We currently have DSL that I had to fight tooth and nail to get, and the speed is about 3-5 megabits per second. There are many times you buffer, and times you can't do much at all. From what I have gathered it depends on the copper wire and the amount of users on at one time. You never get the speed that they claim it can hit. If you look at the fine print (tiny sentences on their offers) they always tell you the speeds aren't guaranteed.
There are people in the area with Satellite broadband such as Viasat and HughesNet as well. Their service never lives up to the commercial claims either.
Our area was told we were being offered AT&T Fixed Wireless for home internet. No doubt it is better than DSL, but you have to be within distance to the tower for decent service.
Fiber is a pipe dream in rural America for the most part, because of costs. There has been a company in the next county over that is to bring some fiber into our area, but it will mostly hit areas along the business district.
I have put our deposit down for my place in line to an offer in Starlink's Better than Nothing Beta Program.
What is Starlink?
Starlink is also a Satellite broadband service, but it differs from the current offerings available.
Starlink is called a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations of many smaller Satellites. Low earth Orbit Satellites travel about 550 km (340 mi) above the earth's atmosphere. Distance is a huge factor here when it comes to Latency (time it takes to transfer data from source - in this case a Satellite/ground station - to end user), and speed of your connection. Currently Starlink has over 1,000 Satellites in space at this point.
The other Satellite companies named above are what called geostationary earth orbit (GEO), and they are about 22,000 miles from earth's atmosphere. They also have 1-5 Satellites that serve their customer base. Normally, you hear about their lack of bandwidth, latency, speed of connection as their major drawbacks. Most consider it the broadband of last resort. In other words? If nothing else is available.
Let's look at an advertisement for GEO Satellite service.
First thing you need to notice is the 'up to' speed on the top. My DSL will claim the same thing, but it never gets UP TO that speed. The unlimited data part is pretty much the same as the cell phone services. They claim 'unlimited' but after you reach maybe 20 GB on your phone in most cases? Your speed is throttled. It's the same with the above service. Then you have your real monthly price in the fine print after x amount of time, and they want a 2 year commitment. On top of that there is the lease fee for their equipment, and also an installation charge.
If you have a family of 4? 100 GB is going to go fast, and $169.99 (Unlimited Gold) is spent. That's without taxes, lease fees, etc. It outrageous! Netflix is going to have to travel over 22,000 miles to load, and so YES you are going to have to wait on it (Latency). If you have a gamer in your home? They won't be happy either due to Latency, and speeds. Our DSL offers 150 GB, and then you pay extra for each 50 GB over the 150 GB (comes in lots of 50) after that. We always go over with our amount of users.
Better Than Nothing Beta?
Starlink is offering by invitation what it calls its 'Better Then Nothing Beta' program. Users are paying to use the service, and it is promised that will get better as time goes on. Their data basically helps to get the bugs out of the service before it is open to a bigger customer base. Elon Musk stresses that this is not competition for other telecoms (high speed broadband services), but its target audience is mostly rural and out of reach customers that need broadband. It started in the upper part of the United States, and lower parts of Canada. It has moved on to the UK, and will continue to expand as more Satellites are sent up.
The email you get explains that the service is 'better than nothing' and speeds can average 50 to 150, and latency (20 to 40 milliseconds) as you can imagine is much lower. There will be times in which your broadband goes out for a short period of time until (as I understand it) another Satellite comes into range. Your Data cap at this point is unlimited as well. They do have software upgrades, and from what you read their customer service is very good.
The system is basically plug and play. A box comes with what many call Dishy McFlatface, cables, router, and power cords, etc. Most people on youtube show that it is set up very quick, and once you setup your account on their app? You have your rural broadband that blows away the rural competition. From what I have read so far? They have obstructions check on their app that you use to make sure the placement of your Dish is where it needs to be. So you must find a place with the least amount of obstructions as possible.
The cost of the service is billed at $99 per month, plus an initial payment of $499 for the mountable satellite dish and router that you'll need to install at home. According to the FAQ's the equipment is now owned by you! Keep in mind YES I'm sure there are taxes involved depending on your area, and their requirements.
Within the last month Starlink by SpaceX offered a place in line as new areas open up. I signed our family up with my deposit of $99.00, and it seems to go by Latitude. According to articles I have been reading the range is about 45 to 53 Latitude, and we are about 36.78. Although, there is a Reddit group that asks its users as they get their kits (not deposit like mine) to report their latitude, country to keep track as best they can of where the beta kits are. According the users on Reddit the Latitude is lower than 45 at this point (36.9 N as of March 2021). At 36.78 here? I'm chomping at the bit!
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A batch of 60 Starlink test satellites stacked atop a Falcon 9 rocket, close to be put in orbit.
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