Sadly, a farmer waving his phone in the air or driving to the corner of that one paddock where they can get coverage is a scenario we are all too familiar with in rural and remote farms. Poor or non-existent connectivity out on-farm is a common problem and frustration for farm businesses, with much time wasted trying to achieve basic connectivity tasks. However, the rise of high-speed connectivity through LEO satellites such as Starlink is proving to be a game-changer for rural farms and businesses.
One such game-changer is Connected Farms Starlink Mobility for Agriculture solution. The satellite on-the-move solution can mount to any tractor, header, ute, agricultural machine, or ag-robotic. Farmers can use it to have ultra-fast Wi-Fi anywhere, anytime, enabling them to perform all their digital agriculture functions that require connectivity, such as precision Ag.
However, there are some key things to remember to get the most out of this product.
Farmers are very familiar with the cost of having poor connectivity. During a rural digital inequality study, one farmer said that "there's a big divide between what we can do [with technology] and what we want to do" due to poor connectivity. That feeling resonates well across the farming sector. However, a hidden cost of rural connectivity is the lack of support farmers receive when they invest in rural connectivity infrastructure.
Rural connectivity infrastructure is a significant investment for rural businesses; a fully supported service is essential to bring returns on that investment. A common frustration for rural businesses is when they make the big decision to invest in connectivity solutions and then are left high and dry with a lack of support.
When a farmer purchases a new tractor or header from a dealer, they confidently expect full support and expert advice to ensure the optimal performance of their machine. They are also confident of prompt repairs in the event of a breakdown. It should be the same with connectivity services. Sadly, this has not been the case for many farm businesses. When problems arise with their connectivity hardware, receiving support can take weeks; in some extreme cases, they never receive a resolution.
Implementing a Starlink Mobility unit without full support can pose a potential pitfall for farmers. If a farm business lacks a fully supported unit, it can lead to delays in repairs or replacement in the case of outage, ultimately hindering the optimal utilisation of on-farm digital technologies and potentially causing financial losses.
The cost of getting implementation wrong and having an unsupported unit can lead to direct monetary costs, a loss in productivity and revenue, plus recovery and intangible costs. When you spread this across multiple machines, this cost adds up quickly, increasing exponentially as minutes turn into days or even weeks.
Using an unsupported unit can create challenges during the hardware setup process, causing frustration and delays in establishing your connection. Insufficient customer support can result in connectivity issues for farmers, including slow internet speeds, dropped connections, or complete loss of internet connection.
Farmers may encounter technical problems with the hardware, such as firmware updates or hardware malfunctions, which can be difficult to troubleshoot without customer support. Ultimately, when a farmer invests money into a solution, they should rightly expect it to work at its peak performance; when it doesn't, this can lead to a substantial financial loss of thousands of dollars.
When these factors are considered, an unsupported unit can carry a hefty price tag. Around 75% of poorly performing connectivity hardware is estimated to be caused by the hardware's configuration, installation, administration, and utilisation.
So how can you avoid these costs?
A fully supported service is the key to successfully integrating Starlink Mobility for Agriculture into a farm operation. What should a fully supported service look like? It should provide the following five outcomes for farmers.
What does this all matter? Interruptions to machinery and operational processes during the farming cycle can be critical to a farm's output. When your Starlink Mobility for agriculture service is as supported as possible, your machines can stay connected and operate efficiently, particularly during peak times when you may be working all day and night. It helps your farm successfully implement digital agriculture across your operation without hidden costs or unresolved outages. Importantly, you get the most out of your investment and bang for your buck.
We are here to partner with you in your farming business and provide connectivity solutions and support to help your farm successfully implement digital agriculture across your operation. We offer complete, 24/7 support with a team across the country. What does that look like?
We have in-country 24/7 support with technicians nationwide who understand agriculture and prioritise fast and high-quality care whenever you require it, so you can focus on what counts.
We pre-configure all our units specifically for agricultural use before shipping them, ensuring they arrive ready for installation on your agricultural machine. This guarantees that they meet all your agricultural connectivity needs and requirements.
Our support team has remote access to your unit, enabling them to reset a password or provide a software update for the device so it runs at peak performance at all times.
Remote diagnostics. Our support team has full remote access to the unit, allowing technicians to perform remote diagnostics on the device in case of failure, change IP addresses, and essentially keep any connectivity downtime to a minimum for the farm business.
We also provide services and support for turning on and turning off your unit, ensuring that you only pay for the airtime you actually need. Therefore, when your header is parked up outside of the harvest season, you can deactivate the service, eliminating the need to pay for unnecessary airtime. Getting the airtime turned back on come harvest season is also easy and hassle-free.
Find out more about Connected Farms Starlink Mobility for Agriculture solution here.
Who are Connected Farms?
Connected Farms is an Australian-owned company providing connectivity solutions to farms across Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Connected Farms was formed to specifically provide wide area mobile broadband solutions to the agriculture sector with the vision of connecting farmers and enabling digital agriculture.
At Connected Farms, we are passionate about sharing our story and the positive difference fast and reliable connectivity has made to our customers' farm operations. For more information, visit HERE.
Would you like to chat and learn more about this topic? Please call us at 1800 497 148 or email knowledgehub@connectedfarms.com.au.