4 ms·

A 600kbit BGAN is a little larger than a laptop, and is self contained (including a battery), with built in wifi and/or an ethernet cable. Set up in a minute or

A 600kbit BGAN is a little larger than a laptop, and is self contained (including a battery), with built in wifi and/or an ethernet cable. Set up in a minute or two if you know where to point it (the program on the laptop will help with that, then the beeps) But yes, you're talking $3 a megabyte on that. Starlink's actual usuable bandwidth and cost is still a question, but if it does turn out to be an order of magnitude cheaper and faster than a bgan it will be revolutionary. I'm glad I don't own shares in companies like Inmarsat. (And that's without the massive improvement in latency - a bgan in background mode is typically a 1000-1200ms RTT. In the per-minute guarenteed mode it's 600ms)

walrus01 6y ago
Until they figure out satellite-to-satellite, starlink will be still limited by having an earth station visible underneath the satellite simultaneously in the same general region as the CPEs. It's all "moving bent pipe" right now. Same architectural limitation as why the original Globalstar LEO network for handheld satellite phones was never able to offer truly "global" coverage, unlike Iridium. It will be quite some time before Starlink is usable in the middle of the Pacific ocean. I don't think it will kill Inmarsat immediately for maritime and aviation applications. But I am also glad I don't own an of their stock (I also own no stock in any geostationary satellite owner/operator).
- toomuchtodo 6y ago
  Latest rev StarLink sats have successfully performed satellite to satellite laser comms. Disclosure: I intend to own StarLink stock when available. https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starlink-space-lasers-first-orbital-test/ https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starlink-space-lasers-first...
- iso1210 6y ago
  I think Musk will deliver. May take another 5 years. Sure we'll still be buying older kit like vsats for a year or two after that too, but it isn't going to be growing. You're right about GEO market -- it's more than just IP. We have an old UKI doing probably it's last event this weekend (delayed due to covid). The replacement doesn't have a dish. Started decommissioning a truck with a vsat today -- replacement is 4g/5g only. The traditional non-IP market is shrinking even without starlink. The biggest risk to starlink I suspect would be Musk dying. He seems to have the ability to defy naysayers and change industries.
  - gamblor956 6y ago
    There is a 0% chance of Musk delivering. OTOH, there's a good chance that the many engineers and scientists at SpaceX, working under Gwynne Shotwell, will deliver something viable. Stop giving Musk credit for the things he didn't do. His death won't affect the viability of Starlink, and if anything, it would likely improve the final product. SpaceX's successes and failures are generally inversely proportional to the attention Musks puts into running the company; i.e., SpaceX's success is inversely proportional to his micromanaging and meddling.
- gpm 6y ago
  I agree it will be some time, but even if they never get sat to sat links they can solve the Pacific ocean problem via relays on ships - it wouldn't take that many.
- dzhiurgis 6y ago
  Ocean market is probably 100x smaller than land tho.
  - walrus01 6y ago
    combined total of transcontinental aviation, offshore ocean, oil and gas offshore is considerable. inmarsat had revenues of about 1.5 billion in 2019.
    - dzhiurgis 6y ago
      Those are already signed up for Iridium and Inmarsat. They've already got equipment and SpaceX might not be so economical in short term. SpaceX would be great for recreational sailors, cruisers and liveaboards. That's market of less than a million clients (if that), compared to billions in rural population. It's not even clear current gen antenna would work on small craft.

walrus01 6y ago

Until they figure out satellite-to-satellite, starlink will be still limited by having an earth station visible underneath the satellite simultaneously in the same general region as the CPEs. It's all "moving bent pipe" right now. Same architectural limitation as why the original Globalstar LEO network for handheld satellite phones was never able to offer truly "global" coverage, unlike Iridium. It will be quite some time before Starlink is usable in the middle of the Pacific ocean. I don't think it will kill Inmarsat immediately for maritime and aviation applications. But I am also glad I don't own an of their stock (I also own no stock in any geostationary satellite owner/operator).

toomuchtodo 6y ago
Latest rev StarLink sats have successfully performed satellite to satellite laser comms. Disclosure: I intend to own StarLink stock when available. https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starlink-space-lasers-first-orbital-test/ https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starlink-space-lasers-first...
iso1210 6y ago
I think Musk will deliver. May take another 5 years. Sure we'll still be buying older kit like vsats for a year or two after that too, but it isn't going to be growing. You're right about GEO market -- it's more than just IP. We have an old UKI doing probably it's last event this weekend (delayed due to covid). The replacement doesn't have a dish. Started decommissioning a truck with a vsat today -- replacement is 4g/5g only. The traditional non-IP market is shrinking even without starlink. The biggest risk to starlink I suspect would be Musk dying. He seems to have the ability to defy naysayers and change industries.
- gamblor956 6y ago
  There is a 0% chance of Musk delivering. OTOH, there's a good chance that the many engineers and scientists at SpaceX, working under Gwynne Shotwell, will deliver something viable. Stop giving Musk credit for the things he didn't do. His death won't affect the viability of Starlink, and if anything, it would likely improve the final product. SpaceX's successes and failures are generally inversely proportional to the attention Musks puts into running the company; i.e., SpaceX's success is inversely proportional to his micromanaging and meddling.
gpm 6y ago
I agree it will be some time, but even if they never get sat to sat links they can solve the Pacific ocean problem via relays on ships - it wouldn't take that many.
dzhiurgis 6y ago
Ocean market is probably 100x smaller than land tho.
- walrus01 6y ago
  combined total of transcontinental aviation, offshore ocean, oil and gas offshore is considerable. inmarsat had revenues of about 1.5 billion in 2019.
  - dzhiurgis 6y ago
    Those are already signed up for Iridium and Inmarsat. They've already got equipment and SpaceX might not be so economical in short term. SpaceX would be great for recreational sailors, cruisers and liveaboards. That's market of less than a million clients (if that), compared to billions in rural population. It's not even clear current gen antenna would work on small craft.