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Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

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Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#221

Post by seadan83 »

silisili wrote: post #18
duxup wrote: post #12

You gotta have the hardware right? Isn't this then just ... kinda a normal "free 30 days" offer? This seems not far from handing out free AOL disks, except you also need some added hardware?

They're mostly getting the hardware for free. A lot of people in TN and elsewhere are delivering and installing Starlink units for free to the disaster areas(more than the US govt), and begging Elon for free service. Seems like he or someone at Starlink was listening.

Why don't the good samaritans also pay for the service? Serious question. 300 bucks for the equipment, what is another 120 for a month? Why bring the 300 dollar kit if the service cannot be payed for?

Some folks wanted to stock up, but couldn't. [1] Storm was near the end of the month, people were waiting for their paycheck, and so just had no money to buy supplies, let alone a starlink kit or the service.

[1] source: I have family in the Asheville area. I hope to be with and helping them soon.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#222

Post by trevyn »

AlotOfReading wrote: post #131
huijzer wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oversubscription is also an issue on wired networks. It might be a problem but usually you shouldn’t notice; on wired at least. What is your extremely low customer density source? In theory they could reduce beam size and throw more satellites in space. How much they can handle is up for speculation, but your “extremely low” claim could use a source.

Do you really need a source? It's obvious from the numbers. Starlink limits to low hundreds (~300) of terminals per cell. We'll round that to 1k to be generous for future improvements. Let's say each terminal serves 4 customers. Cell size is in the neighborhood of 150 sq. mi. That's a customer density of 27 customers per sq. mi, or 9% of the density threshold for "rural areas" in the US. Using more reasonable numbers…

>Starlink limits to low hundreds (~300) of terminals per cell.

That’s… very incorrect.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#224

Post by hattmall »

jmgao wrote: post #198
threeseed wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that lands at 7.2 mbps per person Which is ridiculously poor. This would simply create a digital divide further increasing inequality in rural areas.

I'm currently paying for 2Gbps symmetric fiber via 10Gbps XGS-PON that's multiplexed to 32 users, which is a mere 39 Mbps per user. In practice, this is absolutely fine and I have never run into any bandwidth limitations, because utilization rates for regular consumers rounds to basically nothing.

Is that calculation correct? Wouldn't 10gbps be more like 300 for 32 users?

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#225

Post by seadan83 »

olouv wrote: post #120

It appears that issues with payment setup were delaying relief efforts, as indicated by this tweet: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1841207137420132549 .

My folks in the area just got power and data a day ago. That seems like a gotchya, how can you do anything for setup without power nor internet access?

This kinda feels like musk offering to help the Thai kids trapped in a cave. The "pedo" guy pointed out the offer of help was useless. If you have internet access to set up payment, then you have internet access... Am I missing something? That and a lot of folks in Appalachia didn't have money to buy supplies, let alone a starlink sub.

I do applaud any help going to the area nonetheless. I hope I'm missing some big pieces, and am started to feel this is a distraction.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#226

Post by trevyn »

AlotOfReading wrote: post #188
gpm wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That number looks to be before multiplexing, so it's not that bad. If 10% of the people in the area are using the internet at the same time (as in are actively downloading at full speed, not just are scrolling through already downloaded content) it should go up to 72 mbps per person, and so on.

It's not actually those numbers. For one thing, bandwidth is split between upload and download. 700Gbps isn't the actual capacity either, just the theoretical bandwidth. It's less in practice, limited by things like gateway capacity etc. the bandwidth also isn't evenly allocated between terminals because starlink has service tiers like other ISPs. Terminals are also not people. They're usually shared by households th…

AlotOfReading, based on your other post in this thread, your information on Starlink limits is very out of date.

Readers, I would take posts from this user with a large grain of salt.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#227

Post by trevyn »

qsdf38100 wrote: post #189
h0l0cube wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think intention matters here. It’s great for those people who are helped by Mr. Beast, but it’s coming from a place of ego and profit, not charity. Happy for those helped, but it’s still a little unseemly. However, I do think Musk genuinely likes to help people^ (e.g. Puerto Rico and Ukraine), but also I feel his response to the (valid) rejection of his help by the divers in Thailand was ungracious and maybe a litt…

[flagged]

Note that you can be anti-Russia and anti-Ukraine at the same time.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#228

Post by hattmall »

ta1243 wrote: post #179
Alupis wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can have real rural broadband today. You just need to be willing to pay for installation out of pocket. When an ISP runs fiber to a new building (be it in a business park or rural farm), the math is almost entirely based on recuperating their installation costs - which they often pay for entirely out of their pocket. Your entire first contract term is usually just paying back the installation costs alone... For s…

One wonders how we ran electricity out everywhere. Running a fibre is about the same cost as running a power cable.

That would be the REA, Rural Electrification Act, part of Roosevelt's new deal. Citizens could form co-ops and pay some of their own and get some grants from government. A very big number of those co-ops are now running fiber too.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#229

Post by seadan83 »

foobarqux wrote: post #9

Why doesn't the government have a few planes or blimps fly overhead with base stations from the major mobile carriers?

Mountains. Lots and lots of mountains.

Second, better to just plop a generator next to the existing infrastructure. The cell towers were recently "unlocked" and are serving any carrier.

Third, where are you going to base the blimps? They are not known for speed, even if you truck them in and inflate them. Part tovthis, why spend money on blimps when you can buy rescue helicopters and supply trucks instead? Comms is important, but short of the value of water rescue and food.

Four, what happens if the post hurricane weather is not favorable? Didn't hurricane Harvey last most of a week?

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#230

Post by h0l0cube »

jrflowers wrote: post #219
h0l0cube wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He likes to help people if he can come out as a hero, otherwise you’re a "pedo" I made reference to exactly this if you read carefully. I actually think this rejection is an inflection point in his behavior. He ought to have been more gracious and received the rejection without hurt to his ego (and reacting as he did). I think since then he’s wrongly viewed that event as ‘No good deed goes unpunished’ and become mo…

> I made reference to exactly this if you read carefully. > Hopefully he’s grown since then Elon Musk has been in the news pretty regularly between the Thai cave rescue and now. I am not sure how someone could have an opinion on the man that has somehow been suspended in time since 2018, but if you’re unaware of what he’s been up to since then here are some updates regarding his personal growth. https://www.vice.com/…

I’m not unaware of his behavior since, but people are complicated, so is ‘growth’, and I try to resist the urge to see only one side of the equation.
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