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Starlink is now Accepting General Pre-orders

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Re: Starlink is now Accepting General Pre-orders

#71

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

kodah wrote: post #13
joezydeco wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the currrent word on data caps? Unlimited for now?

Unlimited for now but they've hinted they could cap them later.

If I was them, I'd offer uncapped Internet, but prioritize based on past bandwidth usage if there is congestion.

So if you use a lot of bandwidth, you still get full speed at night, but during peak times, other users get priority and your connection becomes slower.

Bonus points if they only take bandwidth usage during peaks into account, incentivizing customers to move bulk transfers to off-peak hours when the traffic is effectively free.

Re: Starlink is now Accepting General Pre-orders

#72

Post by NoPicklez »

samstave wrote: post #20
geerlingguy wrote: post #14

I was able to place an actual order just last week in St. Louis, MO. I will be using it and doing some tests in an area that actually has cable Internet (though spotty, and until very recently was limited to less than 20 Mbps up, no matter how much you paid). But you have to realize, when you look at the $600 initial cost and $100 monthly fee—this will bring 100+ Mbps down and 15+ Mbps up to so many places (even in s…

UH??? Serious Question: So are the early adopters subsidizing the masses down the line? i.e. so at $100/mo + $600 start-up/set-up fee -- thats for early adopters ... so the "african farmer who can pay And the encryption policy? The Privacy policy? The data-mining-of-location-history policy? Yeah, it's a Nope from me dawg... And I folow Elon closely, and I like a lot of what he says and stands for - but he is at the b…

Mate, you are something.

And you're suggesting the encryption, privacy and data mining of location history policies exist and are diligently followed by current ISP's?

Re: Starlink is now Accepting General Pre-orders

#73

Post by lotsofpulp »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #66
lotsofpulp wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the latency? I find there is a material difference in my internet experience with 5ms fiber connection vs 100ms+ cable connection. I imagine it’s worse for satellite links due to the limitations of physics.

20 ms was cited elsewhere in the thread. Unlike older satellite Internet solutions that use geostationary satellites (~36000 km altitude), this uses satellites in low earth orbit (~550 km altitude, with additional, slightly lower and higher levels planned).

That would be a welcome surprise if it delivers and finally gives people an alternative to the one wired option they usually have.

Re: Starlink is now Accepting General Pre-orders

#74

Post by stefan_ »

walrus01 wrote: post #49
junon wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that limitation is mostly technical and managerial at this point, to help manage things in the early stages. I would too imagine this being eliminated later on.

They intentionally need to populate a certain number of terminals into specific geographic areas to test, measure and refine how time-sharing contention and the equivalent of TDMA is being setup. Each terminal has a GPS receiver in it and reports home with its location.

That sounds like more conspiracy theories. For all we know it has a GPS receiver as a precise reference clock.

Re: Starlink is now Accepting General Pre-orders

#76

Post by pugworthy »

walrus01 wrote: post #44
tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #17

Any idea on pricing? I wonder how many people would switch over if it was priced ~$10 higher than a Comcast plan, just to avoid having to deal with Comcast. I hope this ubiquitous competition will force prices for wired Internet down and customer service quality up. And if it is able to scale, this will be a VERY attractive offer in underdeveloped countries like Germany. (Germany may be a first world country, but the…

It is not intended as a competitor for Comcast. A well built, engineered and maintained DOCSIS3 system with channel bonding can easily support 600Mbps+ down per user (not all at once simultaneously, the standard metrics of oversubscription apply), and 20-25 Mbps up. Starlink is intended for more fringe or impossible to reach areas.

It's weird but I've watched and cheered on almost every SpaceX launch since the Falcon 1 days, including Starlink launches. Starlink isn't the pinnacle of all that work, but I almost want to buy it just to celebrate it.

And though not a competitor to Comcast for the reasons you point out, I'm probably not the only person who's very happy to finally have a decent alternative showing up. Just a shame it didn't come in at half the monthly cost.

Part of me wonders if the price is artificially high in order to reduce the initial rush. You know if they were to offer high speed Starlink for half the typical land-based internet, there would be so many orders it would be pretty problematic.

Re: Starlink is now Accepting General Pre-orders

#78

Post by willis936 »

systemvoltage wrote: post #22

I am not sure if this is wishful thinking but can Starlink lead to growth of smaller communities that are self-sustaining (produce their own renewable electricity, food, etc) that cannot simply exist due to connectivity constraints? I have a dream of the world where we live in 1-10k population small towns littered around the globe, connected through starlink and public ways, and the idea of cities would become obsole…

A downside is that a lot of someones have to make the satellite dishes and solar panels. Sure, if you work white collar and can do everything remotely it’s no big deal, but the world runs on hundreds of millions of people working in factories and logistics. Those get more efficient in more densely populated areas. The more people who work in densely populated areas, the more total wealth there is in society, the more people can live in their utopia villages.

Re: Starlink is now Accepting General Pre-orders

#79

Post by walrus01 »

stefan_ wrote: post #74
walrus01 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They intentionally need to populate a certain number of terminals into specific geographic areas to test, measure and refine how time-sharing contention and the equivalent of TDMA is being setup. Each terminal has a GPS receiver in it and reports home with its location.

That sounds like more conspiracy theories. For all we know it has a GPS receiver as a precise reference clock.

no, quite literally, if you move a beta terminal from your designated service location, it won't work. I know at least 4 people who also have beta terminals who have tried it. It depends on the size of your 'cell' - some people have been able to go a few km away, some people report it doesn't work even a few hundred meters away from their house. When you sign up for the beta you have to specify your street address and also click on an aerial map where you intend to install it.

And of course a GPS receiver is useful for timing.

Re: Starlink is now Accepting General Pre-orders

#80

Post by Jedd »

I put a pre-order in a week ago, after the status changed a couple of days earlier (from 'please give us your email address so we can advise you' to 'we have a limited offering per region' - which is what's showing now).

I'm about 250km north-west of Sydney, Australia, currently limited to a 25/5Mbps satellite circuit, with 600+ms RTT. I'm paying AUD$80 pcm, and have a data cap of 80 / 150 GB (peak/off-peak).

Between 17:00 and 23:00 the effective service drops down to about 5Mbps down.

Starlink in AU will cost ~ AUD$140 pcm, 30ms RTT, and likely give me 100 / 20 Mbps, with no cap (at least until the heavy-feeders come in and ruin that arrangement for the rest of us). (EDIT - plus AUD $700 once the order is processed later this year, for the equipment.)

I believe some regions - eg, Norfolk Island - have already max'd out their pre-order quotas though.

EDIT: fixed typo of MB -> GB

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