4 ms·
As long as it works in all weather, I agree Starink is superior to digging trenches. But if Internet goes out during storms, especially multi-day winter storms,
by chime 7y ago
As long as it works in all weather, I agree Starink is superior to digging trenches. But if Internet goes out during storms, especially multi-day winter storms, then rural/distant areas would be better off with DSL or Fiber, even ignoring the bandwith or latency differences.
Also, Starlink is run by a single, private company. If anything happens to the company, do we really want a vast chunk of the country offline? At least with GPS we know they don’t need to be profitable. What if the shareholders don’t find Starlink worth it?
That being said, I can’t wait for Starlink myself!
- WhompingWindows 7y agoCouldn't Starlink benefit from relays so that receivers in non-cloudy/non-stormy areas could boost signals to cloudy areas?
- dillonmckay 7y agoThat sounds like using microwave towers again.
- gamegoblin 7y agoFWIW there are other people entering the low-orbit satellite constellation internet business (though, still big companies -- but better than a single big company). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_(company)#Kuiper_Systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_(company)#Kuiper_System... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OneWeb_satellite_constellation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OneWeb_satellite_constellation
- Rebelgecko 7y agoThe frequencies they're using are fairly susceptible to rain fade. You can fix that by throwing more power at your transmissions.
- simonsarris 7y agoI don't know if you live in a rural place but in New Hampshire, when there are storms, it can take days for electricity to come back, and then even more time for cable (there's no fiber) to come back. Why wouldn't Starlink be an improvement over that? Just because it doesn't work during the storm?