4 ms·

I guess if you're a terrestial teleco you have to do something to compete with Starlink, but I'm not sure I'd make the investment in these in rural areas if Spa

I guess if you're a terrestial teleco you have to do something to compete with Starlink, but I'm not sure I'd make the investment in these in rural areas if SpaceX can really make Starlink economical. But that's a big IF right now.

jariel 6y ago
Paradoxically, 'Starlink' may have more measurable economic value for unintended customers rather than 'rural folks' etc.. For example, urban homes and companies may want to chose them for any number of reasons and if they do, their willingness to pay may be higher than for rural folks and definitely higher than rural folks in Africa. There probably is no market-based way to to do such a thing if there are global bidders for a resource unless there's some kind of non-market intervention such as Starlink setting aside a certain bandwidth per nation, or per economic tranche etc. Novel solutions to the rural/distance problem are welcome. Even it's just literally 'a higher tower' as long as it works and is sustainable/cheap.
- toomuchtodo 6y ago
  StarLink is taking FCC rural bandwidth funds, so there is a geographic tranche they’re prioritizing/reserving capacity for.
- est31 6y ago
  Starlink won't be able to provide service to all urban customers at the same scale as landline ISPs can. Here and there there they can take a customer but there wont be enough spectrum to serve everyone. Also if you have to put up a pizza sized box outside your home, your landlord might complain. Even if you are the owner, building codes may prevent you.
- wmf 6y ago
  Because traffic will downlink traffic locally (for multiple reasons) there should be virtually no interference between countries.
- woeirua 6y ago
  I’m ready to jump off of Comcast as soon as possible, but Starlink may not be the best option there. Now if I was working from an RV all the time it would make tons of sense.
- kortilla 6y ago
  Rural Africans won’t compete with Americans. The satellites over Africa aren’t serving Americans at the same time so they are different markets.
nine_k 6y ago
Does Starlink provide a mobile phone service? BTW any internet provider could, they usually offer a SIP phone anyway. If this could be connected to a femto-cell coveting a household, this could solve the problem of using a phone around the house, in the backyard, etc. Making it accept a SIM card from an existing provider is another problem.
- Throwaway1771 6y ago
  Would be dead simple for them to offer a Google Voice like app that links to a standard terrestrial phone network backbone.
- NavinF 6y ago
  I thought "wifi calling" solved that long ago. It's been enabled on my iPhone for a few years now and works with att.

jariel 6y ago

Paradoxically, 'Starlink' may have more measurable economic value for unintended customers rather than 'rural folks' etc.. For example, urban homes and companies may want to chose them for any number of reasons and if they do, their willingness to pay may be higher than for rural folks and definitely higher than rural folks in Africa. There probably is no market-based way to to do such a thing if there are global bidders for a resource unless there's some kind of non-market intervention such as Starlink setting aside a certain bandwidth per nation, or per economic tranche etc. Novel solutions to the rural/distance problem are welcome. Even it's just literally 'a higher tower' as long as it works and is sustainable/cheap.

toomuchtodo 6y ago
StarLink is taking FCC rural bandwidth funds, so there is a geographic tranche they’re prioritizing/reserving capacity for.
est31 6y ago
Starlink won't be able to provide service to all urban customers at the same scale as landline ISPs can. Here and there there they can take a customer but there wont be enough spectrum to serve everyone. Also if you have to put up a pizza sized box outside your home, your landlord might complain. Even if you are the owner, building codes may prevent you.
wmf 6y ago
Because traffic will downlink traffic locally (for multiple reasons) there should be virtually no interference between countries.
woeirua 6y ago
I’m ready to jump off of Comcast as soon as possible, but Starlink may not be the best option there. Now if I was working from an RV all the time it would make tons of sense.
kortilla 6y ago
Rural Africans won’t compete with Americans. The satellites over Africa aren’t serving Americans at the same time so they are different markets.

nine_k 6y ago

Does Starlink provide a mobile phone service? BTW any internet provider could, they usually offer a SIP phone anyway. If this could be connected to a femto-cell coveting a household, this could solve the problem of using a phone around the house, in the backyard, etc. Making it accept a SIM card from an existing provider is another problem.

Throwaway1771 6y ago
Would be dead simple for them to offer a Google Voice like app that links to a standard terrestrial phone network backbone.
NavinF 6y ago
I thought "wifi calling" solved that long ago. It's been enabled on my iPhone for a few years now and works with att.