6 ms·

I'm a Starlink Beta customer. I can't believe anyone is worried about the last mile any more.

by jacobmarble 6y ago

bryanlarsen 6y ago
They have to hurry up and shovel some pork to Telesat before their excuse to do so disappears in a few months.
- bitminer 6y ago
  They just did. $600M https://www.telesat.com/press/press-releases/telesat-and-the-government-of-canada-finalize-600m-agreement-to-bridge-canadas-digital-divide-with-telesats-low-earth-orbit-satellite-constellation/ https://www.telesat.com/press/press-releases/telesat-and-the...
ezez 6y ago
Is there a beta in Canada available yet? Or are you in beta in the US?
- bryanlarsen 6y ago
  Final regulatory approval happened on Friday. Previously Elon had tweeted that was the only thing holding up the beta, so hopefully it rolls out this week. https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/elon-musk-s-spacex-closer-to-launching-starlink-satellite-internet-in-canada-1.5178392 https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/elon-musk-s-spacex-closer-to...
- jacobmarble 6y ago
  Fair question. I'm in the US, above the 48th parallel.
toomuchtodo 6y ago
Even works with a microcell from T-Mobile, so StarLink can provide IP and LTE coverage for your home (when properly equipped).
cobookman 6y ago
Each starlink satellite can only handle ~20Gibps of throughput across all customers connecting. Say there's 10,000 of these in space, that's 200,000Gibps or 195Tibps. I don't think that's enough bandwidth for high speed internet for hundreds of millions of customers. However I suspect it'll be cheaper and faster for sparsley populated areas. With Urban areas still leveraging physical wires.
- francislavoie 6y ago
  The constellation is designed to be cycled out, so they'll continually be launching more and/or newer satellites over time. The next generation ones will likely be able to support more bandwidth.
  - bryanlarsen 6y ago
    It already has started doing so. The OP's 20Gibps number comes from the 2016 FCC filing which has 10Gibps full duplex. An Elon tweet now says 50Gibps half duplex.
    - superkuh 6y ago
      All good stuff but you can only reuse the spectrum marginally from LEO even with the sharpest directional pattern spot beams. With physical transmission line you get the entire spectrum for every single run.
      - Scoundreller 6y ago
        Just curious, why not for LEO? If Echostar can draw patterns like this from geosync, shouldn't the same be possible with an LEO? Or are the satellites spinning/bouncing around too much? https://rvseniormoments.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/07_ka-band-gen-5-coverage-beams-small.jpg https://rvseniormoments.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/07_ka-ba...
        superkuh 6y ago

I'm a Starlink Beta customer. I can't believe anyone is worried about the last mile any more.

bryanlarsen 6y ago

They have to hurry up and shovel some pork to Telesat before their excuse to do so disappears in a few months.

bitminer 6y ago
They just did. $600M https://www.telesat.com/press/press-releases/telesat-and-the-government-of-canada-finalize-600m-agreement-to-bridge-canadas-digital-divide-with-telesats-low-earth-orbit-satellite-constellation/ https://www.telesat.com/press/press-releases/telesat-and-the...

ezez 6y ago

Is there a beta in Canada available yet? Or are you in beta in the US?

bryanlarsen 6y ago
Final regulatory approval happened on Friday. Previously Elon had tweeted that was the only thing holding up the beta, so hopefully it rolls out this week. https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/elon-musk-s-spacex-closer-to-launching-starlink-satellite-internet-in-canada-1.5178392 https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/elon-musk-s-spacex-closer-to...
jacobmarble 6y ago
Fair question. I'm in the US, above the 48th parallel.

toomuchtodo 6y ago

Even works with a microcell from T-Mobile, so StarLink can provide IP and LTE coverage for your home (when properly equipped).

cobookman 6y ago

Each starlink satellite can only handle ~20Gibps of throughput across all customers connecting. Say there's 10,000 of these in space, that's 200,000Gibps or 195Tibps. I don't think that's enough bandwidth for high speed internet for hundreds of millions of customers. However I suspect it'll be cheaper and faster for sparsley populated areas. With Urban areas still leveraging physical wires.

francislavoie 6y ago
The constellation is designed to be cycled out, so they'll continually be launching more and/or newer satellites over time. The next generation ones will likely be able to support more bandwidth.
- bryanlarsen 6y ago
  It already has started doing so. The OP's 20Gibps number comes from the 2016 FCC filing which has 10Gibps full duplex. An Elon tweet now says 50Gibps half duplex.
  - superkuh 6y ago
    All good stuff but you can only reuse the spectrum marginally from LEO even with the sharpest directional pattern spot beams. With physical transmission line you get the entire spectrum for every single run.
    - Scoundreller 6y ago
      Just curious, why not for LEO? If Echostar can draw patterns like this from geosync, shouldn't the same be possible with an LEO? Or are the satellites spinning/bouncing around too much? https://rvseniormoments.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/07_ka-band-gen-5-coverage-beams-small.jpg https://rvseniormoments.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/07_ka-ba...
      - superkuh 6y ago