Starlink – Page 2 – WirelessMoves

Starlink – Part 4 – Downlink Performance – Standard Cubic

Data throughput during a 30 seconds TCP iperf3 session with TCP cubic for congestion avoidance.

In part 3 of this series, I’ve taken a look Starlink’s downlink performance with the non-standard TCP BBR congestion avoidance algorithm. Overall, I was quite happy with the result as, despite the variable channel and quite some packet loss, BBR kept overall throughput quite high. Cubic, the standard TCP congestion avoidance algorithm, is not quite as lenient on packet loss, so I was anxious to see how the system behaves in the default Linux TCP configuration. And it’s not pretty I’m afraid.

Starlink – Part 3 – Downlink Performance – The BBR Version

Starlink downlink throughput over 30 seconds.

After the more high level parts 1 and 2 on Starlink, it’s now time to have a closer look at how the Starlink downlink channel behaves. I’m totally amazed by the system and it performs very well in Germany. That being said, it probably comes as no surprise that on the IP layer, the graphs produced by the data transmission over satellites look very different from the same graphs produced by a data transfer over a fixed line VDSL link. For the comparison, I’ve used Starlink over the router’s built in Wi-Fi and compared it to my VDSL line at home, which is also connected to a 5 GHz Wi-Fi router.

Starlink – Part 2 – Radio Shadow, Rain and Umbrellas

Summer seems to have taken a break in the second half of July, and the day I wanted to test Starlink at another place and demonstrate it to some people was as inhospitable as it could probably get during a summer day in Germany: The temperature was well below 20 degrees Celsius, it was very windy, and we had everything from very cloudy but dry weather to periods with light to strong rain showers throughout the day. Or to look at it from a positive side: Perfect for testing Starlink in less than ideal conditions. So here’s how that went.

Starlink – Part 1 – First Bring-Up

Starlink antenna affectionately called ‘Dishy’ by some on the rooftop

I’m sure you’ve seen the one or other satellite focused post on this blog over the last year. So far, I’ve mostly been looking into handheld satellite text messaging, but I always had a close eye on Starlink as well. Recently, Starlink has lowered their prices and introduced mobile tariffs that can be activated and deactivated on a monthly basis. Mobility is important for me, as I wanted to test and potentially use satellite based Internet access in a number of different places. Also, I don’t need it all year around, so being able to only pay for the months while in use is just what I was waiting for, too. In other words, the time had come for me to order a terminal and see how it really performs in the Cologne area in Germany.