Will this be the last generation to remember the night sky?
go outside right now and look up. it's still there.
SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth
321–330 of 1001 posts
Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth
#322Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here along the BC Coast, the organization I work for has an expansive sensor network. Weather stations, CTDs, custom equipment in watersheds, research facilities with all kinds of equipment to monitor, and so on. There is no broadband or fiber on remote islands along the coast. We used to use satellite internet, and getting data off of our main hubs (everything is relayed to the hubs by radio) was very slow and preca…
Sure, and that's great, but this is an extremely small niche case right? No one is denying that there are some cases where Starlink is amazing, but niche products don't usually command a $1T value.
It’s a niche, yes, but there could be others like it. No idea about how the company should be valued. We pay them chump change for our services, but enough that with any scale it could be meaningful. And their reach is pretty incredible, so, there is a lot of potential there.
Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth
#323Earlier quoted context omitted.
Meanwhile, as one of those engineers, they ran fiber down the highway a mile from my house circa 2021, but they did not do any upgrades at all to the last mile infrastructure so I still only have a ~10Mbps DSL option for wired internet at that house, which is a big step up from literally no wired option before, but still vastly inferior to Starlink. (The terrain makes terrestrial wireless a nonstarter in the area). I…
> there are no plans at all to improve the last mile infrastructure The economics of laying fiber to the premises are heavily driven by density of potential customers * probability that a potential customer will sign up if you run fiber down their street. You can get reasonable intuition by focusing on the density alone & ignoring the competition / pricing side of things. I'm not familiar with current US construction…
your numbers are completely meaningless.
it is well known that Australia has an extremely lazy workforce that refuse to put in any real work.
the best example here is the stupid residential building cost. nowadays it costs over $1m AUD or $700k USD do a first floor 2bedroom 1 bathroom extension for an existing house in good condition. That is significantly more expensive than building a big house in the US.
Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth
#324If they pay an appropriate tax for light pollution affecting telescopes on earth, I'm all for it.
LVT works just as well in space.
Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth
#325When 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.
I think that while Starlink is a technical innovation its primary benefit is as a political innovation: it lets you sidestep a lot of politics. Rural communities in the US should have high speed internet, just like efforts were made to give them electricity back in the day. But the layers of politics and dysfunction in the way are deep.
I think that's the idea of robust competition.
if the incumbent(s) don't invest in infrastructure (which can actually be cheap) and start losing customers at 3mb to starlink, they can justify the expenditure.
Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth
#326Starlink is going to become a phone carrier that doesn’t have to pay for pole or tower access. This is the real story, so long att, verizon, and T-Mobile. Starlink is going to beat them on price and availability. Just think, no international calling fees or hassle and cheaper mobile rates.
How would it work indoors?
A more accurate description would be that starlink will become the trunk, and possibly the service. Local cell services will own the poles but will essentially provide access for starlink customers. It's not a bad business idea, actually. People pay $30-40 a line for starlink cell service, starlink provides the big pipes so to speak and splits the bill with the local companies that put up the last mile towers.
In rural areas you can put up isolated 5G towers that have their own dish connection to starlink, no need to string a line to the towers anymore...
Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that while Starlink is a technical innovation its primary benefit is as a political innovation: it lets you sidestep a lot of politics. Rural communities in the US should have high speed internet, just like efforts were made to give them electricity back in the day. But the layers of politics and dysfunction in the way are deep.
If we can get internet from the sky, it's hard to justify digging up the earth with cables for the same thing. I realize Space X "pollutes" space and astronomy is also important, but it's not more important than communications and information for people on earth.
Assuming there are poles (or trenches) for electricity, cable is a modest addition.
Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth
#328Earlier quoted context omitted.
We want incumbent multi-decade culprits to also pay appropriately.
Yet you only talk about it when it’s big scary Elon. Cry me a river.
He's generating a lot more pollution. It's reasonable to want equity around externalities, which is a distinct problem under capitalism.
Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth
#329I just finished a long RV trip and I can tell you it's hard to underestimate the importance of internet access (which also means Wi-Fi calling and access to maps and weather) across our entire, enormous nation. It's important not only for individuals but even more for businesses. Despite cell phone company ads with handsome celebrities in the desert, cell phones actually do not work in many places. But people do need…
This is a very wasteful way of getting communications to somewhat compensate the lack of competition in US telco market.
It has nothing to do with competition. You could have as many competitors as possible and no one is going to put a cell tower up in a remote location.
Re: SpaceX wants to launch 100k more Starlink satellites for 100x the bandwidth
#330When 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.
I have a really good friend who used Starlink for his cottage in Canada and as soon as there was broadband he switched away. Starlink was unreliable and slow compared to what he has now. In my country today the people who use it the most are in northern cities that don't even have roads going to them.
I wonder if that was at the beginning. They've been quietly launching so many satellites over time.