6 ms·

You forgot the prime use case: People in rural areas around the world.

by kerng 6y ago

simion314 6y ago
I would edit your statement to maybe very remote areas around the world, usually you can just drag a cable or place a cell tower and you get much cheaper internet and telecommunication.
- MPSimmons 6y ago
  I mean, technically you need to drag a cable AND place a tower, unless you want really awful service. I have heard Kuiper is going to focus on basically eliminating the cable, though, and do space-to-tower, and let the tower be the last mile. I don't have any hard information to back that, though.
  - simion314 6y ago
    What I am thinking if you need to give internet to one rich guy in a remote area you use satellite, if you want to give internet to the entire village you use cell towers or cables. If a large number of people in a village can afford satellite then I assume there will be a few companies (in a functional market) that will show up and drag a cable and offer you cheap TV,internet and mobile phone. Cable will offer better speeds and include TV not like wireless so I am thinking wireless is a maybe initial workaround until the ISO will reach your location with their cables.
- gpm 6y ago
  This has not been my experience trying to get internet at a not-at-all-remote cottage.
  - simion314 6y ago
    I was thinking at small villages that already are connected to the electric grid, for those you pull a cable on the existing electric polls, is not like if you live in a village you have no internet, in fact in Easter Europe you can get cheap and good internet in villages better then some cities and there is also competition. What I am thinking if you need to give internet to one rich guy in a remote area you use satellite, if you want to give internet to the entire village you use cell towers or cables.
jmisavage 6y ago
Do they have enough cash to pay for this service and to keep this a viable business proposition? I'm still hoping this will be a great alternative to locations that are more densely packed, but only have 1 option for broadband. Need to keep the Comcasts and Verizons of the world in check.
- walrus01 6y ago
  Many do, yes. In the north american market there's the "consumer grade" VSAT category for stuff like viasat/hughesnet/wildblue/xplornet highly oversubscribed small ku/ka-band VSAT terminals, with monthly costs under $200/mo. In the developing nation market, go to a remote part of some place in Nepal that has no fiber or terrestrial microwave links back to the big cities. Find an "internet cafe", what you're likely to see on the roof is something like this, a cheap 1.2 meter VSAT on the roof with a 4W BUC: https://www.satsig.net/vsat-equipment/andrew-123-antenna-mount.jpg https://www.satsig.net/vsat-equipment/andrew-123-antenna-mou... In a highly contended, highly oversubscribed TDMA network in some ISP's small piece of one transponder, linked back to an earth station elsewhere. For 200, 300, 400 bucks a month. What's going to change is the quality of service and speeds that somebody in $small_nepalese_city is going to get for their 250 dollars a month.
- kube-system 6y ago
  I am sure there are a ton of people on this forum that work remotely, and would love to live in a rural area, but don’t make the move because of the lack of reliable connectivity.
  - walrus01 6y ago
    You'd be surprised where in the USA has at least one viable last mile terrestrial WISP. I can think of a few parts of Idaho where you would think nothing exists, but you can get 25 Mbps x 10 Mbps service from a competently run small ISP, by point to multipoint 5150-5850 MHz band equipment. But there are also vast areas of Idaho too sparsely populated to support any WISP at all, where you'll see cheap consumer grade VSAT stuck to the sides of peoples' houses. https://www.google.com/search?q=wildblue+dish&client=ubuntu&hs=TmL&channel=fs&sxsrf=ALeKk00FMjb3249lKs6R-6SeG1Y3n48zZA:1601475618428&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiH6ujKiZHsAhXYup4KHWwvCSwQ_AUoAnoECHUQBA&biw=1565&bih=956 https://www.google.com/search?q=wildblue+dish&client=ubuntu&...
quickthrowman 6y ago
My rural lake home has fiber internet while my home in the city is stuck on Comcast (Minnesota for both lake home and home). Fiber is really cheap to run if you can hang it on poles in rural areas. I think the satellite internet market will shrink as more local ISPs start stringing fiber up on existing utility poles in lower population density areas. Satellite internet will have a place for areas like the western US where the population density is very low.

You forgot the prime use case: People in rural areas around the world.

by kerng 6y ago

You forgot the prime use case: People in rural areas around the world.

I would edit your statement to maybe very remote areas around the world, usually you can just drag a cable or place a cell tower and you get much cheaper internet and telecommunication.

MPSimmons 6y ago
I mean, technically you need to drag a cable AND place a tower, unless you want really awful service. I have heard Kuiper is going to focus on basically eliminating the cable, though, and do space-to-tower, and let the tower be the last mile. I don't have any hard information to back that, though.
- simion314 6y ago
  What I am thinking if you need to give internet to one rich guy in a remote area you use satellite, if you want to give internet to the entire village you use cell towers or cables. If a large number of people in a village can afford satellite then I assume there will be a few companies (in a functional market) that will show up and drag a cable and offer you cheap TV,internet and mobile phone. Cable will offer better speeds and include TV not like wireless so I am thinking wireless is a maybe initial workaround until the ISO will reach your location with their cables.
gpm 6y ago
This has not been my experience trying to get internet at a not-at-all-remote cottage.
- simion314 6y ago
  I was thinking at small villages that already are connected to the electric grid, for those you pull a cable on the existing electric polls, is not like if you live in a village you have no internet, in fact in Easter Europe you can get cheap and good internet in villages better then some cities and there is also competition. What I am thinking if you need to give internet to one rich guy in a remote area you use satellite, if you want to give internet to the entire village you use cell towers or cables.

jmisavage 6y ago

Do they have enough cash to pay for this service and to keep this a viable business proposition? I'm still hoping this will be a great alternative to locations that are more densely packed, but only have 1 option for broadband. Need to keep the Comcasts and Verizons of the world in check.

walrus01 6y ago
Many do, yes. In the north american market there's the "consumer grade" VSAT category for stuff like viasat/hughesnet/wildblue/xplornet highly oversubscribed small ku/ka-band VSAT terminals, with monthly costs under $200/mo. In the developing nation market, go to a remote part of some place in Nepal that has no fiber or terrestrial microwave links back to the big cities. Find an "internet cafe", what you're likely to see on the roof is something like this, a cheap 1.2 meter VSAT on the roof with a 4W BUC: https://www.satsig.net/vsat-equipment/andrew-123-antenna-mount.jpg https://www.satsig.net/vsat-equipment/andrew-123-antenna-mou... In a highly contended, highly oversubscribed TDMA network in some ISP's small piece of one transponder, linked back to an earth station elsewhere. For 200, 300, 400 bucks a month. What's going to change is the quality of service and speeds that somebody in $small_nepalese_city is going to get for their 250 dollars a month.
kube-system 6y ago
I am sure there are a ton of people on this forum that work remotely, and would love to live in a rural area, but don’t make the move because of the lack of reliable connectivity.
- walrus01 6y ago
  You'd be surprised where in the USA has at least one viable last mile terrestrial WISP. I can think of a few parts of Idaho where you would think nothing exists, but you can get 25 Mbps x 10 Mbps service from a competently run small ISP, by point to multipoint 5150-5850 MHz band equipment. But there are also vast areas of Idaho too sparsely populated to support any WISP at all, where you'll see cheap consumer grade VSAT stuck to the sides of peoples' houses. https://www.google.com/search?q=wildblue+dish&client=ubuntu&hs=TmL&channel=fs&sxsrf=ALeKk00FMjb3249lKs6R-6SeG1Y3n48zZA:1601475618428&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiH6ujKiZHsAhXYup4KHWwvCSwQ_AUoAnoECHUQBA&biw=1565&bih=956 https://www.google.com/search?q=wildblue+dish&client=ubuntu&...

quickthrowman 6y ago

My rural lake home has fiber internet while my home in the city is stuck on Comcast (Minnesota for both lake home and home). Fiber is really cheap to run if you can hang it on poles in rural areas. I think the satellite internet market will shrink as more local ISPs start stringing fiber up on existing utility poles in lower population density areas. Satellite internet will have a place for areas like the western US where the population density is very low.