topic Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison) in SmorgasBoard

Check this out (Internet Comparison)

805orbust — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 04:47:28 GMT

So I got a Starlink terminal 18 months ago to figure if it was going to work when we buy our farm. We're in the Charlotte suburbs but are going out to the country where Spectrum availability is spotty. Our current neighborhood has awful cell coverage and the Starlink dish has a few obstructions. We pay for the 400Mbps service level with Spectrum... check it out. Spectrum vs Starlink vs T-Mobile 5G connection. Results are insane:

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

Remedios — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 16:53:27 GMT

Charge your phone

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

GZG — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 22:30:35 GMT

@805orbust wrote:
So I got a Starlink terminal 18 months ago to figure if it was going to work when we buy our farm. We're in the Charlotte suburbs but are going out to the country where Spectrum availability is spotty. Our current neighborhood has awful cell coverage and the Starlink dish has a few obstructions. We pay for the 400Mbps service level with Spectrum... check it out. Spectrum vs Starlink vs T-Mobile 5G connection. Results are insane:

I imagine t-mobile is only going to get better while starlink is only going to get worse overtime, isn't tmobile only 25/month when bundled with their phone service?

How's the coverage between the three? Do you need it for just the physical one house dwelling or do you need expanded coverage across a whole bunch of land?

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

805orbust — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 07:55:00 GMT

@GZG good question. The T-mobile is just the 5G on my phone. It's pretty sick. I've gotten 500mbps plus a few times and there have been a few occasions where my sons (gamers) have eaten up so much bandwidth that I just used it as a Hotspot. It's very fast. I'll have to check the T-mobile site for their actual home internet and compare that.

Initially it'll just be for the house, however I'll be building another structure on the property to serve as office/studio/mancave so it will need service as well.

Come to think of it we had the original T-mobile home router that was free seven years ago and that was pretty impressive as well. We were still in NJ at the time and when the inevitable Cablevision outages happened it was always on.

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

805orbust — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 07:57:20 GMT

Just checked online. Yes, $25 for the home service and they've got a business level service for $70. I reached out to them. Gonna try that as well. Thanks for the heads up @GZG !

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

805orbust — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 23:05:25 GMT

Ok just ordered the T-mobile business service. They're supposed to overnight the modem. I figure it won't go out till at least tomorrow... will report back once I receive it.

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

DeepDishEMT — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 17:00:08 GMT

Currently have T-Mobile internet and it has been great

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

805orbust — Sun, 08 Jan 2023 06:59:30 GMT

@DeepDishEMT it's weird, I got it the next day and it easily tests out at least double the others but it's sluggish! Did you set yours up with the app? I only plugged it in and signed on to the wifi network.

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

DeepDishEMT — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 02:56:30 GMT

Yes, we set it up through the app and it told us where in the condo was the best location. I have some dead zones in my condo when it comes to cell service, but wifi has been strong. We aren't gamers or anything, but we are both on laptops, cell phones, and have the tv (with youtube tv) going right now. This is standard usage for us, and we rarely have issues with it being sluggish.

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

CYBERSAM — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 03:12:48 GMT

Starlink and T-Mobile partnered up recently! I wouldn't be surprise if you are connecting to the same tower!

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

805orbust — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 03:55:39 GMT

Wow... @CYBERSAM I did NOT realize that they partnered! That would be great if I could utilize the Starlink network with my phone.

@DeepDishEMT I got a 590mbps reading from the Tmobile router, and put it in the best spot in the house, but it does not respond like Starlink or Spectrum... I'm gonna call cust svc and see if they can assist... very weird. Even tried the app for setting up and finding the best spot but no bueno.

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

805orbust — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 02:36:28 GMT

Latest results... but they make no sense as the T-Mobile is the slowest... don't understand.

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

DeepDishEMT — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 17:47:19 GMT

That is really interesting... I will say when I first switched to T-Mobile (cell service only at the time) I still had the other internet set up and my speeds were atrocious. It was weird to see that moving from Verizon to T-Mobile made my original internet not work... once I moved to T-Mobile internet it worked well.

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

805orbust — Sat, 14 Jan 2023 18:07:33 GMT

@DeepDishEMT agreed. I'm gonna keep trying to drill down on it. Hoping it's some kind of advanced setting in the router that I'm missing and perhaps they'll assist.

I'll tell you this tho. When I'm on the road and tether my laptop to the 5G connection on my T-Mobile cell phone it screams! As fast as home internet. Which confuses me even more.

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

NoMoreE46 — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 12:43:34 GMT

Very nice on the T-mo and Starlink. We have friends that bought a home in Matthews NC. The sellers said that they were taking their Starlink away with them.

I had Starlink (in FL panhandle) but returned it after getting 80 Mbps download with our local ISP. A neighbor of mine said he noticed a big drop in speeds as more and more people are coming onboard.

@Remedios is always being the jokester- I like it.

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

805orbust — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 10:56:51 GMT

@NoMoreE46 Matthews is 5 minutes from me. We're in Indian Trail and he's right that it's slowed down a bit (we've had it for 18 months) We do have a *tiny* amount of obstructions (trees) in our subdivision tho. We'll be moving a bit further out to Marshville soon so it'll be interesting to see the unobstructed performance.

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

NoMoreE46 — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 13:49:01 GMT

It seems like a great subrurb of Charlotte.

I think that fast internet access is a major consideration factor for many homebuyers today. Since we had Starlink, I knew that we could bring it with us to the new house so I didn't have to worry about this whwen house shopping. After having like 99.95% uptime with our local ISP at the new home, I sent my Starlink kit back and got my deposit and refund.

Our 5G T-mo signal is weak at our house, but if it improves, I would like to sign for the home service as a back-up.

And yes, there a a collab between T-mo and Starlink that was announced in August 2022.

T-Mobile phones will connect to Starlink for free starting next year | TechCrunch

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

805orbust — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 04:11:40 GMT

Wow, that is amazing. So you found you had no need for Starlink. That would be a relief for us if we find same after moving. I also love the idea of a collab between TMO and Starlink. I'll take it.

By the way, you're not going to believe this. My cousin moved down from NJ about 9 months ago and was having similar issues with Spectrum at his place as well. Told me he got a mesh network and it solved the problem. So I finally broke down and purchased a Netgear Orbi mesh system with a router and 2 satellite nodes. Problem solved. I haven't seen my 2 sons since we got it running on Sunday. We're getting about 595mbps everywhere in the house when before we were lucky to get 45. Amazing system. Check it out:

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 13:36:33 GMT

@805orbust

Trying to figure out if you are "bragging" or "complaining"?

For your reference ... the lower the "Ping Rate" the better for the connection!

Re: Check this out (Internet Comparison)

Lou-natic — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 13:49:21 GMT

I know "wi-fi" is supposed to be amazing and all that but this right here is why I still use wired connections where possible.

It's really hard to beat the stability of a wire going from my router to my computer. I mean at a hotel with a laptop, yeah ok I get it.

But at home? Wi-fi is for visitors and my computers are jacked into the modem/router.