5 ms·

What's significant about this? Seems to be plain 802.11ac router.

dragonshed 6y ago
Starlink is a satellite constellation being constructed by SpaceX to provide satellite Internet access. Presumably their router would connect to this.
- bradly 6y ago
  I 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 ago
The 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 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 so it is not just for people with poor internet
  - paxys 6y ago
    I'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.
  - Johnny555 6y ago
    Well... wait until you see pricing. Even if it comes in at the speculated $80/month price point, many people will find it cheaper and faster to stick with their terrestrial internet. There aren't many people willing to pay $80/month for a backup connection they'll only use once every month or two. (I'm one of them, I usually have at least one Comcast outage a month, from a few hours to a few days). I'm in a bit of a celluar dead zone, I get one bar of signal from AT&T or Verizon, and only if I walk up to the second floor)
    - asdfk-12 6y ago
      In Alaska, specifically, gigabit internet costs ~$200/mo through Liberty Media's subsidiary GCI in the three major cities. In rural areas, GCI offers plans through local co-ops averaging $150/mo for 6mbit down, 100gb data cap over terrestrial microwave relay. Starlink will normalize this market.
      - Johnny555 6y ago
        Yeah, those rural customers are in the category "people with poor internet access" that I mentioned above - but I think that few people with fiber to the home are anxiously awaiting Starlink. That $200 gigabit plan is faster than I can get from Comcast (my only provider) not far from Seattle - the fastest they can provide to me is 600mbit, but with only about 15mbit upstream. Starlink hasn't really revealed speeds, bandwidth caps, etc. Some tests claim they can provide gigabit speeds, but will have to wait and see what they can provide in real world usage.
      - shaklee3 6y ago
        Starlink will not cost $80 for the gigabit plan. I'd wager there won't be a gigabit plan. They need thousands of customers per 20Gbps satellite for this to even start to make sense. You cannot fit even a couple hundred 1Gbps customers on a single satellite.
        zaarn 6y ago
        You can certainly fit a couple hundred 1Gbps customers on a 20GBps satellite provided you make sure that those people don't completely saturate the entire line at the same time.
- ckdarby 6y ago
  I like @syshum have access to 1 gbit fiber in my current home area. I am excited for Starlink to be able to buy a couple arces of land much further out and still be able to have "reasonable" internet that I'm able to work remotely.
  - hedora 6y ago
    You already can buy farmland and get decent ISP coverage. In fact, there is often more competition and better service in rural areas than in places dominated by the cable and telco monopolies. I spot checked a county I’m familiar with. Population density: < 10 per square mile. Median income: 25-30K. They have fiber to the home, and offer up to 1GBit symmetric, even outside of town (where the houses are a ~mile apart). They don’t have to trench to run the fiber underground anymore. Instead, they have a roto-rooter style boring machine that installs the fiber as it builds a tunnel. They use a metal detector to figure out where to steer it.
    - ckdarby 6y ago
      I live in Canada and this is not the case at all. Plenty of the listings I look up online 40-60 mins from a city of 100k have dsl 10 mbit.
- paxys 6y ago
  Looking at the filing, the only relation seems to be branding, i.e. they're probably looking to upsell people on wifi routers when they buy internet service (like all other providers do).
  - cma 6y ago
    They could also be planning on selling it separately as a consumer fan product like the roofing torch flamethrowers.
    - dzhiurgis 6y ago
      Best consumer fan product would be a mini ground station for those with fibre connections.
  - acheron9383 6y ago
    Yes, it is pretty standard to package an access point in with the modem. No idea if they will just include the router in the internet price, or rent it monthly on top of standard charge like how some ISPs do it.

Starlink is a satellite constellation being constructed by SpaceX to provide satellite Internet access. Presumably their router would connect to this.

bradly 6y ago
I 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 ago

The 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 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 so it is not just for people with poor internet
- paxys 6y ago
  I'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.
- Johnny555 6y ago
  Well... wait until you see pricing. Even if it comes in at the speculated $80/month price point, many people will find it cheaper and faster to stick with their terrestrial internet. There aren't many people willing to pay $80/month for a backup connection they'll only use once every month or two. (I'm one of them, I usually have at least one Comcast outage a month, from a few hours to a few days). I'm in a bit of a celluar dead zone, I get one bar of signal from AT&T or Verizon, and only if I walk up to the second floor)
  - asdfk-12 6y ago
    In Alaska, specifically, gigabit internet costs ~$200/mo through Liberty Media's subsidiary GCI in the three major cities. In rural areas, GCI offers plans through local co-ops averaging $150/mo for 6mbit down, 100gb data cap over terrestrial microwave relay. Starlink will normalize this market.
    - Johnny555 6y ago
      Yeah, those rural customers are in the category "people with poor internet access" that I mentioned above - but I think that few people with fiber to the home are anxiously awaiting Starlink. That $200 gigabit plan is faster than I can get from Comcast (my only provider) not far from Seattle - the fastest they can provide to me is 600mbit, but with only about 15mbit upstream. Starlink hasn't really revealed speeds, bandwidth caps, etc. Some tests claim they can provide gigabit speeds, but will have to wait and see what they can provide in real world usage.
    - shaklee3 6y ago
      Starlink will not cost $80 for the gigabit plan. I'd wager there won't be a gigabit plan. They need thousands of customers per 20Gbps satellite for this to even start to make sense. You cannot fit even a couple hundred 1Gbps customers on a single satellite.
      - zaarn 6y ago
        You can certainly fit a couple hundred 1Gbps customers on a 20GBps satellite provided you make sure that those people don't completely saturate the entire line at the same time.
ckdarby 6y ago
I like @syshum have access to 1 gbit fiber in my current home area. I am excited for Starlink to be able to buy a couple arces of land much further out and still be able to have "reasonable" internet that I'm able to work remotely.
- hedora 6y ago
  You already can buy farmland and get decent ISP coverage. In fact, there is often more competition and better service in rural areas than in places dominated by the cable and telco monopolies. I spot checked a county I’m familiar with. Population density: < 10 per square mile. Median income: 25-30K. They have fiber to the home, and offer up to 1GBit symmetric, even outside of town (where the houses are a ~mile apart). They don’t have to trench to run the fiber underground anymore. Instead, they have a roto-rooter style boring machine that installs the fiber as it builds a tunnel. They use a metal detector to figure out where to steer it.
  - ckdarby 6y ago
    I live in Canada and this is not the case at all. Plenty of the listings I look up online 40-60 mins from a city of 100k have dsl 10 mbit.
paxys 6y ago
Looking at the filing, the only relation seems to be branding, i.e. they're probably looking to upsell people on wifi routers when they buy internet service (like all other providers do).
- cma 6y ago
  They could also be planning on selling it separately as a consumer fan product like the roofing torch flamethrowers.
  - dzhiurgis 6y ago
    Best consumer fan product would be a mini ground station for those with fibre connections.
- acheron9383 6y ago
  Yes, it is pretty standard to package an access point in with the modem. No idea if they will just include the router in the internet price, or rent it monthly on top of standard charge like how some ISPs do it.