I guess I can be considered a SpaceX fan. Whenever I can, I monitor launches, and I also track the progress of the Starship project. SpaceX makes launch vehicles cheaper. This means that the output of cargo of any type into space is also getting cheaper. For this reason, in particular, Starlink is evolving.
Soon, the satellite network of the global Internet operator will expand to 12 thousand devices in low orbit. Then, possibly, several thousand more satellites will be launched. Now about 1600 spacecraft revolve around the Earth at an altitude of about 550 km. The network is already up and running and the results are impressive. For example, the network latency of the satellite provider Hughesnet is about 600ms. And Starlink has 20-30 ms. In order to evaluate the work of the provider, I received a custom set for connecting to the network. Let's talk about him.
Hardware
In the package, the user receives a router, a PoE injector, a tripod and a plate called Dishy McFlatface. The router is nothing special: when you connect it, the user is presented with the usual page with the wireless network setting and nothing more. I liked the fact that the device itself is based on the OpenWRT firmware.
The injector is more interesting. He has two choices. One provides power to the router, the other port supplies power to the satellite dish - 56V @ 1.6A x 2.
The cymbal is equipped with a servo drive and adjusts automatically. No additional gestures are required. The antenna detects its location when turned on, and then automatically focuses on the signal source.
The biggest problem to deal with is signal barriers. The instructions say that for the plate you need to provide an overview of the sky. Even tree leaves can block the signal. Since the antenna is in contact with constantly moving satellites, the coverage should be quite extensive. The company has recently improved some features - for example, added automatic switching to a secondary signal source when the primary satellite is unavailable for some reason. In any case, the antenna should see a clear sky.
Real network characteristics
It's not gigabit fiber, of course, but I get a stable 200Mbps upload and 15Mbps uplink. The latency is low and there are no problems with it.
But this does not mean that there are no problems at all. In general, there are three of them. The first problem is communication cuts. In the last 24 hours, the total signal loss time was 5 minutes. It seems to be not so much, but we are talking about a second loss of communication that happens at the most inopportune moments. The second problem is updates. During the beta testing period, the networks are installed automatically, which also leads to unpredictable loss of communication.
Ping results google.com:
100 packets transmitted, 100 received, 0% packet loss, time 99130ms
rtt min / avg / max / mdev = 17.801 / 27.748 / 44.228 / 5.769 ms
The team is gradually improving the quality of service. The more satellites are launched into orbit, the less communication losses. Firmware updates can most likely be manually installed, if desired, after the network testing period is over. Also, for now, the network does not issue static IPv4 addresses or IPv6 prefixes, but this should be implemented soon.
It is important to know one more nuance: the equipment is tied to a specific region. If the dish is registered at one address, then it will not work at the second until the user changes the service address. This is not difficult, plus in the future the company promises to provide automatic change of coordinates.
Interesting nuances
What can we do to make Starlink even more functional and useful? I must say right away that without any hacks, Starlink is an excellent alternative to cable connection, and it is best to use both cable and satellite. Cable operators usually only provide IPv4 addresses, Starlink only provide IPv6 prefixes.
When IPv4 and IPv6 are used at the same time on the same network, it turns out that addressing and routing are separate from each other. In other words, there is no reason why the IPv4 gateway should be the same device as your IPv6 gateway.
In order to use two addresses at once, I connected Dishy to my existing OpenWRT router as a second WAN device. I had to enable the DHCP IPv4 interface for DHCP IPv6 to work, and I noticed an option in the OpenWRT interface: “Use default gateway. If the box is not checked, the default route is not configured. " Chose this setting, plus a couple others to re-enable IPv6 support, and I suddenly had both IPv4 Internet provided by my cable operator and IPv6 from Starlink.
In the end, I was able to use both connections: when problems with one, the other works. Both links are more difficult to use because the router must track them and maintain different connections. But the problem is not even that, but that difficulties may arise when working with some services. The service "sees" that the user "sits" from different IP addresses, and some of them may, so to speak, not like it. In addition, there are services that only support IPv4. In general, it is better to separate IPv4 and IPv6.
The second interesting point about Starlink is the presence of a test pin on the board with the missing SMD resistor. Most likely, there may be a serial port here. In the near future, I hope to know what needs to be done and what resistor to add to connect the port and access the router. If you know which connector is needed here, please tell us.
The third point is that the supplied cable is FTP (Foil Twisted Pair) Category 5e, 24 AWG. Basically, it is a standard for Ethernet connections outside buildings, which means a portable antenna solution can be created. At any time, it can be turned off and transported to another place - for example, to a hut in the mountains. Place the antenna on the roof of the hut and you will have access to the network. Dreams of a digital haven away from the world can now come true.
