Starlink as a landline?

[Squaredy]

1 hour ago, Steven P said:

VOIP - I thought all phones were going that way now? Our phone is plugged into a wall socket rather than the router but is VOIP - you'd need to check of course, but it should be as simple as that.

Yes all phones will eventually be VOIP.  But the challenge I have is how to keep my landline number but get the connection via another supplier (Starlink).  The copper wire to the property here is in poor condition but is not being upgraded to fibre so I don’t want to keep paying for a really poor connection.

[Muddy42]

16 hours ago, Squaredy said:

Has anyone got any experience of using Starlink to operate as a landline using VoIP?  I understand it is possible but I am finding it difficult to work out how to go about this.  I am sure I could ask a local firm to set it up, but I believe setting up Starlink is very easy.  What I want though is to be able to transfer my existing landline business number over to the Starlink broadband.

 

The reason I wish to do this is because the current setup is just so poor and expensive I believe Starlink would be way better.  I currently have a copper landline provided by XLN whom I have been with for years and it costs around £100 per month for the line and broadband (terrible speeds making many websites unusable).  XLN have even told me that as a legacy copper line the cost is going to go up by 15% per year!

I have tried shopping around but as soon as they know the premises everyone declines to get involved.  I guess this is because they know it is a long run of poorly maintained copper cable that is not being repaired or upgraded anyone soon.

 

Openreach have surveyed the line with a view to installing fibre, but unless there is a lot of government funding this is not happening anytime soon as we are miles from anywhere.

 

Anyone else tried using Starlink with landline?

 

Have you considered having a 4G / 5G receiver on your house, that then provides your house with wifi and a landline.  These receivers can pick up 4G signal where your mobile can't because they are stronger, higher up and point towards the source (if that makes sense). It'll be cheaper than Starlink and avoids giving money to Elon Muskrat.

 

 

[htb]

32 minutes ago, Muddy42 said:

 

Have you considered having a 4G / 5G receiver on your house, that then provides your house with wifi and a landline.  These receivers can pick up 4G signal where your mobile can't because they are stronger, higher up and point towards the source (if that makes sense). It'll be cheaper than Starlink and avoids giving money to Elon Muskrat.

 

 

Would that work when you are in the bottom of the valley and round corner ie def not line of sight.

?

[Steven P]

Had a project years ago where they relayed a signal up a valley to the village using something similar - 2 antenna, 1 pointed down and one up the valley aimed at the transmitters either side. Put one of them where it can 'see' a mobile tower and have it beam the signal to the house. Depends where you need to put them, they might be away from the house and need a power supply. Antenna can be a pole by the house with a Yagi antenna on top (like a TV arial, directional). Something like that Muddy?

 

Technically possible, the kit will probably be smaller and better than what we looked at, maybe even work off solar & battery so you don't need cables to it.

[topchippyles]

49 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Yes all phones will eventually be VOIP.  But the challenge I have is how to keep my landline number but get the connection via another supplier (Starlink).  The copper wire to the property here is in poor condition but is not being upgraded to fibre so I don’t want to keep paying for a really poor connection.

I have a mate over in ireland that fits a lot of these starlink systems in the most remote places going. He swears they work fantastic Gav just need to align it right to the satellite dish. 

 

Here is a breakdown of Starlink's performance and operating speeds:

 

Key Performance Metrics (2025–2026)

• Download Speeds: 50–250+ Mbps (varies by region and congestion).
• Upload Speeds: 10–40 Mbps.
• Latency: 20–50 milliseconds, which is significantly lower than traditional satellite internet (450–700 ms).
• Maximum Potential: In some scenarios, speeds have been reported over 400 Mbps. 

Edited Friday at 10:53 by topchippyles

[Muddy42]

14 minutes ago, htb said:

Would that work when you are in the bottom of the valley and round corner ie def not line of sight.

?

 

Im not technical but a friend of mine got decent wifi this way and he had poor mobile 4g at his house.  I don't think you need line of sight to an antenna. Id expect the wifi provider to do a desktop survey and maybe come out to your house to make sure it'll work.

 

[topchippyles]

11 minutes ago, Muddy42 said:

 

Im not technical but a friend of mine got decent wifi this way and he had poor mobile 4g at his house.  I don't think you need line of sight to an antenna. Id expect the wifi provider to do a desktop survey and maybe come out to your house to make sure it'll work.

 

I doubt this would work where Gav is based in south wales.

 

Loads of people i know have static caravans down in pembrokeshire  (tenby/narbeth ) Its very hit and miss depending where the mast is located to the site.

[Squaredy]

3 hours ago, Muddy42 said:

 

Have you considered having a 4G / 5G receiver on your house, that then provides your house with wifi and a landline.  These receivers can pick up 4G signal where your mobile can't because they are stronger, higher up and point towards the source (if that makes sense). It'll be cheaper than Starlink and avoids giving money to Elon Muskrat.

 

 

Yes I had a 4g antenna fitted, and it worked for a couple of months.  When I complained they upgraded it to 5g but it hasn’t worked at all for over a year.

 

You see it isn’t my home it is my work site and in the middle of a forest so trees get in the way for phone signal.

[Paul in the woods]

4 hours ago, Squaredy said:

You see it isn’t my home it is my work site and in the middle of a forest so trees get in the way for phone signal.

 

Have you tried different networks? At our house we don't get any reception from 3, poor reception from O2 but EE is workable but it's worse in the summer when the hedges leaf up and grow as they block the line to the transmitter. An external aerial on the end of a long pole helps.

 

On a side note when we had long powercut a while back both our local phone masts also went down.

 

As for Starlink, although the latency is better than old style satellites it might take a bit of getting used to as there will be a bit of a delay. 

[Mark Bolam]

Remember there are only 3 real networks, Vodafone, O2 and EE (T-Mobile and Orange combined).

Despite whatever bullshit they all come out with about ‘having their own network’.

 

Shame we can’t follow the European model of just locking onto the strongest available network.