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New Internet Possibilities on the Horizon for Dewees Island

THE PRESENT

If you’re looking information on current 2021 Internet access for Dewees, see our Internet post from February.

IN THE NEAR FUTURE

Starlink from SpaceX looks super promising.

We recently visited friends in Montana. They received their Starlink system in late June.  Several of their friends and neighbors also have it.  They said the setup is a super easy, anyone can do it 3 step process so long as you have a 110-degree view of the sky within 100’ of where you plan to put the modem. That’s the Starlink technical distance limit.  There’s no need to schedule a technician.  We’re not sure yet how the system will work if attached to the roof of a house on stilts, especially when wind casuses the house to sway.  This image shows the relatively small footprint of the self-focusing dish.

Size of Starlink dish

Starlink’s speed and low latency are awesome.  See my Speedtest results below. 

starlink speedtest Montana 2021

 

The main problem is that sometimes a satellite isn’t in view of the dish.  When that occasionally happens, there’s no signal. This should decrease over time as Starlink launches more and more satellites.

If you like to get in early, you might want to sign up now.  The Starlink website says:

Starlink is targeting coverage in your area in mid to late 2021. You will receive a notification once your Starlink is ready to ship.
 
Hardware $499.00
Service $99.00 /mo
Shipping & Handling $50.00
Est. Tax $49.41
Due Today $99.00
 

If you’re not sure, you can wait until the service launches here.  We ordered several months ago and plan to report on how the service works on Dewees.

WHAT WE’RE HOPING FOR

As great as Starlink seems to be, fiber would be even better.  A group of Dewees  owners is exploring ways to get fiber to the island.  No news yet.