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FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

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Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#121
post #97

Do they have to get a license from every country in which they intend to operate?

Probably similar to however the licensing for satellite phones works.

It's weird on a country by country basis. For example it is technically illegal to bring a handheld Iridium phone into India without a special license.

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#122
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If China shoots down a SpaceX satellite, that is an act of war against the United States. China wouldn’t risk it. This is a great opportunity to break the great firewall and finally give the Chinese people access to unfiltered information.

China absolutely will. And if SpaceX were to beam internet over North Korea, then NK will shoot it down too.

Your comment implies they could successfully destroy said satellite. It might be a better distraction to tell NK there's one overhead, "leak" it's orbit, position, etc. and watch the fireworks month over month.

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#123
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If China shoots down a SpaceX satellite, that is an act of war against the United States. China wouldn’t risk it. This is a great opportunity to break the great firewall and finally give the Chinese people access to unfiltered information.

China absolutely will. And if SpaceX were to beam internet over North Korea, then NK will shoot it down too.

I know NK has made some major advancements in their missile capabilities but shooting down a satellite is pretty advanced stuff... any indications that they're capable of doing what you claim they would do?

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#124
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like to know how this technology will affect the great firewall of China, does anyone have any ideas?

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…

China won't shoot down commercial satellites, they'll just either jam the signal, or block ownership of the ground terminals. Shooting down satellites is very expensive, and would cause an incredible hue and cry internationally. It's one thing to shoot down one of your own defunct satellites, quite another thing to shoot down someone else's.

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#125
I’m curious to what layer SpaceX will allow application developers access to. If there is to be any hope of having cryptographically secure communications using this network, it will be essential that the whole stack is open source. Putting blind faith in SpaceX seems foolish.

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#126
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.

You can get decent 4G internet plans already in most parts of the world. While this will have better coverage of rural areas, mobile internet is very adequate for the van lifestyle.

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#127

I’m curious to what layer SpaceX will allow application developers access to. If there is to be any hope of having cryptographically secure communications using this network, it will be essential that the whole stack is open source. Putting blind faith in SpaceX seems foolish.

satellite (earth station) systems engineer here: I highly doubt that there will be access at anything other than layer 3. The CPE will have a 1000BaseT port on it, when you connect to it, it'll hand out a DHCP v4 and v6 IP address on it. Maybe if you pay an extra $15 per month you can get a single static v4 address. I am very doubtful that it will be possible for an individual end user with a rooftop terminal to get access to "the network" at what would correspond to layer 2 in the OSI model.

It is possible that a more expensive service tier offering might provide L2 ethernet fabric virtual wire adjacency. Similar to the general idea of an VPLS / EoMPLS virtual wire tunnel, where whatever you plug into one end will see the single MAC address (or set of MAC addresses) of your other equipment on the other end. But this will be a managed service and not something that you can build arbitrarily.

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regulation can enhance confidence and breed investment interest.

People aren't perfect, and some are terrible, so it makes sense to have government. However, it is reasonable to be critical of government removing your rights to work. Actually, it is a civil duty. I am not sure where the line should be drawn, but it has certainly gone too far. Should you need gov approval to download an IDE, or sell an app? What about to braid hair?[1] I would bet that as soon as government begins…

You don't own the radio spectrum. Neither do I. No one individual does. We can license it, but since there's such a great opportunity for harm, it's controlled by the government.

You're against the government deciding on "removing your right to work", but the alternative is your neighbor or your competitor making that decision for you and overloading "your" spectrum. And you have no recourse to complain, all you can do is push more power, which impacts more people. And your competitor pushes more power, so you push more power and now no one gets to use it.

Libertarian ideas always seem to end in a corporate power struggle while everyone else gets locked out. That doesn't sound like a good outcome to me.

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be subject to local wireless spectrum control. So like for your example it would have to sell to Chinese customers illegally if it wasn't going to comply with their censorship regulations. Which the Chinese government could then do a lot to fight. So basically no, satellite internet is unlikely to have any impact on censorship.

Here's a wild idea... They could disable transmit in these areas, but allow reception. Someone in a hostile area with access to an antenna could send one way messages up with useful info.

Good idea, but just as easy to detect (send a message).

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#130
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does any of that have to do with launching satellites and distributing radio bandwidth, both of which need regulation in order to provide safety for the masses?

I'm sorry, but it's completely self evident. The point was that the natural right to perform/produce a service/product should be the null hypothesis (as opposed to government removing that right and granting it at their discretion) in any such case; and while on the extremes the answers may seem obvious (launching communication satellites vs braiding hair), it's often not always so. Finally, I concluded that people s…

I'll ask again, what does any of that have to do with launching satellites and distributing radio bandwidth?
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