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Starlink Experience (UK User)

To keep cost down for consumers they should think about having communal satellites installed in buildings for example how councils, housing associations have installed communal satellite dish for buildings to receive Freesat and Sky.

Its expensive kit I don't see them making much money only if the price comes down.
 
That's more the approach that OneWeb may take, albeit with distribution via WiFi or mobile.
 
> Its expensive kit I don't see them making much money only if the price comes down.

No, it's the other way round: the capacity from the satellites is limited. If they reduced the price they wouldn't make much money, because they'd max out the bandwidth and wouldn't be able to take on any more.

Starlink isn't going to replace your home FTTC 30M+ or 4G/5G connection. It's for rural locations where those options don't exist.
 
If Starlink wants to drop the price, the only way to do that on their current package is to raise the contention, thus impacting speeds etc. The alternative is to launch a slower package with a lower price, and a basic option is in the works, but it may only be for very limited use and phone calls.
 
The power consumption as I write is 17watts for Dishy and the Brick (no router) not 100watts as has been reported. Obviously this is an extra 17watts I was not consuming with a DSL connection but it's much less than 100watts
100 Watts is the maximum, when you do a so-called 'stress-test' and load the UL and DL channels at full rate.
Normal, real power consumption depends on the traffic shape: browsing, streaming, HTTP downloading get different signalling and traffic channel loads and are far less than maximum.
 
Starlink at the same time is getting use of the provided spectrum.
The declared aim is rural areas, where not any other data connection is available, but still those places need to be reached with user equipment installation. Till now, the network is comparatively not loaded and going through the tests with real subscribers.
It uses own spectrum, at the same time giving proof versus 4G and 5G.
Each spectrum/technology/provider are separated and should not waste the provided spectrum.
 
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One more thing here, please.
Starlink is not far from declared launches, having all the benefits of fast roll-out.
OneWeb goes through it's complicated path of production, launches and owners. Still it commits to complete it’s constellation to provide internet services in the UK, Canada and Alaska, going to the rest of the World in 2022.
In terms of coverage and interference Starlink constellations has the best position (if I am correct).
The satellite services cannot go cheap fast, I believe, due to the network cost, capacity and subscriber demands. In this case, the antenna installation on communal buildings is very beneficial.
 
100 Watts is the maximum, when you do a so-called 'stress-test' and load the UL and DL channels at full rate.
Normal, real power consumption depends on the traffic shape: browsing, streaming, HTTP downloading get different signalling and traffic channel loads and are far less than maximum.
I've seen this 100W average or maximum (take your pick on which ) figure reported all over the interwebs including this site and it's not even close to being true.

From my UK (51.5 LAT) experience monitoring & logging continuous power consumption for the last six months of use, Starlink bounces between 32 - 54W during use or idle and spiking to over 180W on boot up or momentarily during inclement weather conditions.

Typical 24 hour. Energy consumption is between 0.68 kW-h and 1.1kW-h Whch at the current UK capped enegy price of 0.21GBP/kW-h is between 14 & 23p per day

That second paragraph is complete nonsense and is not bourne out by real world use.

Hope that helps clear up one of the constantly repeated & incorrect facts about Starlink
 
I've seen this 100W average or maximum (take your pick on which ) figure reported all over the interwebs including this site and it's not even close to being true.

From my UK (51.5 LAT) experience monitoring & logging continuous power consumption for the last six months of use, Starlink bounces between 32 - 54W during use or idle and spiking to over 180W on boot up or momentarily during inclement weather conditions.

Typical 24 hour. Energy consumption is between 0.68 kW-h and 1.1kW-h Whch at the current UK capped enegy price of 0.21GBP/kW-h is between 14 & 23p per day

That second paragraph is complete nonsense and is not bourne out by real world use.

Hope that helps clear up one of the constantly repeated & incorrect facts about Starlink
Thanks for going to details and sharing experience.
 
Worth considering that the system's power load will vary a lot between people, depending upon various factors and what it's being asked to do. So while some may see less, others will see more. When I worked with another Starlink user to independently test this, we found it idled around 89-110w - excluding the brief startup peak that jumped to c.175w. Once there are more kits on the UK and users willing to help, then we'll try to gather a bit more data.

But of course, we're not sure how much the new v2 kit may change the current state of play. However, so far as broadband services go, Starlink is significantly more electricity hungry than a typical fixed line broadband router that may only consume around 4-15 watts at any given time. Like it or not, that is something you'll notice on your bills at the end of the year.
 
Worth considering that the system's power load will vary a lot between people, depending upon various factors and what it's being asked to do. So while some may see less, others will see more. When I worked with another Starlink user to independently test this, we found it idled around 89-110w - excluding the brief startup peak that jumped to c.175w. Once there are more kits on the UK and users willing to help, then we'll try to gather a bit more data.

But of course, we're not sure how much the new v2 kit may change the current state of play. However, so far as broadband services go, Starlink is significantly more electricity hungry than a typical fixed line broadband router that may only consume around 4-15 watts at any given time. Like it or not, that is something you'll notice on your bills at the end of the year.
Very curious about those results as they don't align with the significant amount of data I've collected using calibrated equipment nor that of two collegues both of which are on different electrical grid systems (220V/50Hx & 120V/60Hz my supply is 246 - 252V/50Hz) and are within 10% of what I've measured. Colour me sceptical that your single (anec)data point is <100% of what I'm measuring

There is simply no evidence that "power load will vary a lot ....what's it's being asked to do" The only significant changes in consumption are due to weather condiftions and the ability of the dish to communcate with the sat's, in particular very heavy rain or persistant misty conditions push the power draw up significantly as you would expect with any radio based sysstem. Pulling multiple gigs of data down over multiple sessions has no detectable impact on current draw outside the typical operating conditions, upload speeds do suffer badly in poor weather, moreso than downloads Also not detected any changes (increases or reductions) in power usage thorugh multiple firmware updates since late April 2021. Heat or cold also don't seem to impact current draw although I only have one day's data where the temperature dropped close to zero C which was yesterday.
Screenshot 2021-11-30.jpg
 
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In both cases, we still need more independent data from a much wider pool of end-users (feedback from a few hundred would help), but equally we're still talking about power consumption that is several times higher than that of a typical fixed line broadband router.

Meanwhile, most people in areas of poor connectivity would of course much rather have the faster broadband speeds than worry about a tolerable increase in their electricity bill.
 
In both cases, we still need more independent data from a much wider pool of end-users (feedback from a few hundred would help), but equally we're still talking about power consumption that is several times higher than that of a typical fixed line broadband router.

Meanwhile, most people in areas of poor connectivity would of course much rather have the faster broadband speeds than worry about a tolerable increase in their electricity bill.
Indeed. If you've shelled out £500 for the gear and are paying Elon £89 a month you're hardly going to worry about an extra £5 in electricity.....
 
In both cases, we still need more independent data from a much wider pool of end-users (feedback from a few hundred would help), but equally we're still talking about power consumption that is several times higher than that of a typical fixed line broadband router.

Meanwhile, most people in areas of poor connectivity would of course much rather have the faster broadband speeds than worry about a tolerable increase in their electricity bill.
Indeed, which is why it's frustrating to see so many unsubstantiated reports of high power usage. It's just not the case and of course it's going to use more than a home DSL router/modem combo but it in fact uses less than my very expensive and claimed energy effficient fridge/freezer whch cost substantially more than Starlink did.

IT's a very impressive piece of technology which has been the easiest to implement of any piece of technology that I've had experience of. Stick it on a pole, plug in a power cable, plug in a router, grab an IPv4 & IPv6 address and go. Downtime has been less than both DSL & 4G-LTE connections.

The main achiles heal currently is currently upload speeds which are poor and variable, also with persistant network/client to network VPN connections you can expect frequent drops & reconnections. (maybe next gen sats with inter sat comms will cure that?) GCNAT is frustrating but IPv6 addressing helps a lot over come that

For those in areas of poor connectivity it's a game changer and Starlink are 5 years ahead of the other players, and if like me your local echange is not on BT/Openreach fiber upgrade planning out to 2026 then its a no brainer.

Just to clear another frequenty quoted error about the cost.

89GBP initial deposit,
404GBP equipment which included shipping,
89GBP onbloing monthly charge, no miniumum contract, rolling contract.
 
Indeed. If you've shelled out £500 for the gear and are paying Elon £89 a month you're hardly going to worry about an extra £5 in electricity.....
You'd be looking at a fair bit more than £5 :), but yes I agree with you.
 
Indeed, which is why it's frustrating to see so many unsubstantiated reports of high power usage. It's just not the case and of course it's going to use more than a home DSL router/modem combo but it in fact uses less than my very expensive and claimed energy effficient fridge/freezer whch cost substantially more than Starlink did.

IT's a very impressive piece of technology which has been the easiest to implement of any piece of technology that I've had experience of. Stick it on a pole, plug in a power cable, plug in a router, grab an IPv4 & IPv6 address and go. Downtime has been less than both DSL & 4G-LTE connections.

The main achiles heal currently is currently upload speeds which are poor and variable, also with persistant network/client to network VPN connections you can expect frequent drops & reconnections. (maybe next gen sats with inter sat comms will cure that?) GCNAT is frustrating but IPv6 addressing helps a lot over come that

For those in areas of poor connectivity it's a game changer and Starlink are 5 years ahead of the other players, and if like me your local echange is not on BT/Openreach fiber upgrade planning out to 2026 then its a no brainer.

Just to clear another frequenty quoted error about the cost.

89GBP initial deposit,
404GBP equipment which included shipping,
89GBP onbloing monthly charge, no miniumum contract, rolling contract.

You'd be looking at a fair bit more than £5 :), but yes I agree with you.
Er no not really, November 2021 Starlink cost 6.13 GBP. @ 0.21kW-h :)

Fridge/Freezer 7.52 GBP
 
Sorry, I thought he meant £5 per year rather than month. When it comes to electricity costs, I always automatically think on an annual basis :) .
 
Sorry, I thought he meant £5 per year rather than month. When it comes to electricity costs, I always automatically think on an annual basis :) .
Yeah a month - worst case (rather than delta between say a 4G/5G box): 0.1 kWh x 24 x 31 x whatever you pay for leccy per kWh. Was in round terms a fiver a month.
 
Yeah a month - worst case (rather than delta between say a 4G/5G box): 0.1 kWh x 24 x 31 x whatever you pay for leccy per kWh. Was in round terms a fiver a month.
Pulling numbers out of thin air doesn't really help the discussion.

The example quoted would cost 15.62 GBP per month at current capped rate of 0.21GBP per kW-h

To give you some "real" examples

Teltonika RUTX11 Cat 6, 4G+LTE indistrial modem pulls 12W +/-1W constant, so 0.012 x 24 x 31 x 0.21 => 1.87 GBP/month
Teltonika RUT955 Cat 4 4GLTE industrial moden pulls 7W +/-1W constant, so 0.007 x 24 x 31 x 0.21 => 1.10 GBP/month
Aruba 315 802.11ac AP pulls 6.2W constant, so 0.0062 x 24 x 31 x 0.21 => 0.97 GBP/month
 
Pulling numbers out of thin air doesn't really help the discussion.

The example quoted would cost 15.62 GBP per month at current capped rate of 0.21GBP per kW-h

To give you some "real" examples

Teltonika RUTX11 Cat 6, 4G+LTE indistrial modem pulls 12W +/-1W constant, so 0.012 x 24 x 31 x 0.21 => 1.87 GBP/month
Teltonika RUT955 Cat 4 4GLTE industrial moden pulls 7W +/-1W constant, so 0.007 x 24 x 31 x 0.21 => 1.10 GBP/month
Aruba 315 802.11ac AP pulls 6.2W constant, so 0.0062 x 24 x 31 x 0.21 => 0.97 GBP/month
I’ll stick a power meter on the Starlink to see what it draws over the coming month.

I was paying less for leccy here @ 14.5p per kWh up until the start of October, so that was six months of run.

The delta over existing router I expect will make it insignificant versus the other costs. That was my point.
 
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