4 ms·

Eh, it depends on who "you" are. I'm pretty sure the USAF can use them on all seven continents. Meanwhile I, not having a contract, can't use them on any contin

• capableweb 4y ago
  • samatman 4y ago
    You come across quite poorly in this exchange.
    • capableweb 4y ago
      Might be so. Guess it seemed obvious to me that we're talking past each other if one is talking about "What's available for consumers today" vs "What the military in the US has access to", but I digress.
  • frumper 4y ago
    If someone can use it on all 7 continents, I'd say that it's available to use on all 7 continents. If you can't use it on all 7, I suggest you keep offering more money until you can.
• derefr 4y ago
  Do you mean to say that the USAF can use devices that cause arbitrary interference on frequency bands that the country they're operating in hasn't reserved for such uses, and said countries tolerate that? Those countries' poor radio engineers...
  • cronix 4y ago
    The satellites are already there, like gps satellites are already there. I'm assuming they're transmitting whether or not people on the ground have connection or whether or not the government "approves" it.
    • derefr 4y ago
      MIMO antennas aren't transmitting in your direction unless you get their attention by transmitting in theirs. Also, they might be transmitting by default with barely-enough power, in a narrow band, in frequencies everyone generally agrees to not use for anything important; but once you establish a circuit with them, they could start transmitting in your particular direction with more power, in wider bandwidth, or in more-likely-to-be-reserved frequencies.
  • gpm 4y ago
    Uh, yes. The USAF uses electronic warfare systems that don't just accidentally cause such interference, but do so intentionally. Much like every other major military. Which isn't to say that they would operate those systems (or starlink) in peacetime without the approval of the host country, just that they can use those systems at any time... While I don't know for a fact that SpaceX has left the decision on where to use starlink up to them, I'm pretty sure that would be the case.
    • derefr 4y ago
      I was referring more to countries that host US military bases / allow USAF flyover in peacetime, and which aren't currently considered Starlink-enabled. The Philippines, for example. > Which isn't to say that they would operate those systems (or starlink) in peacetime without the approval of the host country To the original point, Starlink wouldn't be claiming that "Starlink is now on all seven continents" unless somebody (e.g. the USAF) was at least conducting connectivity tests in these countries, if not putting Starlink into active use — which would, again, be much to the chagrin of local RF engineers, who had.
      • ashwagary 4y ago
        >>Starlink wouldn't be claiming that "Starlink is now on all seven continents" unless somebody (e.g. the USAF) was at least conducting connectivity tests in these countries, if not putting Starlink into active use Elon's history of marketing says otherwise.
  • womod 4y ago
    I think the radio engineers suffer at the hands of poorly-shielded switch-mode power supplies and inadvertent spark-gap transmitters caused by aging powerline infrastructure more than anything else.