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Starlink Direct to Cell

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Re: Starlink Direct to Cell

#201

Post by travisjungroth »

threeseed wrote: post #180
travisjungroth wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is great for regions that need to be connected That's at least a billion people. I don't know what the intersection of that with the affordability is, though. I'm writing this from an Ayahuasca center in rural Peru connected with Starlink. Before, internet was a ten minute drive into town away. We're now connected when at one side of the center. It would be nice to have it all the way into the jungle. And when…

> That's at least a billion people a) Based on what we've seen in China, India etc many of those will shift towards densely populated cities or will stay and those locations will become industrialised, densely populated cities. b) In densely populated cities it doesn't make sense to use Starlink when fibre is far cheaper, has limited congestion issues and can provide gigabit speeds at a minimum. c) It's great that yo…

It's not gonna decline to zero.

There's just a really strong tendency for people all over the world to focus on their own experience. And you can actually reinforce this by zooming out too far. If you live in San Francisco, this seems like a pet use case and you can be like "What is it, 10% of the population?" But "the population" is quite the fucking denominator.

I mean, it's already happening and obviously Starlink has run the numbers. So I'm largely just reacting to the tone here.

Re: Starlink Direct to Cell

#203

Post by _hark »

cprayingmantis wrote: post #192

If anyone from Starlink or SpaceX is reading these comments here’s what you want to do: Sell your own branded trail cam with solar charging and LTE from orbit. You can charge $25-$40 a month for unlimited pictures sent from the cam. This would open up hunters, nature enthusiasts, and researchers to be able to place their hardware anywhere in the field without worrying about connectivity. Here in SWVA we have deep hol…

This could also be a hardware startup. If only there were some entrepreneur types around...

Presumably there's a market for this in other niches, e.g. weather monitoring, defense/border monitoring, etc... The question is whether the juice is worth the squeeze. Where's the really valuable data?

Re: Starlink Direct to Cell

#204

Post by bilsbie »

emusan wrote: post #164
daRealDodo wrote: post #25

Can anyone explain how upload would work? How can an unmodified cellphone upload data to a satellite?

There are a few factors that make this possible: 1. As others have pointed out, the link budget (how much energy loss a particular radio link can handle before it is broken) for D2C satellites assumes a nearly direct line of sight from your handset to the satellite. This is much easier to achieve with satellites in space than it is with traditional cell towers that might have numerous walls/buildings in the way. 2. T…

So the satellite can point a narrow beam. How does it handle multiple connections. Can it aim 1000s of beams at once?

Re: Starlink Direct to Cell

#206

Post by bilsbie »

geepytee wrote: post #200
bilsbie wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surf cam would be amazing too. Just tie a solar, starlink cam to a pier and check in.

I see a lot of surf cams online, are those usually custom hardware?

The only one in my area wants a subscription fee :-(

I guess they need to contract with businesses or parks? It would be cool to buy a cheap one and just tie it to a tree or something.

Re: Starlink Direct to Cell

#209

Post by m463 »

samwillis wrote: post #136
cj wrote: post #38

> ENGINEERED BY SPACEX It would be very interesting to see some kind of diagram depicting all of the corporate entities Musk is involved in and how each entity does business with one another. xAI just raised billions to help Tesla build out FSD (or at least that was part of the pitch). His empire is divided into so many corporate entities, but they all cross-pollinate and are clearly under his direct control for the…

It's similar (ish), but I think unfortunately the comparison distracts from your core point and observation. Musk Inc. is, in essence, a privet equity company. He raises a fund, and invests it along with his own cash into a business he knows well, and with which he believes he can disrupt the status quo. He's very hands on, understanding all the important core details, setting culture, and pushing hard . But he also…

I agree with you, yet in a somewhat different way.

He is an investor investing in science fiction. This isn't even implied, he comes out and says it again and again.

I'm reminded of xerox parc's "The best way to predict the future is to invent it" and I think that's his philosophy.

As to "businesses he knows well" I do not agree. He didn't go into electric vehicles, rockets, robots or neural interfaces as "business he knows well".

Just read about musk going to russia to try to get a launch vehicle going and coming back insulted and frustrated. So he broke down the problem and learned how to solve it.

Also "Private Equity" has a connotation of rent seeking nowadays, like "buying all dentists and monetizing to extract profit".

I don't see him that way philosophically. I see him as a pure creator, not a rent seeking wealth extractor.

Re: Starlink Direct to Cell

#210

Post by teruakohatu »

cprayingmantis wrote: post #192

If anyone from Starlink or SpaceX is reading these comments here’s what you want to do: Sell your own branded trail cam with solar charging and LTE from orbit. You can charge $25-$40 a month for unlimited pictures sent from the cam. This would open up hunters, nature enthusiasts, and researchers to be able to place their hardware anywhere in the field without worrying about connectivity. Here in SWVA we have deep hol…

I work with researchers that deploy all sorts of solar powered sensor equipment in remote parts of New Zealand. Realistically Starlink would need to support NB-IoT and LTE-M which is what these kinds of devices are moving towards (if they need cellular connectivity). These are low power variants of 4G and 5G.

Even if you have solar and a fixed platform, you usually want to deploy as little solar as possible. Especially if you need to carry the gear on foot. So minimising power consumption is really important.

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