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SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

zdnet.com

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Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#161

Post by givemeethekeys »

consumer451 wrote: post #5

When Starlink first became available here in poor-ish Central-EU, I was excited. Then, only months later, but after years of planning: EU funding brought fiber to my farm area, at ~$25/900mbps 10ms. While my story is just n=1, I don't understand the huge upside for Starlink outside of Africa or India, where they have However, I am dumb, and very open to be convinced.

In much of the US, internet companies run a racket. While there are often multiple providers to choose from, if you want reliable service at good speeds, you end up with two, or if you're really lucky, three options. One of those options is Starlink.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#162

Post by xenospn »

consumer451 wrote: post #5

When Starlink first became available here in poor-ish Central-EU, I was excited. Then, only months later, but after years of planning: EU funding brought fiber to my farm area, at ~$25/900mbps 10ms. While my story is just n=1, I don't understand the huge upside for Starlink outside of Africa or India, where they have However, I am dumb, and very open to be convinced.

You’d be surprised how poor broadband Internet coverage is outside of major metropolitan areas in the United States. Some places are simply off-grid, or have to rely on dial up. All you have to do is drive an hour out and there’s no more Internet.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#163

Post by cortesoft »

wolvoleo wrote: post #81
porphyra wrote: post #44

One cool thing about Starlink is that it can potentially improve latency across the world. In optical fibers the light travels only two thirds as fast due to the index of refraction. But in space you can use a laser to send the data in a straight line in a vacuum.

Um yeah but the transmission path is longer and the equipment and signal processing on each hop also adds latency. I really doubt it'll make much of a difference.

I doubt the transmission path is longer, fiber optic cables aren't laid in perfectly straight lines between all points.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#164

Post by sen »

servo_sausage wrote: post #142
consumer451 wrote: post #5

When Starlink first became available here in poor-ish Central-EU, I was excited. Then, only months later, but after years of planning: EU funding brought fiber to my farm area, at ~$25/900mbps 10ms. While my story is just n=1, I don't understand the huge upside for Starlink outside of Africa or India, where they have However, I am dumb, and very open to be convinced.

Its also a pricing thing; in Australia our nationalised provider keeps getting more expensive, starlink is now getting cost-competitive.

Stop using Telstra then. There’s an abundance of NBN resellers who sell better packages for cheaper than Telstra. At this point Telstra is just for old people who don’t want to change the services they’ve always been with.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#165

Post by roysting »

spullara wrote: post #108

I think most of this thread is missing the part where this will also work for cellphones and give you truly global coverage.

It also creates a private internet on which “private enterprise” does not have to abide by the Constitution or any subordinate laws.

Sure, it’s just “fear mongering” now, just like digital ID, digital currency, mass surveillance, and speech police were 30 or so years ago, but what happens when terrestrial cable internet gets too expensive and everyone’s subject to Elon’s space internet?

It’s basically the similar playbook as the cable/copper phone network giving way to the internet and wireless and … whoopsie … you also have a tracking and permanent surveillance device on you with no ability to keep thousands of corporations harvesting your body for data and information.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#166

Post by cortesoft »

formvoltron wrote: post #2

soooo good that they'll burn up one day and this nonsense can finally end. investors provide infinite capital to nonsense projects so that the showman can create an endless show that will attract new nonsense capital. sorry but already in rural morocco they have 200 mbit internet for 20 bucks a month. Yes there are some 6 wheeled vehicles roaming the planet that might really benefit from these 100k satellites. but fo…

> for 99.9% of everyone else? we're good!

Well Starlink has 12 million subscribers, which is already more than 0.1% of the population, so clearly you are incorrect that 99.9% of people don't want it...

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#167

Post by kortilla »

roysting wrote: post #165
spullara wrote: post #108

I think most of this thread is missing the part where this will also work for cellphones and give you truly global coverage.

It also creates a private internet on which “private enterprise” does not have to abide by the Constitution or any subordinate laws. Sure, it’s just “fear mongering” now, just like digital ID, digital currency, mass surveillance, and speech police were 30 or so years ago, but what happens when terrestrial cable internet gets too expensive and everyone’s subject to Elon’s space internet? It’s basically the similar pla…

It doesn’t. The network is governed by the FCC and any other regulatory agency where they place RF on the ground.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#168

Post by rdiddly »

usui wrote: post #4
ck2 wrote: post #3

no, just no make them pre-pay a multi-trillion cleanup and cancer fund for all the toxic waste, not just the launches but pollution burning up in the atmosphere * https://satellitemap.space/ * https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-space-orbit-satellit... * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48787042

You want them to pay a multi-trillion dollar clean-up and cancer fund for car-sized multi-year-service-life satellites burning up in the atmosphere? How much do you want incumbent multi-decade culprits to pay? EDT: I should have clarified I'm not only talking about incumbent satellite companies because people are replying about the launch volume. Think about pollution from oil companies and coal plants and consider h…

We want incumbent multi-decade culprits to also pay appropriately.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#169

Post by cortesoft »

ryandvm wrote: post #48
1234letshaveatw wrote: post #9

Musk is nothing if not ambitious

Eh, his promises are ambitious. And the gullibility of his investors is bottomless. I too plan on increasing my revenue 100-fold by 2030.

> And the gullibility of his investors is bottomless

You can certainly have a problem with Elon Musk, but the people who have invested money with him over the years have done quite well for themselves.

Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth

#170

Post by nomel »

onemoresoop wrote: post #160
spullara wrote: post #108

I think most of this thread is missing the part where this will also work for cellphones and give you truly global coverage.

Do we really need that? Most of us are fine with relays. The coverage in remote parts could be handled by way fewer sattelites. 100k is a lot of sattelites. Seems that with 100k leo we’d have 24/7 live coverage of every inch on earth but do we really want that?

> we’d have 24/7 live coverage of every inch on earth but do we really want that?

I think you misunderstand the maths a bit. If the goal is high bandwidth, which requires high density, for specific, randomly distributed, parts of the earth, then, by the fundamental laws of gravity and orbits, you'll also have coverage over the rest of it, whether you like it or not.

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