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Starlink WiFi Router FCC Approved
- ProAm 6y agoDoes anyone know if all the Starlink satellites are operational? Did they send up any duds so far? Or have any failures post launch?
- jccooper 6y agoThey've deorbited 5 of the 540 launched so far, and a few more of the first launch seem to be derelict.
- bosswipe 6y agoSo they're probably going to use the same scammy techniques as other ISPs where they require you to rent a $100 standard router for $200 per year.
- acheron9383 6y agoUnclear until the pricing comes out, they may just include it for free when you buy internet service. But ISPs generally need to package at least something to serve Wifi for customers that don't already have their own Access Point, looks like SpaceX just put together their own, rather than provide something off the shelf.
- cookiecaper 6y agoMost ISPs don't require this -- you can use your own equipment if you wish. Most customers take them up on the rentals, though, either because they don't know any better or because it's easier than buying and maintaining their own equipment.
- hedora 6y agoAT&T is the worst. Not only do they charge for a useless router, but there’s no way to disable or bypass it. It has a DMZ mode that supposedly lets you double NAT to keep their spyware crap off your LAN, but it doesn’t seem to work in practice.
- Roritharr 6y agoThe one thing I find iffy is that the current generation of Starlink Sats aren't supposed to do Sattelite to Satfelite communication, so the actual latency benefits around the globe aren't going to materialize the first couple of years. I'm really interested when they plan to have their service to be actually competitive latency-wise.
- stx 6y agoFor some remote places that may not matter as much. For example in the rural Rocky Mountains you are limited on internet options. This could still be much needed competition.
- dzhiurgis 6y ago> latency benefits around the globe aren't going to materialize the first couple of years. Even with ground stations they actually will, there's analysis on youtube about that. If each router can also be a peer (or even a ground station), then it's going really quick to achieve that.
- samoa42 6y agosee https://youtu.be/m05abdGSOxY https://youtu.be/m05abdGSOxY
- walrus01 6y agoThe latency will be about 20ms higher than a terrestrial pure fiber based internet customer in the same location as the earth stations. For example whatever the latency is from the north bend WA site to downtown Seattle (a few milliseconds) plus 20ms. This is a considerable improvement over the absolute bare minimum rtt ping time on a Geostationary based VSAT which is 492ms. There are a lot of terrestrial wireline last mile access technologies that already introduce 15-25ms latency on the last mile segment. Such as ADSL2+ on old POTS copper wiring or a heavily loaded docsis3 cable network. That is just from the home modem to the neighborhood's closest network node.
- Roritharr 6y ago
- ed25519FUUU 6y agoFrequency Range 2412.0-2462.0 5180.0-5240.0 5745.0-5825.0 Looks like your standard wireless AC router (2.4ghz and 5ghz). Whatever this is, it doesn't "talk" to starlink, per its FCC application: > In this application, SpaceX proposes to operate in the 10.7-12.7 GHz, 13.85-14.5 GHz, 17.8-18.6 GHz, 18.8-19.3 GHz, 27.5-29.1 GHz, and 29.5-30 GHz bands. https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-authorizes-spacex-provide-broadband-satellite-services https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-authorizes-spacex-provide-b...
- acheron9383 6y agoI'd bet this is the box you place inside your house to serve Wifi, and run ethernet up to the roof to connect to the modem/antenna on the roof, hence this being essentially a bog standard AC Wifi Router.
- VivaCascadia 6y agoIt looks like starting out they're going to prioritize rural Washington State. From the FAQ which is buried for some reason at https://www.starlink.com/main.16ae0a3588c339b10118.js https://www.starlink.com/main.16ae0a3588c339b10118.js. q:Who can participate in Starlink Beta? a:Starlink Beta will begin in the Northern United States and lower Canada, with those living in rural and/or remote communities in the Washington state area. Access to the Starlink Beta program will be driven by the user's location as well as the number of users in nearby areas. All beta testers must have a clear view of the northern sky to participate.
- walrus01 6y agoThere's 4 starlink earth stations in Washington state. The starlink r&d team and office is also based in Redmond. 1. Redmond office site 2. North bend, colocated with CenturyLink long haul fiber hut 3. Brewster, commercial teleport facility, as a tenant, larger site is run by USEI. This is also a TT&C (tracking, telemetry and control) site for starlink space segment network operations. 4. Prosser, also colocated with CenturyLink fiber huts. It is also worth noting that one of the first major internet traffic exchange points which the starlink AS has joined is the SIX (Seattle internet exchange). It's my theory that their IP network and other common ISP-like infrastructure is the most fully developed in Seattle. If you take a look at their peeringdb page it will give you an idea of where they're publicly announcing availability for peeing and PNIs. Presently only Seattle. https://www.peeringdb.com/net/18747 https://www.peeringdb.com/net/18747
- waiseristy 6y agoRural Washington is a great test market, there are entire counties with only a single viable provider (Kittitas). Or counties in which there are NO viable broadband providers (Okanagan)
- bdefore 6y agoPresumably the NSA wouldn't let something like Starlink get off the ground unless they had a way of listening. How are they addressing this?
- rsynnott 6y agoSame as any other ISP, probably.
- totetsu 6y agoBlack box router in the ISP data centre that is to say.
- caiobegotti 6y agoAFAIK "end-to-end encryption encoded at firmware level" is the current official answer: https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/8049u6/starlink_to_be_endtoend_encryption_encoded_at/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/8049u6/starlink_t...
- kitotik 6y agoSort of irrelevant if you don’t own either end.
- pfundstein 6y agoI find the second part of that statement more interesting: > If it is (and we learn about it), a crypto fix will go out immediately via network-wide firmware update. This implies that the SpaceX holds private keys for signing firmware updates, and a mechanism for pushing them. I hope those keys are kept very far from anything Internet-connected.
- mlindner 6y agoI mean even if you own your own private modem, Comcast (and others) can and do push new firmware directly into your modem. I don't see how this would be any different.
- staycoolboy 6y agoTBH, I'd really like to work for the FCC doing this stuff. I know it's grunt work, but it would be such a great end-of-career job to scrutinize hardware to the nth degree, and just have to worry about doing a precise job, not a fast one.
- walrus01 6y agoIt's a third party commercial test lab that does this stuff, the FCC just receives the filings. There's a high degree of trust put on the test lab to meet certain engineering standards.
- mindfulhack 6y agoNot sure if that's a good thing. I know that structure exists all over the world though, in countless regulation contexts. So in practice, maybe it's OK.
- schwartzworld 6y agohow else could you do it? you expect bureaucrats to inspect the hardware themselves?
- DoofusOfDeath 6y agoMaybe look into a job at NIST? It's not exactly the work you describe, but I've been blown away by some of their stuff.
- TooKool4This 6y agoDefinitely! I had an opportunity to visit their physical measurement labs and get a tour of their facilities as part of my job and the amount of detail poured into every single aspect of the measurement system for primary standards was amazing. Seeing the kibble balance that is now the primary standard for mass measurement was particularly great! And the work going into putting primary standards into the hands of thousands of people through the Nist-On-A-Chip project is absolutely amazing. https://www.nist.gov/pml/productsservices/nist-chip-portal https://www.nist.gov/pml/productsservices/nist-chip-portal
- pieceofcakedude 6y agoNo, I do not consent to yet another source of EMF blasting me at all times. I also do not consent to my view of the cosmos being permanently altered. Hope this idea, Starlink and all future competitors (it won't be just Starlink of course) go belly up.
- canada_dry 6y ago> Starlink and all future competitors go belly up That's probably unlikely for SpaceX given that they've slashed the normally sky-high barrier-to-entry for this endeavour. It's more likely that we'll see competing micro-satellite arrays from the likes of Russia and/or China within a decade.
- shaklee3 6y agoHuh? The barrier to entry isn't cheap rocket launches. It's a business plan with the satellite.
- RL_Quine 6y agoDo you not consent to space existing? You have far more exposure to all sorts of interesting radio frequencies from space every day than you'll ever see from a small radio.
- pieceofcakedude 6y agoIs this a troll post? I clearly said _another_ source of EMF. As in additional. Lets talk, do you find yourself getting accused of strawman attacks often?
- rvense 6y agoI find it absolutely infuriating that this cartoon villain can just decide to gunk up the sky for a commercial venture. This is like Nestle bottling public water.
- deepdmistry 6y agoAwesome news !!
- andrew_ 6y agoI'd give my left arm for a 12v or 24v DC announcement. IPx67 would be incredible.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- AngryData 6y agoGood, the best live on a paved road and I can't even get DSL. I got a garbage mobile connection with a 80ms ping time to google and im paying out the ass for it and it is unreliable as fuck.
- seebetter 6y agoA Starry employee told me they're going to start offering Starlink Internet next year in rural areas. In my city they're offering a $50/month 200-300 mb/s service using Air Fiber from Ubiquity.
- walrus01 6y agothat's not the same thing at all
- seebetter 6y agoI asked him about 30 questions on how the system worked and what he was doing. He said Starry Internet was going to MARKET a service with Starlink / SpaceX. He wasn't talking about using Air Fibers in rural areas -- he said satellites. Maybe he was mistaken but I was not.
- NDizzle 6y agoI can’t wait for it to reach me in rural Arkansas. I’m on a 4g lte connection. Best option at my house.
- takeda 6y agoI really like that competition is coming, but hate that it is in area that again no one else can compete. To bring competition all what's really needed is a legislation mandating that the last mile can be leased to any company (for a reasonable fee of course) and we would get back once again to times when we needed sites like dslreports.com to decide which ISP of so many in your area to use.
- Robotbeat 6y agoOneWeb went bankrupt, but is being apparently bought by a consortium that includes the UK government. It may well compete on some level. Amazon is also considering a LEO megaconstellation called Project Kuiper.
- takeda 6y agoIt doesn't bring confidence to me that the other competitor is company run by the richest man in the world. I meant a real competition. Most likely the way it will happen is that it will be really nice for customers with Amazon offering lower prices until SpaceX is driven out of business and only Amazon is left.
- artpi 6y agoI am buying an RV this week. Both me and my wife work fully remotely for 5 years now. Having a satellite internet terminal on the roof would make it... way more interesting.
- ChuckMcM 6y agoNice. But I want the application for the satellite transceiver. I can see their signal but I'd like to be able to demodulate them too.
- Trias11 6y agoIn 5 yrs Bezos will be polishing Musk shoes
- rusabd 6y agoMilitary should be interested in this, they also pay more than sparse civilians in the middle of nowhere.
- dandare 6y agoCan someone ELI5 what is going on? Is it that I am non-US resident or did I miss something important?
- johnlbevan2 6y agoSee https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23841492 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23841492 for FAQs. Summary: SpaceX are bringing out broadband for folk in remote areas / some progress has been made.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- beams_of_light 6y agoMy mom lives on Fox Island, and has no access to the Internet aside from LTE, which is very expensive and unreliable. Hoping she'll get a look from the Starlink team!
- stochtastic 6y agoIf anyone from Starlink is reading this thread: Add a Lat/Lon option for addresses in the service address entry form. Many rural homes have mailing addresses that don't resolve correctly. For example, the input form forced me to use "Anacortes, WA" for my house in the San Juans. The islands are a perfect Starlink test market, whereas Anacortes has plenty of broadband options.
- topspin 6y agoToday I received an email message from SpaceX/Starlink to obtain my "service address." Previously I had provided my email (more than once, actually) on the Starlink "beta" sign-up page. This is the first communication I've seen from them.
- walrus01 6y agoIt definitely seems they're beginning more serious efforts to populate peoples' data into a CRM db.
- ews 6y agoInteresting, which area do you live in ?
- tlack 6y agoGot it here as well (in Miami, FL)
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- jonplackett 6y agoGot one in London too. Seems like just a standard thing though, not getting too excited... yet
- MartinodF 6y agoYep, same in Milan, Italy! I think they just realized zip codes are not so useful once you're dealing with the whole world ;)
- speedyapoc 6y agoI too received an email requesting my service address (near Kenora, Ontario, Canada).
- getaclue 6y ago
- garaetjjte 6y agoWhat's significant about this? Seems to be plain 802.11ac router.
- dragonshed 6y agoStarlink is a satellite constellation being constructed by SpaceX to provide satellite Internet access. Presumably their router would connect to this.
- bradly 6y agoI think OP is asking why is there a need for a special router. Why not just have the satellite terminal connect to a traditional WiFi router via ethernet similar to other types of modems?
- Johnny555 6y agoThe significance is that it's related to the much anticipated (by people with poor internet access) Starlink satellite internet service. https://www.starlink.com/ https://www.starlink.com/ People would be just as interested if it were just a plastic mounting bracket with the "Starlink" branding.
- syshum 6y agoI have fiber to the home that is super reliable... I am still anticipating this and will be signing up to supplement my fiber so it is not just for people with poor internet
- paxys 6y agoI'm curious why though?
- skissane 6y ago> I have fiber to the home that is super reliable... I am still anticipating this and will be signing up to supplement my fiber We have fibre-to-the-home, but we'd like a bigger house and a bigger backyard. There are some really nice big houses with nice big backyards about 10-20 minutes north of us, but fibre-to-home is not available in that area. If Starlink works well, it would increase the odds we could move. So, I'd be inclined to sign up for Starlink alongside our fibre-to-the-home, just to compare the two.
- yread 6y agoSo, will they look like little rockets? https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/2AWHPR201/4805891 https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/2AWHPR201/4805891
- wmf 6y agoLooks like a slice of cake maybe.
- reaperducer 6y agoOr Star Fleet comm badges?
- causality0 6y agoI really hope Starlink works out. I have relatives whose only option is satellite internet and with the ultra-low data caps streaming video is just not an option at home. Imagine living without Netflix or Youtube.
- asdfk-12 6y agoI found living without Netflix and Youtube enlightening, as inter-library loans granted many titles that aren't available to stream. Also, Netflix dvd-by-mail service works fine in rural areas. After a while, I realized that my habituation to constant connection wasn't actually making my life more enjoyable... but for telework I'm rooting for a connectivity solution via Starlink.
- rootsudo 6y agoSame, 100%. It all feels like a drug. Addictive and dangerous.
- the-dude 6y agoYou mean like when we had only 2 national TV channels? Life was wonderful. I was outside a lot.
- 72deluxe 6y agoI know, it sounds bliss! Like the 1980s - fewer distractions, clearer thoughts.
- dkersten 6y agoHonestly, my life got a lot better when I cancelled my Netflix and stopped watching TV. I’ve taken up actual hobbies like playing guitar instead, as well as working on personal projects. I still use YouTube, but I’m trying to ever so slowly wind that down too.
- mlindner 6y agoI lived perfectly fine without Netflix and Youtube for most of my life.
- dfabulich 6y agoFor those unclear on the concept: Starlink is SpaceX's satellite network. The Starlink Wifi router will connect to that satellite network to provide wireless home internet.
- ed25519FUUU 6y agoIf by "connect" you mean the ethernet out of the starlink router connects to the WAN port of this wireless router, then you are correct. Starlink uses totally different frequencies than what this device is approved for.
- jcun4128 6y agoWould this be that UFO-looking thing you stick in the ground outside. Or this is literally a router(box in home) that connects to what before connecting to the satellite(s)?
- lgats 6y agobox in home router. Though it could have special equipment to further process the satellite signal, that's likely to be primarily on the 'dish' itself.
- teraflop 6y agoInterestingly, this device seems to only be a WiFi router. The test results don't mention any protocols other than 802.11, or any frequency bands other than the 2.4GHz/5GHz bands used for WiFi. So the actual satellite communications must be handled by something else.
- superkuh 6y agoYeah, I was almost confused by the measurements for emissions at 7.2 GHz before I realized it was just checking for the third harmonic of 2.4.
- acheron9383 6y agoThe actual modem that talks to the sats is in the antennas you mount on the roof. They are calling that the "terminal"
- walrus01 6y agoThis filing is just the indoor router/CPE.
- hedora 6y agoHopefully you can turn the wifi access point + router off, and plug a better mesh network into its ethernet jack. (Think large properties with no interference from neighboring wifi networks)
- rbrtdrmpc- 6y agoyup. no phased array antenna infos, though I'd like to speculate that they may just rent the antenna and try to sell the router as a bundle (still as a part of the renting price)
- ahnick 6y agoWho else is hoping to run a bonded internet connection with their existing ISP and Starlink? :)
- 6d6b73 6y agoIndoor operation only. This is just a router that will probably have an external device connected to another antenna.
- ehonda 6y agoStarlink will be great in rural Canada where the ISP oligopoly has no incentive to provide fast internet. I am curious how it will perform in stormy weather. Does it cut out like satellite TV?
- Rebelgecko 6y agoThe frequencies they're using get attenuated pretty hard by moisture in the atmosphere (like clouds and rain). However I don't know if that translates to no internet, slow internet, or just higher power consumption at the terminal.
- mint2 6y agoHeck just living in the wrong neighborhood in freaking Orange County California can mean the only options are att with 5mb dsl or cox charging ridiculous amounts for cable. Im not even talking about the outskirts of the OC. If you happen to live in the wrong part of town or even the wrong building; your current internet choices could be drastically worse than the house 100 yards away. A couple blocks down my neighbors get att fiber and google fiber. I get tons of ads for those fiber services just so they can rub in my limited choices of paying att ridiculous amounts for bad dsl or Coxs even higher prices for the lowest tiered cable.
- hedora 6y agoI used to live in walking distance of downtown Mountain View (a short bike ride to Google HQ). It was similar to what you describe. I think we ended up with less than 6MBit theoretical download. Later, we moved a few blocks and got 10x that.