10 ms·

Could someone explain to me how/if this resolves the speed issues that all satellite internet has had since its inception.

by kjrose 6y ago

Malician 6y ago
it's a few hundred miles up instead of 22,300. this means that it's not geostationary and you gotta switch your dish between satellites often as they go overhead, but latency is far lower.
- kjrose 6y ago
  Ok, that would make a huge difference. the biggest argument I"ve made against this with people is simply that the latency would be terrible (and it's still not great), but it's a helluva lot better than 22.3k.
  - TaylorAlexander 6y ago
    The actual latency starlink customers are getting is on par with wired ISPs, and has the potential to be lower than ground based links once they add satellite to satellite laser links.
  - KiwiJohnno 6y ago
    Actually, current starlink latency is 20-40 msec, which isn't bad compared to DSL or fibre internet. Its usually better than 4g or 5g internet. When starlink sats are fully using laser interconnects then their long-distance (london-NY or further) latency should be considerably less than anything else available. The speed of light in fibre is about 1/2 the speed of light in a vacuum.
xen2xen1 6y ago
And many, many, many more satellites.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
neaanopri 6y ago
"Speed" is latency and bandwidth. Bandwidth is solved with phased-array antennas at a high carrier frequency (Ku/Ka?). The high carrier frequency allows for high (literal) bandwidth. However, the phased-array antennas are physically the same size as some smaller, lower frequency antennas are, and thus transmit/recieve more power. This stuff in general is called a link budget and is standard in satcom. Latency is just satellites at a lower orbit. This is only possible now because: 1. Chip manufacturing can produce a cheap phased array antenna that's electronically steered to follow the satellite in low orbit. 2. Launch costs low enough it's economical to launch tons of satellites

Could someone explain to me how/if this resolves the speed issues that all satellite internet has had since its inception.

by kjrose 6y ago

Could someone explain to me how/if this resolves the speed issues that all satellite internet has had since its inception.

Malician 6y ago

it's a few hundred miles up instead of 22,300. this means that it's not geostationary and you gotta switch your dish between satellites often as they go overhead, but latency is far lower.

kjrose 6y ago
Ok, that would make a huge difference. the biggest argument I"ve made against this with people is simply that the latency would be terrible (and it's still not great), but it's a helluva lot better than 22.3k.
- TaylorAlexander 6y ago
  The actual latency starlink customers are getting is on par with wired ISPs, and has the potential to be lower than ground based links once they add satellite to satellite laser links.
- KiwiJohnno 6y ago
  Actually, current starlink latency is 20-40 msec, which isn't bad compared to DSL or fibre internet. Its usually better than 4g or 5g internet. When starlink sats are fully using laser interconnects then their long-distance (london-NY or further) latency should be considerably less than anything else available. The speed of light in fibre is about 1/2 the speed of light in a vacuum.

xen2xen1 6y ago

And many, many, many more satellites.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

neaanopri 6y ago

"Speed" is latency and bandwidth. Bandwidth is solved with phased-array antennas at a high carrier frequency (Ku/Ka?). The high carrier frequency allows for high (literal) bandwidth. However, the phased-array antennas are physically the same size as some smaller, lower frequency antennas are, and thus transmit/recieve more power. This stuff in general is called a link budget and is standard in satcom. Latency is just satellites at a lower orbit. This is only possible now because: 1. Chip manufacturing can produce a cheap phased array antenna that's electronically steered to follow the satellite in low orbit. 2. Launch costs low enough it's economical to launch tons of satellites