SpaceX Starlink Rate Increase….

[dieselchessy]

Wasn't that on Joe's agenda to provide access to reliable internet to rural areas across our country?
Not to turn this into a political thread but I am still waiting since I am rural and using Viasat which isn't cheap.

I don’t know about Joe, but the local company is planning to run fiber up my road due to government subsidy program. Dead end road with only a handful of houses. No internet in the past cause it’s not cost effective for the providers to run the wires. Prior program ran fiber in nearby rural area to schools, fire dept. ect. Was prior to Joe.

 

[roosiebull]

The question is what is your alternative for reliable high speed internet?

$120/mo doesn't seem any more than the average bill for a cable internet mid level speed package in the city.

I think we are paying 120$ a month for terrible service, it was the only option we could find when we moved in, and it was only running half potential for several months, the company left our tower open down by the road with a rats nest of little wires, called the provider, said it was nothing to worry about… saw a service truck pulled over one day on my road, hopped out and showed him the picture the provider said was normal, he said there is nothing normal about that (which was obvious to me) and our internet goes down regularly, and we have basically no cell service, so we use the internet for running our phones at home so we can call out.

Starlink sounds pretty good to me at 120$ a month for what it is vs what we have. Our other house is the same, rural, no cell service at home, and terrible internet service, that goes down regularly and nobody will come out for at least a week unless you can get 2 more people in the neighborhood having problems too… some competition is greatly needed.

I could see switching over to starlink at least where we live, but most likely both houses.

 

[roosiebull]

Wasn't that on Joe's agenda to provide access to reliable internet to rural areas across our country?
Not to turn this into a political thread but I am still waiting since I am rural and using Viasat which isn't cheap.

We don’t want that, we will still be paying for it, maybe just not directly, but I don’t want any handouts from the government, there are always strings attached and it’s not free, and is a step in the wrong direction.

 

[Banded_spooney]

I have my deposit in for Starlink and am waiting impatiently.

I work from home and have Comcast but a day or two a week I take care of my elderly grandfather while also working. I have cameras on him too so I can see him when I’m home so that takes bandwidth. Until his stroke he never had internet. I ended up trying a sat service and latency was unusable and then I went with an ATT type broadband service. It’s $150 a month after 350 in equipment.

The equipment stopped working after 9 months. I can’t wait for Starlink and will happily pay more than the 150 I’m paying know if it works. I made my deposit on the equipment and was quoted the rate of 100, so I guess we will see.

 

[timmymac24]

I am not requesting a hand out. Dieselchessy explains basically what I am referring to. What does it take to get a company or companies interested in providing service to rural areas when there isn't many houses to service? I get it from the business side but there are a lot of folks without good internet. Our area has Frontier and their service stops 300 yards down the road from me and it's horrible internet therefore Viasat at $169/month.

 

[hunterjmj]

I am not requesting a hand out. Dieselchessy explains basically what I am referring to. What does it take to get a company or companies interested in providing service to rural areas when there isn't many houses to service? I get it from the business side but there are a lot of folks without good internet. Our area has Frontier and their service stops 300 yards down the road from me and it's horrible internet therefore Viasat at $169/month.

Switch to Starlink. Great internet and costs less.

 

[gbflyer]

I don’t know about Joe, but the local company is planning to run fiber up my road due to government subsidy program. Dead end road with only a handful of houses. No internet in the past cause it’s not cost effective for the providers to run the wires. Prior program ran fiber in nearby rural area to schools, fire dept. ect. Was prior to Joe.

We have a local yahoo doing that here as well. Got a $1 mil FDA grant. No oversight, running cable through the woods on the surface, direct burying 2” below the road, connection boxes zip-tied to alder bushes, etc. Spools and spools of fiber optic cable from Alibaba. I have cut him with a grader 4 times now. It’s just a wild frenzied grab for money. This highlights the worst of the worst, but a lot of fiber is going in the ground all over the country in a dubious manner. We will be tripping over them for the next 30 years.

Starlink has a few obstacles for sure. The upload speed isn’t the best. I suspect if Musk doesn’t get “disappeared” in the next few years it will get better. If he gets his phone system working well on it, that will be a game changer.

 

[mtmiller]

Wasn't that on Joe's agenda to provide access to reliable internet to rural areas across our country?
Not to turn this into a political thread but I am still waiting since I am rural and using Viasat which isn't cheap.

Didn't he take care of that with his EO13821?

 

[Bucky]

In WI and on the wait list. We too will be switching to Starlink as what we have now is brutal. Will happily pay whatever it takes for reliable internet so wife and kids have service and so does our security system

 

[LostArra]

Our rural electric coop ran fiber throughout their service area. I'm guessing they got some Fed money or grant and not just to be good neighbors. It cost us nothing to get it to the house (buried) and service is $100 a month. It's fast or at least it seems fast compared to what we had.

 

[Montucky]

I think we are paying 120$ a month for terrible service, it was the only option we could find when we moved in, and it was only running half potential for several months, the company left our tower open down by the road with a rats nest of little wires, called the provider, said it was nothing to worry about… saw a service truck pulled over one day on my road, hopped out and showed him the picture the provider said was normal, he said there is nothing normal about that (which was obvious to me) and our internet goes down regularly, and we have basically no cell service, so we use the internet for running our phones at home so we can call out.

Starlink sounds pretty good to me at 120$ a month for what it is vs what we have. Our other house is the same, rural, no cell service at home, and terrible internet service, that goes down regularly and nobody will come out for at least a week unless you can get 2 more people in the neighborhood having problems too… some competition is greatly needed.

I could see switching over to starlink at least where we live, but most likely both houses.

Dude I would make the switch to SL. That would be frustrating as hell & you’re already paying $120/mo

 

[Tahoe1305]

How much is High Speed Internet/Month in the city? No cable or Landline…. Just Internet

I pay $40 and it’s the best I’ve had in 6 locations (5 different states). I’ve been as high as $120. This is the lowest going on year two. Also has never dropped (surprisingly). All urban.

 

[Loo.wii]

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/343292-starlink-prices-are-increasing-for-many-us-subscribers

There’s your reason

 

[Dust Rider]

When we lived outside of Churchill MT, cable companies kept telling us they were going to put in high speed lines. The out of state company who got the federal grant in 2006 was part of Spanish Peaks Club in Big Sky. He ran buried lines all through Big Sky, the wealthiest and most connected community in MT. The Federal Grant money was to improve rural areas that did not have connectivity and connect them. That ass hat blew thru 50 million, and didn’t even complete what was intended in Gallatin Co. No oversight at all.
We tried every option by dish and they all had issues.

 

[CCooper]

I could see switching over to starlink at least where we live, but most likely both houses.

I just looked into this a couple weeks ago- no service for Starlink in our neck of the woods. We have Century Link and its constant problems. We also don't have cell service and depend on internet for our phones at home. The wife works from home a lot and has many zoom calls per day. Super frustrating.

 

[GringoBling]

Got the $10 increase notice a couple weeks ago even though we're in very rural SW CO. I bought the equipment for almost $700 last May and was put on the waitlist. To my pleasant surprise, the equipment arrived less than 2 weeks later. We're in an area with no cell signal, no landline access, and absolutely horrible Hughes Net. We only need Starlink 6 months out of the year, but don't want to risk not being able to start up service again in May. For that reason, I'm paying for service for a place I haven't been to since November. But it's so worth it. Starlink is incredible and I'm fine with a $10 increase.

 

[kcruz]

I also got the $10 increase and will pay much more to keep the service. I have no other options except a hotspot or Hughes net and neither are able to handle more than a couple of days worth of use. I am on a limited service area where my speeds drop during peak hours and I still haven't gotten my equipment set up in a clear enough area yet. I still rarely have any buffering.

 

[roosiebull]

I just looked into this a couple weeks ago- no service for Starlink in our neck of the woods. We have Century Link and its constant problems. We also don't have cell service and depend on internet for our phones at home. The wife works from home a lot and has many zoom calls per day. Super frustrating.

We have century link at our other house, and share your frustration

 

[f16jack]

Got the $10 increase notice a couple weeks ago even though we're in very rural SW CO. I bought the equipment for almost $700 last May and was put on the waitlist. To my pleasant surprise, the equipment arrived less than 2 weeks later. We're in an area with no cell signal, no landline access, and absolutely horrible Hughes Net. We only need Starlink 6 months out of the year, but don't want to risk not being able to start up service again in May. For that reason, I'm paying for service for a place I haven't been to since November. But it's so worth it. Starlink is incredible and I'm fine with a $10 increase.

Concur. Same approach for me in Colorado. Very satisfied with StarLink.

 

[SoloWilderness]

We were paying $220 a month for Viasat, which was absolutely garbage service, slow, high lag, etc. Our bill just went up for Starlink to $120 as well, due to being in a high demand area. Starlink's service quality is in an entirely different tier and is multiple heads and shoulders above Viasat. It's faster, no lag, better reliability. Being that everything else in the area is total garbage unless all you are trying to do is send emails, I am still saving $100/month over what Viasat cost, and my equipment cost has already been covered months ago. I'll be annoyed if it goes up more, but it is still the most functional option by an order of magnitude.