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FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

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Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#111

Post by walrus01 »

ArlenBales wrote: post #88

As a hiker who likes to spend many nights camping out in the remote wilderness, this will be a blessing but also a curse. I'll be able to stay connected to family and friends, and have emergency services and information available if necessary, but at the same time I'll have Hacker News and Reddit distractions - but inevitably this is the way the future will be, so it's time to get used to it. At least when going on a…

What you want is an Iridium 9575 handheld phone, or the model that they release when the Iridium NEXT constellation comes fully online and they start turning off the old satellites. This is not going to be for handheld satellite phones or things that weigh less than maybe 7-10 kilograms.

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#112

Post by walrus01 »

vvanders wrote: post #24

Reading the full document[1] is really interesting. Lots of details about the potential technical problems, timelines and a couple requests to deny the application. [1] https://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/201...

Oneweb and Telesat intend to build LEO polar orbit satellite networks that are, architecturally, very similar. Their objections are mostly about interference and spectrum use. If all three projects come to fruition and actually build thousands of satellites and launch them, we could be looking at not just spacex's 4,000+ satellite in polar LEO, but several thousand more from oneweb and telesat as well.

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#113

Post by thebigspacefuck »

walrus01 wrote: post #63
clay_the_ripper wrote: post #34

Please tell me that this means Comcast will go out of business. Oh man. The excitement I would feel at watching them go down...

Satellite can be amazing tech. But it's still not going to be the best viable option for high bandwidth connections in medium to large sized cities. As companies like centurylink build GPON and 10GPON based FTTH networks (example: Capitol, Hill, Seattle) it's quite possible to do 900 x 900 Mbps symmetric, though slightly oversubscribed, residential connections. DOCSIS3.1 over old copper coax cable, with enough RF cha…

The newest Viasat plans are 100 Gb soft data cap for 100/mo at 50 Mbps

https://www.exede.com/plan-results/gold50/

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#114

Post by zpr »

seatotree wrote: post #101
unepipe wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will not affect it in any way. They have released their plans for Starlink and there will be a "blackout" zone over China, so China doesn't shoot down their satellites. In 2007, China shot down FY-1C as a test of a kinetic kill vehicle (leaving tons of high speed space debris). Unless they receive approval from China to broadcast, they won't over China. Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-internet-satell…

If China shoots down a SpaceX satellite, that is an act of war against the United States. China wouldn’t risk it. This is a great opportunity to break the great firewall and finally give the Chinese people access to unfiltered information.

Which might be seen as a provocation by the Chinese Government of the US to destabilize it's citizens.

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#115

Post by btian »

seatotree wrote: post #101
unepipe wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will not affect it in any way. They have released their plans for Starlink and there will be a "blackout" zone over China, so China doesn't shoot down their satellites. In 2007, China shot down FY-1C as a test of a kinetic kill vehicle (leaving tons of high speed space debris). Unless they receive approval from China to broadcast, they won't over China. Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-internet-satell…

If China shoots down a SpaceX satellite, that is an act of war against the United States. China wouldn’t risk it. This is a great opportunity to break the great firewall and finally give the Chinese people access to unfiltered information.

China absolutely will. And if SpaceX were to beam internet over North Korea, then NK will shoot it down too.

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#116

Post by walrus01 »

thebigspacefuck wrote: post #113
walrus01 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Satellite can be amazing tech. But it's still not going to be the best viable option for high bandwidth connections in medium to large sized cities. As companies like centurylink build GPON and 10GPON based FTTH networks (example: Capitol, Hill, Seattle) it's quite possible to do 900 x 900 Mbps symmetric, though slightly oversubscribed, residential connections. DOCSIS3.1 over old copper coax cable, with enough RF cha…

The newest Viasat plans are 100 Gb soft data cap for 100/mo at 50 Mbps https://www.exede.com/plan-results/gold50/

Yes, but same general idea. It's 100GB, not 100Gb. Compared to terrestrial based networks it's not much - very easy to do far more than 100GB/mo with a land based WISP that offers last mile connections of 15 Mbps down x 6 Mbps up.

The oversubscription for consumer grade VSAT services is an economic necessity, based on the fact that with current technology and launch costs, it's a $150 to $200 million project to build and launch a new 5000-6000 kilogram high powered satellite into geostationary orbit. It will have an estimated 15 year usable lifespan.

viasat-2 weighs 6400 kg: http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/viasat-2.htm

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#117

Post by jperras »

walrus01 wrote: post #63
clay_the_ripper wrote: post #34

Please tell me that this means Comcast will go out of business. Oh man. The excitement I would feel at watching them go down...

Satellite can be amazing tech. But it's still not going to be the best viable option for high bandwidth connections in medium to large sized cities. As companies like centurylink build GPON and 10GPON based FTTH networks (example: Capitol, Hill, Seattle) it's quite possible to do 900 x 900 Mbps symmetric, though slightly oversubscribed, residential connections. DOCSIS3.1 over old copper coax cable, with enough RF cha…

> The capacity constrains on traditional geostationary consumer grade VSAT services result in terrible things (TDMA oversubscription that pushes latency to 1150ms during peak hours), and things like 20GB/month transfer quotas. That's for a typical $100/month, 24 or 36-month term with the latest generation of Viasat's services.

I live in a rural town. This is most definitely the status quo, and your description might actually be rosier than what happens in reality. It's quite a stark difference compared to the +100Mbps fiber connection that you can get about 60 minutes away in the city.

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#118

Post by walrus01 »

jperras wrote: post #117
walrus01 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Satellite can be amazing tech. But it's still not going to be the best viable option for high bandwidth connections in medium to large sized cities. As companies like centurylink build GPON and 10GPON based FTTH networks (example: Capitol, Hill, Seattle) it's quite possible to do 900 x 900 Mbps symmetric, though slightly oversubscribed, residential connections. DOCSIS3.1 over old copper coax cable, with enough RF cha…

> The capacity constrains on traditional geostationary consumer grade VSAT services result in terrible things (TDMA oversubscription that pushes latency to 1150ms during peak hours), and things like 20GB/month transfer quotas. That's for a typical $100/month, 24 or 36-month term with the latest generation of Viasat's services. I live in a rural town. This is most definitely the status quo, and your description might…

yes... From a US consumer perspective, although I work in two way satellite but not in consumer-facing stuff, I've experienced it in places in Idaho where a whole town's population is 150 people.

There are some "middle of the night" lows in traffic use where a few of the consumer VSAT operators offer quota-free traffic. Can be used with bittorrent clients that support time-based scheduling and automatic pausing such as to download a few episodes of your favorite TV show between 0100 and 0445 every morning.

But during peak evening hours, for human-interactive use like web browsing, it's generally going to be a miserable experience.

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#119

Post by LeoPanthera »

drcross wrote: post #62
LeoPanthera wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that mean, once you have a satellite in orbit, you can transmit anything into any country?

Most likely you'll need to buy spectrum wherever you plan to do this.

So you do need a license from every country?

Re: FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

#120

Post by aphextron »

mirimir wrote: post #102
psisbwvaiia wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it indefensible to defend your nation’s sovereignty. Many nations have google maps blur out their military bases for example. I’m sure lots of North Americans wouldn’t want Chinese satellites overhead for concern of privacy. I mean, generating tons of space junk is not cool. But what else are you going to do if others are lurking on your airspace? It is going to be shift is policy though. We are going to need…

How far does "airspace" extend? I can see that for low orbit, but geostationary?

The SpaceX satellites won’t be in GTO, they will be in LEO, around 600 miles altitude. Well within kill range for ballistic missiles.
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