Feels like this is a direct response to the Amazon / Project Kuiper 7” terminal announced last year: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/heres-...
First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini
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Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini
#12I think a great use case for this would be as a backup for when the regular ISP goes out in a rural area.
But I don't think they have any subscription plans priced for that? And there might be issues after a storm if everyone started using it at once.
Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini
#13I think a great use case for this would be as a backup for when the regular ISP goes out in a rural area. But I don't think they have any subscription plans priced for that? And there might be issues after a storm if everyone started using it at once.
The Garmin inReach (and others like it) is probably the nearest readily-available solution for that use case. Not broadband internet obviously, but it provides access to basic, essential communication methods. It does so at a much, much lower price point than Starlink/HughesNet/etc can offer, making it more palatable as an "emergency backup" product.
Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini
#14The lack of DC power is rough for boats, vans, and RVs. If someone wants to put this in a backpack they really need to get a DC power supply version. There are solutions out there at this point for the standard dishy but the flat high performance has a crazy power supply with it.
The other disappointing thing (correct me if I'm wrong) is that it's not quite portable in a true sense; if I take the Starlink equipment I bought in United States to.. say, Argentina or Germany, it won't work there. I wish it could work like that, without a lot of hassle, but it doesn't appear to be the case.
Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Page 7 of the linked FCC application says: > Power requirements: 30 V DC / 2 A via 100-240V AC/DC adaptor Presumably, when people talk about "running it from DC power" they mean a standard 12V automotive power supply, which would require a 12V to 30V step-up converter to replace the supplied AC adapter.
It isn’t necessarily implied, but if this thing is pulling a nominal 30W-40W (assuming considering the 60W PSU) then I don’t know how much use this would be for a portable device, even for RVs. That’s a pretty significant load, even for an amplified antenna, I would have thought?
Did some quick research on a major American car parts retailer's website. The biggest batteries they sell are rated as high as 188Ah (though they use a weird industry-specific unit to say that). Many are closer to 25-50Ah. Definitely enough juice to power a terminal for several hours.
This lines up with my personal experiences. I have personally used a car battery to keep a big gaming laptop charged for an entire weekend, and it was being used (if not under heavy load) for about 10 hours a day.
Those big batteries are extremely heavy and very expensive, but we're talking about people who want broadband internet service on their boat. Money is not a concern here.
I'm sure Starlink has different power modes for these things, but the average consumer is likely far more interested in optimizing for connection speed and latency.
Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini
#16The lack of DC power is rough for boats, vans, and RVs. If someone wants to put this in a backpack they really need to get a DC power supply version. There are solutions out there at this point for the standard dishy but the flat high performance has a crazy power supply with it.
The other disappointing thing (correct me if I'm wrong) is that it's not quite portable in a true sense; if I take the Starlink equipment I bought in United States to.. say, Argentina or Germany, it won't work there. I wish it could work like that, without a lot of hassle, but it doesn't appear to be the case.
“Global roaming” is the plan that allows that and it costs twice as much IIRC
Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini
#17Is this meant to supersede starlink roam [1]? [1]: https://www.starlink.com/ca/roam
Roam is effectively the data plan, this is a new hardware dish, but I suspect it will be the preferred dish for most Roam plans.
Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini
#18I wish “mesh” WiFi was more standardized. I don’t think there’s any good reason that a device like this should require specifically a Starlink mesh mode instead of an industry standard WDS device.
Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini
#19Feels like this is a direct response to the Amazon / Project Kuiper 7” terminal announced last year: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/heres-...
This much more likely to be something that had been in the long term plan for many years.
Amazon is announcing stuff because they are spending 10e of billions and have nothing to show for it, and wont have anything for years. They need to show progress to the quarter to quarter investor.
Frankly the idea that Starlink is passivly reacting to Amazon annoucments is a bit silly. The difficult part is to actually produce these terminals at high volume cheaply, not releasing a few renders.
Re: First look at the upcoming Starlink Mini
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
It isn’t necessarily implied, but if this thing is pulling a nominal 30W-40W (assuming considering the 60W PSU) then I don’t know how much use this would be for a portable device, even for RVs. That’s a pretty significant load, even for an amplified antenna, I would have thought?
Did some quick research on a major American car parts retailer's website. The biggest batteries they sell are rated as high as 188Ah (though they use a weird industry-specific unit to say that). Many are closer to 25-50Ah. Definitely enough juice to power a terminal for several hours. This lines up with my personal experiences. I have personally used a car battery to keep a big gaming laptop charged for an entire wee…
You likely wouldnt be running this off a lead acid car battery.
You’d have a lithium battery and an additional power source, like solar or generator, to top that battery off.