Looking forward to Starlink

[Inner Love]

I am looking forward to Elon Musks Starlink. It’s going to be the great leap in satellite internet we have waited 20 years for. From 53 degrees north to 53 degrees south, a subscriber will be able to receive high speed internet.

Are you looking forward to Starlink?

[WillGotMarried]

My concern is that like all the others before it will over promise and under deliver, all while costing 3-4 times as much as decent land-line internet. It's certainly fun to think about, though.

[WIbluebird]

Originally Posted by WillGotMarried

My concern is that like all the others before it will over promise and under deliver, all while costing 3-4 times as much as decent land-line internet. It's certainly fun to think about, though.

Starlink is different than Hughesnet and the old school satellite providers. For one thing, Starlink is using low orbit satellites which are significantly closer to the Earth's surface. It logically follows that latency/speed will be much better.

Also they are throwing up wayyy more satellites. I believe they just got permission from the FCC to launch up to 30,000 !! satellites.

It'll be interesting to see if the unit will easily mount to a bus roof. So far no pictures but it's supposed to be roughly the size and shape of a pizza box.

[mmoore6856]

i read that it should be 80 bucks or less already signed up to be a beta

[musigenesis]

Is Starlink not going to suffer from the usual satellite problem of high download speed and slow upload speed?

[Sehnsucht]

Aren't that many more satellites in orbit going to block out the sun? Or is this also an anti-global warming initiative based on reducing the amount of solar energy heating up the planet? Is this supposed to be US only or global because I'm wondering if they got permission from all nations to block their sunlight also.

[TheArgobus]

Originally Posted by Sehnsucht

Aren't that many more satellites in orbit going to block out the sun? Or is this also an anti-global warming initiative based on reducing the amount of solar energy heating up the planet? Is this supposed to be US only or global because I'm wondering if they got permission from all nations to block their sunlight also.

Do not worry. Each satellite is about "the size of a table," and if we say each one is 8 feet by 8 feet, or 16 square feet, then if we put all 30,000 satellites right next to each other to make a massive array, then it would only be about 700 feet by 700 feet across. Not only is this too small to see with the naked eye at their altitude, it would be unnoticeable if it passed across the sun.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Sehnsucht

Aren't that many more satellites in orbit going to block out the sun?

Then we shall surf in the shade!

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Then we shall surf in the shade!

But.. but.. I just bought eight solar panels

[JackE]

Originally Posted by WIbluebird

Starlink is different than Hughesnet and the old school satellite providers. For one thing, Starlink is using low orbit satellites which are significantly closer to the Earth's surface. It logically follows that latency/speed will be much better.

Also they are throwing up wayyy more satellites. I believe they just got permission from the FCC to launch up to 30,000 !! satellites.

It'll be interesting to see if the unit will easily mount to a bus roof. So far no pictures but it's supposed to be roughly the size and shape of a pizza box.

The biggest problem with current satellite internet is the latency in the connection over the distance. What is the intended orbit altitude of Starlink? Currently, I get a ping rate above 1500 ms for Hughnet internet, The down to earth stuff I have been installing over the past few years runs a microwave link to a fiber linked tower inside a 15 mile range, with most applications running inside the 5 mile range. On those, I'm getting a ping in the 50 ms rate. When I test some of the urban fiber direct to house lines, they ping around 10 ms. The 1500+ ms rate is suffering at least a 6 second lag time from earth to space to earth, then the normal lag time of the earth bound connections. I'm very curious to see what kind of lag time will be incurred with a closer network. Possible enough to warrant use in a Skoolie platform, but I'm pretty reluctant to expect instant connection and return that most people deem necessary. But then again, if Elon Musk says he can do it, he probably can, he sure doesn't fail at very much!

[Sehnsucht]

That all sounds exciting! One thing's for sure, at least Elon's companies aren't boring... Well, except for the Boring Company!

[milkmania]

So far, beta testers are giving lots of great feedback on youtube

[s2mikon]

Hmm, Elon Musk. Does it come with fire extinguishers?

[s2mikon]

Then I read this from their web site: "Can I travel with Starlink, or move it to a different address?
Starlink satellites are scheduled to send internet down to all users within a designated area on the ground. This designated area is referred to as a cell.

Your Starlink is assigned to a single cell. If you move your Starlink outside of its assigned cell, a satellite will not be scheduled to serve your Starlink and you will not receive internet. This is constrained by geometry and is not arbitrary geofencing."

[s2mikon]

This was in the news yesterday. 10000 customers as of now, and 60 new satellites launched yesterday and more planned for today. So they have over 1000 birds in the air now and more to come. Looking good.

[s2mikon]

I might suggest that if you haven't done so yet, go to their website and enter your email and address to keep up to date with this.

[s2mikon]

What is going on with space x? It looks like the FAA has grounded them. It was in the Washington Times.

[Kevmiami]

Although Starlink does not currently support mobile operations outside each “cell,” the following article indicates a mobile solution will supported at some time:

https://www.slashgear.com/spacex-sta...ions-04658114/

[Kevmiami]

Originally Posted by s2mikon

Then I read this from their web site: "Can I travel with Starlink, or move it to a different address?
Starlink satellites are scheduled to send internet down to all users within a designated area on the ground. This designated area is referred to as a cell.

Your Starlink is assigned to a single cell. If you move your Starlink outside of its assigned cell, a satellite will not be scheduled to serve your Starlink and you will not receive internet. This is constrained by geometry and is not arbitrary geofencing."

This is currently true, but they did tell the media mobile service will be in the future. Unfortunately they did not provide any details. Kev

[Mercuric Mind]

I believe Starlink will be the long term solution to connectivity on the roam. They applied for telcom status to offer cell service. just have to wait and make sure to enough juice to power that sucker 24/7 @ about 100 watt!