Starlink Satellite Connectivity

If you're considering or currently have a Starlink satellite Internet connection, you'll be interested in reading this section.

The details below apply primarily to residential plans to Australian customers, which is the only feedback we've been able to gather from our customers to date.

Unpredictable Speed and Latency

Existing Avorra customers using Starlink as their Internet service provider have been able to make and receive calls successfully.

However, due to the unpredictable and constantly fluctuating download speed, upload speed and ping (i.e. delay) with Starlink, the call quality and experience may be undesirable. Your exact experience will depend on the geographic location and time of calling.

Customers have reported to us that from moment to moment, the Internet speed with Starlink can fluctuate from 200 Mbps to 25 Mbps, then back up to 150 Mbps, then down to 90 Mbps, etc. In other words, it's wildly erratic according to weather conditions, atmosphere and capacity of the satellite.

NBN (i.e. ASDL style) wired connections generally provide predictable and consistent data throughput and latency. However, this is not the case with Starlink in practice.

Higher Speed Plans May Work Well

Choosing a business plan may provide a more predictable connection.

Starlink business plans offer "download speeds of up to 350 Mbps and latency of 20-40ms"  according to their website at https://www.starlink.com/business.

At 350 Mbps, the maximum download speed is better, however there is still no minimum download and upload speed specified.

Most Internet services providers provide adequate download, but upload which carries your voice to the other party on the call, is also extremely important.

In practice, this means that the Starlink business plans could be the same as residential plans in that they fluctuate from 200 Mbps to 25 Mbps, then back up to 150 Mbps, then down to 90 Mbps, etc.

Overall

In summary, the overall experience reported by customers with Starlink was positive in terms of customer support, quality of product and general Internet service, however buyer beware as to whether the fluctuations in data delivery are adequate for business quality voice calls.