it, and a lot of our documentation is cloud based and its been great, wish it had arrived sooner.

Yep, all sounds about right.

I haven't found anyone yet with a bad word to say about it's actual performance, in fact everyone seems to rave about how much better it is then expected.

I am not sure it is as simple as waiting until it is available and not paying the deposit. From what I have heard and can piece together, 'availability' seems to depends on Starlink deciding where they want to send the next one, based on how many people have paid a deposit in any location and the performance of the existing systems in that area. There is a queue and the only way in is via a deposit.

They do publically state they aren't trying to compete against fibre.


The geolocking issue is fine, I don't think it is intended to be a mobile system as such anyway. I have seen people getting around it just by changing your address online, then takes about a day to reset to your new location. Several US / Canadian youtube reviews saying it is easy and not a problem, unless you cross an international border and then it is a government regulation issue and not a Starlink customer or technical issue.


This dragon is in.

I offer $139 deposit for a piece of the action.

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Carantoc said..
The geolocking issue is fine, I don't think it is intended to be a mobile system as such anyway. I have seen people getting around it just by changing your address online, then takes about a day to reset to your new location. Several US / Canadian youtube reviews saying it is easy and not a problem, unless you cross an international border and then it is a government regulation issue and not a Starlink customer or technical issue.


This dragon is in.

I offer $139 deposit for a piece of the action.

Hmmm... if I knew what locations were well serviced and changed my location to that and then changed it back once I received the kit, would that work?

Its actually a good idea, and seems to be enabled by cheap space launches being able to launch many micro/pico satellites. With enough coverage it would become the internet of choice outside of places serviced by terrestrial services.

Once it becomes more common though, then usage will limit the available bandwidth. It might even be better to use starlink as the uplink for satellite services. You would be surprised how much better one-way satellite is than two-way.

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FormulaNova said..
Hmmm... if I knew what locations were well serviced and changed my location to that and then changed it back once I received the kit, would that work?

Hmmm, maybe.

Maybe you'd have to do first setup at that original address and then move it ?

Also you'd have to go there and collect the system in the post, doubt you can post it somewhere other than the general area of the address.

And now you can go "Premium"
www.starlink.com/premium

I just got an email from starlink saying they are ready to process my order... amazing. I wonder if this then means lots of people in the same area get access or if it is trickled out everywhere?

That's my question FN.

From what I had read this doesn't mean that if I live next door to you then I can now get immediate delivery because that area is now starlink serviced. If I live next door to you then I still go into starlink's queue and get process at whatever whim they decide to process me with.

But I might be wrong.

(also I am not sure which I dislike the idea of more - paying Musk anything or being your next door neighbor. Hey.. any chance I could borrow your mower - mine is still blowing smoke ??)

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Carantoc said..
That's my question FN.

From what I had read this doesn't mean that if I live next door to you then I can now get immediate delivery because that area is now starlink serviced. If I live next door to you then I still go into starlink's queue and get process at whatever whim they decide to process me with.

But I might be wrong.

(also I am not sure which I dislike the idea of more - paying Musk anything or being your next door neighbor. Hey.. any chance I could borrow your mower - mine is still blowing smoke ??)

Last things first, yes, no problem, you can borrow one of my mowers. Just send me a message when you are in Rockingham and I can lend it to you. Drop past McGowan's office on the way and say hello.

The email they sent today for the starlink service suggests that if I don't confirm my order, which means paying another $800 or so, they will cancel it automatically within 7 days... which has me wondering... do I really need it? The address I ordered it for has an NBN 80mpbs connection being only 1 or 2kms from the exchange. I am not sure Starlink would give me anything better unless I relocated it to another location where I don't have NBN. Plus $139 a month and an outlay of over $800 is probably not good economics.

I am sure you would dislike being my neighbour more than paying musk money. It would be awkward. All the yelling at night, all the beer cans in my yard, all the cars being 'tuned' at odd hours, and not to mention the swearing from all the mower repairs... that said, I wouldn't be too bothered as long as you didn't throw too many beer cans over the fence each week.

(To answer your first question though, I think they are allocating on a first-come first-served basis, as long as there is service available in that area. As I said, I signed up over a year ago, so it may be a long wait or it may not.)

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FormulaNova said..
... do I really need it? The address I ordered it for has an NBN 80mpbs connection being only 1 or 2kms from the exchange.

If that is fibre (or copper / fibre) I am pretty sure Starlink won't be any benefit.

Satellite has many fundamental issues that cables solve completely. Cables do have issues of course.

If it is 4G/5G I guess it depends on how good your line of sight is and how congested the network is, but I doubt Starlink would be much better. Although Rockingham is generally fully of people who have stolen somebody else's iPhone, so might get quite congested especially if dole day and meth brew ripening occur together.

If you are on NBN sky muster on the other hand a carrier pigeon will be better. In fact a dead carrier pigeon with sense of direction in the middle of a hurricane would be better.

Whoooooa, hold your horses there FN.

You made me check and I got an email as well !!!!
Don't think it is first-come first-served. I only ordered it on 2nd Feb.

Maybe the Starlink Manager is a seabreezer and know how awesome I is.


I'm paying, I wants in.

$139/month for something that works vs $150/month for NBN Sky Muster that does not work.

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Carantoc said..

FormulaNova said..
... do I really need it? The address I ordered it for has an NBN 80mpbs connection being only 1 or 2kms from the exchange.

If that is fibre (or copper / fibre) I am pretty sure Starlink won't be any benefit.

Satellite has many fundamental issues that cables solve completely. Cables do have issues of course.

If it is 4G/5G I guess it depends on how good your line of sight is and how congested the network is, but I doubt Starlink would be much better. Although Rockingham is generally fully of people who have stolen somebody else's iPhone, so might get quite congested especially if dole day and meth brew ripening occur together.

No, the address I have nominated is in a WA country town. It is only a km or so to the exchange. I just tested the link now and it gives 82 down/38 up. So, yes, there would be no benefit to it over the existing NBN service. It is only copper (DSL), but at that distance as you can tell, the throughput is fine.

In Rockingham I can only get 78/33 as I am further from the exchange or node.

I do have dreams of using the starlink service in remote areas though, whether or not I can actually do it is a different question.

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Carantoc said..
Whoooooa, hold your horses there FN.

You made me check and I got an email as well !!!!
Don't think it is first-come first-served. I only ordered it on 2nd Feb.

Maybe the Starlink Manager is a seabreezer and know how awesome I is.


I'm paying, I wants in.

$139/month for something that works vs $150/month for NBN Sky Muster that does not work.

Maybe as its a publicly visible forum they scrape these sort of posts and tracked you down...

For you, its a no-brainer. Jump in with both feet.

Its probably related to getting to some sort of switch-on point in their rollout. I know before they didn't have the carrier license for everywhere, and this has now changed, so maybe that has affected their rollout.

Will your cows have a starlink setup each, or just wifi-ed back to the one service?

Hah-ha, gazumped you there FN.

Mine is on its way. Gotta be in it to win it.



Pretty sure I have too many trees though. Might have to get the dozer out and knock a few down,

Or maybe I need to buy a big tower. Something like an an opld windmill tower and mount it to the top of that.

You don't know any idiot who has taken down a perfectly good windmill tower recently and wants to get rid of it do you ??

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FormulaNova said..
82 down/38 up

I get about half that on Sky Muster.

4.1 bps down and 1.9 bps up (on a sunny day, with no clouds)



Oh hang on, I got the decimal point in the wrong place.

Oh hang on hang on, you mean Mbps.




Oh how we dream of numbers like that.




edit : I am using the local to here units of "bps" as bits per every second Sunday and not the traditional usage elsewhere.

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Carantoc said..
Hah-ha, gazumped you there FN.

Mine is on its way. Gotta be in it to win it.



Pretty sure I have too many trees though. Might have to get the dozer out and knock a few down,

Or maybe I need to buy a big tower. Something like an an opld windmill tower and mount it to the top of that.

You don't know any idiot who has taken down a perfectly good windmill tower recently and wants to get rid of it do you ??

No worries, I have already sent them an email saying my name was Carantoc and I mistakenly ordered the service while drinking one night... please cancel. (should I have stayed quiet for 7 days and then mentioned it...??)

I haven't looked at all at the type of service it is, but I expect its not going to be a big deal with antennas. They will be omnidirectional and just need a relatively clear view of the sky. Surely your roof is not covered in trees? As with all things like this, you could mount it remotely from the house and either use ethernet to get it to the house or wifi.

I think the big change in delivery schedules for skylink is that they bought a decommissioned windmill and used it for their uplink. Saved them a motza. Also pumps water 24 hours a day without any need for power, sun-lit day or overcast, it just works.