[Liverpool] Starlink extra info - re: registered address, cell size etc.

[Alex Lennon]

Interesting. I thought starlink was location locked 

> On 3 Feb 2022, at 16:29, Sebastian Arcus via Liverpool <liverpool at mailman.lug.org.uk> wrote:
> 
> I've managed to find some extra info from a couple who travel in a 4x4 motorhome (currently) around the US using a Starlink dish:
> 
> https://www.tuckstruck.net/truck-and-kit/geekery/starlink-for-overlanders/
> 
> Lots of interesting info on that page. Among them:
> 
> 1. The size of a Starlink "cell" for the purposes of the service location seems to be about 35km x 35km - so approximately 17.5 km in each direction from the registered service address.
> 
> 2. If you stray away from this area without updating the service address, apparently the dish used to refuses to play ball, but after recent software updates, now it keeps on working, but the speed is slower and slower as you move away.
> 
> 3. It seems that the dish tries to connect to specific satellites based on where it thinks it is - and that is why the speed degrades as it moves away from the registered address.
> 
> 4. Even when Starlink is officially available for a country, it doesn't cover all of it. For example the guys above have to "hunt" around for available cells when they are travelling around Canada - by trying to change their service address at Starlink.com and seeing if that address shows as available for service.
> 
> At my client, which is in Mossley Hill, from the off, without updating the service address, I got about 100-150mbs. I then tried to update the service address, and it says "this location is unavailable at the moment". I tried other random addresses in Liverpool and North Wirral - and they are all unavailable. Then I tried to go down the Wirral peninsula - to get closer to south Liverpool in a straight line - and it allowed me to pick an address in Port Sunlight. Most South Wirral seems to be covered actually. After doing this, the speed almost immediately went up to over 200mbs, but after about 10 minutes settles around 160mbs.
> 
> Sorry for the long post - I though some people might be interested in the above.
> 
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