Epic, Monumental, Starlink FAIL (SOLVED)

Tabaz

Words cannot express the frustration in dealing with a company that has no "800" number or "Chat" format for dealing with consumer problems.  I'm in week four of trying to get my Starlink system to work.  I have ZERO hope this will happen based on the disjointed, uncoordinated, slipslop exchanges I've had with this company.  I really think I've been communicating with some poorly constructed "AI" program and not human beings.  There is no phone number to call.  There is no "chat" feature to have a dialogue about your problem. Buy the Starlink system at your own risk. In hindsight, I wish I never did.  What a terrible experience.  

Everything seems to be finally working.

techietab

What issues are you having?

My initial trial run at home was pretty painless, even though my view of the northern sky is iffy (very heavily wooded lot).

Feel free to direct message me if you want a second opinion on any troubleshooting. 

Tabaz

Starlink (SL) is sending me a new unit.  Issues (1) I could not get the dish to "Stow" at my home, (2) could not access the "Portability" option, (3) SL then gave me the RV plan for my trip, (4) unit would not work at campsite because it was not at my home (5) now back home, SL says that the unit is not at its location, (6) unit will still not stow.

techietab

Yikes, yeah...that sounds like a defective Dishy unit. 

Grumpy_G

You have the newer square version, there are quite a few reports on the Starlink reddit of problems caused by the weirdly shaped connectors not seating perfectly. 

BrianZ

Maybe you could send Elon Musk a tweet about your awful experience.  Isn't that system fairly expensive too?

Tabaz

I'm guessing Mr. Musk is pretty busy right now with his Twitter acquisition.  The equipment cost with shipping is $700.  Monthly subscription for the residential unit is $110.  Add an additional $25 for those months you want the portability feature (i.e. taking it camping).  Worth it to me if it works.  I just may have a gotten a bad unit.  We'll see how the new unit works when it arrives.

BrianZ

Yeah, that would be nice to have, and maybe only if your campsites don't have a lot of trees?  I was thinking they had an RV setup too, if you don't need residential, where you could pay only for the times (months?) that you need it.  

Tabaz

I need to be clear that my beef with Starlink is their terrible customer support structure.  It is not ready for the consumer market - not even close.  My four week odyssey with them has been nothing but frustration.  You only get one email to address your problem.  If whoever (or whatever, i.e. "AI") responds and closes your ticket because THEY (IT) thinks they solved your issue, then you can simply go pound sand.  With that said, I'm hopeful that the new unit will work as advertised.  BrianZ, you will always have a monthly fee.  It will be $110 for residential (with an additional $25 for you camping months), or flat $135 for the RV plan.  I see where you have an option to pause your plan, but, based on my experience, is a bridge too far. 

Tabaz

UPDATE - Based on my recent communications with Starlink, they never switched my plan from "RV" to "Residential" when they sent the replacement Residential unit.  The hardware was fine, but could not work with the RV software.  Hopefully the new RV unit will work fine.

Tabaz

Update 2 (for those who care) - the new RV unit seems to work at multiple locations.  It worked very well at my home.  I then took it to my office parking lot where it did not give me the "You are Not at Your Residence" error message.  However, it could not access the Internet (probably because of the office building blocking any signals from the North).  Going camping tomorrow and will report the results.  Spoke with a neighbor who owns a very expensive Tesla.  He stated that he would never buy another because of the poor customer support he's experienced over the last six years of ownership.  I feel the same about my Starlink system.  Could never recommend it based on my negative customer support experience. 

Tabaz

See the edit to my first post.  Everything seems in working order.

techietab

Sorry you've had such a rough time with initial setup. Unfortunate because Starlink is really the only player in its market space that's reasonably accessible to consumers. 

I've heard similar complaints from Tesla owners, so the unhelpful support is probably just modus operandi for one of Elon's companies. That said, I've heard complaints about support and service from everyone I know that owns/has owned an EV - there seems to be a lot of early adopter pain across the board there. I actually have a couple of colleagues that switched from Audi eTron to Tesla because Audi's support and service were somehow even more awful than Tesla's, relatively speaking.

Tabaz

A tech friend who helped me through this said "Welcome to the Bleeding Edge of technology."  A very appropriate term.