4 ms·

150ms is an incredible number, and the volume of satellites required will also increase bandwidth. This seems like a good situation to be in all around. I hope

150ms is an incredible number, and the volume of satellites required will also increase bandwidth. This seems like a good situation to be in all around. I hope he succeeds at this work.

agildehaus 12y ago
SpaceX has suggested around 20 ms latency with 4000 satellites offering near-gigabit speeds. Nothing but promises and a billion Google bucks right now, but I'm also hoping he succeeds. That'd be amazing. The fun part of his is that its supposed to fund his Mars ventures and be SpaceX's experience for putting a similar network around Mars. If it pans out, even in 2-3x his expected timeframe, I'll be the happiest geek alive.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  > The fun part of his is that its supposed to fund his Mars ventures and be SpaceX's experience for putting a similar network around Mars. It would be both incredibly cool and valuable to show up with all of the orbital infrastructure already in place (communications/positioning) waiting for us.
thescorer 12y ago
I'm having a hard time translating 150ms into something I understand right now which is Mbps. Can someone enlighten me?
- ihsw 12y ago
  Well, simply put, there's more to a good user experience than having some high Mbps. For example, if your latency is high then loading a web page with fifty small pictures will take longer than one really big picture. On your phone, when chatting with someone, the connection will be really choppy. Think of it as having a car that can go really fast in a straight line, but it takes a really long time to make any left or right turns.
  - eterm 12y ago
    > For example, if your latency is high then loading a web page with fifty small pictures will take longer than one really big picture. This is true currently, but check out this http/2 demo with a tile of images loaded with different latencies: https://http2.golang.org/gophertiles https://http2.golang.org/gophertiles If you have a http/2 enabled browser, then it shows how even with high latency, the browsing doesn't suffer nearly as much.
- richardbrevig 12y ago
  Mbps is capacity. Think of a water system of pipes...how many gallons of water can be put through per second. Latency is how long it takes to turn on the water. So, high latency and high mbps = wait a second for image to start to load, once it does, image loads really fast. Low latency and low mbps = image begins to load immediately but takes forever for the whole thing to appear.
- micro_cam 12y ago
  One problem with existing satellite internet (or phone) is that the signal has to travel to and from a satellite thousands of miles above the equator causing a ~500ms (half second) delay or lag which is noticeable in voice or video calls, ssh sessions, games and even browsing the web. You'll press a key and it will take half a second for it to register, or say something and not be heard right away. Getting this down to ~100ms puts it in the range of terrestrial communication and will make things much less noticeable.

150ms is an incredible number, and the volume of satellites required will also increase bandwidth. This seems like a good situation to be in all around. I hope he succeeds at this work.

agildehaus 12y ago

SpaceX has suggested around 20 ms latency with 4000 satellites offering near-gigabit speeds. Nothing but promises and a billion Google bucks right now, but I'm also hoping he succeeds. That'd be amazing. The fun part of his is that its supposed to fund his Mars ventures and be SpaceX's experience for putting a similar network around Mars. If it pans out, even in 2-3x his expected timeframe, I'll be the happiest geek alive.

toomuchtodo 12y ago
> The fun part of his is that its supposed to fund his Mars ventures and be SpaceX's experience for putting a similar network around Mars. It would be both incredibly cool and valuable to show up with all of the orbital infrastructure already in place (communications/positioning) waiting for us.

thescorer 12y ago

I'm having a hard time translating 150ms into something I understand right now which is Mbps. Can someone enlighten me?

ihsw 12y ago
Well, simply put, there's more to a good user experience than having some high Mbps. For example, if your latency is high then loading a web page with fifty small pictures will take longer than one really big picture. On your phone, when chatting with someone, the connection will be really choppy. Think of it as having a car that can go really fast in a straight line, but it takes a really long time to make any left or right turns.
- eterm 12y ago
  > For example, if your latency is high then loading a web page with fifty small pictures will take longer than one really big picture. This is true currently, but check out this http/2 demo with a tile of images loaded with different latencies: https://http2.golang.org/gophertiles https://http2.golang.org/gophertiles If you have a http/2 enabled browser, then it shows how even with high latency, the browsing doesn't suffer nearly as much.
richardbrevig 12y ago
Mbps is capacity. Think of a water system of pipes...how many gallons of water can be put through per second. Latency is how long it takes to turn on the water. So, high latency and high mbps = wait a second for image to start to load, once it does, image loads really fast. Low latency and low mbps = image begins to load immediately but takes forever for the whole thing to appear.
micro_cam 12y ago
One problem with existing satellite internet (or phone) is that the signal has to travel to and from a satellite thousands of miles above the equator causing a ~500ms (half second) delay or lag which is noticeable in voice or video calls, ssh sessions, games and even browsing the web. You'll press a key and it will take half a second for it to register, or say something and not be heard right away. Getting this down to ~100ms puts it in the range of terrestrial communication and will make things much less noticeable.