9thousandfeet

Yes, streaming capability is widely reported as excellent. There are many reports of installations where multiple devices are streaming at the same time with no problems at all, even in installations which are less than ideal with regard to dish obstructions. There's enough buffering to absorb any small "hiccups'" in connectivity from occasional occasional obstruction.VOIP works too, though that's a real time application with no buffering that is not tolerant of any signal "drops", so there will be occasional "hiccups", especially if there are any obstructions to a clear view of the sky. Ditto for applications like Zoom. However, the latency is low enough that conversations are not compromised by delays. A couple of my neighbors are using Ooma (there is no cell signal within 30 miles here) and are very happy with it. I see no reason other VOIP services wouldn't be equally satisfactory.

The bypass mode was only recently enabled on the 2nd gen router. Here's the money quote from the Starlink support page on your account at starlink.com ""Bypass mode can be enabled via the Starlink App under "Settings". Bypass mode will completely disable the built-in Starlink WiFi router functionality. An Ethernet Adapter is required to use this feature. A manual factory reset is required to reverse the setting."You'll want to disable the starlink router if you wish to use your Ubiquiti so as avoid a "double NAT" situation.

You're putting the starlink router in bypass mode, right?

"....when the temp drops to freezing or below, there's a thermostat relay that calls for additional current to send to the heating elements in the dish."Actually, no, that's not true.There are no "heating elements" in the dish, nor is there a thermostat. If communication with satellites is compromised for any reason - rain, snow, obstructions, whatever, increased power will be sent to the arrays and this generates heat, which in turn will melt snow or ice.The more "difficulty" the dish has with satellite contact, the more power it will use. That's it. Also be aware that the system is still in beta, and power consumption is often affected by firmware updates. There are reports of some updates really jacking up power consumption for a while until they are replaced by newer updates. This has happened quite often.There's a video of a complete teardown of a dish in the following link. There are no heating elements. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/12/teardown-of-dishy-mcflatface-the-spacex-starlink-user-terminal/

There are all kinds of "theories" about the deciding factors for the order in which cells come online, and which ones have current capacity and which don't.Some of these theories are really out in the conspiracty weeds, as with so many things nowadays, but the most plausible explanaton is a combination of practical and logistical issues; satellite density, satellite orbits, geographic location, population density, pre-order volume and production capacity. Also probably satellite efficiency, by which I mean the amount of time a satellite is actually in use - and given that any given satellite is only over US terrirory for a small proportion of its orbit, there's some complex international mathematics (and politics) involved there.Elon Musk is many things, but his approach to anything is never arbitrary or irrational. Starlink is in the process of buildiing a global network to give highspeed access from everywhere on earth, including, eventually, receivers in motion on land or sea or in the air. What's needed are more satellites (which means the superheavy needs to come online so they can launch hundreds at a time), more laser link satellites, more ground stations and on and on - all coordinated in such a way as to increase the number of cells that can be serviced, and the customer density in each cell can be increased — all without degradation of service and with an eye on revenue.Short version: it's really complicated. But your question was "will we ever be offered service?"The answer is yes. If you have placed a pre order and made your $99 deposit, you were given an estimated service timeframe. It might have been bumped forward quite a bit — most were, including mine — so now there's a new timeframe. Production numbers are up. Dishy kits are being shipped - a whole lot of Florida and Texas orders were filled last week for example. Features are being improved — the router that comes with the new rectangular dishy now has a bypass mode, for example, and has a detachable power cord now.Our turn will come.

It's "first come first served" in each service cell, not nationally or by state/county or whatever. Folks "not far from you" can easily be in a different service cell with lower demand and thus more empty slots. As more sats get launched, more cells will be servicable and those currently being served will have increased capacity.Customer service, just like the ability to purchase any extras like longer cables or dishy mounts, will open up once your full order is processed and the kit is ready to ship. Reports from people who have their kits are mostly praising the customer service, especially the tech support.

I don't yet have a dishy, so I have no first hand data, but your numbers of 180+ watts seem quite high in comparison to reports I've been reading elsewhere on the 'net.Those readings are higher than those you reported in your previous post too (about 42 watts when temps are not cold you said), so I would have to assume that there's a reason for the increase in power consumption even though your ambient temps are not cold enough to kick the "snow melt" function into gear. Perhaps a recent firmware update has made a difference?That said, the starlink system is not nearly as frugal with power as most off-grid people would prefer, and I don't think it's accurate to say that the off-grid crowd is, or ever was, driving the design process. The main target has always been on-grid rural internet users for whom real high speed internet access without horrendously restrictive data caps and ungainly ping times is just unavailable.You've had your Starlink for more than a month according to your first post, so you are beyond the "return for your money back" boundary. Basically you now own all the hardware. Just FYI, there has been a recent change in policy at Starlink however, which allows transfer of your starlink hardware to someone else (you can give it away, or sell it, SL plays no part in that part of the process) and if the person receiving your equipment is in an open cell, Starlink will transfer the account from you to them. If you can find someone in an open cell with capacity who is willing to purchase your dishy etc, you may well be able to recoup your initial investment.

Snow won't "fill up" the dish — it's a completely flat surface and fairly smooth. The dish also has a heating capability which is intended to melt snow to prevent any build-up on the dish surface. I've seen quite a few accounts from folks up in the north country (Canada, mostly) which describe the dish performing well in winter , shedding snow effectively and operating even sub-zero conditions with only minimal issues under the most unusually severe weather being reported.Your dish should be fine on the roof so long as it's installed in such a way that snow can't build up all around it(and drift under it) to a depth where it might interfere with movement or restrict line-of-sight to the sky.As for keeping the dish cool, I'm not aware of any reports of degraded performance as a result of summer heat.

Not that I'm aware of. I have a similar situation in that I spend part of the year in one location and the other part elsewhere. Eventually, assuming Starlink meets it's stated design goals of full mobility, my plan is to simply take iit with me whenever I change locations. Well, there's one other assumption I"m making too - that I will eventually receive the Starlink kit I"ve been waiting for. Been a couple of months now. I have 3 neighbors who have received theirs, and they're happy. There's something of a backlog in the production lines, I've heard.

Currently each Starlink account is operable only in its assigned "cell". Travel outside that cell and it won't work. I have a neighbor who has had system functionality as much as 20 miles from his service address, but he losed functionality if he moves farther than that. Full mobility is an eventual design aim of the Starlink system, but it's not there yet.