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Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

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Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#71

Post by CorrectHorseBat »

colechristensen wrote: post #43
matthewdgreen wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To ask a tech question: how much capacity does Starlink have? If every single person in US rural areas switches to Starlink, can the system handle it? What's the bandwidth/customers/capacity limit for the service? (I'm obviously not talking about emergencies, where degraded bandwidth is acceptable.)

I don't know if that kind of information is public. Starlink is continually adding new satellites, and each one adds bandwidth capability. Likewise with end user ground station hardware updates and spectrum purchases (at least the former is happening on a regular basis), capacity likewise goes up. I don't believe there is a theoretical or practical upper limit which would exclude very wide adoption of Starlink and si…

5G is going exactly the opposite way to provide higher bandwidth, more cells with each less users.

With satellite internet you're sharing the medium with everyone, and that doesn't scale well. Beamforming probably helps a lot, but I don't how accurate it can be on that distance.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#72

Post by deelowe »

nativeit wrote: post #68
jagtstronaut wrote: post #17

Despite the hate on the promo the tech they offer is still pretty cool. Only way I knew my in-laws were safe near Asheville was because one of their neighbors had starlink and a generator. Took a week for them to get power and cell phone service back and there is no way to get to them without a helicopter so if it wasn't for the product we would have just learned that they were alright.

Curious…it’s not been a week yet? It certainly feels longer. Glad to know they’re alright. My family is in Swannanoa, and still without power and water.

It has not. I have family impacted who still does not have power. One week will be tomorrow.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#73

Post by patwolf »

firesteelrain wrote: post #30

We have a free solution already but not as well known - Ham Radio. You can even send email over WinLink.

Someone in my family did some work helping set up a ham radio for a hospital. I don't know the details, but it sounded like it was part of a grant to help with emergency preparedness. The problem is finding people that can operate them. This was 10 years ago, and even then he was one of very few people in the area younger than 70 with a license.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#75

Post by bewaretheirs »

realce wrote: post #4

Isn't it also a $300 equipment payment and shipping time to get the equipment is 2 weeks?

I've seen multiple reports that the equipment was in stock and for sale in Home Depot stores in the surrounding area.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#76

Post by ivewonyoung »

sneak wrote: post #66
delichon wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm grateful that I don't need a license to operate a Starlink dish here in Starlink's home country, yet.

A license is definitely required to operate Starlink, just not by you. They tried not servicing Crimea due to an unwillingness to get involved in the war, and the DoD quickly made them toe the geopolitical line. (They are also a huge customer of a military-only service called Starshield, also run by SpaceX/Starlink, which either runs separately on the same Starlink satellites, or is dedicated Starshield satellites wi…

> They tried not servicing Crimea due to an unwillingness to get involved in the war, and the DoD quickly made them toe the geopolitical line

I am confused, it's illegal for Starlink to prove access to Russia and Russian occupied areas like Crimea because of US sanctions. So essentially the opposite of what you're claiming.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#77

Post by delichon »

sneak wrote: post #66
delichon wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm grateful that I don't need a license to operate a Starlink dish here in Starlink's home country, yet.

A license is definitely required to operate Starlink, just not by you. They tried not servicing Crimea due to an unwillingness to get involved in the war, and the DoD quickly made them toe the geopolitical line. (They are also a huge customer of a military-only service called Starshield, also run by SpaceX/Starlink, which either runs separately on the same Starlink satellites, or is dedicated Starshield satellites wi…

Apparently in the US you require the "requisite character qualifications to be and remain a Commission (Amateur Radio) licensee."

https://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-upholds-decision-to-revoke-ama...

Starlink's character qualification is whether you pay their bill.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#78

Post by jagtstronaut »

nativeit wrote: post #68
jagtstronaut wrote: post #17

Despite the hate on the promo the tech they offer is still pretty cool. Only way I knew my in-laws were safe near Asheville was because one of their neighbors had starlink and a generator. Took a week for them to get power and cell phone service back and there is no way to get to them without a helicopter so if it wasn't for the product we would have just learned that they were alright.

Curious…it’s not been a week yet? It certainly feels longer. Glad to know they’re alright. My family is in Swannanoa, and still without power and water.

Edited to a week. I was actually shocked how quickly my in-laws got power back with how widespread the destruction was and how many of the roads are out. They have well water so as soon as power was back on they obviously have water.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#79

Post by ivewonyoung »

levinb wrote: post #62
rpmisms wrote: post #2

Still tricky to set up. Tried to get a Gen 2 working for an affected family yesterday, no beans.

Yes. I bought the last two units left at any HD for a few hundred miles; drove them up there Monday. Apparently my friend had to drive in and out of his (utterly destroyed) neighborhood in Swannanoa because it required the app and cell service to set up. And when they returned home it wouldn't work. Took multiple trips back and forth to get it usable in the area where it was actually needed. Then of course the Helene…

> publicly funded, government protected,

How is it publicly funded and government protected?

> privately held monopoly

That's a weird complaint, would it be somehow better if it were a publicly held monopoly like Google, Amazon or Microsoft.

And what can SpaceX do to ensure Starlink is not a monopoly? Stop providing service and shut it down?

They have been even launching competitors satellites for them.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#80

Post by UberFly »

duxup wrote: post #42
silisili wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, I didn't mean for free from Starlink, I meant free via donation. I follow a half dozen accounts in the area, and they're all donating a lot. Here is one, for example. Ignore the politics and just scroll through the Starlink posts - https://x.com/robbystarbuck Here's another that claims Starlink drove the units straight out. Unclear if they were free or not. https://x.com/TheShawnHendrix/status/1841823155…

Nothing personal but that's "a lot" of vague, qualified, and loaded phrases like "mostly free" "more than the US govt" and such ... but the source is just some guy's twitter page?

You are coming across as someone with an axe to grind. There are plenty of private people and organizations getting supplies to the areas in need. Starlink hardware is definitely included as it's the best way to get remote communication up and going at the moment.
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