FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

Post by walrus01 » Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 12:46 AM UTC

doh wrote: post #72

hesdeadjim wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their satellites will be low-earth orbit and have latencies ~50-70ms supposedly. Current internet satellite systems are much, much higher in orbit and thus have horrendous lag. What remains to be seen is what packet loss will be like with environmental disturbances. That latency is perfectly fine for gaming, but bursts of 20%+ packet loss will quickly flip it back to "sucks for gaming" territory while still being per…

I was just looking at Iridium and they seem to have very low latency of around 40ms roundtrip [0] but very small throughput. If SpaceX (or whoever else) can address the latter, then 40ms will challenge any ISP. If you combine this with the adoption of new protocols like HTTP/2, the user experience will be definitely comparable. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_Internet_access#Medi...

Post by djrogers » Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 12:46 AM UTC

52-6F-62 wrote: post #73

unepipe wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will not affect it in any way. They have released their plans for Starlink and there will be a "blackout" zone over China, so China doesn't shoot down their satellites. In 2007, China shot down FY-1C as a test of a kinetic kill vehicle (leaving tons of high speed space debris). Unless they receive approval from China to broadcast, they won't over China. Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-internet-satell…

> shot down FY-1C as a test of a kinetic kill vehicle (leaving tons of high speed space debris) Do you have more info on this? Or anyone? That's so crass. It's plain indefensible. I really want to know more. edit: Thanks for the links.

Post by tyingq » Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 12:47 AM UTC

dawnerd wrote: post #74

spullara wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds a lot like you could get it installed when you are putting in your solar panels......

Makes me curious, would a larger panel make for better service? Would be interesting if they made their solar roofs all in one.

Post by walrus01 » Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 12:52 AM UTC

mattsfrey wrote: post #19

bpd1069 wrote: post #4

This is monumental - I claim every major advance in communication technology immediately precedes a major progress for society. This will make the 'Internet' truly global and ubiquitous. So excited for the developing world.

Agreed. While not as profound as bringing access to the developing world, this will also be a major win for people looking to live alternative lifestyles, i.e. perpetual traveling, van life etc, where keeping a consistent internet connection is the one thing holding many back.

Post by space_fountain » Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 12:52 AM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #78

zapita wrote: post #64

What will the latency be like? My understanding is that these satellites will be in lower orbit, allowing for shorter round-trips... But how much shorter exactly? And how would that translate to real-world latency? Presumably there would be multiple hops involved in traversing the SpaceX network?

Geosynchronous orbit is 35k kilometers up, which a calculator tells me is 119 light milliseconds from the surface. Iridium satellites were the first set of satellites I could find numbers for that made any kind of relevant example. They orbited at 781 kilometers, or 2.6 light milliseconds away. Over 45 times closer.