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Beta users of Starlink get downloads of 11 to 60 Mbps

arstechnica.com

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Re: Beta users of Starlink get downloads of 11 to 60 Mbps

#241

Post by gamblor956 »

freehunter wrote: post #207
Alupis wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For private groups, or individuals, sure you can get away with this. For a government to do this? How could that not lead to an armed conflict?

How do governments airdrop supplies into war-torn countries today? I’ll admit I’m no expert but I see headlines all the time of neutral nations sending supplies to other countries who are fighting a war and that neutral nation isn’t getting dragged into the fight.

Governments don't airdrop supplies into war-torn countries today, excepting designated UN or MSF refugee camps, and they do so with the knowledge of one or both sides of the conflict so that the supply planes don't get shot down.

I would very much like to see a headline of a neutral nation airdropping supplies into a country engaged in war without getting dragged into the conflict. I'm not aware of that having occurred in the past 4 decades.

Re: Beta users of Starlink get downloads of 11 to 60 Mbps

#242

Post by bargl »

Reason077 wrote: post #214
bargl wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If you can't get that, then maybe a cell tower is better, if that doesn't work, then a land based beaming internet may be better, after that I'd look to space based internet. It is cheaper for a company, to run fiber to your house than to build a cell tower that handles ALL the people within that region given a certain density of houses. It doesn't mean it's cheaper for your building to do it. In the context of spac…

> "companies don't "advertise" hostpots as an alternative to fiber/cable" They do around here! http://www.three.co.uk/store/broadband/home-broadband https://www.vodafone.co.uk/gigacube/

Sorry, My experience is mostly US based. I looked into this heavily in my area 2+ years ago.

T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon say their hotspots are not meant for this in my region. At least that was 2 years ago in Sub-urban Seattle and 3 years ago D.C.

Re: Beta users of Starlink get downloads of 11 to 60 Mbps

#243

Post by jedberg »

gamblor956 wrote: post #233
jedberg wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US government airdrops?

Do people not understand that satellite internet already exists today ? We don't drop satellite modems into war torn countries now, and we're not going to start doing that just because Elon Musk needs to check off one of his PR claims.

They're really expensive and big. Also, we actually do sometimes drop satellite internet into places.

Re: Beta users of Starlink get downloads of 11 to 60 Mbps

#244

Post by randomdata »

CarelessExpert wrote: post #70
hesdeadjim wrote: post #53

Anyone complaining about this has never experienced the frustration of rural living when it comes to internet. This is absolutely amazing, and it will just get better. Even a reliable 10mbps would be a godsend in many places.

Honestly, one of the barriers to my moving to a more rural area and working remotely was broadband access, but Starlink could very well solve that problem...

As long as you are willing to be somewhat discriminating, you can find rural areas with great internet service. My farm has a fibre connection and the ISP offers 100/100 service. If you travel a few miles down the road, the ISP there will provide gigabit service.

Re: Beta users of Starlink get downloads of 11 to 60 Mbps

#245

Post by bargl »

busterarm wrote: post #240
bargl wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>A lot of what you're saying isn't actually true here. You're talking latency not bandwidth. There is only so much spectrum to go around. My understanding is that there is only a certain amount of bandwidth to go around and there are diminishing returns on adding people beyond a set capacity. I am not arguing that fiber is faster, I'm arguing that fiber has is cheaper at the bandwidth/cost in more dense areas. I don'…

I worked for an ILEC providing cable/dsl/fiber service and just the rough napkin math around SpaceX's launch costs makes it look significantly cheaper. Besides the whole digging and laying cable costs, last mile work is expensive. You have to employ huge crews. Construction crews constantly dig up & cut your infrastructure "by accident" and the cost of recovering the fines from them is as much as the fines pay out. H…

>last mile work is expensive.

What do you mean there?

Re: Beta users of Starlink get downloads of 11 to 60 Mbps

#246

Post by semicolon_storm »

iaw wrote: post #237

Latency runs 31 mS to 70 mS in the speedtests shown. I don't buy their claims that you can game with >100 mS latency, that is not a good experience. This is a great step forward for internet accessibility but I really wish they wouldn't oversell the capabilities before we're there.

As someone who lives in the middle of the ocean with ~70ms to the nearest major data center, you get used to it.

You’re at a disadvantage to people with low ping, but it’s certainly not unplayable.

Re: Beta users of Starlink get downloads of 11 to 60 Mbps

#248

Post by busterarm »

bargl wrote: post #245
busterarm wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked for an ILEC providing cable/dsl/fiber service and just the rough napkin math around SpaceX's launch costs makes it look significantly cheaper. Besides the whole digging and laying cable costs, last mile work is expensive. You have to employ huge crews. Construction crews constantly dig up & cut your infrastructure "by accident" and the cost of recovering the fines from them is as much as the fines pay out. H…

>last mile work is expensive. What do you mean there?

SpaceX isn't doing the install work work on these Starlink kits. They just sell you some hardware.

If you're a terrestrial-based internet provider, you need a fleet of installers and they also have to do constant maintenance work. They have salaries and they make (lots of) overtime pay. At a lot of the smaller companies (like the one I worked at) they have pensions. We had a lot of guys who started with the company out of high school, retired at 20 years, came back as contractors for a year and then did another 20 years and got a second pension from the same company...

And a couple of those guys are still contracting after their two pensions.

Re: Beta users of Starlink get downloads of 11 to 60 Mbps

#249

Post by Teknoman117 »

The latency here is the main takeaway for me. It's phenomenal for a space based system.

I spent some time at my parents cabin during the quarantine and the only option there is satellite internet. SSH with a ping of multiple seconds is rather frustrating. That and all the systems which have bad bandwidth because that much latency makes them think they've lost connection.

As my parents are both techies, they are desperately hoping they're accepted into the beta.

Re: Beta users of Starlink get downloads of 11 to 60 Mbps

#250

Post by nradov »

bargl wrote: post #71
rconti wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

are the physics of cables cheaper and easier? Took me, what, over a decade to get fiber internet in the middle of Silicon Valley.

Yes. All this beaming technology is available on earth (4g/5g) but we don't use it for our home internet... Why is that? Cost of bandwith per person to infrastructure. If you're in Silicon Valley then you probably get GREAT cell service, why not use a hotspot as your internet. That signal to your phone is orders of magnitude cheaper than space based signal.

If you go just a few miles into the hills south and west of Silicon Valley there are huge dead zones.
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