Starlink Is a Big Deal • Hacker News Board

Re: Starlink Is a Big Deal

#151

Post by big_chungus » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 2:11 AM UTC

grahamburger wrote: post #21

Barrin92 wrote: post #10

> "Hundreds of cities and dozens of countries, fine for living but previously entirely unsuitable for a place of business, will blink from red to green on the map once Starlink goes live." this reads like a marketing piece rather than actual analysis. Throughput of a single satellite is 20Gbps. The finished constellation if I recall correctly is supposed to be about 12k satellites. So about ~250.000Gbps. So assuming…

That's true for dedicated circuits but no residential or even small business Internet plans are dedicated. You can put at least 200 customers on a 1 gigabit connection and they'll still get 100 Mbps+ speedtests even during peak usage times of the day.

I've been on connections where the ISP (AT&T) tried this due to an ancient backhaul where it grossly over-committed on bandwidth. The neighbors would have kids home after school streaming three netflix 4k streams, and we would watch our speeds tank. Some bizarre QOS config seemed to prioritize their connection over ours. It ticked me off enough I almost started deauthing their devices because I couldn't load a simple web page.

On the other hand, we finally got FTTH and it's great. So nice to have good speeds.

Re: Starlink Is a Big Deal

#152

Post by djannzjkzxn » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 2:11 AM UTC

Havoc wrote: post #90

>access to the global network, intelligent and resourceful people located virtually anywhere can operate on substantially similar footing to anyone else Great article, but this part is just false. Africa is blanketed with internet access already - often way ahead of 1st world (I recall reading an article about Seattle getting LTE-A and thinking...wait...got that a year ago). It doesn't quite create the magic the auth…

Do you have any data on the true prevalence of cell data coverage in Africa? A coverage map would be cool, but an estimate of the % of people who live in a covered location would also be useful.

Re: Starlink Is a Big Deal

#153

Post by dylan604 » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 2:15 AM UTC

allovernow wrote: post #139

saganus wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be nice if I could select the location manually, since I don't like sharing my location directly by a prompt. When I got the location permission request I denied it and then it says there were no sightings available for the next 5 days :(

Yes this was my immediate thought. Especially if I want to check multiple locations for e.g. family. When I declined to share location I got an exception. ...suddenly I'm shy about listing my finger printable browser details online. I'll tell you I'm using brave. I still can't use the app because the location denial is permanent, so I'll have to clear something in the browser...might be a bug worth addressing. Edit 2…

hmmm, I'm in Firefox with NoScript. I received no warning about trying to use my location. According to the the street view, it placed my location at city hall in downtown. I actually live about 10 miles from there.

Re: Starlink Is a Big Deal

#154

Post by dylan604 » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 2:16 AM UTC

synaesthesisx wrote: post #115

modeless wrote: post #16

Just going to plug my Starlink tracker here: https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/?special=starlink It tells you when to go outside and look up to see the satellites as they pass over your house. It's a cool sight to see because there are up to 60 of them crossing the sky at the same time in a line.

Wow, this is pretty cool! Looks like a bunch should be visible on Saturday from LA. I’ll definitely be keeping a lookout!

Good luck with that with the light pollution from LA.

Re: Starlink Is a Big Deal

#155

Post by gbear605 » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 2:22 AM UTC

fao_ wrote: post #145

fao_ wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you share what has led you to believe that you're the average rather than just an outlier?

lol at getting downvoted by asking for evidence that a highly paid technology worker who browses hacker news represents "the average" and isn't just an outlier. Do the people on this site understand that they are not the average? A lot of the hackernewses seem to enjoy the idea of being an outlier in medicine, knowledge, etc. but reject the rather more likely idea that they're an outlier with regards to their usage o…

The vast majority of people in this country have data caps of under 20GB/month, so 4GB/month is hardly a low outlier.

Re: Starlink Is a Big Deal

#156

Post by blurbleblurble » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 2:23 AM UTC

Right now there are only 60 and you can already see them? How about when there are 12,000 or 30,000 or however many they wanna put up there? It's going to cover the entire night sky.

I feel claustrophobic just thinking about it. I don't want this and I have a feeling I'm not alone in that.

Re: Starlink Is a Big Deal

#157

Post by spectramax » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 2:24 AM UTC

blurbleblurble wrote: post #156

Right now there are only 60 and you can already see them? How about when there are 12,000 or 30,000 or however many they wanna put up there? It's going to cover the entire night sky. I feel claustrophobic just thinking about it. I don't want this and I have a feeling I'm not alone in that.

Why? We are covered by thunderstorms, fog and rain; not a problem.

Re: Starlink Is a Big Deal

#158

Post by gridspy » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 2:25 AM UTC

blurbleblurble wrote: post #156

Right now there are only 60 and you can already see them? How about when there are 12,000 or 30,000 or however many they wanna put up there? It's going to cover the entire night sky. I feel claustrophobic just thinking about it. I don't want this and I have a feeling I'm not alone in that.

There is a lot of evidence that the albedo is going to reduce. For one the satellites are climbing higher at the moment. The solar panels are also oriented to catch the light currently as the sun sets.

It might not be as bad as you are worried about.

Re: Starlink Is a Big Deal

#159

Post by fao_ » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 2:26 AM UTC

gbear605 wrote: post #155

fao_ wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lol at getting downvoted by asking for evidence that a highly paid technology worker who browses hacker news represents "the average" and isn't just an outlier. Do the people on this site understand that they are not the average? A lot of the hackernewses seem to enjoy the idea of being an outlier in medicine, knowledge, etc. but reject the rather more likely idea that they're an outlier with regards to their usage o…

The vast majority of people in this country have data caps of under 20GB/month, so 4GB/month is hardly a low outlier.

Are you going to serve that up without a citation?

Re: Starlink Is a Big Deal

#160

Post by Consultant32452 » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 2:31 AM UTC

zaroth wrote: post #126

sprash wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh that's great. Now I can better aim my Elon-Sattelite-fryer device. I already collected 25 old microwave ovens which I plan to operate as phased array to produce a collimated beam of microwaves directed at the satellites to fry their electronics. I might have a better chance If know the exact frequency their receivers are tuned to. Does anybody know more? The reckless littering of our precious LEO must end here!

The FCC would like a word. Damn those billionaires and their... global high speed satellite internet access, right?

I work remotely and would love to live in a rural area but I'm largely tethered to suburbia for the internet speeds. I can't express how excited I am at the possibilities coming from satellite internet.