5 ms·

Amazon will launch thousands of satellites to provide internet around the world

23 points by dmmalam 8y ago

derekp7 8y ago
With the number of companies planning on launching satellite internet constellations, I wonder if there would be enough customers to keep them all afloat? Or would we likely see a consolidation similar to what happened with Sirius and XM radio? This type of system would be great for people in unconnected areas, but those are typically low population density. For customers in cities, I'm not sure there would be enough bandwidth to server million+ city populations. And in cities you can typically get better bandwidth / lower latency using landlines. (Of course, there is the case that SpaceX made about thing like London to New York being faster over satellite).
- 7e 8y ago
  London to New York is not faster over satellite, as there is a 25 ms penalty to pay just getting in and out of SpaceX's system.
  - derekp7 8y ago
    I don't recall if the proposal was from SpaceX, or someone else doing an independent analysis, but I believe the proposal was to have a (higher cost) option that bypasses ground stations. So you can send a signal straight to satellite at 550 KM, which is 1.8 ms away, then pass the signals from satellite to satellite (skipping as many in between birds as possible), and beaming back down directly to the target without involving any other ground stations. Edit: here is a Reddit thread I found on the topic: https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/9wrkhm/starlink_low_latency_and_high_bandwidth_proposal/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/9wrkhm/starlink_l...
  - erikpukinskis 8y ago
    Where does the 25ms penalty come from?
    - late2part 8y ago
      Low Earth Orbit (LEO) birds have ~30ms round trip latency. https://www.telesat.com/sites/default/files/telesat/brochures/telesat_leo_-_real-time_latency_rethink_the_possibilities_with_remote_networks.pdf https://www.telesat.com/sites/default/files/telesat/brochure...
Proven 8y ago
Free internet? No doubt there's a lot of demand for that. Privacy is for the rich.

23 points by dmmalam 8y ago

With the number of companies planning on launching satellite internet constellations, I wonder if there would be enough customers to keep them all afloat? Or would we likely see a consolidation similar to what happened with Sirius and XM radio? This type of system would be great for people in unconnected areas, but those are typically low population density. For customers in cities, I'm not sure there would be enough bandwidth to server million+ city populations. And in cities you can typically get better bandwidth / lower latency using landlines. (Of course, there is the case that SpaceX made about thing like London to New York being faster over satellite).

7e 8y ago
London to New York is not faster over satellite, as there is a 25 ms penalty to pay just getting in and out of SpaceX's system.
- derekp7 8y ago
  I don't recall if the proposal was from SpaceX, or someone else doing an independent analysis, but I believe the proposal was to have a (higher cost) option that bypasses ground stations. So you can send a signal straight to satellite at 550 KM, which is 1.8 ms away, then pass the signals from satellite to satellite (skipping as many in between birds as possible), and beaming back down directly to the target without involving any other ground stations. Edit: here is a Reddit thread I found on the topic: https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/9wrkhm/starlink_low_latency_and_high_bandwidth_proposal/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/9wrkhm/starlink_l...
- erikpukinskis 8y ago
  Where does the 25ms penalty come from?
  - late2part 8y ago
    Low Earth Orbit (LEO) birds have ~30ms round trip latency. https://www.telesat.com/sites/default/files/telesat/brochures/telesat_leo_-_real-time_latency_rethink_the_possibilities_with_remote_networks.pdf https://www.telesat.com/sites/default/files/telesat/brochure...

Proven 8y ago

Free internet? No doubt there's a lot of demand for that. Privacy is for the rich.