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Previous discussions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10984755 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10984755 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1098122

Previous discussions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10984755 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10984755 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10981220 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10981220 tl;dr: consensus is, barring some wild, unknown innovation, the technology claimed does not seem to be a good fit with the mission stated. my option: investor bait

elcapitan 11y ago
"The Starry Station is a sleekly designed device with a touchscreen interface that allows people to track the devices on their network and the overall health of their network on a daily basis, and lets them install things like parental controls and, possibly, even ad-blocking technology at the network level." Sounds like it (lack of focus, i.e. just meant to attract money).
xhrpost 11y ago
Curious, given the mission stated, what sort of technology would be your first go-to solution?
- sathackr 11y ago
  Free space optics would be my technology of choice for short distance, high bandwidth, high density connections. Nearly unlimited spectrum. The 'tower' side could be essentially a 'floodlight'. And you don't even have to tassle with the FCC AFAIK. It has the distance and weather issue as millimeter wave tech, but it doesn't have the bandwidth constraints. Outside of that, there is not a viable technology I'm aware of that can do wireless data distribution in a high density, multi-gigabit environment. There is simply not enough available RF spectrum in the bands that can tolerate weather and atmospheric conditions over distances that would be relevant here.
  - xhrpost 11y ago
    I haven't seen anyone create hardware for free-space optics that supports bandwidth above 100Mbps. So, technically the medium of transport has nearly unlimited bandwidth, but it seems like a moot argument as long as no manufacturers are doing anything about it. If I'm wrong in this assertion I'd love to know. I have a project that could benefit from such technology, if you can spare a few minutes I'd love an e-mail chat (see profile).
    - sathackr 11y ago
      There are many companies providing high bandwidth optical links. One is just about to go under, they were charging $50,000+ per link. [1][2] Most are prohibitively expensive -- the field is ripe for someone like Ubiquiti to come in with some 'disruptive' pricing. [1] http://www.aoptix.com/ http://www.aoptix.com/ [2] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/08/anova_takes_slice_of_aoptix http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/08/anova_takes_slice_of...
joezydeco 11y ago
Yet, Google has announced they're playing with millimeter-wave networking from aerial drones and that was much better received for some reason.... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11009109 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11009109
- freyr 11y ago
  As did Facebook.
- sathackr 11y ago
  Google is not promising gigabit speeds that will displace landline providers, and the article linked acknowledges the challenges with the technology that are yet to be overcome. It doesn't blow sunshine in my face and tell me everything is golden.

elcapitan 11y ago

"The Starry Station is a sleekly designed device with a touchscreen interface that allows people to track the devices on their network and the overall health of their network on a daily basis, and lets them install things like parental controls and, possibly, even ad-blocking technology at the network level." Sounds like it (lack of focus, i.e. just meant to attract money).

xhrpost 11y ago

Curious, given the mission stated, what sort of technology would be your first go-to solution?

sathackr 11y ago
Free space optics would be my technology of choice for short distance, high bandwidth, high density connections. Nearly unlimited spectrum. The 'tower' side could be essentially a 'floodlight'. And you don't even have to tassle with the FCC AFAIK. It has the distance and weather issue as millimeter wave tech, but it doesn't have the bandwidth constraints. Outside of that, there is not a viable technology I'm aware of that can do wireless data distribution in a high density, multi-gigabit environment. There is simply not enough available RF spectrum in the bands that can tolerate weather and atmospheric conditions over distances that would be relevant here.
- xhrpost 11y ago
  I haven't seen anyone create hardware for free-space optics that supports bandwidth above 100Mbps. So, technically the medium of transport has nearly unlimited bandwidth, but it seems like a moot argument as long as no manufacturers are doing anything about it. If I'm wrong in this assertion I'd love to know. I have a project that could benefit from such technology, if you can spare a few minutes I'd love an e-mail chat (see profile).
  - sathackr 11y ago
    There are many companies providing high bandwidth optical links. One is just about to go under, they were charging $50,000+ per link. [1][2] Most are prohibitively expensive -- the field is ripe for someone like Ubiquiti to come in with some 'disruptive' pricing. [1] http://www.aoptix.com/ http://www.aoptix.com/ [2] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/08/anova_takes_slice_of_aoptix http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/08/anova_takes_slice_of...

joezydeco 11y ago

Yet, Google has announced they're playing with millimeter-wave networking from aerial drones and that was much better received for some reason.... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11009109 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11009109

freyr 11y ago
As did Facebook.
sathackr 11y ago
Google is not promising gigabit speeds that will displace landline providers, and the article linked acknowledges the challenges with the technology that are yet to be overcome. It doesn't blow sunshine in my face and tell me everything is golden.