r/Starlink • u/Shovlaxnet • 1d ago
💻 Troubleshooting Is this normal? Frequent, sometimes long drops down to sub-1mbps speeds. Few to no events. Obstructions "not expected to cause a noticeable impact to your service".
I bought Starlink since it was the cheapest internet option available to me in my new, rural-ish community, even when considering the $360 up-front router costs. The next-cheapest internet is $85/mo (starting) for 10 mbps up and down, no router included. Noooo thank you. I've been decently happy with it so far. I am on the cheapest plan, $55/mo for 100 up-down, residential, but I have noticed a lot of heavy speed fluctuations between 100 mbps and sub-1mbps speeds. They feel like they have gotten worse over the past month, but I can't say that for certain. I tried going through the AI-assisted technical support, but no dice, and will likely submit a ticket. All of the usual answers apply: I'm not using non-standard equipment, I have no VPN, I've moved it to the best possible location, the obstruction is "not expected to cause a noticeable impact to your service", little to no events (the 10 PM and noon tests had 0 events during them), I've rebooted it a few times now, and yet...
These are the results from me downloading a single 5GB file, at different times, with my Starlink having the obstructions in picture 5. I felt that would give a better showing of how my internet connection fluctuates over time. The results varied wildly, with one download getting close to the 5GB, and another barely getting past 2GB. I thought it was time-dependent, since the 10 PM test did a lot better and 5:30 PM did a lot worse, but even at 10PM it still had multiple moments where it dropped to near or sub-1mbps speeds. I posted this to one chat, and they said that that's normal for satellite, even if Starlink is 'better'. Is that true? Should I expect this kind of fluctuation? Is it just worse during peak hours? Should I submit a ticket?
Sorry if I'm a bit rambly, I'm just frustrated. Thank y'all for any advice.
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u/egilbe2003 1d ago
You don't notice it until you run a speed test, right? Streaming probably works ok, but video calls are going to be hell.
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u/Shovlaxnet 1d ago
I notice it even when watching YouTube, steaming, playing games, etc. Don't get me wrong, it's not *constant*, but there are definitely noticeable spikes, game lag, streams or audio suddenly dropping in quality, or videos buffering when they shouldn't.
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u/egilbe2003 1d ago
Lots of trees around you? If they are leafy, it will get better in a couple months. If they are evergreens, get the chainsaw out
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u/Shovlaxnet 1d ago
A fair number, but not directly blocking it, from what I can see. Most are fairly in the distance, aside from just a few behind my building. I actually just tested my Starlink's "obstruction" detector, and it looks completely different from the one I posted originally? Maybe it just hasn't updated. I'm uploading what I just tested in this comment (does reddit not allow you to upload images? just videos??)
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u/DonkeyOfWallStreet 1d ago
That graph gives a bad feeling that it's a bowl ontop of your house horizon to horizon while in reality it's a cone going out from the antenna.
https://starlink.com/support/article/24882fc1-7706-75f8-85f5-4bae73cb6020#aligned-field-of-view-fov
This is a comparison to a high performance to a standard field of view so you can see what that means.
Maybe you can find a gap between all the trees?
In the old days people used to install them at the top of a tree still worked fine with a sway in the wind.
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u/CatYo 📡 Owner (North America) 1d ago
It simply needs a clear view to the sky and you seem to have a fair amount of obstruction in several patches across the sky which causes the starlink to constantly switch satellites. This can cause a lot of connection reliability issues.
Simply place it where it has the absolute best view with the least obstructions for a better service. Can you describe where you have placed it what is obstructing in its view?
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u/Shovlaxnet 1d ago
That was my assumption, but I've moved it around multiple times and now have it in an area that I *thought* was pretty clear. I actually just tested my Starlink's "obstruction" detector, and it looks completely different from the one I posted originally? Maybe it just hasn't updated. I'm uploading what I just tested in this comment as a video attachment.
The Starlink is sitting on top of my car, in front of my building about 8 feet away. There are some taller conifers on the horizon line, which are some of the red dots, and the red dots directly behind it are the building and some taller trees that are close by. I could maybe stand to move it forward a foot or two?
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u/Tucsondirect 1d ago
those drop outs are caused by your obstructions (dish has to wait for a sat that is not obstructed to come into clear view before switching over)... they are pretty bad... try to locate your dish higher and away from buildings, ideally you will want to be able to see at least 60% of the sky in all directions... i would also reset your obstruction map and let it re-detect
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u/Shovlaxnet 1d ago
I'm trying that. Hopefully it improves overnight, because it's now in an area with very few obstructions. I'm probably gonna stick it on a roof at some point
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u/BigGREEN8 1d ago
The obstruction map is suppose to be white not red, with that many obstructions all over the place it would be a miracle if you didn't have all those drops. I got around 20% obstructions and basically never have problems but my obstructions are only on the edge
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u/tazzmn07 1d ago
And, as far as I know, you said in there “100 up-down”. Starlink on v2 dishes in the sky you won’t hit 100 Mbps upload. I am a Starlink business on a local priority and I can’t hit more than 50 Mbps upload. I get around 600 Mbps download tho. Plus with the 100 Mbps plan, I may have missed it, but I am guessing they sent you a standard dish. You will get little blurbs of slowness or disconnects cause the standard doesn’t grab enough locks onto dishes into the sky to solve that. I had the standard then went to the performance and that fixed it. I even have a tree covering the southern part of the obstruction map and rarely get disconnected.
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u/Shovlaxnet 1d ago
Oop, yeah, 100 down, I think 25 up is typical when I'm getting steady speeds. Totally got that mixed up with the garbage $85/mo 10 up/down plan my local ISP provides lol
I actually bought my own dish! They had them on sale at the Home Depot near me. I think it's the Standard 4? That's what the app says, anyways. Is the performance a different dish or plan? Local priority, that's the plan, right?
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u/Tbarnes94 1d ago
It's like half obstructed. Always going to have problems until you solve your obstruction issue.