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I’m confused by the end. He implies that the “disablement codes” (geoblock, speed violation, etc.) are enforced by the user terminal, meaning they could be circ

I’m confused by the end. He implies that the “disablement codes” (geoblock, speed violation, etc.) are enforced by the user terminal, meaning they could be circumvented? > The user terminal itself has no knowledge of service plans, countries, regional, or velocity restrictions – it simply follows commands received from the Starlink satellite Surely this would be enforced at DHCP time? Or maybe not, since you could get an IP address then start going too fast… is this blog actually a ”wink wink nudge nudge” guide to bypassing Starlink policy restrictions?

kortilla 1y ago
He’s saying the sat sends the code to the terminal because the terminal doesn’t even know it’s blocked. This is so you as a user can see why your internet isn’t working.
ahoka 1y ago
Probably it works like all other ISPs and terminal is in a VLAN?
sharpshadow 1y ago
If they actually figured out which disablement codes can be tricked or circumvented, they wouldn’t share that. I guess it would all depend on how strict Starlink checks and enforces for unauthorised usage. For a US company operating on this scale I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s between very strict to just the basics or on demand. A commentator here mentioned that Starlink also works in Russia, which it shouldn’t? Maybe some devices delivered to Ukraine can be used in Russia too.
- cyberax 1y ago
  Not all of Russia, but in Crimea and the occupied parts of Donbas and Luhansk. Apparently, also in some border regions, probably because Starlink hasn't bothered to precisely geofence the border.
  - fragmede 1y ago
    Can you blame them? I think there's some sort of dispute going on as to where that border is, making it hard to do precision geofencing.
    - _joel 1y ago
      To be fair the 'border' hasn't moved all that much in over 2 years now, save a few fields and ruined hamlets. Plus they use starlink of drone boats, so some degree of flexibility is needed.
    - borski 1y ago
      Crimea is Russian-occupied Ukrainian land. There’s not much of a dispute, in that it is exclusively Russia who claims it as part of Russia; Belarus doesn’t count, as it may as well just be a puppet state at this point. The rest of the world sees it as Russian-occupied Ukrainian land.
      - sharpshadow 1y ago
        I think it’s not occupied land as in occupied by force against the will of the inhabitants. The majority of people of Crimea participated in the referendum of which one option was to join the Russian Federation and this choice got the most votes. There are conflicts in international law about “Self-determination versus territorial integrity”[0] which contradict each other like the people of a region want self-determination while the state says it’s illegal. Sometimes it doesn’t work like in Catalonia, sometimes it works like in Kosovo or in a little bit more distant time when a referendum was held to make Hawaii the 50th state after the US annexed it. 0. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination
        borski 1y ago
        That referendum occurred after the annexation, and with Russian forces at each of the polls. It had a 97% approval. In other news, Putin is totally a democratically-elected President, and not at all corrupt.
rickdeckard 1y ago
It sounds more like a result-code shared to the terminal to inform it that i.e. "ACCOUNT_DISABLED - The Starlink account has been suspended or permanently disabled" or "UNLICENSED_COUNTRY – The terminal is located in a country where Starlink lacks regulatory approval." I doubt that the decision to act upon that is left to the terminal instead of the Starlink network.
some_random 1y ago
That's not my impression at all, if the terminal does not maintain information on service plans or restrictions then it's maintained higher up. We don't have enough information from this blog post to know if the terminal could be configured to ignore limitations but I would expect just ignoring "disablementCode"s wouldn't be sufficient.
wildzzz 1y ago
I'm not that familiar with Starlink but it looks like the normal process is to use an app that can read off error and diagnostic codes from the terminal. If you are bypassing the built-in router and just using the terminal as a modem connected to an SBC, you won't have a smartphone connected to see these errors. You could write up a script to check the error codes and respond accordingly. Like if you have a Starlink terminal attached to a drone, it could automatically change its location if service is interrupted, like a UAV could fly higher if an obstruction is detected. Or if a geofence is inadvertently crossed and service is disrupted, it could turn off the Starlink terminal and then turn on a backup comms system. Essentially, you could use those disablement codes as a sensor.

kortilla 1y ago

He’s saying the sat sends the code to the terminal because the terminal doesn’t even know it’s blocked. This is so you as a user can see why your internet isn’t working.

ahoka 1y ago

Probably it works like all other ISPs and terminal is in a VLAN?

sharpshadow 1y ago

If they actually figured out which disablement codes can be tricked or circumvented, they wouldn’t share that. I guess it would all depend on how strict Starlink checks and enforces for unauthorised usage. For a US company operating on this scale I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s between very strict to just the basics or on demand. A commentator here mentioned that Starlink also works in Russia, which it shouldn’t? Maybe some devices delivered to Ukraine can be used in Russia too.

cyberax 1y ago
Not all of Russia, but in Crimea and the occupied parts of Donbas and Luhansk. Apparently, also in some border regions, probably because Starlink hasn't bothered to precisely geofence the border.
- fragmede 1y ago
  Can you blame them? I think there's some sort of dispute going on as to where that border is, making it hard to do precision geofencing.
  - _joel 1y ago
    To be fair the 'border' hasn't moved all that much in over 2 years now, save a few fields and ruined hamlets. Plus they use starlink of drone boats, so some degree of flexibility is needed.
  - borski 1y ago
    Crimea is Russian-occupied Ukrainian land. There’s not much of a dispute, in that it is exclusively Russia who claims it as part of Russia; Belarus doesn’t count, as it may as well just be a puppet state at this point. The rest of the world sees it as Russian-occupied Ukrainian land.
    - sharpshadow 1y ago
      I think it’s not occupied land as in occupied by force against the will of the inhabitants. The majority of people of Crimea participated in the referendum of which one option was to join the Russian Federation and this choice got the most votes. There are conflicts in international law about “Self-determination versus territorial integrity”[0] which contradict each other like the people of a region want self-determination while the state says it’s illegal. Sometimes it doesn’t work like in Catalonia, sometimes it works like in Kosovo or in a little bit more distant time when a referendum was held to make Hawaii the 50th state after the US annexed it. 0. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination
      - borski 1y ago
        That referendum occurred after the annexation, and with Russian forces at each of the polls. It had a 97% approval. In other news, Putin is totally a democratically-elected President, and not at all corrupt.

rickdeckard 1y ago

It sounds more like a result-code shared to the terminal to inform it that i.e. "ACCOUNT_DISABLED - The Starlink account has been suspended or permanently disabled" or "UNLICENSED_COUNTRY – The terminal is located in a country where Starlink lacks regulatory approval." I doubt that the decision to act upon that is left to the terminal instead of the Starlink network.

some_random 1y ago

That's not my impression at all, if the terminal does not maintain information on service plans or restrictions then it's maintained higher up. We don't have enough information from this blog post to know if the terminal could be configured to ignore limitations but I would expect just ignoring "disablementCode"s wouldn't be sufficient.

wildzzz 1y ago

I'm not that familiar with Starlink but it looks like the normal process is to use an app that can read off error and diagnostic codes from the terminal. If you are bypassing the built-in router and just using the terminal as a modem connected to an SBC, you won't have a smartphone connected to see these errors. You could write up a script to check the error codes and respond accordingly. Like if you have a Starlink terminal attached to a drone, it could automatically change its location if service is interrupted, like a UAV could fly higher if an obstruction is detected. Or if a geofence is inadvertently crossed and service is disrupted, it could turn off the Starlink terminal and then turn on a backup comms system. Essentially, you could use those disablement codes as a sensor.