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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

#291

Post by quercusa »

grecy wrote: post #47
derekp7 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like to see a kit from SpaceX which provides a solar powered Starlink to LTE bridge. Such kits could be installed anywhere, and provide service to places such as farm communities (install them on top of grain silos, for example). That way Starlink could be available to more customers without them having to have their own premise equipment (beyond an LTE hotspot).

I worked for the Telco that services all of Northern Canada (world's largest operating area for a telco). We installed one of the world's first 3G towers that uses only satellite as backbone. Think fly-in only communities that are thousands of kilometers away from anything in the Arctic. Many of our sites are served by radio backhaul for that reason. The sat backhaul tower is extremely expensive and temperamental. It…

I'd like to hear some of your install stories.

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

#292

Post by kickopotomus »

curiousllama wrote: post #253
tetha wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reliable 10mbps is a stable full hd stream and 5ish mbps to spare. Easily one stable video call or two at lower quality. It'll be annoying if you want to download the latest AAA shooter coming in at dozens and dozens of gigabytes, sure. But you can do a lot at 10mbps as 1-2 people needing the uplink. That's really nice.

Totally agree. Also - my frustrations over the last few days compel me to point out that the latest AAA shooter is in fact 227 GB, plus >100GB of updates.

Has anyone come out with a reason for the size? I mean they seem to reuse a lot of the same textures throughout the game so I have a hard time understanding how it managed to swell to that.

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

#293

Post by Alupis »

crocodiletears wrote: post #232
iagovar wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't you have unlimited data plans in the US? Or local Wimax ISPs?

I can't speak for the rest of the nation, but a couple years ago the big ISPs in the midwest started phasing in 1tb data caps.

Pretty hard to eat up a 1TB Monthly Data Cap using a cell phone (the OP's situation).

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

#294

Post by TheSkyHasEyes »

11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #259

I recall when Iridium was going up, there was discussion about the complexity of the software that managed the pattern of transmitting packets among the satellites. The description indicated it was a complex software problem and they were struggling to get it right. (I went looking for articles from the time period, but couldn't track one down, however, came across MIT/Motorola FCC application for what would become I…

What happened to the Iridium satellites?

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

#295

Post by kortilla »

Frondo wrote: post #285
mmm_grayons wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> rural areas won't be safe from desperate people At least for America, most city folk don't seem to understand just how armed their rural counterparts are. They'd be pretty darn safe.

I don't know if rural folks may realize how well-armed we are in the cities. Nearly everyone I know has a gun, and none of us is the crowd you'd normally associate with gun owners in cities.

Well the the stats don’t lie. Gun ownership is significantly lower in cities than in rural areas/small towns.

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

#296

Post by busterarm »

bargl wrote: post #288
busterarm wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 o…

SpaceX can't scale regionally, they have to scale globally. The nature of their satellites is that if they want to accommodate 2x as many users in a city they have to double their capacity. The push I'm discussing is the cost to get a baseline internet out there for 10k people per 100 miles. I'm assuming the cost per last mile is higher in rural areas than in urban areas. If that's true right now the majority of our…

Yeah but we're talking about a company that has in their near-term plans the capability to _launch 4 rockets per day_.

They're completely capable of adding capacity like that and having a high satellite count.

I'm not saying that it doesn't have a cost, but they have no middleman. They don't need to buy space on somebody else's rocket. They also don't have to pay any ongoing maintenance cost beyond equipment replacement and it's much cheaper than doing it on land. I know that you have satellite experience but their launch costs are a fraction of what other companies have done till now.

I worked for a suburban, regional ILEC and our operating costs were around 100 million a year to cover like two counties of maybe 100k customers and the local businesses.

...

I actually do agree with you about costs delivering in dense markets as providing locally has certain "economy of scale" benefits. It's also not going to compete on the "Gigabit in every home" front, because I do agree that the bandwidth is more limited. Operating a local provider in general though is extremely expensive and doesn't really provide any additional benefit to the provider. SpaceX themselves have uses for this network. I also hope that I'm right here :)

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

#297

Post by Alupis »

loufe wrote: post #280
Alupis wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK maybe, but Elon promised 1Gbps speeds. 11Mbps is very, very far cry from that.

Ok, but at the same time this is the BETA period. Attacks on his claim should wait until the public availability of the service begins.

Fair enough... except everyone here is in awe of 11Mbps satellite service, as-if satellite internet is some brand new thing.

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

#298

Post by felbane »

kickopotomus wrote: post #292
curiousllama wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree. Also - my frustrations over the last few days compel me to point out that the latest AAA shooter is in fact 227 GB, plus >100GB of updates.

Has anyone come out with a reason for the size? I mean they seem to reuse a lot of the same textures throughout the game so I have a hard time understanding how it managed to swell to that.

People keep paying for it. That's pretty much it. There's no legitimate reason for a game at the resolutions common to modern consoles to be that big.

Then again, I guess you have to store all those textures for the $9.99 exclusive hot pink and baby shit yellow digital camo shotgun skin somewhere...

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

#299

Post by yencabulator »

vetinari wrote: post #121
Alupis wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And even in remote areas, building out VDSL2 networks with relatively decent speeds (200Mbps down and 100Mbps up[1]) would be better, honestly. Most homes already have a phone line and can support a DSL network... and in some countries a phone line is mandated by law, so the infrastructure already exists. But, DSL is not nearly as "sexy" as thousands of satellites... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VDSL#:~:text=VDS…

In rural areas, we have LTE-based FWA. 10 MHz wide channel with 256-QAM can push 100 Mbps down.

I'd argue if you get 100 Mbps down, you're not all that rural.

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

#300

Post by rconti »

hpkuarg wrote: post #159
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.

> over a decade to get fiber internet in the middle of Silicon Valley This is not a physics problem. This is a local government problem.

The comment was "physics being cheaper/easier"

I'm just not convinced the "physics of trenching and stringing cables from poles" (whatever we're taking this to mean) is cheaper and easier than wireless points popped up, either terrestrially or in space.

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