I often have customers phoning up with issues around WiFi and internet speeds. When it comes to connection speed, there's usually good options available to mitigate the problems, utilising the copper or fibre connectivity present in many of the streets and cabinets in the UK. However, in more rural locations, it can be a bit of a lottery.
I had a customer call, who had been pressuring Openreach to provide fibre to their premises for over 2 years. It had been indicated after 2 years that finally, fibre internet would be rolled out to the area. Unfortunately for my customer, when the fibre rollout came, it stopped one house short of their property. It quickly transpired that no one would be willing or able to do anything about it. The customer had been on an inconsistent 2mbit line for many years, and since, had utilised a 4G router. The 4G router provided much better speeds, but like with many 4G router providers in the UK, they tend to cap the usage. This customer was consistently eating through a 200GB allowance each month, which is quite common with my customers since the rise of Netflix and other streaming services.
So, we had a problem that needed addressing, and at this point it seemed sensible to explore the possibility of Starlink. Starlink is a satellite internet constellation being developed by SpaceX, the company founded by Elon Musk. It aims to provide global internet coverage by launching thousands of small satellites into low Earth orbit. These satellites communicate with ground stations and user terminals, enabling high-speed internet access in remote or underserved areas around the world.
I investigated the potential broadband speed available for the customer, and the Starlink website said a 100Mbps connection would likely be available, with only a fair usage policy (for the amount you can download per month) so there was no perceived limit, which had been the significant issue when using their 4G router. Although the cost of the hardware and and the monthly fee was fairly high compared to typical ADSL/fibre broadband connections, the customer felt this was a fair compromise.
Purchasing
A lesson learned for me when purchasing the equipment with the customer, was that you're likely going to need the ethernet adapter! Strangely, the router you receive from Starlink doesn't include any ethernet (network) ports, and only a proprietary connector. I assumed as is standard with most routers, ethernet ports would be available on the back of the router. This meant that when the Starlink equipment arrived after 3 weeks, we had to wait another week for the ethernet adapter to be delivered from the USA. As I recall the ethernet adapter costs about £35.00.
Another factor when purchasing the Starlink equipment is the consideration around the mounting bracket required, and the length of the cable, which powers and connects the router to the Starlink dish. The cable that comes with the kit is actually pretty long, but some may need longer, dependant on where your dish will reside. Its worth really thinking about the dish location, because it really need to be up high (on the roof) and not have any obstructions around it - even low nearby roofs may be an issue. Open sky with no near obstructions, or high trees, around the dish, is best.
Installation
Once all of the equipment arrived I arranged to meet the customers maintenance chap on site, to work out some of the logistics. We agreed on a roof/balcony location to install the dish, and a suitable route to run the cable from the roof, through the wall, into the building, and a run down to the floor below where the router would reside. I zipped off for half a day and waiting for the Maintenace man to call me to say he'd finished. Another lesson was learned here! When I got back to site, the dish had been installed and mounted to the balcony wall, but upside down. This wasn't going to work, because when the motorised dish turned itself, it hit the wall and became obstructed. Interestingly the Starlink app notified you when it noticed such as issue! Really interesting. I headed off site again until the following day and waiting for the installation error to be resolved.
So, back on site the next day and ready to begin! More lessons were learned during installation. The intention was to put the Starlink router into bypass mode, using it only to pass packets to a third party router, which was to be connected to a mesh WiFi system, to provide blanket internal WiFi to the ensure home. Note: at the time there wasn't a way to disable the WiFi broadcasted from the Starlink router unless you're using it in bypass mode. You either have to use it as a "full router" or in bypass entirely. At first there were significant issues achieving internet connectivity. However after some changes to the 3rd party router, and after hard resetting the Starlink router a few times, connectivity was achieved! The mesh WiFi system had already been setup on a previous occasion, so it was just a case of connecting it to the new router, which was connected to the ethernet adapter, which was connected to the Draytek router (we got there eventually).
A month after the installation I phoned the customer to see how they were getting on with the solution, and they were incredibly happy with it. I hadn't heard from them since then, which was a good sign in my eyes. However I bumped into their maintenance man in town a year after the installation, and I asked him how the customer was getting on with it. His reply was that they're so happy with the stability of the connection and that their fundamental issues had been resolved. I hope I don't hear from them for the foreseeable future (unless its for something else!).
The app will analyse the surrounding area and highlight any obstructions, should they exist.
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