That has been interesting. On my early tests I saw lower download speeds than I hoped, but higher upload speeds than Comcast gives me here. I was doing those tests from PCs which connected by Wifi. It turns out that the Starlink Wifi router is not as good at connecting to my PC at the other end of a long skinny house as is my TP-Link router.
Happily, it turns out that I was able to swing my whole home network, including both WiFi and ethernet connections by the single move of unplugging my TP-Link router/access point from the Comcast cable modem and plugging it straight into the Starlink power brick, dropping use of the Starlink router entirely. With that revision, and making tests from a PC with an Ethernet connection to the router, I have seen Starlink download speeds up over 300 Megabits/second. When I tried just now, Speedtest by Ookla reported from my ethernet connected PC 163 down, 21 up. Ping was reported as 88 msec.
Power consumption is less than the 100 watts I feared and assumed. I've got a Kill-a-Watt watching the input to the power brick, and it varies from about 32 to about 55. I'll hazard a guesstimate average of 45. And that overstates my increase, as the cable modem power consumption goes away. So maybe 40 watts added to my household base power consumption.
This still is not a very financially reasonable move for anyone with a good connection paying under $100/month, which leaves out a great deal of the world. But the folks "out there" are just clamoring for the service at the current price and performance.
But I suppose the performance varies greatly as the available satellites mover around, and sharing with other users varies. Just as I finished this post I repeated the Ookla test, which reported just 34 down, 9 up, and again 88 ping.
For me that ping is a long time, but then I usually get in the teens or very low 20's. I also have fiber to the house then copper inside the home thru a regular router I provide, their router doesn't do wifi and throttles things as more goes thru the line.
Here in the timeshare though Spectrum Business and wifi only along with the whole rest of the several hundred units all using the same router and non existent password I'm getting: 22 ping, 41.6 download and 43.6 upload. When that router went down I was able to get on the one the employees use but it's not alot faster. It seems to use a FIFO system for data and it took FOREVER when there was a surge at Spring Break and when the schools first got out, right now though it's not too bad. 3 more weeks here in the timeshare for me and I will be where I am back on fiber until I move into my new home, Halloween thru Thanksgiving maybe, which will also be on fiber.
This still is not a very financially reasonable move for anyone with a good connection paying under $100/month, which leaves out a great deal of the world. But the folks "out there" are just clamoring for the service at the current price and performance.
But I suppose the performance varies greatly as the available satellites move around, and sharing with other users varies. Just as I finished this post I repeated the Ookla test, which reported just 34 down, 9 up, and again 88 ping.
3 more weeks here in the timeshare for me and I will be where I am back on fiber until I move into my new home, Halloween thru Thanksgiving maybe, which will also be on fiber.
Yes indeed. Anyone getting remotely decent fiber at a good price would not find Starlink to be a step up. Also anyone not willing or able to spend the better part of $1,000 getting started, and $100/month on a continuing basis. I think that leaves an appreciable population of people to be served, giving them satisfaction, and SpaceX an eventually profitable business.
This still is not a very financially reasonable move for anyone with a good connection paying under $100/month, which leaves out a great deal of the world. But the folks "out there" are just clamoring for the service at the current price and performance.
But I suppose the performance varies greatly as the available satellites move around, and sharing with other users varies. Just as I finished this post I repeated the Ookla test, which reported just 34 down, 9 up, and again 88 ping.
3 more weeks here in the timeshare for me and I will be where I am back on fiber until I move into my new home, Halloween thru Thanksgiving maybe, which will also be on fiber.
Yes indeed. Anyone getting remotely decent fiber at a good price would not find Starlink to be a step up. Also anyone not willing or able to spend the better part of $1,000 getting started, and $100/month on a continuing basis. I think that leaves an appreciable population of people to be served, giving them satisfaction, and SpaceX an eventually profitable business.
I totally agree with that, it also means the American Indian Nations Lands can now get internet service as well and I would not be surprised if at some point it becomes free, tax deductible for StarLink of course, to some currently underserved communities.
Fun times in the booster landing barge (officially ASDS) department for SpaceX. The East Coast launch pace (hugely augmented by all those Starlink launches) has been high enough to keep two barges pretty busy. The one that was out on the West Coast came back east a long time ago.
But now they want to do Vandenburg launches of near-polar inclination Starlink satellites, and not give up the considerable amount of lift capacity implied by a Return to Launch Site booster profile. So:
1. A third barge broadly similar to the first two, cunningly named A Shortfall of Gravitas is in an advanced stage of fitting up, and should go into service for Florida launches quite soon.
2. One of the original two barges, Of Course I Still Love You is heading back to the West Coast.
3. But this time, instead of have the "wings" cut off so it could fit through the original Panama Canal locks, OCISLY has just settled down atop the Heavy Lift Ship Mighty Servant 1. That will let it travel much faster than it could go being towed by a tug.
4. Since the wings have not yet been cut off, presumably this time the barge will transit the new locks which opened in 2016. Big as those are, this is apparently a tight fit.
5. Meanwhile, SpaceX continues to deconstruct the parts not needed, and is beginning to fit up two used oil rigs which they bought for a song. Most folks think these are destined to be offshore operation points for the StarShip project, possibly including provide a landing site for the SuperHeavy Booster component. These are to be called Phobos and Deimos.
This sort of heavy-lift ship fills some ballast tanks with water to lower the deck height enough below the water to let the load move into place, then pumps out to give the load a dry ride. This picture is a stock photo, and does not show a SpaceX load in place.
Mighty Servant 1 has left Freeport in the Bahamas with a SpaceX landing barge on her back, bound for the Panama Canal. Transit time for this leg is showing as four days.
Mighty Servant 1 is currently in the middle of a Panama Canal transit, having spent several days in the holding pen at the Atlantic end. I imagine it will motor on up to California immediately and sink enough to let the SpaceX landing barge currently being carried to swim away.
They have cleared the last locks, so open sailing to Long Beach, CA. ETA July 6. Besides marinetraffic.com, another handy vessel location website is vesselfinder.com.
A link for a current Mighty Servant 1 position is:
Mighty Servant 1 heavy lift ship arrived on time at the port of Long Beach this morning carrying Of Course I Still Love You, one of the three current SpaceX landing barges for Falcon 9 launches.
If you like watching paint dry, you may look for more than a few seconds at a live Youtube camera view which as I type is centered on the heavy lift ship.
I assume that within a few hours or days the lift ship will take on enough ballast water to lower itself so that the barge can float right off. Within a few days the barge will need to be towed well out to sea, as there is a SpaceX launch of near-polar orbit Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 currently expected in July.
Using barge recovery instead of return to launch site for this Starlink launch will permit more satellites to be launched, as the RTLS method requires more of the booster fuel, leaving less to launch satellites.
[Edit: I'll add two warnings regarding the Youtube link I posted above.
1. It will show you advertising first.
2. It is a single channel devoted to SpaceX maritime operations, which most often shows scenes at Port Canaveral, where the East Coast SpaceX fllet home ports. It apparently is not going to stay fixedly gazing at the heavy lift ship waiting to unload at Long Beach until the event. In fact, as a post, is has a static view of one of the two East Coast barges [Marmac 303, also known as Just Read the Instructions.
Also people with access to port information think the two likely unload days are July 7 or July 8.]
archae86 wrote: mikey
)
For me that ping is a long time, but then I usually get in the teens or very low 20's. I also have fiber to the house then copper inside the home thru a regular router I provide, their router doesn't do wifi and throttles things as more goes thru the line.
Here in the timeshare though Spectrum Business and wifi only along with the whole rest of the several hundred units all using the same router and non existent password I'm getting: 22 ping, 41.6 download and 43.6 upload. When that router went down I was able to get on the one the employees use but it's not alot faster. It seems to use a FIFO system for data and it took FOREVER when there was a surge at Spring Break and when the schools first got out, right now though it's not too bad. 3 more weeks here in the timeshare for me and I will be where I am back on fiber until I move into my new home, Halloween thru Thanksgiving maybe, which will also be on fiber.
mikey wrote: archae86
)
Yes indeed. Anyone getting remotely decent fiber at a good price would not find Starlink to be a step up. Also anyone not willing or able to spend the better part of $1,000 getting started, and $100/month on a continuing basis. I think that leaves an appreciable population of people to be served, giving them satisfaction, and SpaceX an eventually profitable business.
archae86 wrote: mikey
)
I totally agree with that, it also means the American Indian Nations Lands can now get internet service as well and I would not be surprised if at some point it becomes free, tax deductible for StarLink of course, to some currently underserved communities.
Fun times in the booster
)
Fun times in the booster landing barge (officially ASDS) department for SpaceX. The East Coast launch pace (hugely augmented by all those Starlink launches) has been high enough to keep two barges pretty busy. The one that was out on the West Coast came back east a long time ago.
But now they want to do Vandenburg launches of near-polar inclination Starlink satellites, and not give up the considerable amount of lift capacity implied by a Return to Launch Site booster profile. So:
1. A third barge broadly similar to the first two, cunningly named A Shortfall of Gravitas is in an advanced stage of fitting up, and should go into service for Florida launches quite soon.
2. One of the original two barges, Of Course I Still Love You is heading back to the West Coast.
3. But this time, instead of have the "wings" cut off so it could fit through the original Panama Canal locks, OCISLY has just settled down atop the Heavy Lift Ship Mighty Servant 1. That will let it travel much faster than it could go being towed by a tug.
4. Since the wings have not yet been cut off, presumably this time the barge will transit the new locks which opened in 2016. Big as those are, this is apparently a tight fit.
5. Meanwhile, SpaceX continues to deconstruct the parts not needed, and is beginning to fit up two used oil rigs which they bought for a song. Most folks think these are destined to be offshore operation points for the StarShip project, possibly including provide a landing site for the SuperHeavy Booster component. These are to be called Phobos and Deimos.
This sort of heavy-lift ship fills some ballast tanks with water to lower the deck height enough below the water to let the load move into place, then pumps out to give the load a dry ride. This picture is a stock photo, and does not show a SpaceX load in place.
Mighty Servant 1 has left
)
Mighty Servant 1 has left Freeport in the Bahamas with a SpaceX landing barge on her back, bound for the Panama Canal. Transit time for this leg is showing as four days.
[i]Mighty Servant 1[/] is
)
Mighty Servant 1 is currently in the middle of a Panama Canal transit, having spent several days in the holding pen at the Atlantic end. I imagine it will motor on up to California immediately and sink enough to let the SpaceX landing barge currently being carried to swim away.
To see where the Might
)
To see where the Mighty Servant is at any time, click on https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:367731
The position, speed, and heading information on this web site is updated every few minutes.
HTH
They have cleared the last
)
They have cleared the last locks, so open sailing to Long Beach, CA. ETA July 6. Besides marinetraffic.com, another handy vessel location website is vesselfinder.com.
A link for a current Mighty Servant 1 position is:
Might Servant 1 by Vesselfinder
Thanks to both Archae86 and
)
Thanks to both Archae86 and Gordon Uchenick for the links provided.
I would have never thought to look for those links, let alone even known what to look for.
Proud member of the Old Farts Association
Mighty Servant 1 heavy lift
)
Mighty Servant 1 heavy lift ship arrived on time at the port of Long Beach this morning carrying Of Course I Still Love You, one of the three current SpaceX landing barges for Falcon 9 launches.
If you like watching paint dry, you may look for more than a few seconds at a live Youtube camera view which as I type is centered on the heavy lift ship.
NSF webcam
I assume that within a few hours or days the lift ship will take on enough ballast water to lower itself so that the barge can float right off. Within a few days the barge will need to be towed well out to sea, as there is a SpaceX launch of near-polar orbit Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 currently expected in July.
Using barge recovery instead of return to launch site for this Starlink launch will permit more satellites to be launched, as the RTLS method requires more of the booster fuel, leaving less to launch satellites.
[Edit: I'll add two warnings regarding the Youtube link I posted above.
1. It will show you advertising first.
2. It is a single channel devoted to SpaceX maritime operations, which most often shows scenes at Port Canaveral, where the East Coast SpaceX fllet home ports. It apparently is not going to stay fixedly gazing at the heavy lift ship waiting to unload at Long Beach until the event. In fact, as a post, is has a static view of one of the two East Coast barges [Marmac 303, also known as Just Read the Instructions.
Also people with access to port information think the two likely unload days are July 7 or July 8.]