As far as I have seen the STAR is issued at about 150-200nm - whats the problem?
I heard on one occasion a QF A330 (I assume with datalink) being growled at by ATC because TAAATS had detected that the ATC cleared route no longer matches the FMS route, since the crew had "preloaded" the STAR they were expecting.
Care to elaborate? Are you suggesting ATC have some way of determining what has been inputted in to the FMC?