Starlink is now available at many locations including Best Buy, Home Depot, Amazon, Cabela, Bass Pro Shops and many other places. You don't HAVE to go through the web site.
Make sure your address is getting service, however: some few locations are still not available or overly saturated.
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It took 6 months to get the system straightened out, or my understanding of it straightened out, to achieve what we have now:
The best system available in my area for rural internet users.
My prior ISP was the only one available: DSL on Kalama Telephone. Their DSL was so slow, we had to have (and pay for) 2 separate DSL lines at around 30 meg per month at $120.
Each.
That did not include what we were paying for equipment (Whole home wifi, for example.)
Now because of a grant from the Fed, optic cable is finally going to be laid out here. Once it's out here (and it isn't, as yet) their prices are insane considering the Fed gave them the money to do this.
$154.94 per month for a paltry "Up to" 200 megs. (For comparison, Xfinity charges $35 for 200 meg over their wireless system) but that would also involve an utterly ABSURD $185 "account setup charge."
As an aside, I have also tried T-Mobile's system, which costs $50 per month. ATT isn't available. Infinity can't find my address.
In spite of the claim that my rural area is ready for T-Mobile 5G wireless internet, it was not close to the demands of a combined business and casual internet use requirement, so I kept Starlink.
Starlink is by no means perfect. There have been equipment issues. One of the weaker links is the cable from the router to the satellite dish. It's a proprietary cable with proprietary connectors. It uses a system called Power over Cable (POE) because most of the actual internet is located IN the dish itself, so it offers power to a heater unit. The problem appears to be that it's rough on the cable itself, and they become inoperable at a much higher rate than you'd expect if either of the two heater systems ("automatic" or "pre-heat") are switched on (As an aside, with mine off, the dish generates enough heat to melt most snow regardless. If you live in a snow climate... Minnesota or Vermont, for example, that may not be enough.).
I've needed two replacement routers. I've needed one replacement ethernet adapter. They have to ship them to you and you've got to send the other equipment back (which they pay for)
The proprietary nature of all this equipment, which was obviously unnecessary, remains totally in effect. Elon makes money, but he wastes a lot of it as well on issues that could be solved with a simple call. Further, the cable sent with Starlink WAS 75 feet, I'm hearing that has been reduced to 50ft. AFAIK, 150ft cables remain available but you have to pay for them and there are no connectors that simple allow you to connect one cable to another. Instead, you have to splice cables together using Rj45 connectors and jacks which, as simple as it allegedly is, I have yet to be capable of doing.
That said, in the past 6 months, I've needed nothing. It has worked very well. We have had essentially zero buffering. Starlink itself has gone down VERY infrequently as a result of Sunspots. But not nearly often enough or long enough to make it a bad deal.
Additionally, we've saved far more than enough money than we've even more than broke even on the issue of equipment costs (Starlink needs $600 up front) We are, in fact, paying ourselves back.
The 3rd Gen route is going to come out soon, and Starlink heard the complaints that were so loud, this router actually has at least one and possibly two ports on it so ethernet adapters won't be needed for the newest routers.
Customer service is still the worst in the internet world. There still is no number to call for tech support.
But in my experience, the cost savings makes it worth it:
Not long after this post of a year ago, Starlink announced a 1 terabyte data cap per month. They also incurred, ultimately, 2 price increases, from $99 per month (the charge for unlimited data at the time I signed up) to $110 (with the data cap) and then to $120 with no data cap, which is the current rate.
At the time, we were paying DirecTv roughly $200 per month.
Our total costs for internet and satellite TV then, was $240+ for two DSL lines (one business) and then the $200 for TV, or $440.
We now pay $120 for starlink and about $100 for TV (YouTube TV at $75 per month and a couple of subscription channels that enable m to follow most UDub football games... PAC12 network on Sling) Had they kept the data cap in place, this wouldn't have been possible, but they didn't.
We got rid of DirecTV altogether. YouTube TV has local channels and unlimited DVR. It's much cheaper.
If you are thinking about getting one of these systems. Read my initial struggles below the line. Go on youtube and search for Starlink. Many of those videos are out of date, so make sure you're looking at videos from the last two months or so. All-in-all, it has been worthwhile. And I expect to stay with it.
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Realistically, their customer service sucks. It is, if not
THE worst in the internet world, close to it.
If you have an issue, you have to email them. Then, since there's only roughly
1.5 million subscribers, you have to wait for someone to respond.
Then, you go back and forth until the problem is resolved or the component is
replaced. Replacement components have averaged 2 to 3 weeks for me.
All the parts and the cables are proprietary (one of the many reasons this
system is difficult to repair), and they have, as yet not even bothered to
include a connector that would allow cable expansion unless you cut the cables
yourself and connect them, typically using RJ45 connectors.
I have not been able as yet to accomplish that feat that I've been assured is
as simple as making a P,B and J.
Further, the router has no ethernet port: (though the next version apparently
will have such a port… or ports) so you get to buy an adapter that provides
such a port (which SHOULD be enclosed) separately after you discover the port
available on every other router on the planet is missing, for a quick $25...
and a wait to get one.
We are what's called "end user quality control."
That said, when it works?
It's a fantastic system for rural areas. If you have access to other forms of
actual high-speed internet, then don't bother with this.
Fiber/cable is typically much cheaper/faster and won't require a big cash
outlay up front. And if something goes wrong, you typically won't face weeks of
delay getting the problem resolved AND there's actual troubleshooting numbers
to call to help you deal with the issues in question immediately.
Starlink COULD resolve these obvious failures but have chosen not to do so.
Which is understandable if you don't care about modern customer service but
have people begging to get their hands on your system.
That may change over the next couple of years as Amazon's proposed sat system
gets online. Or they may make the same mistakes. Who knows?
The PARTICULAR area you live it may not have any availability for you to set up
a system due to congestion by users that already have the system in place. But
Starlink is expanding, albeit at a snail’s pace, so they'll get to you
eventually if it's not available now. At this point, however, it's claimed the
entire continental US is covered. The map below, from the Starlink website,
does indicate there are places still where service is NOT available.
Just get your $700 or whatever ready up front and have at it. It's also
available at Home Depot, Best Buy, oddly enough, Amazon among other places. BUY
FROM A REPUTABLE DEALER. (Make sure it’s actually available where you intend to
set it up, however. The location you intend may be saturated with users already
and that will require additional satellites to come online for you to get
service. If you buy it regardless, you’ll have a $700 door stop until more
satellites are added.)
But first, spend some time on the various FB groups and check out the YouTube
videos on Starlink of which there seem to be hundreds. Educate yourself and
don't be surprised.
Amazon, or Home Depot. Check the web site to make sure you're in a service
area.
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