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SpaceX says Starlink internet has ‘extraordinary demand,’

cnbc.com

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Re: SpaceX says Starlink internet has ‘extraordinary demand,’

#91

Post by dwild »

Townley wrote: post #74
limomium wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why can't they get Internet via a phone like you do when you go there?

Data caps and throttling make it prohibitively expensive. I’ve done it for weeks in the past, and (what I personally consider normal usage) burned through my monthly cap in a week, leaving me with large overage charges that wouldn’t be sustainable long-term. I haven’t heard of a US carrier-provided plan that’s less than several hundreds of dollars, and if there is one it’s likely unavailable in rural areas

There's actually resellers that are made for rural areas with unlimited data. They are quite expensive, but not several hundreds of dollars expensive. I'm pretty sure I have seen some less expansive but here's one: https://unlimitedville.com/plans

Re: SpaceX says Starlink internet has ‘extraordinary demand,’

#92

Post by sumedh »

josefx wrote: post #82
sumedh wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the work is done by Elon on twitter.

I haven't used Twitter much, how does it compare to Photoshop and Illustrator when you are trying to picture a network of satellites circling earth?

You are comparing apples to oranges.

Re: SpaceX says Starlink internet has ‘extraordinary demand,’

#94

Post by tuatoru »

0xdeadb00f wrote: post #93

Having a single company, SpaceX mind you, in charge of something like this seems dangerous to me.

There's nothing stopping others from doing the same thing, and indeed others are planning to. SpaceX is leading the pack, but eventually there will be competition.

Re: SpaceX says Starlink internet has ‘extraordinary demand,’

#95

Post by noahtallen »

foobiekr wrote: post #79

I will confess that I don't get it and I would appreciate thoughts on why this is a good idea instead of a FOMO kind of thing (and especially AWS Kuiper), The total switching capacity of the entire __planned__ constellation is around that in a _single_ large switch chassis or internet core router and the individual satellites have the capacity of a beefy enterprise Wifi6 access point; however the geographic area each…

IMO, the market is rural folks who don’t have fast internet or any other options. Less than 6mbps down is normal in rural Ohio, for example. And there are no other wired options, and existing satellite options aren’t much better.

These people can even be just a mile or less outside of a town with internet options, but none of the telecom companies have upgraded capacity in the countryside for years. Obviously, a modern wired connection would be way better, but ISPs are just not willing to invest in the upgraded infrastructure where nearly no one lives. You could lay a mile of fiber to reach only one or two households. (Or less.)

Satellite makes a lot of sense here because it can cover the whole area without having to build a ton of infrastructure relative to the population.

Re: SpaceX says Starlink internet has ‘extraordinary demand,’

#96

Post by jeffnappi »

foobiekr wrote: post #90
jeffnappi wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the data points :) I think something to consider here is that there is an iterative development process taking place with the satellites. Given the stated lifespan of the satellites is 3-4 years, they likely expect to see additional innovation over time and are gambling that the network will be improved over time, and may one day actually be capable of serving urban areas. This seems like a wise approach a…

I don't think the iterative nature actually helps SpaceX. Whatever use case they're targeting, and like I said, I don't know, and would like to know, isn't likely to be made more viable by bandwidth that changes substantially by the hour, and the total cost of getting a satellite into orbit makes generational turnover doubly challenging. I just do not get the business model. It makes no sense for commercial internet…

I guess we'll see if they can pull a rabbit out of a hat. A lot of folks didn't think battery electric cars were going to be possible either. And... Landing freaking rockets on barges in the ocean? I'm no fan boy, but I'm also not going to be a naysayer on this one.

Starlink lets SpaceX make use of cores with long launch records that others may not be willing to risk their payloads on, and SpaceX can also use those launches to test other risky maneuvers. So... Perhaps there's some other value in Starlink that we're not privy to.

Re: SpaceX says Starlink internet has ‘extraordinary demand,’

#97

Post by dumbfoundded »

uwuwuwu wrote: post #68
dumbfoundded wrote: post #26

I have a house on a farm. I only have relatively high speed internet (25mb/s) b/c someone set up a line of sight system pointing at a mountain as a co-op. My neighbors' house about half a kilometer away is blocked by a hill so they can't use it. When it's cloudy, I have to use my phone as a mobile hotspot. Coming from San Francisco, I didn't realize how many people face this reality of poor connectivity. I don't care…

Why not just use 4G all the way? If it's the price tag, this is something companies could fix.

It's really cost. An extra hotspot device is >$100/month. My line of sight is $50month. My phone has unlimited data as well but for things like a security system, it's not something I want to rely on primarily if I leave and need to bring my phone with me.

Re: SpaceX says Starlink internet has ‘extraordinary demand,’

#98

Post by zbrozek »

RobPfeifer wrote: post #46
zbrozek wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved from Sunnyvale to Los Altos Hills and lost access to broadband. Comcast even told me they offered service at the address, then reneged when I moved in and asked to set it up. More options would be great, and underserved areas aren't as far out as people often think they are. You can be five miles from Google's headquarters and unable to get decent internet.

Tbf, that sounds like a bit of a weird spot in LAH :). But generally agree with your point!

My neighborhood (14 homes) is working towards building a fiber island with wireless backhaul elsewhere. We're the houses right around the Rhus Ridge trailhead. But there are even-closer-to-urbanization neighborhoods without access, e.g., Wildcrest and Wildflower.

Re: SpaceX says Starlink internet has ‘extraordinary demand,’

#99

Post by josefx »

sumedh wrote: post #92
josefx wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't used Twitter much, how does it compare to Photoshop and Illustrator when you are trying to picture a network of satellites circling earth?

You are comparing apples to oranges.

I wanted to point out that for all of Elons tweets he certainly isn't the guy making the graphics and videos. Unless SpaceX is paying their graphic designers using exposure or outright slavery they are spending money on it.

Re: SpaceX says Starlink internet has ‘extraordinary demand,’

#100

Post by sumedh »

josefx wrote: post #99
sumedh wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are comparing apples to oranges.

I wanted to point out that for all of Elons tweets he certainly isn't the guy making the graphics and videos. Unless SpaceX is paying their graphic designers using exposure or outright slavery they are spending money on it.

Graphic designers are not doing the marketing, Elon is on twitter.

Have you seen an space x ads on TV/radio/online/print?

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