This Damn Internet Thing, Pt 2

Yesterday, we went through the process of getting the damn Starlink connected.  Everything said it was supposed to be easy.  Find an open spot with the best chance of connecting a satellite, point the thing at it, and whoosh, it works.  Well...  There's a step in there where the modem is supposed to get a solid white light on it that says it has found the satellite.  The last time we tried this, no solid white light.  In fact, we didn't have a white light at all, we had a flashing yellow-orange light. So, we gave up, put everything away and vowed to try again.  We were, in fact, on the verge of sending everything back for a refund.  But we, being more than a little mulish, decided to try one more time.

The first time Hubs went up on the roof with the smartphone we purchased for just this app, he did everything they said to do.  And the damn thing wasn't getting past 2% complete.  We posited that was because the cell signal here blows as bad as the internet, so no matter how we tried to connect the app with anything, it was bad.  I even deleted and reloaded the app.  No avail there.  

We made the decision to just put the Starlink up there, in a spot where we felt we had a good view of the sky, and hope the flashing light went away.  He put it here. Waited.  Nope.  Put it there.  Waited.  Nope.  Finally, he put it in a spot and came off the roof for a break.  While he was breaking, I was screwing around with the smartphone, trying to put it back to wifi from mobile.  I noticed the wifi choices were showing a new thing... STARLINK.  I tapped on that and it connected.  

Now, says I, if I can connect to the Starlink wifi, it must be talking to the satellite.  Right?  So, I walk right over to the old modem, pull the cable that leads to my computer and plug that thing into the back of the Starlink modem.  And HUZZAH!  I have internet on my computer.  

But the light's still flashing.  Hubs is wracking his brain trying to figure out why it's working when the flashy light thing means it's searching for the satellite.  Personally, I didn't care.  I was walking around saying 'let that motherflipper flash'  and 'flash bitch flash' and 'flash all you want, lady, we have internet'.

Hubs went back on the roof and completed the install.  We even found the stud on the first try, despite the stud finder not being able to find anything through the shingles.  He drilled guide holes, put the super-sturdy whatchamathingies in and bolted the mount to the roof.  (Yes, we bought a mount. No they don't come included.  Yes, we also bought an extra long able just in case.  It comes with 50', but we weren't sure that would be enough.)

By this time, it's getting dark and we're both starving.  Thank goodness I started the pork roast in the crock pot hours before.  After standing outside for hours, and running back and forth from here by the modem to out there, I was not in the mood to cook.  

Later, the modem was still flashing, but it was flashing purple - which supposedly means it needs a factory reset.  But the internet was working and so I was still taunting the modem, calling her a bitch and other unsavory things.  We went to bed.

Sometime last night, we lost power.  Must've had a storm that I slept through.  Anyway, I come in here to boot the 'putes and there's no light at all on the modem.  :gasp:  Then I remember that the solid white light is supposed to turn off after an hour.  I boot the 'putes and once they're up, they both say that they have internet, so life is good.

You have no idea what a relief it is to have this thing that's been hanging over our heads for weeks (and bad internet for YEARS) finally come to an end.

We'll wait for a couple weeks to make sure everything is kosher with the new SL, then we'll tell Brightspeed to pound sand.  (We already paid this month's BS bill, so no worries there.)

Today, I need to use the app to finish setting everything up and we still have some clean-up work to do.  Tidy the cables, etc.  

Yes, all of this would've been easier if I was as technologically savvy as I used to be... back in the 90s... but time and tech has passed me by.  It also would've been easier if we lived on a house that wasn't surrounded by trees (which presented less of an issue than we feared).  But hey, it's done and it feels like a weight has been lifted off us both.  Fingers crossed it all stays this way.