Africans Are Turning to Starlink

Post by Tepix » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 2:51 AM UTC

uxhacker wrote: post #103

Polizeiposaune wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once the birds are in orbit, satellite internet is vastly superior to fiber in speed of deployment. Fiber requires custom engineering at the city block level and a single rotten utility pole can block deployment. I say this as someone who waited for fiber and is happily using it now.

So in Poland with Starlink I easily get 120 mbp/s but often in Kenya which I visit the maximum speed is just 10 mbp/s. Often the local 5g network is faster. The reason I believe that this is the case is dues to congestion on the Starlink network in Kenya. Ie. too many users in Kenya.

Post by Dylan16807 » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 2:55 AM UTC

fluoridation wrote: post #127

sephamorr wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The max steering angles of the phased arrays are much higher, the diameter is at least 10x what you say. And for the last few years, lasercoms can route traffic inside the constellation so a given sat doesn't need to be within sight of a ground station.

>The max steering angles of the phased arrays are much higher You can't steer the antenna back and forth for every exchange between station and customer. What the steering may get you is increasing the coverage of an area currently underserved by the constellation, and maybe a slight increase in diameter of ground covered due to the geometry, at the cost of lower signal strength. >And for the last few years, lasercom…

Post by zdragnar » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 3:01 AM UTC

from_memory wrote: post #132

zuzululu wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

man I am happy to hear that. in Europe there is still widespread cynicism and vitrol against anything Elon Musk especially Starlink. I think that many people appreciate Starlink in rural parts but your story is one of many that are just amazing

I get that he is an ignoble dude, and I dislike him as much as anyone, but why do we judge an entire company by the largest shareholder's personal scruples? There are likely thousands of hardworking people making that ship sail, and it's really short sighted to just write them all off because he is a dumbass. We are SO ready to judge but so unwilling to THINK. Why?

Post by elcritch » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 3:10 AM UTC

fluoridation wrote: post #128

fragmede wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intuitively, what's the cost to get to orbit? SpaceX's Falcon reusable rocket lowered the cost to get to space by an order of magnitude or so, so you have to factor that in.

I only counted the cost of the satellite itself. I assumed you can get it into orbit for free, so if it costs a cent more than that, it's a further argument against.

Post by dmix » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 3:12 AM UTC

zuzululu wrote: post #126

rayiner wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Starlink shout out! My brother in law worked on a salmon fishing boat in Alaska a couple of summers ago. They are at sea for weeks and keep fishing until the boat is full. He's done crabbing trips before and was basically out of communication for a month. On this trip, they had Starlink and were able to send us pictures and even FaceTime. Starlink delivered a huge quality of life improvement to guys who work…

man I am happy to hear that. in Europe there is still widespread cynicism and vitrol against anything Elon Musk especially Starlink. I think that many people appreciate Starlink in rural parts but your story is one of many that are just amazing