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I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

jeffgeerling.com

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Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#181

Post by resizeitplz »

engineer_22 wrote: post #177

Regarding the number of proposed starlink satellites: The constellation is proposed to be approximately 10,000 satellites. I wondered how this compares to the number of US commercial flights per year. The FAA claims it handles 45,000 flights per day [1]. If we assume each aircraft has 5 flights per day and spends half it's time on the ground, then we might guess there are approximately 4,500 aircraft flying above the…

Except they aren't evenly distributed. Stargazing skews to nighttime hours while air traffic skews to daytime hours. Not to mention coastal vs inland densities.

That is an interesting comparison though! And it'd be cool to compare with more nuanced assumptions - maybe even factor in how contrails affect things in addition to the 1:1 satellite:plane maths.

Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#182

Post by rdsnsca »

Kon-Peki wrote: post #59

Starlink is definitely demonstrating that there is demand and a willingness to pay. Part of me wonders if it will suffer the same fate as Iridium - terrestrial service came in and took the market away. Especially if the rollout continues to be so slow.

Already happening here in Nova Scotia.....https://internet.developns.ca will serve 1.5GB fibre to 95 % of homes and business by 2025. They want to do another plan after to reach the last 5 %.

Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#183

Post by zecken »

Regarding the second LAN port and proprietary cable — standard RJ45 ports are not waterproof, especially if they’re delivering almost 100W (the max load of this new dishy). I expect that plays into the decision making here; also, selling a phase array antenna plus power supply plus WiFi router for $500 is actually pretty cheap.

Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#184

Post by [deleted] »

btian wrote: post #178
geerlingguy wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest gripe is the fact I can't transfer it to my cousin, who lives on a farm with 300 Kbps DSL, 70 miles away. Back when preorders started, it wasn't obvious how slow Starlink would be to expand, and it also wasn't obvious transfers wouldn't be a supported feature for many months. Even so, my cousin also signed up in hopes to get Starlink, and 11 months later her date was moved from 'late 2021' to 'late 2022'.…

You should have done more research before signing up imo. I have synchronous gigabit wireless internet from Sail Internet. It has pretty much all the same issues you mentioned about Starlink except the last one, but I'm not making a video to complain about it. Engineering involves trade-offs, and it's just a reality.

[deleted]

Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#185

Post by kingcharles »

If you are in a city, but can't get wired Internet (I'm in downtown Chicago), I would recommend trying T-Mobile's Home Internet before you go for Starlink. T-Mobile's "Trash Can" router is a bit flakey, but the speeds are great and there are no limits. Plus, no installation, just plug in and go. For $50 a month, it's really a steal, IMO.

Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#186

Post by cbm-vic-20 »

34679 wrote: post #146
geerlingguy wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest gripe is the fact I can't transfer it to my cousin, who lives on a farm with 300 Kbps DSL, 70 miles away. Back when preorders started, it wasn't obvious how slow Starlink would be to expand, and it also wasn't obvious transfers wouldn't be a supported feature for many months. Even so, my cousin also signed up in hopes to get Starlink, and 11 months later her date was moved from 'late 2021' to 'late 2022'.…

Curiousity and frustration would have me moving it anyway. Have you tried?

Jeff had an episode where he took it out to his cousin's farm, and it didn't work there.

Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#188

Post by inesta »

Androider wrote: post #103
gambiting wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> The power draw is around the same as a fairly typical lightbulb from 20 years ago, so I can totally live with that. Since you mentioned pounds, I just want to address the power consumption part. At averaged 100W power usage, the system will use 2.4kWh of electricity every day. In UK the energy prices are absolutely exploding - with the government estimating that the "average" consumer will be paying 28p/kWh of ele…

For comparison, my US bill is currently 9.5c/kWh, which is 7p/kWh. Your UK price is 4x that of mine! The SpaceX office where the dish was designed is just down the road from here, so I can totally see the engineers thinking "What's the big deal, it's only 100W? That's a few dollars a month."

In California we pay an average of 25-35c/kwh.

Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#189

Post by dzhiurgis »

jacquesm wrote: post #34
geerlingguy wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest gripe is the fact I can't transfer it to my cousin, who lives on a farm with 300 Kbps DSL, 70 miles away. Back when preorders started, it wasn't obvious how slow Starlink would be to expand, and it also wasn't obvious transfers wouldn't be a supported feature for many months. Even so, my cousin also signed up in hopes to get Starlink, and 11 months later her date was moved from 'late 2021' to 'late 2022'.…

What's the point of satellite internet if you can't move the dish around? That would seem to be one of the USPs...

IMO they are just getting you used to the idea of what is normal. Then they gonna introduce $500/month “mobile” plan that many sailors will swallow like a bargain!

Re: I took down my Starlink dish (but haven't cancelled)

#190

Post by freedomben »

zecken wrote: post #183

Regarding the second LAN port and proprietary cable — standard RJ45 ports are not waterproof, especially if they’re delivering almost 100W (the max load of this new dishy). I expect that plays into the decision making here; also, selling a phase array antenna plus power supply plus WiFi router for $500 is actually pretty cheap.

You're totally correct about RJ45 not being waterproof, but a point made in the video, and one that I whole-heartedly agree with, is that there's no reason this needs to be a proprietary cable. They could still have made a new more waterproof cable/jack, but opened the spec and/or allow other manufacturers to build them.
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