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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

#781

Post by singingtoday »

tarpitt wrote: post #181
arjie wrote: post #75

Boy it's going to be exciting when we can get Internet access literally everywhere. Excited for humanity's return to space infrastructure!

I feel like I already have internet access pretty much everywhere with cell towers, and even then if I went to the middle of alaska or montana I could already get sattelite internet before starlink with hugesnet which is fine as long as you're not gaming or something. But at the same time I think the low-earth-orbit is pretty nice in terms of latentcy, it's a pretty innovative approach. I just don't get the idea behi…

Then you live in a developed country and do go off grid.

Your experience doesn't match most of the world.

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

#782

Post by modeless »

dawnerd wrote: post #743
bilsbie wrote: post #617

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not sure if that’s true of these use cellular frequencies.

You can already try it with T-Mobile and it’s pretty limited. Great if you need sms and there’s no other towers around. Still requires line of sight.

The limitations on the current T-Satellite service have a lot to do with the spectrum being shared with terrestrial towers and the low number of satellites.

The new constellation will be physically closer, with much larger antennas and a much larger number of satellites with a much higher capacity per satellite. It will also use dedicated spectrum with no terrestrial interference. Coverage and speed will be improved tremendously.

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

#783

Post by estearum »

thatxliner wrote: post #205
kevinkeller wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't understand the huge upside for Starlink outside of Africa or India, where they have India is rapidly expanding fiber internet connectivity, even in rural areas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharat_Broadband_Network In addition, 4G/5G coverage is extensive: https://www.ookla.com/articles/india-mobile-connectivity-1h2... See India in this 5G global coverage map: https://www.ookla.com/articles/5g-map-2026 The…

Starlink is currently partnering with United Airlines for Wi-Fi coverage, so that's one thing.

Wifi on Delta has worked spectacularly well (not sarcastic) for like 10 years now.

It's been broken/unavailable on maybe 6 of my flights out of hundreds.

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

#784

Post by darth_avocado »

Ray20 wrote: post #644
darth_avocado wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The number of people who are not covered by above-mentioned fiber/cell network, and can afford Starlink as it is priced now, will be extremely small People vastly overestimate the purchasing power in places like India. Most of the purchasing power is concentrated in the top 1% of the population and most of that 1% lives in urban areas with fiber connectivity. The bottom 90% don’t even make $1K/person/year. Even a $…

> would be 10% of the total income, which at those income levels, would never be a priority. People vastly underestimate the subjective importance of the Internet for people. 10-20% of the total income seems like a very realistic figure, even if it means spending some days hungry.

People struggling for food, water, medicine, shelter will not in any world spend 10% of their income on internet. Thinking that they will is out of touch with reality and would only be a valid chain of thought when you’ve not seen what real poverty looks like.

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

#785

Post by josephernest »

Please stop this.

How did we collectively accept that it's ok that a private company can forever change how our sky looks like (especially at night) for the generations to come?

This is so dystopian but it seems nobody cares. The most important thing is to have fast internet to watch cool AI-generated videos.

So depressing.

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

#786

Post by JumpinJack_Cash »

jordanb wrote: post #719
JumpinJack_Cash wrote: post #651

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Space Bears have been saying this forever.

And the satellite internet business has been a dog since forever. Even starlink only makes sense if you ignore the absolutely immense capital investment in it. And they're probably hiding losses in the launch division considering it's losing money despite 80% of its business being launching starlink satellites (they blame starship but that was supposed to be funded by NASA).

> > And the satellite internet business has been a dog since forever.

So is the nuclear reactor business but at least with that you gain independence from Iran whereas the satellite dog business gives you independence from the tyrant T-mobile or Verizon...

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

#787

Post by estearum »

leptons wrote: post #149
jampa wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When COVID hit, I knew a lot of engineers who decided to move to rural areas / small farms because they could leverage Starlink to work remotely. Last year, when I asked whether they still liked Starlink, all of them said it is amazing, but they had gotten fiber coverage in their area from a local provider, so they don't use it anymore, or just use it as a backup. I think Starlink was a huge demand signal that there…

Not just cruise ships, but practically every boat with a bed in it. People sailing on small boats all around the world have starlink now. It's kind of a game changer in a lot of ways for small boats.

That's easily like a what... $10 million/year market? Checks out!

(Only being snarky, obviously as a consumer it's great to have an option like this)

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

#788

Post by parineum »

inigyou wrote: post #583
sevenzero wrote: post #580

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea but it introduces a lot of issues for space travel and other satellites. The useful space in space we have is extremely limited. A single company shouldn't be able to just clutter space at will.

The best way to create change is to create the conditions where change is necessary. If Elon causes Kessler syndrome in low earth orbit, it will quickly be illegal to launch satellites without permits.

Kessler syndrome isn't possible in the StarLink orbit.

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

#789

Post by parineum »

estearum wrote: post #774
newsoftheday wrote: post #771

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm the opposite, I feel more depressed when the government controls our lives instead of hard working people who've proven themselves in the marketplace.

You know the point of democracy is that the government is also run by people who've proven themselves in a marketplace, right? It's just one where having more money doesn't entitle you to vastly more power, which is, you know... one well-established failure mode even of private marketplaces...

That chat control vote in the EU sure was sometime, wasn't it?

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

#790

Post by darth_avocado »

inglor_cz wrote: post #432
darth_avocado wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The number of people who are not covered by above-mentioned fiber/cell network, and can afford Starlink as it is priced now, will be extremely small People vastly overestimate the purchasing power in places like India. Most of the purchasing power is concentrated in the top 1% of the population and most of that 1% lives in urban areas with fiber connectivity. The bottom 90% don’t even make $1K/person/year. Even a $…

When I was a teenager in early post-Communist Czechia, Internet connection was also expensive. So what we did was that we pooled resources. Five or ten households had a common connection and shared it. I don't doubt that similar schemes will be used in Africa or India. BTW Median income in India is about $3K a year.

> BTW Median income in India is about $3K a year

I explicitly mentioned income per person. This is household income, which obviously will be higher than individual income.

And as far as connection pooling goes, India already has 88% 4G and 80% 5G coverage in the villages. Far cheaper connections are already available that are already being leveraged in a way that you describe. The market where Starlink is appealing is much smaller.

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