Video summary
The speaker decided to test Starlink for a single day despite already having reliable and affordable high-speed internet from Comcast, primarily driven by a dislike for the incumbent provider and a desire for backup connectivity during hurricanes in Florida. While he acknowledged that Starlink hardware is impressive and easy to set up initially, his experience was ultimately disappointing because the service failed to meet his specific needs as a home server operator who requires consistent upload speeds. Although he achieved download speeds comparable to or slightly lower than Comcast, the upload performance was significantly weaker, dropping to around 15-20 megabits per second compared to Comcast's 35-40 megabits, which is critical for his workflow running Nextcloud and other services from home.
A major hurdle in the testing process stemmed from a lack of research regarding installation requirements, specifically the absence of a roof mount included with the kit. The unit arrived only with a kickstand intended for temporary yard placement, forcing the speaker to either purchase an expensive official mount or rely on cheaper third-party alternatives. To conduct a proper test inside his house, he had to drill holes through walls and run Ethernet cables from the attic to his office, realizing that the included 50-foot power cable was insufficient to reach the center of his home without additional extensions. This unexpected need for extra wiring and mounting solutions added significant cost and effort, leading him to conclude that sticking with his existing Comcast service was more practical given the similar pricing and superior reliability.
Despite the personal failure of the test, the speaker strongly recommends Starlink for individuals living in remote rural areas where traditional internet options are non-existent or extremely slow, citing a friend's experience in North Carolina where speeds improved from barely usable 1-2 megabits to excellent performance after switching. He noted that while the setup is not inherently difficult, users must be prepared for potential extra expenses regarding mounting and cabling if they wish to integrate the system permanently into their home infrastructure rather than using it as a portable outdoor solution. Ultimately, he expressed regret over the financial loss of paying for a month of service only to return it, but emphasized that the experience provided valuable insight into when Starlink is truly necessary versus when existing infrastructure suffices.
Read the full video transcript
So, I tried Starlink for a day. It's
actually really cool, but unfortunately
didn't work out for me.
Uh I do live in a fairly rural area, uh
but we actually have pretty good
internet through Comcast, which is a
company I cannot stand Comcast. And one
of the reasons I wanted to get away and
use Starlink is just because I don't
like Comcast as a company. But also,
occasionally here in Florida we have
hurricanes. And last time we had
hurricanes, it's like all the cell phone
towers down and you can't communicate,
can't get to the outside world. They're
actually after a couple days one of the
cell towers in town came back up and
people were just parked on the side of
the road trying to get service uh to
talk to people. So, I thought, "Oh, you
know, it'd be really cool to get
something that, you know, after a storm
when the cell phone towers are down and
the internet's down, uh I could have a
battery backup and communicate with the
world."
>> [snorts]
>> Although more I think about it, everyone
I would want to communicate with is here
in town probably wouldn't have internet
access themselves.
Here here
Again, the the hardware for Starlink was
really cool and pretty easy to set up
for the most part. Uh so, one I knew
getting it that I was probably going to
have to install their app, which if you
know me, I don't install apps. So, I
just got one of my spare phones and I
installed the app on it. You can
technically set it up without the app
and use your own router and stuff, but
you kind of need the app to align it uh
and get the best signal you can. And I
wanted to give it its best chance. I
also knew that it wasn't going to be as
fast as my Comcast. It was about the
same price. Um and I thought it was
going to be a little bit slower. It
ended up being about half the speed of
my Comcast. And I run servers out of my
house, my own Nextcloud and other
things. So, I definitely with the upload
speed, I want a good speed.
Uh with Comcast I get over 300 uh
megabits a second. Uh with the with the
Starlink I was getting
160, 170 at best, but it seemed spotty.
But again,
I didn't have it set up necessarily
ideally. So, here here's one of my
complaints. And it's just me not doing
my research. Um I ordered Starlink. You
would think it would come with a mount
to mount it to your roof. It doesn't. It
comes with a little kickstand so you can
throw it out in your yard.
Um, and then of course they recommend
getting a stand which is expensive
through them. I saw that I could get one
on Amazon, you know, a third-party one
for 25, 30 bucks. But I I didn't want to
spend any more money than I already had
uh getting this, you know, set up. So
they they sent me the the unit. It was
like $22 have it shipped and then I
activated and it was $85 for the second
tier which uh supposed to be 200
megabits which I did get a few on a few
of the test runs. So here's the issue.
Uh, I think the biggest issue
was just getting the router in a good
spot. Wh- which technically I was going
to use my own router after I tested out
and I eventually did hook that up. So
I laid it out in my yard,
tested it,
and I didn't want to put a lot of effort
until I knew I was going to keep it. And
I was like, "Okay, I'm getting some of
this." I go, "How can I get this inside
the house?" Cuz I cuz you can, you know,
obviously leave the dish outside but the
the router component it has to be
inside. Um, and I thought I could just
drop it through the wall which I did in
at the back of my house. I dropped it
into my wife's office. Eventually I'd
like to run it to the center of my house
which is where I have my current router.
But I figured just for testing drop it
in that corner. So I
drilled a little hole, put a little
grommet in there, ran the wire. It comes
with like 50 ft of power over Ethernet
cable to power the dish and stuff like
that. Really really great setup. And
again, it unfortunately just didn't work
out great for me because of the effort
cuz I already have great working
internet. And so I started doing this. I
I set it up yesterday in my yard then it
started raining so I had to stop. This
morning I woke up first thing before it
got too hot. I climbed up in my attic. I
ran the wire into my wife's office. I
just dropped it through the attic access
in there. And I hooked it up and I do a
little test and I got, you know, uh you
know, I got 200 megabits on the first
test and you know, 175 on another. The
upload speed was
15 [snorts] to 20 which with Comcast I
get like 35 to 40 which again is kind of
important since I run servers out of my
house. But I really wanted to give it a
real world test. Speed tests are one
thing, but
even if I'm getting that max speed, what
do I get when I'm actually using it? So,
I really want to do that. So, I I set it
up and I I you know, I just did a hole
into the attic and then just dropped it
through the attic access.
And I got good speeds in my wife's
office.
Then I walked to my office and I was
getting
1 to 2 megabits a second.
Because my wife's office used to be the
lanai. So, technically, it's an outside
room and there's a big concrete wall in
between.
So, I crawl up in the attic again.
Luckily, it's a big open space where the
attic access is. I had to crawl in a
corner to get the wire up into the
attic, which wasn't too hard. It was
only like, I don't know, 8 ft ft from
the from the um attic access, which is
why I went in that way.
But now I'm like, okay.
The the Ethernet cable they gave me
probably isn't going to make it to the
center of my house. So, now I need to
get an extension cable. There's a cost
to that.
Uh it's really good to good test I have
to spend some more money on a uh
um br- um mount to mount it on my roof.
So, I have to would have to mount it on
my roof, run it through, get the extra
cable, run it down. And so, I'm up in
the attic looking at this and finally I
just go,
"No.
I'm not going to do all this just to
test it out, just to be like, "No, I'm
going to stick with Comcast." If I got
it all hooked up, maybe I would have
decided to stay with it cuz it was
actually working really well.
But again, it's about the same price. It
was $85 and Comcast after taxes and
fees, I think, cost me $89. So, it's $4
more, but I'm getting literally double
the speed and I've been very happy with
it when I don't have to deal with their
customer service,
um which is rare, uh luckily.
So,
would I recommend Starlink? Yeah,
definitely if you're out in the middle
of nowhere. If I didn't already have
internet, the setup is not that hard.
It's just I had to get up in my attic
and run wire further than I had planned
on if I really wanted to test it. So, uh
do you guys have Starlink? Uh I have a
friend that lives up in North Carolina
on a 50-acre farm. And when they first
moved there a couple of years ago, their
internet was they were getting at best 2
megabits per second. It was like 1 to 2.
They had just enough that if they just
had their their TV on, they could stream
some low-res video. But we'd be sitting
there watching a video and you know,
it's low quality and then someone would
get a text, a multimedia text that was
hooked to the Wi-Fi and as the picture
or whatever came through, the video
would freeze.
So that's how bad their internet was and
then they got Starlink a couple years
ago and I've been over there visiting
them a couple times and it works great.
And
I was really hoping, you know, to test
this out in case in the future I'm ever
in a rural place I have it all set up.
But I just I really wanted to give it
more run. Unfortunately, I've had to pay
for the whole month, $85. So all
together it's costing me about $100. I
think it's free for me to return. They
gave me a label which my printer died
the other day. I'm getting a new one
tomorrow. So I can't even print the
label send it back. My service is still
good for 30 days but I've already packed
it up. So unfortunately, a little bit of
an expensive test but I'm kind of glad I
did it cuz now I know.
Uh
I really wish that it worked. And
again, the setup's not that hard.
Uh I just wasn't thinking about having
to run more wire than it came with to
get to the center of my house. I just
really thought I'd just be able to poke
a hole and drop it down in my office or
something.
It just wasn't working out and I need
reliable internet since I run so much
stuff out of my house, my next cloud
server and whatnot. Uh and other
services I'm constantly connecting to my
house here and
yeah.
That's my story of of Starlink. I think
the price is is decent. They had a lower
tier, there was a $55 tier but again, I
wanted to test the one that was
comparable to what I have for Comcast.
Uh and really, I thought that I was
getting like 2 to 300 megabits but
actually when I was doing tests
recently,
uh it's
350 to 400 is the downloads I'm getting
from Comcast
Through my Wi-Fi.
So.
Yeah, I'm I'm just a little
disappointed. But I thought I'd share my
experience. Again, I was really really
Again, I didn't do my research.
Uh I just had heard good things and
wanted to try something new. I am so
surprised it doesn't come with or at
least Okay, I'm not surprised that it
didn't come with a mount for the uh roof
because there are different options.
There's ones that move motorized and
follow the the the um the satellites.
And some people might just throw it in
the yard. They're using it portable. And
they even have more portable ones for
campers and stuff where you can actually
be driving and whatnot. Um I'm just
disappointed that when I went to
purchase it, it didn't at least
recommend that I get a a mount. At least
not that I saw. Like usually when you
buy something like that it's like,
"Would you like to purchase a mount as
well?" Or we recommend these mounts and
we have these options. Like I had no
clue until after I ordered it, I was
watching videos of course after I
ordered it uh saying, "Oh, you're going
to have to get a mount." And some people
were making their homemade ones cuz
they're like, "Oh, buying it is $100."
But they have decent looking ones like I
said on Amazon for $25, $30.
Um
they're third-party ones.
I'm just kind of rambling now.
It's just been spending 2 hours trying
to figure all this out this morning.
Yeah, let me know what you guys think.
I'm done with this video. I've been
talking way too long. Thanks for
watching. Have a great day.