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What's funny is if you go sailing on the ocean for extended periods (months) you realize that sat data / phone costs are RIDICULOUS in this age. $3 - $5/MB. So

What's funny is if you go sailing on the ocean for extended periods (months) you realize that sat data / phone costs are RIDICULOUS in this age. $3 - $5/MB. So your 4 GB movie is $20,000. You'd think, why would anyone pay this, but there can be a lot of pressure these days to be able to send videos etc so you sometimes get jammed up with these types of costs (ie, if you do a telemedicine call the DR may want a video of joint movement etc etc, recreational trips people want to post videos and don't realize their phone records at pretty large file sizes etc etc). So if they can do better just on COST then this it would be wonderful.

ccmcarey 6y ago
We used a sat link for getting the latest weather information, though you can also get that frequently on V(HF), so .. not terribly useful. But, terribly slow and unreliable (Iridium).
mcpherrinm 6y ago
At least V1 of Starlink, there needs to be a ground station visible to the satellite, so it's not going to work in the middle of the ocean. It might work a few hundred miles offshore, but not further than that. So it'll be a while before you can have video calls from the middle of an Atlantic crossing.
- Someone1234 6y ago
  There's no interlink between Starlink satellites? That's a surprising fact.
  - koenigdavidmj 6y ago
    That's a v2 feature.
    - ehsankia 6y ago
      Is there a rough v1/v2 timeline? The thing they wanted to release by the end of the year is v1 I assume? Is v2 just a software update? Does it require sending a whole new set of satellite or it something they are planning to patch into existing satellites someday and have inter-sat support?
      - bryanlarsen 6y ago
        The original plan required a laser link, but those were removed from the v1 satellite because the lasers would survive reentry and SpaceX didn't want their satellites falling on anybody's head. So this is definitely a hardware upgrade requiring new satellites. But that's not a big stumbling block -- SpaceX plans on replacing 1/5th of their constellation every year.
- Retric 6y ago
  That’s kind of a moot point as SpaceX is not going to put satellites over the Atlantic without that capability or even build out their network. Everything is still very much in testing phases right now.
  - MertsA 6y ago
    None of these satellites are anywhere near geosynchronous orbit so every satellite circles the globe. They don't really get much of a choice as to where to put them other than altitude and inclination. The satellites are in different orbital planes but that plane rotates with respect to the earth so there's no getting around the majority of satellites sitting out over the oceans.
    - Retric 6y ago
      I am aware. To be clear, I am saying their plan is so have the links up before the consolation is finished. These early launches are going to be in a higher orbit which will allow them to offer the service on land before the full constellation is finished as well as provide redundancy.
- gpm 6y ago
  Yes but not necessarily. Yes, there is no satellite crosslinks in V1. But you can bounce it off "ground" stations sitting in the ocean. For instance on barges and islands, or just on other customers ships. It doesn't take that many ground stations to be able to be routed to land. Or from land on one side of the ocean to the other.
- ogre_codes 6y ago
  > At least V1 of Starlink, there needs to be a ground station visible to the satellite At an altitude of 340 miles a starlink satellite has line of site up to 1800 miles so conceivably a ship at sea could be 3600 miles from the nearest land station and still be able to bounce off Starlink. Of course that's ideal conditions, but it wouldn't take too many ground stations to ensure 99% of oceangoing traffic is covered. Of course even with line of site, the antenna may not be oriented in such a way as to cover more than a couple hundred miles of surface even if there is line of site.
  - shaklee3 6y ago
    I think your math is off. What elevation are you using?
    - ogre_codes 6y ago
      340 miles. If it's not able to cover more than a couple hundred miles, I don't think it's a line of site issue.
      - shaklee3 6y ago
        Not the altitude, but the elevation. What is the angle from the user terminal?
        Dylan16807 6y ago
        It just has to be above the horizon, because this is the middle of the ocean. When I put 550km into a horizon calculator I get a distance of 2700km. Edit: Okay, I want an explanation for the downvotes. If you're upset that I didn't say "the user terminal is horizontal at max range", I thought it was clear from context.
        shaklee3 6y ago
        I didn't downvote you, but the size of the beam is heavily dictated by the elevation they're willing to work with, and the wider the elevation, the more expensive the antenna. So give that they need to decrease the size of the beam to keep antenna cost down, it's highly likely that the beam size is much, much smaller than what you cited there. Just take a look to see how many handoffs there are over CONUS alone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m05abdGSOxY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m05abdGSOxY
Retric 6y ago
It’s largely a question of your data plan. HTS-M5000 For example is 0.39$/MB which still puts your movie at 2,000$, but you can get lower costs per MB with higher monthly fees. https://kpp-public.s3.amazonaws.com/DS_TPV3HTS_AirtimeRates_web.pdf https://kpp-public.s3.amazonaws.com/DS_TPV3HTS_AirtimeRates_...

ccmcarey 6y ago

We used a sat link for getting the latest weather information, though you can also get that frequently on V(HF), so .. not terribly useful. But, terribly slow and unreliable (Iridium).

mcpherrinm 6y ago

At least V1 of Starlink, there needs to be a ground station visible to the satellite, so it's not going to work in the middle of the ocean. It might work a few hundred miles offshore, but not further than that. So it'll be a while before you can have video calls from the middle of an Atlantic crossing.

Someone1234 6y ago
There's no interlink between Starlink satellites? That's a surprising fact.
- koenigdavidmj 6y ago
  That's a v2 feature.
  - ehsankia 6y ago
    Is there a rough v1/v2 timeline? The thing they wanted to release by the end of the year is v1 I assume? Is v2 just a software update? Does it require sending a whole new set of satellite or it something they are planning to patch into existing satellites someday and have inter-sat support?
    - bryanlarsen 6y ago
      The original plan required a laser link, but those were removed from the v1 satellite because the lasers would survive reentry and SpaceX didn't want their satellites falling on anybody's head. So this is definitely a hardware upgrade requiring new satellites. But that's not a big stumbling block -- SpaceX plans on replacing 1/5th of their constellation every year.
Retric 6y ago
That’s kind of a moot point as SpaceX is not going to put satellites over the Atlantic without that capability or even build out their network. Everything is still very much in testing phases right now.
- MertsA 6y ago
  None of these satellites are anywhere near geosynchronous orbit so every satellite circles the globe. They don't really get much of a choice as to where to put them other than altitude and inclination. The satellites are in different orbital planes but that plane rotates with respect to the earth so there's no getting around the majority of satellites sitting out over the oceans.
  - Retric 6y ago
    I am aware. To be clear, I am saying their plan is so have the links up before the consolation is finished. These early launches are going to be in a higher orbit which will allow them to offer the service on land before the full constellation is finished as well as provide redundancy.
gpm 6y ago
Yes but not necessarily. Yes, there is no satellite crosslinks in V1. But you can bounce it off "ground" stations sitting in the ocean. For instance on barges and islands, or just on other customers ships. It doesn't take that many ground stations to be able to be routed to land. Or from land on one side of the ocean to the other.
ogre_codes 6y ago
> At least V1 of Starlink, there needs to be a ground station visible to the satellite At an altitude of 340 miles a starlink satellite has line of site up to 1800 miles so conceivably a ship at sea could be 3600 miles from the nearest land station and still be able to bounce off Starlink. Of course that's ideal conditions, but it wouldn't take too many ground stations to ensure 99% of oceangoing traffic is covered. Of course even with line of site, the antenna may not be oriented in such a way as to cover more than a couple hundred miles of surface even if there is line of site.
- shaklee3 6y ago
  I think your math is off. What elevation are you using?
  - ogre_codes 6y ago
    340 miles. If it's not able to cover more than a couple hundred miles, I don't think it's a line of site issue.
    - shaklee3 6y ago
      Not the altitude, but the elevation. What is the angle from the user terminal?
      - Dylan16807 6y ago
        It just has to be above the horizon, because this is the middle of the ocean. When I put 550km into a horizon calculator I get a distance of 2700km. Edit: Okay, I want an explanation for the downvotes. If you're upset that I didn't say "the user terminal is horizontal at max range", I thought it was clear from context.
        shaklee3 6y ago
        I didn't downvote you, but the size of the beam is heavily dictated by the elevation they're willing to work with, and the wider the elevation, the more expensive the antenna. So give that they need to decrease the size of the beam to keep antenna cost down, it's highly likely that the beam size is much, much smaller than what you cited there. Just take a look to see how many handoffs there are over CONUS alone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m05abdGSOxY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m05abdGSOxY

Retric 6y ago

It’s largely a question of your data plan. HTS-M5000 For example is 0.39$/MB which still puts your movie at 2,000$, but you can get lower costs per MB with higher monthly fees. https://kpp-public.s3.amazonaws.com/DS_TPV3HTS_AirtimeRates_web.pdf https://kpp-public.s3.amazonaws.com/DS_TPV3HTS_AirtimeRates_...