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> Last I checked it was supposed to be about 32Tbps with all satellites operational. It will be ~80Tbps after the first three phases (the LEO constellation), ~

> Last I checked it was supposed to be about 32Tbps with all satellites operational. It will be ~80Tbps after the first three phases (the LEO constellation), ~240Tbps after VLEO. I agree with you that they probably cannot offer enough bandwidth to compete with residential internet in densely habited areas.(1) The system is really interesting in less densely inhabited places, and for backhaul. The complete system has more transcontinental bandwith between almost any two (distant enough) places than all submarine cables between them put together. This alone will likely pay for the whole system, with plenty to spare. (1) With a few exceptions. After the full constellation is up, New Zealand will have ~30 times more downlink capacity than the entire bandwidth use of the country as of right now, and will also have tens of times more connecting capacity with North America and Australia than it currently has. But that requires a country of only 6 million in the starlink sweet spot that gets all of the bandwidth of all visible satellites to the east of it.

shaklee3 8y ago
I agree. I think the capacity on paper is very impressive, and the trans-continental capacity will be useful. I'm just more skeptical that they'll find a market willing to pay the price it will cost easily in the residential market. Satellite internet is more expensive than cable, and I don't see any way that will change considering their hardware will be more expensive than the current satellite internet hardware (just based on phased array). 1Gbps cable isn't unheard of these days, but the question is whether there's really a market for it. At some point you are past a speed where it has any material effect on what you're doing, and SX needs a small amount of customers paying a large amount of money due to the equipment costs. What they can't have is lots of customers with 50Mbps plans that have identical equipment to someone paying 10x more for 1Gbps.

shaklee3 8y ago

I agree. I think the capacity on paper is very impressive, and the trans-continental capacity will be useful. I'm just more skeptical that they'll find a market willing to pay the price it will cost easily in the residential market. Satellite internet is more expensive than cable, and I don't see any way that will change considering their hardware will be more expensive than the current satellite internet hardware (just based on phased array). 1Gbps cable isn't unheard of these days, but the question is whether there's really a market for it. At some point you are past a speed where it has any material effect on what you're doing, and SX needs a small amount of customers paying a large amount of money due to the equipment costs. What they can't have is lots of customers with 50Mbps plans that have identical equipment to someone paying 10x more for 1Gbps.