We’re excited with the potential Starlink is giving to our clients in remote communities.
Let me tell you about Starlink?
This is a new low-orbit Satellite service which is commencing coverage of the outback North Queensland from July 2022.
Our licenced cabler and security advisor, Adrian has been involved with these in South QLD recently and the final result is actually amazing. Commonly speeds of 300mbps down and 50mbps up are the normal but the major difference is in
the Latency. The biggest issue with NBN Satellite other than restricting data limits is the distance to the Satellite itself. Roughly 41000km. Obviously it takes time to send out to the Satellite and back to the ground. This is why these sorts of connection experience ping/latency averaging 800ms.
With Starlink, the Satellite is only 550km from Earth on average so the signal moves much quicker and commonly the latency is well under 100ms.
What does this mean in the real world? Given Starlink connections are unlimited data, it means a lot. No more measuring data and worrying about going over you 300G a month. You can go crazy on a fast connection just like being in the city.
Starlink is new to North QLD so Clermont will be some of the first full installations we have completed. This is why Adrian got involved in some installs in South QLD so we have the experience to work with once it is available in our service areas
Solutions for you?
We would look to deploy Starlink as your main service and with its various benefits it will be a good solution.
We would recommend you keep your current NBN Satellite connection for at least 2 months. The reason for this is Starlink is new, if there are teething issues we can fall back on your current connection to get you by whilst any issues are resolved. Once we know Starlink to be reliable you could disconnect the NBN and save this cost.
As for 4G and Cel-fi. There are options here. We can look to improve your 3G/4G mobile at your home by using multiple antennas and sectors on the output of your Cel-Fi to get out over 100m from your home.
But; we would hold off on spending money on this. Rather than spending money on Internet/WiFi and then again on 3G/4G, once the main Internet is up and reliable by using WiFi calling you will be able to use your phone for voice and text over the internet connection. We’re sure you’ve tried this already and had poor results over the NBN service. This is due to the large latency which is not an issue with Starlink. So to us, spending money on one solution for all would yield a better result.
Plan B, if Starlink proves to not be viable for WiFi calling we can always fall back to a Cel-Fi again (unlikely)
So moving forward?
There are a few ways we can handle Starlink.
Essentially it is built to be a self-managed service. You order it and you are responsible for tech support when issues arise which doesn’t suit everybody.
Currently the initial purchase price is $1074 to Starlink for the equipment and delivery to your door. Ongoing cost is $139 a month for unlimited data.
We will be looking to offer this as a service like all our other products. The equipment cost will be the same and we will have a fixed price + travel installation option for a quality rooftop install and cabling. The monthly charge will be the same $139 but we will have a management fee on the top to handle the service and provide tech support when the need arises. This will be $25 a month making the total $164 a month.
Essentially the difference is who calls tech support when a fault arises. There’s always issues with everything, nothing is perfect.
Given the delivery time for Starlink is 6 to 8 weeks and availability dates start from July, we would order this soon so you (or we) have equipment to deploy ASAP.
Once this is on-ground and operational, then we can start improving the coverage of the WiFi, etc from there.
