Starlink Mini as a failover
jackpearce.co.uk66 points by jkpe 11 hours ago
66 points by jkpe 11 hours ago
I live pretty rural and starlink has been worth the price over the last few years. When you compare it to dialup or hughesnet or viasat, it just works.
I have a GL.iNet travel router. When I am not travel, it connects to the router's second WAN port. If my main internet goes down, it takes me 30 seconds to tether my phone and failover manually. My carrier detects and throttles hotspot traffic by measuring packets TTL, so I tweaks the router's iptables to dodge that. Typically I get over 400 Mbps.
From time to time I get the itch to improve my home network uptime, and I have to keep reminding myself that the current setup is fine.
(Tangential, regarding GL.Net routers: I find it satisfying that these routers run OpenWRT out of the box, and top the "Travel routers" category on Amazon: "Overall Pick" and "Amazon's Choice".)
I also do this. Xfinity went out for a few hours earlier this month and Unifi failed over almost instantly, and within minutes we had high speed internet once I upgraded us. The standby mode would have been plenty for basic web browsing, too.
$5/mo for pretty guaranteed connectivity, plus being able to take it around with me on travels is pretty awesome.
What is the role of Unifi here? I read the article and went to their site but I still have no clue.
Unifi is one of the few consumer-grade routers that supports dual WAN.
While the GUI and other polish certainly makes it more approachable then many I wouldn't really call it "consumer-grade", it's definitely into prosumer/SMB territory. And in that market there are thankfully a number of solid competitors fwiw, both directly the exact same head to head niche (Omada), more disjoint but sometimes higher value deals like Mikrotik, and open source solutions focused on embedded (like OpenWRT) or ones like OPNsense that will run on a vast array of PC hardware. Failover should be pretty straight forward on all of them, whatever is being used for routing just needs at least three network ports (2 or more for WAN, 1 or more for LAN).
A mobile failover would be cheaper and would give you better connectivity in heavy rain.
A 4G dongle can be purchased for $15, rather than $200 for a Starlink Mini. Then, let's say your main internet source fails and you need to actually use the backup plan beyond the standby amount of 0.5 Mbps. That will cost you a minimum of $50 for Starlink, versus roughly $25 for a month of unlimited cell service. As for standby costs, you can find phone plans for $5 per month tat give a small amount of fast data, as opposed to Starlink's unlimited amount of slow data.
But of course this only works for areas that actually have cell service.
TFA specifically calls out not wanting to depend on 4G/5G coverage, which is anything but ubiquitous:
> It has the advantage of working pretty much anywhere with a view of the sky so no relying on mobile network coverage.
I'm also not sure if $25/month is anything close to the global average for unlimited 4G/5G data (if even available).
Sounds way too high to me, I am paying €8.80/month for unlimited 5G, calls and texting
If you're in a rural area (and heck, even in an urban era) the primary ISP of a region dropping is likely to cause a lot of congestion from cellphones falling back to the operator network.
I found it quite absurd that Spectrum (my cable operator) wants to sell me a modem with integrated 5G/4G backup knowing that as soon as the cable plant drops, hundreds of local phones are going to congest the network as well and my "Invincible WiFi(tm)" will end up dead as a dodo.
I'll just throw a Peplink up and throw the cable and Starlink into it and run that as my load balancer.
Using a 4g/5g router is much easier and probably cheaper/power efficient.
Depending on your area you don't even need an external one. A simple 4g dongle would do.
Unifi (which the OP uses) even has dedicated devices for this type of failover: https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/29887153953559-UniFi-5...
Spendy though.
The Unifi 5G modem for the UK [1] is £378 (~USD500) and that's just the hardware, you still have to pay for a suitable SIM.
I can see why some people are drawn to the Starlink option at 1/3 of that price.
1. https://uk.store.ui.com/uk/en/category/internet-solutions/co...
You can get a 4g dongle with $20 for basic failover. There are also many other companies that sell cheaper 5G routers. Zte has several models.
Starlink only makes sense as a last resort if LTE coverage is not available in your area.
When here is local power outage and everyone switches to 4g/5g, it is overwhelmed and unusable.
Again this is location specific. I have a mini ups on my router/ont. And I assume that my provider also has a UPS, because even when power is out my landline connection just works.
Yup, OP is from the UK. In the UK I got a ThreeUK business SIM for £49 that lasted 2 years with 500GB data. It sits in wan failover and manages about 50mbps which is perfect to keep most services running.
Very much location dependent though. I lived less than a mile from Southampton city centre for a while and could never get anything close to dial-up standard download/upload speeds. I've heard similar from London residents.
Yeah definitely. Where I am the coverage and speeds are decent on most networks.
I really REALLY want this, but I just can't give money to Musk.
I guarantee you, you’re giving money to people much worse than him every time you shop, without realizing it.
Yeah but that doesn't mean that you should give money to people where you know for sure they suck?
For all other cases, you can still try to not give money to people who suck by going for fair trade products and stuff like that.
> I guarantee you, you’re giving money to people much worse than him every time you shop, without realizing it.
Your assumption lies on the "without realizing it".
If you realize how bad the people are, you can do something about it.
The likes of Musk are extremely bad, and have been personally responsible for many, many abhorrent developments in both national and foreign stages.
Thus, it's natural that people avoid anything which is directly and indirectly tied to the likes of Elon Musk.
Don't you agree?
> If you realize how bad the people are, you can do something about it.
The problem is you have no idea what people are invested in what companies. How do you know that when you shop at $friendlySustainableCompany that people like Musk do not have shares there?
I can only be responsible for what I'm aware of, or can reasonably be expected to be aware of.
I, too, have a Starlink account for emergency backup service that I plan to switch over to Amazon LEO as soon as it's available. Lesser-evil principle at work again. Yes, there are things that aren't great about Amazon, but Amazon's practices are largely in sync with my capitalist values.
Musk's businesses are also compatible with my capitalist values, but those values don't include his special additional bonus values of Nazi-adjacent behavior, sabotaging the government, or active subversion of elections. It's not a religious thing, it's just that given a choice, I'd rather support someone else.
> The problem is you have no idea what people are invested in what companies.
That's not an argument that justifies in any way ignoring the people you do know.
Do you think it's ok to ignore the far-right activist who has been deeply involved in election fraud?
Everything is indirectly tied to musk. A well balanced portfolio has exposure to virtually everything on this planet. You buy nappies, you’re indirectly financing Musk. You post “i really want this” on hn, you’re indirectly financing Musk.
I don't understand this mentality.
What makes Musk different than Blackrock for instance? Or Monsanto, or Shell, or any corporation both of us rely on and support, in return for being able to eat, fuel our car, etc.
Is it because Musk isn't lobbying behind the corporation but doing it publically?
I truly don't understand where ya'll draw the line.
I truly don't care what other people do or want, I just look to ensure I can live the life I desire while respecting that which others want or impose. As if me being angry or boycotting them will change their hearts. If it changes anything it's their tactics (more deception).
Another example is AI. I despise it, and honestly think it's evil. Yet I'm using it to secure financial stability in a way that does not require AI to sustain.
So when AI takes over my programming job I have the alternative already running, thanks to AI.
Don't reject the massive advantages of Starlink because of a man, just as you're not actively starving yourself despite our food supply being basically poison, caused by boards of men.
Choosing to stand up for your principles in one instance, doesn't mean you suddenly have to fight all the battles all at once, even those that aren't apparent you (yet). How do you know this person is not choosing principles on other occasions already? IMO doing this is better than doing nothing. You can always choose to pick up more battles later. Other people can fight the other fights. Everyone always choosing self over principles will be worse in the long run
How do you know that the shareholders and directors of the places you shop arent secretly way worse than Musk?
I literally don't, so I don't choose to be a moral warrior in that area. I would say healthiness is the main driver there.
There I read the labels and where possible buy local.
Elon is publicly terrible, on the Epstein list and supports the far right.
It's the easiest non support of my life, I don't use Twitter, don't have a Tesla, don't use grok.
Elon Musk is far from the nicest person in the world and there are many fair reasons to dislike him but he wasn't in "the Epstein list" (whatever that is), he was pictured with a number of other tech CEOs at a dinner with Epstein, who was a wealthy financier.
This passionate apologia of nihilism is not consistent with not caring what other people do or want. If "virtue signalling" elicits such reaction, perhaps it's actually working. Besides, voting with your wallet, an actual tangible action, is not virtue signalling.
How is it nihilism?
If you ever visit Bonaire let me know and I can show you the abundance of life we are stewarding on my land.
It's mostly setting healthy boundaries on what we perceive we can affect. I don't buy American food (except Cocoa Rice Crispies), functionally it's a boycott. Is that the reasoning? No, it just tastes like crap.
I stumbled on a long article post by John Conrad @johnkonrad about War on Rocks on X that explains this mentality. I haven't seen it put this way before.
> What makes Musk different than Blackrock for instance?
Open support for right-wing parties and politics all over the world.
And then citizens get to vote on what they perceive as important.
If you can show me the list of people you boycotted due to open support for left-wing parties we can talk.
Or do we only attempt to silence those that have standpoints we don't agree with?
Let me know, I'm new to this silencing of opinion thing but I notice it's what society will democratically choose for given the loud voices in that direction.
Plus doing it to a hundred million followers and controlling the medium that delivers his message.
> I don't understand this mentality.
I think it's pretty easy to understand.
You have a service you want, but subscribing to it is a clear and direct way to financially support the advancement of fascist, extremist political groups and regimes pushing alarmingly racist and xenophobic policies not only in the US but also across the world.
Does your convenience justify a totalitarian shift? I don't think so. Do you think it does?
It's going to shift anyway.
Wisdom is preparing for the shift using any legal means neccesary.
Morals are a mostly internal issue anyway, not based on solely external actions. You know the whole stealing bread to feed hungry children idea.
What you are doing we teach our kids to be virtue signaling. Nobody is saying or at least I am not assuming you support Musk if you have Starlink. I simply think you have need for sattelite internet.
Just like I don't automatically assume your reason for eating meat (if you do) is to show your approval for modern slaughtering practices. Or if you wear clothing... does that mean you support exploitative labour?
Also FYI nobody really cares about American policies outside the US. We're mostly busy insulating ourselves from the effects we're perceiving.
More European food cause your food is now weird, more Chinese stuff since you don't manufacture much anymore, less media content cause they all want to teach our kids about more genders we know about.
But we do love Starlink! Fastest internet we ever had here.
The totalitarian shift is coming from the attempt at being totalitarian.
Why did Musk buy Twitter? Do you remember how totalitarian-like Twitter was controlled?
Or do you wish me to forget since it was for the left?
The totalitarian shift is coming from people like you who feel like you have a total control on what is true and right. And from that standpoint you then declare others to be racist and xenophobic without attempting to truly understand their reasoning.
Not to mention the ever-increasing lack of tolerance for religion based views. Is it not your consitution that says that all men are born free, and are free to vote based on their OWN conciousness?
Yet they are labeled right-wingers and publically shamed and marginalized when possible. Even when all they want are federal repeals so each state can decide.
Do you not see that you guys have become the totalitarian ones? Wanting to impose how to view even life itself on others.
You know if your internet drops out you could just use your phone or idk not have internet for a bit.
You dont NEED a starlink like you need food or being able to commute etc.
Tesla, starlink are more a luxury for an average hn user.
My local internet is 5 Mbit. I am a programmer. Average latency to servers I work on is 200ms.
Tell me more about how Starlink is a luxury.
Especially considering it's a full $10 less than the monthly robbery by our local Telco.
I'm a fairly average HN user but I earn my livelihood by working from home. Backup connectivity is cheap.
I think this is one of my favorite comments on HN. Thank you for putting it into words.
This, I refuse to use anything he is even remotely part of.
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Why is not using a product based on cultural or political reasons make you part of a cult?
Because when you derive your values from what others around you think, rather than from first principles, you are indeed in a cult.
Ah, so for you the principal of boycott is fine, but in case of Elon Musk, you strongly believe people just do it because other people are doing it?
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Why? Hackers using / not using products or creating products based on political or cultural reasons was a thing looong before reddit.
His politics are less extreme than you probably think. Modern journalism goes for clicks, which means generating outrage.
> Modern journalism goes for clicks, which means generating outrage.
Is this about journalists talking about musk, or about musk himself? I mostly learn about his views through his own tweets that twitter always makes sure to serve me in my home page, and "goes for clicks"/"generating outrage" seems to fit well how musk uses his platform. In any case, his politics seem awful to me even without any journalistic mediation of them.
I've seen his tweets direct. You don't have to spin his opinions for them to look horrendous.
> His politics are less extreme than you probably think.
Just look at the whole DOGE mess. Brush aside anything you believe can be brushed aside due to incompetence. Look at the result.
Explain exactly what can possibly lead you to believe that his politics are less extreme than you possibly think.
You're talking about the Nazi salute guy, by the way.
Sure, and anyone who thinks that was a Nazi salute fell victim to clickbait.
"My heart goes out to you" with a throwing gesture that ends with your arm outstretched. Of course, only the final position was blasted all over the press.
> Sure, and anyone who thinks that was a Nazi salute fell victim to clickbait.
You need to be terribly naive to ignore the fact that the guy known for supporting a swath of fascist and far-right groups, to the point the guy even hosts their events, wasn't casually throwing around Nazi salutes.
please, defend mechahitler and the child pornography factory that is x.com the everything app
Did you see what DOGE did to the government? In particular to USAID? Estimates are that this has already killed hundreds of thousands of people who relied on that aid.
The issue isn't just Musk's politics. It's that his actions have been evil, the kind of negative impact that major wars have.
We're talking something like 1 million dead people per year with a quarter of those being children. For a level of assistance that cost the US nothing (0.43% of federal spending). This is an evil that in a few years puts you on the list of biggest mass murderers in history.
I prefer having a 2nd wired connection as my backup. The satellite connection has some clear benefits, but it's still going to outer space. A DOCSIS failover won't suffer from rain fade or a something landing on the antenna.
If I've got a situation so bad it takes out both of my connections I've probably got bigger things to deal with than internet access.
The buried fiber getting cut by is really the only thing that kills the connection. Fiber can go for a long time without power from the local grid infrastructure. My cable provider has a mostly orthogonal failure mode (goes down like clockwork with the grid).
It honestly has to be very strong rain for it to create connection issues. I dont know where you live but here in germany we have that maybe once or twice a year with our antenna.
TIL standby mode. Is that enough to operate a remote webcam? Not real time video feed but say uploading a photo every 1 minute or so
Apparently you get unlimited data capped at 500 kbit/s. So that would be a clear "yes".
You can find something similar with IOT sims. And then you just need a standard 4g/5g dongle/router
Man, that 500kbit/s is quite generous for that price, can easily be used to access CCTV cameras in remote areas. I currently use LTE for that and it's 10 eur for 15GB data cap per month for that use case
I can't give money to Musk. I just can't. OP doesn't live in the US, so maybe they don't feel this quite as acutely, but it's difficult to name someone who has done quite so much long-term damage to the US in such a short time.
I agree. As much as Starlink is a technological miracle, the fact that I should finance the dealings of this man is too much.
SpaceX IPO is the next in the long grift chain.
Musk is a piece of shit but I need to pick my battles.
The only alternative available to me personally is Inmarsat BGAN, and for that I was paying $6 per MB (yes, six dollars per megabyte).
Let me guess, spacex have never had a single successful launch, right? Bezos is way ahead - and he’s such a great guy!
SpaceX can be doing awesome things and Musk can be grifting simultaneously.
> OP doesn't live in the US, so maybe they don't feel this quite as acutely
It's the same sentiment in large parts of Europe, and a major reason for dropping Tesla sales. He actively supports right-wing, eurosceptic politics and parties in several European countries.
That and what it's done for ground based astronomy.
What has it done for ground based astronomy?
As an astronomer, nothing meaningful. Oh, apart from making it possible for me to have a dark sky site that’s miles from anywhere, including the nearest cell tower.
Bastards.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/spacexs-dark-sate...
Even more distressing is that the photo is from 2019.
Every so often I do the numbers on a backup Internet connection and decide that it's not worth it, but understand that it is useful for peace of mind reasons. My Internet is just too reliable. When I'm out of contract with my current provider I'll need to reconsider this as the supplier I'm likely to move to has no obvious/simple/integrated backup option.
tl;dr FTTP. A single outage event in 16 months, lasted 40 minutes, whilst asleep.
I'm in the UK and have FTTP through BT. Way back when I also purchased the 4G backup option (Hybrid Connect) that comes with this service. That's an extra £7.50/mo when taken as part of the usual 24-month contract. It's simple to setup and doesn't require any specific maintenance.
Looking back at the logs it's clear (from an actual usage perspective) it's not been worth the £7.50/mo I've been paying for it, but I'll admit it helped give me peace of mind when I was on-call for work so it is easy to justify.
The BT supplied router (which is required if you want to use their 4G backup hardware) keeps a log of "Resilience events".
In the 16 months I've had FTTP it has had exactly one "resilience event". A 40m11s outage that started at 00:20:05 on 28/11/2025. I was unaware of this outage as I was asleep.
It was really useful when I moved house though. I was in the middle of a 24-month contract with BT at my old address so I ported my contract to my new address. This meant they had to come round and install FTTP at the new property, which they couldn't do for a couple of weeks, so I was without home Internet for these two weeks.
Luckily the 4G "Hybrid Connect" backup device wasn't geo-locked (or if it was maybe BT overlooked it given there was an outstanding "Moving house" order on the account) and so it worked perfectly for the ~2 weeks between moving in and FTTP being installed. If this hadn't worked then a temporary 4G router would have worked just as well.
I had a bunch of "resilience events" for this period (it wasn't one continuous event as I was moving/restarting the broadband router for various reasons). During those 13 days the logs show 163GB download and 25GB upload. That's an average of ~150KBps (note the capital B there, in bits-per-second it is ~1.1Mbps) download.
In the 26 months prior to moving (where I was on ~75Mbps FTTC with BT) I had 3 "resilience events". 17m36s, 47m7s, 31m22s. All between midnight and 4am where I wouldn't have noticed, these were also within 1 month of each other, the other 25 months had no problems at all. None.
When my current contract comes to an end I'll move to a different supplier (probably Community Fibre as I can get symmetric 5Gbps for less than I'm paying BT for 1Gbps/120Mbps) and then not worry about a backup. If it is less reliable then I'll look for a solution then.
My current backup is simply to hotspot on my mobile with 5G (good signal here). Doesn't help the others in the house but they can fend for themselves. Neighbours have different suppliers or technologies (DOCSIS vs FTTP) so swapping wifi details would also be an option.
As others have pointed out, a local power-cut that takes out of the FTTP cabinet could easily take out the local 4G/5G masts making a 4G backup solution useless. If this happens I can just take my laptop to a nearby cafe or the co-working space I use. That kind of outage is very rare though round here.
Then again with the sums involved (under £10/month extra) it may just be easier (for peace of mind again) to just plump for something that doesn't really make amazing financial sense as it's just the cost of a pint or two a month.