UK Starlink experiences (or suggestions)

[tikker]

I'll be moving to the UK soon and the maximum speed I'm currently offered at the place I'll likely be staying appears to be a whopping 7.8 Mbps down and up in the single decimals as it stands now. I've been told Sky is planning to hook up fiber "[probably] within a year", but since I'm only there for two years initially that is quite a long uncertain period. To that extent, I was wondering what people's experiences are with Starlink? The agency is trying to convince me with "but this offer is a guaranteed minimum speed of 3.4, starlink is whatever and whenever they feel like", the supposedly future fiber being connected and stuff like that, but it's an 18 month minimum contract and it sounds a bit salespersony to be honest.

 

It is a bit expensive at 75 GBP per month (ignoring initial purchase costs), but I'm hoping it beats the 7 Mbps for 35 GBP per month or worse...

 

Any other suggestions are of course also welcome.

[filpo]

Just now, tikker said:

Any other suggestions are of course also welcome.

Me and my family are currently using a Three 5G home broadband network and when downloading a game on my xbox over ethernet I get max 500 mbps (but normally around 300) and since it's only £11 a month (22 after the contract) I'd highly recommend that

 

We were also considering starlink but as soon as we saw the prices me and my dad just said 'fuck it' and went to the three store near us and got the router

1 minute ago, tikker said:

starlink is whatever and whenever they feel like", the supposedly future fiber being connected and stuff like that, but it's an 18 month minimum contract and it sounds a bit salespersony to be honest.

it's the same with Three except I'm pretty sure it is a 24 month contract. We've had it for just over a month and has been pretty good. Just know that you'll probably need to go to an actual Three store since their website doesn't seem to be working when I check for coverage on my address (though the actual network and connection to the internet is working perfectly)

I'm getting about 30ms of latency over ethernet btw

Here's my speedtest over 2.4ghz on my laptop (the high latency is to be expected as we haven't put it near a window but instead in the corner just behind a TV, but not against a wall)

Hope this helps! The other home broadband deals (such as one at Vodafone) didn't seem as good as the vodafone router was battery powered (which isn't horrible) but apparently only got 50mb down on 5G

[Alex Atkin UK]

31 minutes ago, filpo said:

it's the same with Three except I'm pretty sure it is a 24 month contract.

You can actually get around that if you buy your own 5G router (you have to check its compatible with Three networks bands, I just grabbed a Three branded unit from CEX) and instead use a SMARTY monthly SIM card.  Of course it can be useful to get an unlocked router so you can test out different networks to see which is most reliable in the area.

 

I think if you really hammer it they may get upset at you using it for home broadband, but I have one as a backup and load-balance my Steam downloads over it and they've never complained so far.

 

That said, if any gaming/latency sensitive stuff is going to be done I'd get the plain old ADSL as well, as any mobile service can have bad days/months.  This is even more likely in an area with slow speeds where going mobile is more appealing to people so more likely to be congested.  I mean compared to Starlink prices, having multiple connections is probably still cheaper.

 

38 minutes ago, tikker said:

I've been told Sky is planning to hook up fiber "[probably] within a year",

 

I'd take that with a grain of salt.  AFAIK Sky do not have their own fibre network, they use Openreach like everyone else so they have no insider knowledge of when the fibre will be laid and once it is you have plenty of options for ISP on that network.

[porina]

I recently ended up using unlimited mobile data temporarily as I was moving house and it took time for wired internet to be set up. Below is what I got using my 4G phone as wifi hotspot. I'm on SMARTY which uses Three network. Rolling monthly contract. Do check signal if you investigate this route.

 

[tikker]

15 hours ago, filpo said:

Me and my family are currently using a Three 5G home broadband network and when downloading a game on my xbox over ethernet I get max 500 mbps (but normally around 300) and since it's only £11 a month (22 after the contract) I'd highly recommend that

 

We were also considering starlink but as soon as we saw the prices me and my dad just said 'fuck it' and went to the three store near us and got the router

it's the same with Three except I'm pretty sure it is a 24 month contract. We've had it for just over a month and has been pretty good. Just know that you'll probably need to go to an actual Three store since their website doesn't seem to be working when I check for coverage on my address (though the actual network and connection to the internet is working perfectly)

I'm getting about 30ms of latency over ethernet btw

Here's my speedtest over 2.4ghz on my laptop (the high latency is to be expected as we haven't put it near a window but instead in the corner just behind a TV, but not against a wall)

Hope this helps! The other home broadband deals (such as one at Vodafone) didn't seem as good as the vodafone router was battery powered (which isn't horrible) but apparently only got 50mb down on 5G

That sounds attractive. I don't know why it didn't show up earlier, but when I check for coverage on their website I see I can get 4G from them for indeed £11 then £22 after 6 months.

 

14 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

You can actually get around that if you buy your own 5G router (you have to check its compatible with Three networks bands, I just grabbed a Three branded unit from CEX) and instead use a SMARTY monthly SIM card.  Of course it can be useful to get an unlocked router so you can test out different networks to see which is most reliable in the area.

 

I think if you really hammer it they may get upset at you using it for home broadband, but I have one as a backup and load-balance my Steam downloads over it and they've never complained so far.

I may keep this in mind as well. I have no experience with 4/5G routers. So I'd plug the SIM card in there and then proceed as usual?

14 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

That said, if any gaming/latency sensitive stuff is going to be done I'd get the plain old ADSL as well, as any mobile service can have bad days/months.  This is even more likely in an area with slow speeds where going mobile is more appealing to people so more likely to be congested.  I mean compared to Starlink prices, having multiple connections is probably still cheaper.

Good point. They don't mention anything about latency in the Sky offer, but I guess it'll still be more reliable in the end. I do plan on gaming and video calls so decent latency that would be nice.

14 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

I'd take that with a grain of salt.  AFAIK Sky do not have their own fibre network, they use Openreach like everyone else so they have no insider knowledge of when the fibre will be laid and once it is you have plenty of options for ISP on that network.

Yeah I tried pushing them to be less salesy about it, but all I got was "the cabinet is currently full, that's why it sucks; fiber soon (TM)". So in light of the above, would you then recommend taking the ADSL line and getting the Three 4G as additional one? It would actually be a good bit cheaper than Starlink in both initial cost and monthly cost.

 

12 hours ago, porina said:

I recently ended up using unlimited mobile data temporarily as I was moving house and it took time for wired internet to be set up. Below is what I got using my 4G phone as wifi hotspot. I'm on SMARTY which uses Three network. Rolling monthly contract. Do check signal if you investigate this route.

 

That is pretty good.  I'm currently spoilt with 300 up / 40 down (which is sufficient for my needs, but the speeds you show are totally acceptable (ignoring the ping haha, but I guess this confirms a cable line would still make sense to reduce latency).

[filpo]

1 minute ago, tikker said:

I see I can get 4G from them for indeed £11 then £22 after 6 months.

Is there not a 5G option? It should be the same price. And I’m pretty sure our contract is 12 months, maybe more

[porina]

SMARTY Unlimited data is showing as £18/month, monthly contract, supports 5G. SIM only so you'd need to arrange something for it to go in should you go this route. I wonder if I could have got faster speeds if I had a 5G capable device.

 

I don't play ping sensitive games online so I didn't feel it. The online games I do play, I had no problems with. 

[tikker]

49 minutes ago, filpo said:

Is there not a 5G option? It should be the same price. And I’m pretty sure our contract is 12 months, maybe more

No 5G option from them at my location sadly.

12 minutes ago, porina said:

SMARTY Unlimited data is showing as £18/month, monthly contract, supports 5G. SIM only so you'd need to arrange something for it to go in should you go this route. I wonder if I could have got faster speeds if I had a 5G capable device.

 

I don't play ping sensitive games online so I didn't feel it. The online games I do play, I had no problems with. 

Ah that is good to know.

[irfdude2162]

Starlink user here. I work somewhere where I cover 20 different sites around Devon, ranging from rural to urban. We have a combination of ADSL, FTTP, 4/5G modems, and Starlink recently.

One rural site that only had ADSL was upgraded to SL for over 2 years now, with probably 10 minutes of downtime in that entire period. DL speeds of around 100Mbps–400Mbps and upload speeds of 90–200Mbps. The highest ping I've ever seen is 100 ms. Because of that reliability, we purchased another for a business site, and they consistently get 50–150 Mbps downlad and 50–100 Mbps upload. So bizarrely lower performing than the rural site, but likely to have to do with being in a built-up area.
We run IP CCTV, IP phones, alarm systems, and all day-to-day usage on it, and it has been absolutely fine.
Yes, its expensive, but in my experience, it's very reliable. £10-15 cheaper and I would get it to replace my fttp at home without a doubt.

[Alex Atkin UK]

9 hours ago, irfdude2162 said:

£10-15 cheaper and I would get it to replace my fttp at home without a doubt.

Worth bearing in mind we've not had a really bad winter since Starlink existed.

 

I'd definitely never replace anything with 6-12ms latency for something that can spike to 100, especially considering the cost of a replacement dishy if it breaks.

 

I do think Starlink has a place right now in ADSL areas, but for it to be economically viable to remain in business long-term it needs mass market appeal, which I can't see it ever getting as it can never be as a good as FTTP.

 

Plus there's the inherent problem that if it gets more popular, it gets slower, and they can't just crank up their backhaul capacity to cope very quickly given its dependant on the entire constellations bandwidth limits.

 

I feel there will be a breaking point where land-based connectivity gets so good that Starlink can no longer afford to operate.  That's assuming space debris problems don't take the whole thing out before then, its relying on an awful lot of things not going terribly wrong.

[tikker]

Thanks for all the respons and suggestions folks. I am currently trying Sky, but frankly it's quite bad. On good times I reach the 7-8 Mbps advertised speeds, but this morning it was a whopping 0.4 if I was lucky. After checking with Openreach I did find two other providers that seem to do deliver decent speeds which are pulse8 and Your Co-op. I am not familiar with them, however. Has anyone heard of them or have any experience with them? They mention speeds in the 40-70 Mbps range, which is a whole lot better than what I have now, for roughly the same monthly price.

[Alex Atkin UK]

21 hours ago, tikker said:

Thanks for all the respons and suggestions folks. I am currently trying Sky, but frankly it's quite bad. On good times I reach the 7-8 Mbps advertised speeds, but this morning it was a whopping 0.4 if I was lucky. After checking with Openreach I did find two other providers that seem to do deliver decent speeds which are pulse8 and Your Co-op. I am not familiar with them, however. Has anyone heard of them or have any experience with them? They mention speeds in the 40-70 Mbps range, which is a whole lot better than what I have now, for roughly the same monthly price.

Poor speeds are usually not the ISP, but a problem with your line that will remain with any ISP.  I'd get Sky to look into it.

[tikker]

1 hour ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Poor speeds are usually not the ISP, but a problem with your line that will remain with any ISP.  I'd get Sky to look into it.

I did do the online "check my connection" thing from Sky and it has been back to quite a stable 7-8 down, 1 up since, so that 0.4 was a different problem indeed. Since I'm still in the 14-day cool-off period though I am interested in trying out pulse8, since they seem to offer fibre (to the cabinet) broadband and advertise speeds up to 78/20 for the same price.