📅 2023-10-27 | ⏱️ 17:00 | 👁️ 148.1K views | 👍 8.3K likes | 💬 2.1K comments
Pea documents her full Starlink purchase, unboxing, and installation in the Philippines, driven by years of frustration with unreliable local internet that regularly sabotaged her online interviews and video uploads. The video walks through the complete process from ordering to speed tests, including a real-world before-and-after comparison.
Why she needed Starlink
- Opens the video with a live example of the problem: her guest Gracie's screen freezes and breaks up during an online interview — "this happens to me most of the time"
- Has used local internet companies in Dumaguete for 3.5 years on their highest packages, but still gets as low as 14 Mbps download speeds
- Her job revolves around the internet — uploading a 15-minute video used to take up to 3 hours
- Emphasizes this is NOT a paid promotion or commercial — she's just trying to fix a real problem
What Starlink is and how it differs from local fiber
- Starlink is the first and largest constellation of satellites in low earth orbit, started in 2019, now serving 60+ countries including the Philippines
- She witnessed a SpaceX launch carrying 32 new satellites while visiting the US
- Traditional fiber optics require a physical line to the house — Philippine power lines look like "a bowl of spaghetti," are fragile, and a little breeze or typhoon can knock out internet
- Starlink is 100% wireless, pulling signal directly from satellites — works even in remote areas, on islands, or "deep in the woods"
Purchase details and pricing
- Ordered the kit through the Starlink Philippines website while in the US
- Important note: kits bought through the US site can be geo-locked to the US — ordering through the Philippine-specific site avoids this
- Original price: 30,000 pesos (~$550), but she caught a sale and paid 19,000 pesos
- Monthly subscription for the standard kit: 2,700 pesos (~$44/month)
- End result: she's saving $16/month over her old local provider while getting dramatically faster speeds
Unboxing
- Kit weighs about 8 kg
- Contents: the dish (looks like a light box, white and heavy), a metal stand, a modem with minimalist design and the Starlink X symbol, connecting cable, setup instructions (three simple steps), and stickers — including a cat sticker sheet with exactly five cats
- Pea freaks out about the cat stickers matching her exact number of cats: "I think Elon Musk knows that I'm the crazy cat lady... are there spies anywhere?"
- Assembly is straightforward — the dish clicks into the stand and a single cable connects dish to modem
Installation process
- Ideal placement is facing directly at the sky with no obstructions — the roof is best
- Her roof turned out to be "surprisingly steep," so she initially placed the dish in a corner of the yard for testing
- Needed landlord permission to drill mounting holes on the roof (the base has four holes)
- Used the Starlink app to scan the sky — watched the dish physically move and reorient itself to find satellite signals
- App walked her through the whole process: selected "standard rectangular Starlink," scanned the sky to 100%, paired successfully
Speed test results
- Ground-level with obstructions (trees, yard placement): 52 Mbps download — already impressive for an imperfect setup
- After mounting on the roof with landlord permission: 250 Mbps download speed
- Real-world impact: movies don't lag, YouTube loads almost instantly, uploaded a 12-minute video in only 4 minutes
- This is the basic/standard service tier
Power outage problem
- In Negros Oriental, power outages happen 3-6 times per week — not an exaggeration
- Starlink requires power to function — no power means no internet
- She's considering solar panels or a generator for constant internet access
- Tried to buy backup power locally but ran into communication problems: asked for a UPS and was told "we don't have that here, just FedEx"; asked for a Blue Yeti and was handed a stuffed animal; asked about a Jackery kit and they tried to sell her lotion and tissues