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In rural America where fixed line, high speed providers do not want to spend money laying cable, a service like Starlink fills a needed gap. But so will 6G or 7
by MDWolinski 5y ago
In rural America where fixed line, high speed providers do not want to spend money laying cable, a service like Starlink fills a needed gap. But so will 6G or 7G, which will "probably" fix the high speed at a distance issue with 5G...and require a new phone to be purchased.
That being said, I don't think it's really the end game of Starlink. It's a gap, to provide funding for the service to be fully launched (pun, I guess), and make it near break even. But is there such a market to support the large investment in the system? Much less, the additional two or three competitors who are planning to do the same thing?
I suspect, the end game with Starlink is going to be connected (er, linked) to future functionality in the Tesla fleet. Instead of using cellular networks to provide data updates for maps, etc., Tesla may build the receivers into the cars (Not sure how well the system is designed to work with a moving receiver) and use their own network for data updates.
I've long said that Level 5 autonomy will require smart roads and car-to-car communication, this could be a stepping stone in that direction.
I should also add that I'm not familiar with how well Starlink is designed to work in large metropolitan areas with a high number of simultaneous connections. Do the satellites have a higher bandwidth/connection capability then cell towers, etc.
- shaklee3 5y agoThe end game with starlink is to get government funding. It's far easier to close the business when you get free money without any obligations. In fact, the 900M they were given for rdof is under false pretenses since this data shows they are not meeting the 100Mbps everywhere.