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Stay Away From StarBand


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I have been with Starband for 4 years and I have not seen atmospheric conditions raise the signal like this.  I suppose that a group of Starband engineers are standing in a corner somewhere scratching their heads and saying "sure...if you do it like that"..."I wondered what that switch was for".

Mr Ranger

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Since being transfered over to T 7 in Feb. my mission control doesn't work so I have no idea what the signal quality is.

I have the 481 modem and the new diag. software for the 48x modems still hasn't been released by SB.

I assume the signal strength is pretty high though as since Feb I have only lost the lights on the modem once and that was during a very heavy snowstorm that also took out my dishnetwork for a couple of hours.

Signal quality when I was on AMC 4 was usually above 8.

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aSic, "got no problem with the slow speeds".  Are you kidding?  I assume you can not get dial up.  Otherwise, it makes no sense paying for Starband's service. 

No, I'm not kidding.  You are correct, I cannot get dialup.  Landline service is beyond deplorable.. cant carry on a simple voice conversation without being beat to death by static crackles and pops.  I've ditched the landline and use my cellular.  However, I am roaming where I live..but thats what voicemail is for.  I'll call you back when I go into town.

Either way, I'm still getting service levels that outrun anything I could get on dialup, even with a perfect quality line.  Besides.. when you figure in $30 for dialtone, and $15 for IP, the $4 (cheaper) difference isnt worth the lower speeds.  And thats before taxes and unfees are figured in.  :roll:

Until my service degrades beyond the point where dialup would provide more bandwidth, I can say that I am satisfied with the service, and would still recommend it to anyone else that is in a similar situation.  I move a lot of data, and even though it takes me a bit longer to do so at these lower bitrates, at least I can keep doing it without being locked down with a silly FAP that DirecWay users experience.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been using Starband for about 10 months  Although not lightning fast I had relatively no problems until about 3 weeks ago when I lost my connection.  What they put me through to get the service back up was unbelievable  Plugging and unplugging cords, a new modem and new transmitter and at least 6 technicians who all gave me different information on how the modem should be configured.  They actually made the problem worse. Their customer service is the worst I have ever experienced! Eventually they had to rebuild my site  After one week of the service being up I lost connectivity again today.  Unbelievably when I called they started back through the routine of wanting me to unplug the cords and suggested I may have to send the NEW modem back in to them.  They indicated they do not want to continue to trouble shoot the problem and may just let me out of my contract. WOW Starband investors beware I don't know about anyone else but I am looking forward to WildBlue. 

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dmc, sorry to hear your misfortunes.  Before doing anything else go to the News Server and to the Starband group.  The group is: "starband.general", here you can post your problem and get help from a number of Starband users.

If you are unfamiliar with News groups post back and someone will direct you further.

Mr Ranger

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First, some questions...

Did anything else happen about 3 weeks ago?  Heavy storms?  High winds?  Hail?  Lightening?  Anything at all thet might have moved the dish?  It only has to move a few millimeters to degrage the signal quality.  A lightening strike nearby may have affected the LNB without actually hitting it.

Have you checked the cable from the modem to the dish?  Could it have gotten kinked?  Possibly weather damaged?  Connectors corroded?  Any chance of damage from rodents, birds, insects?

Did the trees leaf out?  A tree that was not in the way last year might have grown enough to be a problem this year.

Did anything happen in your area?  A new cellular telephone or radio tower that could be causing interference?

Have any of the techs actually been to the house to look at any of these things?

The point I am trying to make is that it might not be StarBand's fault, and they might have exhausted all of their troubleshooting options.

 

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There were high winds the day before I lost service 

Yes Starband had me call a tech out to the house after the new modem did not fix the problem  After 2 hours Starband concluded it was the transmitter  They did not suggest that the tech do anything with the cables running under the house

No one has even mentioned to me repositioning the Satellite

Surprisingly Starband customer service called me back today after that ridiculous call where I was informed I would be let out of my contract. I guess someone realized that did not make good business sense  They are indicating they will pay to have a tech come out 

Any advice on what I should have them do while they are out here would be appreciated

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Any advice on what I should have them do while they are out here would be appreciated

Definitely have them check the integrity of the cable between the dish and the modem, physically and electronically.

Also insist they check the dish position and aiming, it may not have moved, but just be sure.

And double check the line of sight for obstructions.

I am looking forward to WildBlue.

Don't get your hopes up over WB; they have delayed their start date several times, originally it was supposed to be in early '04.

And so far I haven't seen firm pricing on the hardware or installation, just estimates.

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WildBlue will be using Anik F2's Ka-Band spot beams.

Equipment pricing has been set at $299.00 US for the dish and Surfbeam modem.

If the FAP doesn't change; it seems very reasonable, as does the pricing for the service.

If they do actually get their service off the ground, I plan to ditch Starband and give them a go.

God knows, they could not possibly be any worse than SB has been since December.

As for my contract with SB; I plan to "let myself" out of it.

If they try to collect any fees or harm my FICO credit score, I will deal with that when and if  the time comes.

If WildBlue does not get off the ground soon, I still plan to remove my SB dish, with a sledgehammer if necessary, and I will change to Direcway for my satellite internet service.

6 months of "load" balancing is beginning to look to me like  just a "load" of ****.

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Phone call with tech/ customer  support.

yesterday i phoned tech support about the speed issue and was told that the minium is 150 kbs down connection rate.

Today I called customer support to seek a credit and was told that the minium is now set at 100 kbs down.

I called just for kicks to sales and they are still quoting up to 500 kbs.

Starband is dead in my book.

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Its too bad..... some are stuck with a 3year contract!  :tard:

I still have 2 years left on my 3 year contract.

I highly doubt a jury or Judge would rule in SB's favor if I decide to terminate it early.

:::.. Download Stats ..:::

Connection is:: 72 Kbps about 0.1 Mbps (tested with 2992 kB)

Download Speed is:: 9 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net/ (main)

Test Time:: Wed May 04 2005 11:19:48 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)

Bottom Line:: 1X faster than 56K 1MB download in 113.78 sec

Diagnosis: May need help : running at only 15.86 % of your hosts average (starband.net)

Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-WA23CNMKB

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:::.. Download Stats ..:::

Connection is:: 1318 Kbps about 1.3 Mbps (tested with 1496 kB)

Download Speed is:: 161 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net/ (main)

Test Time:: Wed, 04 May 2005 10:45:37 GMT-0500

Bottom Line:: 24X faster than 56K 1MB download in 6.36 sec

Diagnosis: Awesome! 20% + : 246.84 % faster than the average for host (178.22)

Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-I72UBPCG1

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Listen up guys i was thinking about getting starband and satalite and all of that stuff but then i went searching for diffrent  ways of getting my internet connection and for some people i would say this is the way to  go but you may not have it anyway go here http://www.evdoinfo.com/ good luck check that website over good the fourms and all some of you mite have a good deal with it some not just throwing this out there for you all.. bye

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:::.. Download Stats ..:::

Connection is:: 197 Kbps about 0.2 Mbps (tested with 97 kB)

Download Speed is:: 24 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net/ (main)

Test Time:: Wed May 4 18:12:43 EDT 2005

Bottom Line:: 4X faster than 56K 1MB download in 42.67 sec

Diagnosis: May need help : running at only 32.19 % of your hosts average (80.22)

Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-3X8JMAIRU

it's been the way for some time now.

Ge4

500k plan

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Same thing here too.  Since last Thanksgiving.

:::.. Download Stats ..:::

Connection is:: 186 Kbps about 0.2 Mbps (tested with 1496 kB)

Download Speed is:: 23 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net/ (main)

Test Time:: Wed May 4 18:36:05 EDT 2005

Bottom Line:: 3X faster than 56K 1MB download in 44.52 sec

Diagnosis: May need help : running at only 40.79 % of your hosts average (starband.net)

Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-9E45AMUSQ

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Starband repointed me last week  Here are my new stats

Your connection is: 1214 Kbps      (about 1.2 Mbps)

You downloaded at: 148 kB/s

Your TRuSPEED: ^info^ 1299 Kbps :: 158 kB/s (7% overhead factored)

Bottom Line: You are running: 22 times faster than 56K and can download 1 megabyte in 6.92 second(s) 

Diagnosis: Awesome! 20% + : 165.65 % faster than the average for host (starband.net) 

Things have definitely improved

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