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Setting up Starlink

jeffgeerling.com

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Re: Setting up Starlink

#21

Post by izacus »

_ph_ wrote: post #8
person_of_color wrote: post #5

The prices aren’t competitive for metros.. what am I missing?

That this works on most of the planet. If you can get fibre or good DSL for a reasonable price, take that. But even in the US large parts don't have fibre available, especially in rural locations. Many countries don't have any networking infrastructure. It will be a total game changer once mobile versions (airplanes, ships, yachts) become available.

The question is: will this stall development of more scalable fibre optic infrastructure and municipal fiber - to support a proprietary single corporation solution?

Re: Setting up Starlink

#22

Post by mensetmanusman »

tyingq wrote: post #3

Aside: The router design is as impractical as it is futuristic. The thing would fall over if you looked at it sideways, and the solitary LED on the front was hard to see unless in a dark room or looking closely, straight at it. Hopefully a 2nd iteration will be better! Wow, he's right about the shape of the router. It also looks like it forces the ethernet cable in front if you want to be able to see the LED, and the…

I use the command interlocking strips for all my devices that I want standing up: https://www.command.com/3M/en_US/command/products/~/Command-...

E.g. putting echo dots near a ceiling, or little lamps in a spot to prevent tipping by children, for routers to stand, etc.

I like the satisfyingly ‘click’ when things are in place :)

Re: Setting up Starlink

#23

Post by rcxdude »

person_of_color wrote: post #5

The prices aren’t competitive for metros.. what am I missing?

Metros are not the target market at all, in part because starlink (nor any other satellite internet) cannot serve above a certain density of customers (because there's only so focused you can make radio waves). Even with their planned upgrades and perfectly even distribution of their customers across the continental US, starlink could not serve more than a few percent of households. (Even Musk has said that it is not competition for the big ISPs, but that hasn't stopped a hype machine on the internet for assuming it will be).

Re: Setting up Starlink

#24

Post by tw04 »

tyingq wrote: post #3

Aside: The router design is as impractical as it is futuristic. The thing would fall over if you looked at it sideways, and the solitary LED on the front was hard to see unless in a dark room or looking closely, straight at it. Hopefully a 2nd iteration will be better! Wow, he's right about the shape of the router. It also looks like it forces the ethernet cable in front if you want to be able to see the LED, and the…

>Wow, he's right about the shape of the router. It also looks like it forces the ethernet cable in front if you want to be able to see the LED, and the cable itself is pointed downward: https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/8430831598574092393.jpg

I'm not sure the image you link is a fair representation of the router. The one he actually shows is SIGNFICANTLY shorter/smaller/wider and honestly while it's similar it's a different shape.

https://i.imgur.com/Pdw4cAf.jpeg

Re: Setting up Starlink

#25

Post by mikepurvis »

nevi-me wrote: post #10

The cell grouping is interesting. A colleague likes the outdoors, so he's preordered one for his Suzuki Jimny, to mount on it. I wonder if Starlink are considering this use case. I haven't been able to preorder mine, because we're planning on moving out from the city to a small village next year, but the Starlink website requires a street address. Our villages are quite primitive, no street names (I think it's cos no…

I imagine they'll eventually have more expensive plans available for mobile/roaming applications, but obviously you want a well spread base load to avoid saturating any one area. It sounds from some of the other posts like they also do a bunch of active assignment/handoff stuff as the satellites pass, and that gets a lot more complicated once you're also accounting for moving ground stations.

Re: Setting up Starlink

#26

Post by JohnJamesRambo »

eyesee wrote: post #7
person_of_color wrote: post #5

The prices aren’t competitive for metros.. what am I missing?

Metro areas aren’t the target. There is a large, underserved market that doesn’t have access to broadband internet, and for those customers this is a breakthrough.

It’s sad that it is even necessary in the US. Telcos were given massive amounts of money by the government with promises they would do this and then they simply didn’t and said cell phone service was good enough. I would posit that a populace educated on cell phone internet is largely responsible for the rise in intense anti-science stupidity and lack of fact checking we are experiencing. People on phones are too easy to manipulate and sway, the ad giants have mastered it.

Re: Setting up Starlink

#27

Post by [deleted] »

nevi-me wrote: post #10

The cell grouping is interesting. A colleague likes the outdoors, so he's preordered one for his Suzuki Jimny, to mount on it. I wonder if Starlink are considering this use case. I haven't been able to preorder mine, because we're planning on moving out from the city to a small village next year, but the Starlink website requires a street address. Our villages are quite primitive, no street names (I think it's cos no…

[deleted]

Re: Setting up Starlink

#28

Post by xbmcuser »

gerikson wrote: post #9
person_of_color wrote: post #5

The prices aren’t competitive for metros.. what am I missing?

Isn't starlink a service aimed at areas that can't easily get the sort of internet service that's cheap to provide to metro areas (i.e. rural areas)?

You still need fiber to the towers for good connectivity. The amount of infrastructure needed to install even for 4g in remote areas is very expensive compared to these now that spacex can get the satellites up for very cheap as secondary payload with the most of the expense is borne by the primary payloads.

Re: Setting up Starlink

#29

Post by TheWoolRug »

nevi-me wrote: post #10

The cell grouping is interesting. A colleague likes the outdoors, so he's preordered one for his Suzuki Jimny, to mount on it. I wonder if Starlink are considering this use case. I haven't been able to preorder mine, because we're planning on moving out from the city to a small village next year, but the Starlink website requires a street address. Our villages are quite primitive, no street names (I think it's cos no…

You can put a google plus code (like coordinates) into the starlink address finder for places without street addresses.

Re: Setting up Starlink

#30

Post by tyingq »

tw04 wrote: post #24
tyingq wrote: post #3

Aside: The router design is as impractical as it is futuristic. The thing would fall over if you looked at it sideways, and the solitary LED on the front was hard to see unless in a dark room or looking closely, straight at it. Hopefully a 2nd iteration will be better! Wow, he's right about the shape of the router. It also looks like it forces the ethernet cable in front if you want to be able to see the LED, and the…

>Wow, he's right about the shape of the router. It also looks like it forces the ethernet cable in front if you want to be able to see the LED, and the cable itself is pointed downward: https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/8430831598574092393.jpg I'm not sure the image you link is a fair representation of the router. The one he actually shows is SIGNFICANTLY shorter/smaller/wider and honestly while it's similar it's a diff…

Hrm, okay. Linked to a different image that shows the shape from two different aspects.
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