For the record I’m laboriously thumbing this post out on my phone, because once again although it’s working fine I can’t use it to get the laptop online. I strongly suspect that this is weather-related, even though it’s a still clear day, because it’s not as if this is the first time it has happened.
Anyway, last night I got a text from Big Brother wondering if perhaps the problem was some fault in the signal booster he sent me back in 2020. I said I had no indication that there was anything wrong with the booster but that it was something easy enough to check on. So this morning I just reached down and unplugged it while watching the signal bars on the phone. All hell instantly broke loose: clearly it was only the booster that was allowing me any signal at all. It was only several minutes after I plugged it back in that I got the use of the phone back.
So it’s just the unsettled weather that’s causing my troubles, same as usual. And it’ll go away when it goes away, I guess, same as usual. So much for high-speed rural Internet.
If I had the money for it I’d send you a Starlink terminal.
There has been some solar activity the past week or so (I don’t follow that to closely) that may be having some effect on radio signals. Possibly that’s whats going on? (Northern lights have been active lately. too.)
Or it could be Gremlins………..
I recently installed a Starlink system, (not for me, I ran all the cables and did the antenna mount, but was not allowed to plug it it in. Rude job supervisor.) so it’s word of mouth that it’s pretty spendy.
Sometimes the dream is totally destroyed by reality. The Starlink terminal is something of a power hog. Depending on where you read, it averages 45-70 watts and peaks out at well over 100 watts. Even a big PV system might be humbled by that kind of drain if ran 24/7.
It’s a power hog, as Ben says, but it’s also a dollar hog. They just increased the price for me to $110/month, though some areas are now $90/month (they are trying to slow down the accretion of users in areas where they need more bandwidth, and get more where they have plenty of bandwidth).
Joel, is the booster antenna clear of snow or debris?
Yes, I’ve established that the booster is working. Without it I’d have very little evidence that there even is this thing called an Internet.