experience with starry.com
February 25, 2021 10:54 AM Subscribe
What's known about starry.com?
This is my father. Since he went viral starry.com contacted him offering free service in exchange for the use of his home for publicity ( I do NOT think that this is a good idea even if covid didn't exist).
Reviews on yelp are mixed; I'd like to know what the experience of mefites has been.
This is my father. Since he went viral starry.com contacted him offering free service in exchange for the use of his home for publicity ( I do NOT think that this is a good idea even if covid didn't exist).
Reviews on yelp are mixed; I'd like to know what the experience of mefites has been.
Oh - I think they should give him a cash stipend too (which of course he can use for another ad if they don't work out well, but he doesn't have to say so).
Also - no NDAs, no noncompetes, no exclusivity.
posted by amtho at 11:02 AM on February 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
Also - no NDAs, no noncompetes, no exclusivity.
posted by amtho at 11:02 AM on February 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
Read this story a little bit ago. Love your Dad for this! I am in your camp. If he can afford an ad in the WSJ, the free internet is not worth the hassle of having to do publicty for Starry. Unless he wants another 15 minutes of fame.
posted by AugustWest at 11:04 AM on February 25, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by AugustWest at 11:04 AM on February 25, 2021 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: the next door neighbors constantly rent out their house for film shoots, which disrupt the block
posted by brujita at 11:12 AM on February 25, 2021
posted by brujita at 11:12 AM on February 25, 2021
Also - no rights to his likeness, name, story, etc.
posted by fillsthepews at 11:33 AM on February 25, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by fillsthepews at 11:33 AM on February 25, 2021 [2 favorites]
I can't speak to whether or not it's a good idea to let Starry use his home for publicity (that doesn't seem like a great idea regardless of the company), but if he wants to just switch to Starry, I'd recommend it. I've used it for three years in Boston. It's always been fast, it's $50 a month with no contract, and customer service has been friendly and responsive. I think I had two service disruptions in three years and neither was more than a minute. I'm moving to an Xfinity-only area and I'm pretty bummed about losing Starry.
posted by Babytown Frolics at 11:34 AM on February 25, 2021
posted by Babytown Frolics at 11:34 AM on February 25, 2021
Is this just an abstract thought experiment now that AT&T has installed fiber or is he open to it? (Also congrats to him. I didn't know public shaming still worked!)
I don't personally have experience with them, but a friend has had a different wireless ISP for years. This article (from a few years ago) indicates that Starry would need line of sight between his home and wherever their local node is, which is consistent with my friend's experience. In my friend's case he can walk out his back door and see the tower his wireless ISP uses, but depending on hills and trees it might be a non-starter. Basically the short answer is that fixed wireless service can be good, if the terrain is compatible.
Perhaps Starry is proposing to run fiber and install the neighborhood node ON his house, enabling them to offer service to other houses within line of sight. If that's the case I'd lean from "maybe OK if the terrain is right" to "definitely not," but maybe they would offer other compensation for a permanent easement. Note any easement would complicate any future sale of the property, because Starry isn't going to want a node that goes away in a few years if other people are paying for service that depends on it.
posted by fedward at 11:43 AM on February 25, 2021
I don't personally have experience with them, but a friend has had a different wireless ISP for years. This article (from a few years ago) indicates that Starry would need line of sight between his home and wherever their local node is, which is consistent with my friend's experience. In my friend's case he can walk out his back door and see the tower his wireless ISP uses, but depending on hills and trees it might be a non-starter. Basically the short answer is that fixed wireless service can be good, if the terrain is compatible.
Perhaps Starry is proposing to run fiber and install the neighborhood node ON his house, enabling them to offer service to other houses within line of sight. If that's the case I'd lean from "maybe OK if the terrain is right" to "definitely not," but maybe they would offer other compensation for a permanent easement. Note any easement would complicate any future sale of the property, because Starry isn't going to want a node that goes away in a few years if other people are paying for service that depends on it.
posted by fedward at 11:43 AM on February 25, 2021
You know what? I wish he'd agree to let them use his house if they give _someone else_ free internet for 10 years. Like, maybe someone in eastern North Carolina who doesn't currently have Internet.
posted by amtho at 12:21 PM on February 25, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by amtho at 12:21 PM on February 25, 2021 [5 favorites]
While he's free to ask for whatever, some of the suggestions in hear are just never going to happen. "Guy who complains about his internet being slow" is a rich vein to mine, marketing campaign subject-wise.
But, as someone who was until kinda recently a neighbor, cancel AT&T and get Spectrum. His service is slow because his phone line was put in when he (or a former resident) gave out the number as POplar-18341 or similar and it's too far from the Central Office for DSL to work any better. Unless he can literally see a new UVerse VRAD on his block, fiber is likely years away, if it comes ever.
posted by sideshow at 3:36 PM on February 25, 2021
But, as someone who was until kinda recently a neighbor, cancel AT&T and get Spectrum. His service is slow because his phone line was put in when he (or a former resident) gave out the number as POplar-18341 or similar and it's too far from the Central Office for DSL to work any better. Unless he can literally see a new UVerse VRAD on his block, fiber is likely years away, if it comes ever.
posted by sideshow at 3:36 PM on February 25, 2021
Response by poster: UPDATE:
daddy told me that people from starry initially tried to contact him by phone and email; when he ignored these messages they showed up at the house with flowers and told him that the CEO wanted a photo op with him. NOT COOL
posted by brujita at 8:30 PM on March 29, 2021
daddy told me that people from starry initially tried to contact him by phone and email; when he ignored these messages they showed up at the house with flowers and told him that the CEO wanted a photo op with him. NOT COOL
posted by brujita at 8:30 PM on March 29, 2021
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This won't cost the starry.com people much at all, so I think he has a lot of negotiating room.
posted by amtho at 11:00 AM on February 25, 2021