281–290 of 541 posts
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This seems very much like a beta-only limitation though.
> beta-only limitation though There's no way you are crossing borders with it and transmitting from a country where it's not approved.
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It needs to be able to tilt and angle itself. Trees cannot be in the way. 11GHz+ doesn't like trees.
It tries to give itself an optimal angle but it doesn't move while operating and the satellites are zipping in and out of its beamforming cone all the time anyway. The technology is capable of running with a flat mount.
I live in a remote town in the North Cascades in Washington State in the US and know about a dozen folks who have had Starlink for a few months now. I'm lucky enough to have line of sight to a tower on a mountain 6 miles away so I can have consistent service from a local ISP and haven't had to rely on sats. But it's a game changer for those who aren't as lucky as I. It still drops a lot which obviously causes problem…
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probably less (literal) bandwidth, lasers are expensive
That and because the atmosphere is not clear (this is why 1Gbps free space laser network bridges have very limited range), the links from satellite to earth in any rf band will be very small in capacity as compared to a singlemode fiber cable. Space to space lasers, sure... Much clearer.
Curious to see how this plays out in a country like mine (India) where the government loves [1] to shut off Internet access on the flimsiest of excuses. Everything from entire states (like Kashmir), to few localities (farmer protests around Delhi) have had their mobile Internet access switched off because the government likes to curtail communication when it suits them. [1] https://www.indiatoday.in/diu/story/more-th…
Great point. It'll be interesting to see what China does.
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It tries to give itself an optimal angle but it doesn't move while operating and the satellites are zipping in and out of its beamforming cone all the time anyway. The technology is capable of running with a flat mount.
Right now a terminal even at 48.9 latitude angles itself somewhat north, because the greatest simultaneous density of satellites at any moment in time is around 52.5 to 53 degrees north. If you mount it flat and don't allow it to move, who knows what starlink will change in the future architecture. They included the servo motor geared pan and tilt mechanism for a reason. Maybe later it will reorient itself differentl…
The ability to align itself allows for mildly to moderately improved reception. It's more cost-effective than improving the beamforming, and easier for the user. It's a good feature. But the terminal doesn't need it to work. (On a hardware level. Any possible software lockout is a separate issue.)
What most people don't understand, is that Starlink is a military first service. Their primary customer is the US military. The most obvious application is UAVs where latency is critical. The consumer part is probably just marketing. It doesn't make much economic sense. Imagine they wanted to launch 1000s of classified military satellites. Everyone would be opposed.
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> increasingly uses CGN technologies (90% for mobile internet and 50% for fixed line) https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/are-you-sharing-...
I's 50%, i would not call that "not a thing in many countries" For mobile, it does not usually matter, you have a smartphone, where you would not host something.
Curious to see how this plays out in a country like mine (India) where the government loves [1] to shut off Internet access on the flimsiest of excuses. Everything from entire states (like Kashmir), to few localities (farmer protests around Delhi) have had their mobile Internet access switched off because the government likes to curtail communication when it suits them. [1] https://www.indiatoday.in/diu/story/more-th…