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Today is the day... ordered Starlink for my parents

WesL

"Bill, I'm talkin' imminent rueage"
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Meanwhile out in rural N. Alabama my parents have long been a customer of Otelco internet service. While there are good people that work for the company, the corporate culture has never really been about serving rural areas. As evidenced a few years ago when they ran high-speed fiber in a circle around the street my parents live on. It was later revealed to me by someone that works at the company that the fiber was really pushed out to the family of someone involved in the corporate level of the company and that they enjoyed the rural internet credits from the Federal Government while taking care of their own. This meant my parents were stuck with a DSL system that occasionally hits 12 mbps on a good day when it actually works. Naturally, this has limited them from a lot of the technology that would help improve their lives and quite frankly their security.

So when Elon Musk announced that SpaceX was working on a low-latency satellite ISP I was quickly intrigued. My dad had tried internet via dish before and it resulted in slow connections, high bills and a lot of frustration. However, the proof was in the pudding as thousands of beta Starlink customers posted screenshots of their speeds. I knew this would be the ideal solution and the best news was that besides the $500 payment for equipment, the service would be about $99 a month which was only a bit more than what they were paying Otelco for their slow DSL service.

The waiting game began last year and today I got notice that their service location was available for Starlink pre-order. I've never typed in credit card numbers so fast in my life. The order has been completed and now we wait for the first come first served processing of their order. Needless to say it is going to make a huge difference for them and me when I work from their home during holidays and such.

Can't wait to share the experience with everyone!

https://starlink.com is the site if you are interested as well.
 

bjdeming

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Don't know where else to put this, and your post showed me that putting more satellites up like this really is useful for many people.

But the company's wandering leftover from the March 4th Starlink launch came home yesterday, passing right overhead -- and I missed it! Others caught it on film (see the comments to this tweet: looks like it broke up just after passing us).

Spectacular, but costly for its owners. Better luck next time!

 
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