Previous owner cannot initiate transfer

[fungus]

Hi all,

First, we have had Starlink for over a year now. We live in Western NC and have VERY dense foliage. We have our dish on a 40' ham radio tower and have almost zero interruptions.

Surprisingly, our area has almost no electrical storms. The first one we've had in 2 years of living here managed to zap our dish though, in spite of it still being well below the tree line in a valley. I'm sure that pole is more conductive than a pine tree...

After waiting over a day for a reply from customer support, they initiated a new order for a kit with no delivery date, and a projection a few weeks out. For reasons I won't get into, we can't leave our place unattended but we both work from home. I can't wait 2 weeks (let alone a few days) to get back to work.

I drove 6 hours to buy a used kit, the fellow still had his plan up, I got on the internet and browsed, parked the unit, did speed tests & etc, no problems. Great. Give him cash, pack up the unit and scoot back to our place. He terminated service before I left.

I got it home and during the registration the unit says "device already assigned". The user on the other end is responsive and trying to transfer the hardware, but it won't allow him. He said it's giving him an error, although I don't know what error that is right now.

I'm at my wit's end with this. I bought spare hardware because every time I have any issues, we're out of work, we can't make emergency calls, and Starlink can't be bothered to provide customer support. Now I can't even activate the spares.

Has anyone got a clue why he wouldn't be able to transfer the hardware after cancelling service?

Thanks for any advice.

[RicochetStarlink]

@fungus,

There could be a whole host of reasons why the seller might not be able to transfer the hardware. I'm not sure there is any one here who can tell you what those reasons might be or how to fix them. Starlink Support is your best bet for resolving this.

Send an email to starlinkresolutions@spacex.com describing the details -- including the Kit Serial # for the used kit -- and see if they can answer your question(s). However, it might take a few days.

I sympathize with your plight. My Starlink has never failed me. If/when it does someday, I won't be able to work. My situation, however, is less restrictive. I am 20 minutes (or so) from an area with restaurants, coffee shops, and 5G coverage...

 

[fungus]

Hi ricochet,

Just to be clear, is the email starlinkresolutions@spacex.com a different ticketing system? I've already created a ticket through the app, and I'd like to avoid causing delays by creating duplicate tickets.

So far I've had two hardware failures with Starlink. In both situations they've just ignored the issue until we've gotten to desperate measures. The best thing for someone in our situation is a backup plan since Starlink is not dependable, but that requires more infrastructure than we have now.

[RicochetStarlink]

@fungus,

I cannot say for sure how emails sent to starlinkresolutions@spacex.com are tracked. If you have an existing ticket, then you may or may not experience any better response by sending such an email. However, if it were me, I would send the email... better safe than sorry, right? Also, on your existing ticket, add a comment every day (or two) just to remind Starlink Support that the problem has not been resolved. Sometimes, it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease... 😉

I'm sorry to hear that you have had hardware failures and consider Starlink unreliable. I have been using Starlink for more than a year and have even moved my Starlink kit from my previous home in New Mexico to my home in Tennessee. Though I had some issues early on, my service has been stable and reliable for most of that year. During those difficult early months, I, too, considered the possibility of having a backup plan with another ISP. In New Mexico, that was an option. Here in Tennessee, it is not... at least, there is no ISP here that can come close to meeting my needs.

I hope you get this resolved... and soon!