41–50 of 67 posts
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Starlink is not as amazing as it's made out to be. There have been many LEO constellations before it, but due to the space industry as a whole being unattractive to investors, it didn't get any attention until musk got into it. Starlink as a technology is nothing new; what is new is their launch cadence that gives them the ability to put so many satellites into space. They are still not making money and will require…
> Starlink as a technology is nothing new Dishy is the first phased array antenna widely available to consumers, as far as I know. Starlink is the first low orbit massive satellite constellation. The scale is truly new. The older geostationary communication satellites are a distinctly different system.
Dishy is the first phased array antenna that was willing to take a huge loss on each sale to consumers. This goes back to the point of getting VC and FCC money to subsidize the service. The estimated cost of the dish is still $1100-$2000 since SpaceX doesn't have any phased array technology that's proprietary, so at $500 they're taking a loss.
> Starlink is the first low orbit massive satellite constellation
Massive is a property of the launch cadence and not anything specific to the satellites.
> The older geostationary communication satellites are a distinctly different system.
What is different about the satellites compared to something like Iridium, O3b, Intelsat, etc?
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That's not how VC investments work
Lots of VCs will happily eat a loss for many years if it gives them a larger piece of the future pie. See Uber.
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> Starlink as a technology is nothing new Dishy is the first phased array antenna widely available to consumers, as far as I know. Starlink is the first low orbit massive satellite constellation. The scale is truly new. The older geostationary communication satellites are a distinctly different system.
> Dishy is the first phased array antenna widely available to consumers, as far as I know. Dishy is the first phased array antenna that was willing to take a huge loss on each sale to consumers. This goes back to the point of getting VC and FCC money to subsidize the service. The estimated cost of the dish is still $1100-$2000 since SpaceX doesn't have any phased array technology that's proprietary, so at $500 they'r…
The fact that I can get a 210+ Mbps bandwidth[1] for a monthly cost comparable to the cheapest alternative ISP available to me (which forces 10 Mbps cap on me)?
How much would it cost to blast that speed for 24 hours on Iridium? Trick question, Iridium is "176 Kbps to 704 Kbps"!
[1]: Just ran a speed test for that number, it's actual not theoretical.
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Lots of VCs will happily eat a loss for many years if it gives them a larger piece of the future pie. See Uber.
Nobody was arguing that point. I'm disputing the fact that Starlink, as a satellite internet service technology, is doing anything new. The launch cadence due to SpaceX's progress on rockets has nothing to do with the Starlink side.
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Nobody was arguing that point. I'm disputing the fact that Starlink, as a satellite internet service technology, is doing anything new. The launch cadence due to SpaceX's progress on rockets has nothing to do with the Starlink side.
Show me a non-Starlink satellite internet service widely available that can reach 200+ Mbps for a smallish fixed monthly cost.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/09/ookla-starlinks-...
Starlink's median download speeds in the US dropped from 90.6Mbps to 62.5Mbps between the first and second quarters of 2022, according to Ookla speed tests.
Satellite broadband has been able to hit 200Mbps to a single terminal for over a decade, but it makes no business sense to do that. This is why Starlink speeds are slowly degrading to where legacy satellite companies are. So having an anecdote from 4 years ago where the first Starlink terminals hit those speeds has really no basis in reality today as the system fills up.
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Show me a non-Starlink satellite internet service widely available that can reach 200+ Mbps for a smallish fixed monthly cost.
Ah, but anecdotes don't mean reality: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/09/ookla-starlinks-... Starlink's median download speeds in the US dropped from 90.6Mbps to 62.5Mbps between the first and second quarters of 2022, according to Ookla speed tests. Satellite broadband has been able to hit 200Mbps to a single terminal for over a decade, but it makes no business sense to do that. This is why Starlink speeds a…
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> Dishy is the first phased array antenna widely available to consumers, as far as I know. Dishy is the first phased array antenna that was willing to take a huge loss on each sale to consumers. This goes back to the point of getting VC and FCC money to subsidize the service. The estimated cost of the dish is still $1100-$2000 since SpaceX doesn't have any phased array technology that's proprietary, so at $500 they'r…
Once again, the scale changes things. The fact that I can get a 210+ Mbps bandwidth[1] for a monthly cost comparable to the cheapest alternative ISP available to me (which forces 10 Mbps cap on me)? How much would it cost to blast that speed for 24 hours on Iridium? Trick question, Iridium is "176 Kbps to 704 Kbps"! [1]: Just ran a speed test for that number, it's actual not theoretical.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37250468
You can say 210Mbps all you want, but that's simply not even close to what most starlink users get.
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Ah, but anecdotes don't mean reality: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/09/ookla-starlinks-... Starlink's median download speeds in the US dropped from 90.6Mbps to 62.5Mbps between the first and second quarters of 2022, according to Ookla speed tests. Satellite broadband has been able to hit 200Mbps to a single terminal for over a decade, but it makes no business sense to do that. This is why Starlink speeds a…
Anecdote from 4 years ago? I ran that speedtest while writing the comment. You're blinded by your hate.
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Anecdote from 4 years ago? I ran that speedtest while writing the comment. You're blinded by your hate.
I'm not sure how many times you want me to repeat the same comment, but anecdotes don't match reality. Ookla and the FAA consistently show Starlink speeds on the decline to about 1/3 of what you're seeing for most users. The fact that you're in a (temporarily) uncongested area doesn't mean your speeds will stay what they are.
What me being in a relatively uncongested area means is that I'm exactly the kind of customer Starlink was meant for...