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Saint Helena Island Communications

sainthelenaisland.info

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Re: Saint Helena Island Communications

#71

Post by KennyBlanken »

wffurr wrote: post #12
kickofline wrote: post #6

> It has come to the attention of the St Helena Government that members of the public may have acquired, imported and be currently using terminals, such as Starlink, for the purposes of internet connectivity. Using such terminals is in contravention of the exclusivity of current telecommunications licencing arrangements made under section 3(4) of the Telecommunications Ordinance 1989. From 1 November 2023 anyone usin…

Why bother with Starlink if the fiberoptic subsea cable is live now?

Because the government seems highly regressive and is almost certainly controlling and monitoring the one cable they've allowed?

Re: Saint Helena Island Communications

#72

Post by quercusa »

hinkley wrote: post #58
kickofline wrote: post #6

> It has come to the attention of the St Helena Government that members of the public may have acquired, imported and be currently using terminals, such as Starlink, for the purposes of internet connectivity. Using such terminals is in contravention of the exclusivity of current telecommunications licencing arrangements made under section 3(4) of the Telecommunications Ordinance 1989. From 1 November 2023 anyone usin…

A number of years ago NYC decriminalized ownership of beehives, and a journalist interviewed a bunch of people who had them anyway. They all had schemes to hide their hives. One guy made it look like an AC condenser, and went so far as buying himself work clothes to make him look like a repairman. If you make it out of the right materials, it shouldn’t be too hard to conceal a starlink antenna without destroying the…

The Mystery of Red Brooklyn Honey:

https://us.latinhoneyshop.com/blogs/news/the-mystery-of-red-...

Re: Saint Helena Island Communications

#74

Post by Scoundreller »

pcl wrote: post #38
Tijdreiziger wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember reading that Starlink routes traffic via base stations in the subscriber’s own country, in order not to anger regulators. If you think about it it makes sense; otherwise governments could just ban the sale of Starlink equipment for violating the law.

Telcos do pretty much the same -- US SIMs in China receive different Great Firewall treatment than Chinese SIMs, and I've seen some Chinese SIMs / phones on some cell networks in the US get routed back through the Great Firewall. Which is IMO pretty disgusting on the part of the US telcos, but sorta functionally the same as what you say Starlink does.

Can be seen as a positive or a negative:

You can still access your home country’s Netflix/streaming content. Log into websites that might geo-block (Homedepot.com blocks Europe…), log into work without security admins losing their mind about a “suspicious foreign access”.

Downside is that ads won’t localize into a language you don’t understand. I love it when that happens when travelling.

Re: Saint Helena Island Communications

#75

Post by Rebelgecko »

coryrc wrote: post #66
cbsks wrote: post #56

Yikes! Internet is expensive! And there is only a single provider legally allowed to operate. 18£: 30GB. 5Mbps down, 1Mbps up 36£: 60GB. 5Mbps down, 1Mbps up 67£: unlimited. 10Mbps down, 1Mbps up 120£: unlimited. 20Mbps down, 1Mbps up https://www.sure.co.sh/assets/Banner-Links/Residential-Broad...

Wait until you hear about what it costs in regular parts of the US...

I pay roughly 50 pounds for 300 mbps down and 20 up. That seems pretty typical for parts of the US without gigabit availability, sans rural areas that depend on satellite connection. I think if you want to shit on a devloped country with slow and overpriced internet, Australia is still the gold standard (not that the US is perfect by any means)

Re: Saint Helena Island Communications

#76

Post by londons_explore »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #54

Looking forward to the new cloud region! > In July 2019 the Government of St Helena announced that it has issued a letter of intent to connect the island to Equiano. The 1,140Km branch to Saint Helena was completed in 2021 so this cable will provide the first fibre optic connectivity from St Helena to the outside world through both Europe and South Africa. Compared to the current satellite link the cable will bring a…

Does it have reliable supplies of plentiful and cheap electricity and water?

Because without that, datacenters won't be showing up...

And even if it did, big US companies don't really like to have data centers in places that are too remote, if only because staff have to visit from time to time and don't want to have to take an 8 hour seaplane ride to get there...

Re: Saint Helena Island Communications

#77

Post by jakub_g »

cbsks wrote: post #56

Yikes! Internet is expensive! And there is only a single provider legally allowed to operate. 18£: 30GB. 5Mbps down, 1Mbps up 36£: 60GB. 5Mbps down, 1Mbps up 67£: unlimited. 10Mbps down, 1Mbps up 120£: unlimited. 20Mbps down, 1Mbps up https://www.sure.co.sh/assets/Banner-Links/Residential-Broad...

Sounds like a better and cheaper deal than in Berlin!

(Semi-joking. Never lived in Berlin, but the mind-blowingly bad infra for such a big EU IT hub is a recurring meme).

Re: Saint Helena Island Communications

#78

Post by Scoundreller »

Tijdreiziger wrote: post #29
fidotron wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You still have to run the cable the last mile, even on an island.

Not necessarily, we have wireless technologies. Stringing cables along poles could well be cheaper, though.

I’m thinking with 4G, 5g, one day 6g and one day 7g, physical data infra’s days are numbered or will become a premium product at the residential level.

Except in Canada and elsewhere where the mobile and wireline providers are the same and deliberately keep mobile pricing high enough to disincentivize cord cutting.

Re: Saint Helena Island Communications

#79

Post by Scoundreller »

bigbillheck wrote: post #10
kickofline wrote: post #6

> It has come to the attention of the St Helena Government that members of the public may have acquired, imported and be currently using terminals, such as Starlink, for the purposes of internet connectivity. Using such terminals is in contravention of the exclusivity of current telecommunications licencing arrangements made under section 3(4) of the Telecommunications Ordinance 1989. From 1 November 2023 anyone usin…

Alternate take: "the current licensee will sue us if we allow Starlink".

It’s sad how $$$ legacy satellite services worked almost everywhere (Inmarsat, iridium, globalstar, even ham/hf), but now that it’s within reach of the poors, they get heavily regulated to oblivion.

Re: Saint Helena Island Communications

#80

Post by wffurr »

ZeWaka wrote: post #17
wffurr wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why bother with Starlink if the fiberoptic subsea cable is live now?

It's not rolled out yet: http://sainthelenaisland.info/communications.htm#maestrotech...

Is that for the cable or FTTP deployment on the island itself? Seems like they could at least get much better mobile internet rates using the subsea cable instead of satellite for backhaul.

I had a very difficult time trying to figure out if that subsea cable was online or not.

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