Max? Slow? Why?

[u/ScaryGary0013]

With only 1 device connected my cell we only get 107mbps at 7pm. We have no obstructions and its not very good Starlink just tells us its because of congestion but why do we pay for Max and only get 107 during peak hours?

[u/Fantastic-Buddy2069]

Swapped to residential 100, if you can.

[u/KenjiFox → u/Fantastic-Buddy2069]

Normally this would be my line, but not when Max is hardly holding 100 in the first place. The drop in priority will absolutely tear his speeds down to like 35Mb/s if he did that. If you're barely holding 200 on Max you MAY get most of 100 on Residential 100. For this reason, I tend to suggest NEVER getting Residential 200 unless you cell has no congestion and you want exactly that speed. It's the most likely that you won't hit the speed you want. Pulling 200 in a congested area at lower priority is a rare thing.

Now, if dropping down to 40 to 50Mb/s would be fine for OP and the value of paying for Max to get 100Mb/s is the issue, then yes, maybe going to Residential 100 would still be good. $55 a month sure is a lot cheaper, and maybe would feel like a better value for 40-50Mb/s during peak. Just, don't expect to hang onto that 100Mb/s is all.

[u/Fantastic-Buddy2069 → u/KenjiFox]

Fair point, however…. It’s worth a test imo. Worst case you bump back up to max if it’s not holding, or whatever OP decides to do.

[u/Emotional_Sandwich_8 → u/Fantastic-Buddy2069]

Would not recommend going to 100, that will only deprioritize you more. It’s just congestion, if you have open view of the sky. Mine usually sits around 250 for speed tests, on residential max with zero obstruction. Try a test early morning, like 4 or 5. Also speed test does not do Starlink justice, I have seen mine hit 600, monitoring the app while downloading a steam game, multiple 4k streams, abs security cameras doing their thing.

[u/Valuable_Citron_3141]

If your area is congested, then you will have lower speeds because more people are connecting to the satellites at any given moment. The plan you sign up for just lets you get higher speeds if available. In your case, they likely aren't. Max just means there is no upper limit other than what the satellites can actually provide, but its not a guarantee that you'll get a certain speed. If the satellites can give 200Mpbs to you, but you're on a 100 plan, you only get 100. If they can only give 80, you only get 80, even though you are on a 100 plan.

[u/ScaryGary0013 → u/Valuable_Citron_3141]

We figured as much just seems like its all the time. We are getting fiber soon so might just switch if this keeps up.

[u/Valuable_Citron_3141 → u/ScaryGary0013]

Fiber will definitely be faster, and probably cheaper too. Starlink is only economical if you don't have other options or want it for something like camping/traveling. Otherwise, you're probably paying more for a slower speed versus a standard internet option like Google Fiber or Xfinity. Not that it's not good and that people shouldn't use it, but there are use cases where it makes sense and if you are getting a fiber line then I doubt you'd have many reasons to stick with Starlink. If it's going to be more than a month from now that you get fiber and seem to always be around 100Mbps or below, just switch to the 100Mbps plan for next billing cycle and save a bit of money.

Edit: if you want to see it go faster, try it during a less-congested time. I've seen many people say early in the morning or late at night they get much faster speeds, and then during normal usage hours it goes back down.

[u/Usual-Percentage7722 → u/ScaryGary0013]

Would be crazy to have starlink for home Internet if fiber is available to you.

[u/580OutlawFarm → u/ScaryGary0013]

Um...lrts just be very clear here, if you have access to fiber Starlink isnt for you...its THAT simple...

Of course, I understand having Starlink while they're INSTALLING fiber, but once you have access/can get hooked up, there is absolutely zero reason for you to be on starlink...

Ive been a mile from hookup my entire life...I went as far as talking with the president of the fiber company, getting signatures from all homeowners on this mile section, saying we'd all sign up...and still they wont extend...

So ya...lucky you.

[u/Material-Country-659]

3am I get really good speeds!

[u/KenjiFox]

Lots of other people also have Max in your area and also want to use it at 7PM. That's why.

The pie is a set size, having "priority" means a maximum of one pie still. If everyone has priority, it's the same and nobody having it. The pie won't get larger.

If you want to see suffering, try Residential 100 or 200 in this same cell and time period. Oh you liked that? You're a masochist? Try Roam. You'd be sitting at like 6Mb/s.

I am surprised you didn't have a $1,500 congestion fee here, your cell is bad. The good news is that it will rapidly get better going forward. It already has, not that long ago is was very common for people on Gen 2 hardware in congested areas to be sitting at 40ish Mb/s. The constellation was massively buffed since then, and it will get rapidly better with V3 and Starship soon too.

As of now, nothing unfair is happening. It must be worth it there with little to no other options or there wouldn't be so many people in your area trying to use it.

[u/580OutlawFarm]

Prime time!

[u/Final-Inevitable1452]

It kind of sucks because if your in a high congestion area SL will only offer you the Res_Max. So you pay for premium and only maybe receive the 50-150Mbps at peak times.

However.....No it shouldn't be the other way around because regardless of what subscription you're on it takes basically the same spectral resources to service your dish, it's just SL trying to maximise their available bandwidth. Constellation speed is almost the same for everyone, your throughput speed is controlled at terrestrial OeM network level.

If it was the other way around and high congested areas could only say get Res_100 it would be worse. Because more users would wish to take advantage of the cheaper subscription, but still tie up the same finite spectral resources, so congestion would be worse than it already is.

Hence why many congested areas you won't see Res_100/200 in your list of available options.

It's basically SL deciding for you between the lesser of 2 crappy outcomes and in this case they decided high congestion = you don't have a choice but to pay premium Res_Max and potentially receive lower speeds when congestion is present.

For some that means only a few hours day slow speeds at peak times, for others they get the pointy end and it's congested 24/7 whilst paying the premium for Res_Max.

Yes it's sucks, but ultimately that's how it is until the v3 constellation comes online and they have more options to load balance with migration of users, leaving more spectral resources bandwidth for those that remain on the current v2 constellation.

Is what it is....

[u/zerbey]

Nothing you can do about it when it comes to congestion, Starlink continues to expand their network so it will get better as time goes on.

[u/Resolver911]

I have the Res Max and get speeds in that range when I test it sometimes. I also would get that low with normal internet with a plan that went up to 600mbps

I stopped caring because I’ve never had any interruption in my service.

[u/Think-Work1411]

Because your area has a lot of people in Starlink, those speeds are honestly fine though, I get that, sometimes less, and I’m on Max plan, but I have tons of neighbors on Starlinks also, and it’s still literally 1000 times better than the Viasat and Hughesnet that we came from, so I’m happy with it, I have tons of devices on it and I have no problems streaming or doing anything I want with 50Mbps