SpaceX Starlink average speedtest is 42.3Mbps down / 9.7 Mbps up • Hacker News Board

Re: SpaceX Starlink average speedtest is 42.3Mbps down / 9.7 Mbps up

#51

Post by kumarvvr » Thu, Aug 27, 2020, 9:17 AM UTC

tfehring wrote: post #45

kumarvvr wrote: post #4

This is amazing. I know there will be latency issues, but for majority of web browsing, videos, etc, it shouldn't matter. We are entering the era of spacenet and the future looks bright. Imagine having devices as small as phones or set-top boxes that can directly access internet using satellites. It would lead to a revolution in many industries.

Genuine question - why is it a given that there will be latency issues? It looks like the satellites are only ~350 miles, or a little less than 2 light-milliseconds, from Earth's surface.

The issue is with overall latency.

User -> Satellite -> multiple hops between satellites (as they are orbiting earth and the right one has to be selected to relay data to -> earth DNS servers -> multiple hops across internet -> satellite -> user

Additional latency is introduced due to satellites and the grid between the satellites, as well as complications from rotation of satellites.

Re: SpaceX Starlink average speedtest is 42.3Mbps down / 9.7 Mbps up

#52

Post by realchucknorris » Thu, Aug 27, 2020, 9:18 AM UTC

wondering how many down-link stations they have. this will be v. interesting when it comes to latency vs current solutions.

Re: SpaceX Starlink average speedtest is 42.3Mbps down / 9.7 Mbps up

#53

Post by porker » Thu, Aug 27, 2020, 9:18 AM UTC

This is only a few Mbps slower than my Fibre-to-the-Cabinet broadband in the UK provides. And I'm living in a town; plenty of rural areas are much slower.

Re: SpaceX Starlink average speedtest is 42.3Mbps down / 9.7 Mbps up

#54

Post by kome » Thu, Aug 27, 2020, 9:18 AM UTC

I prefer a clean sky and earth telescopes to work instead of 42.3Mbps down / 9.7 Mbps up.

see: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02480-5

Re: SpaceX Starlink average speedtest is 42.3Mbps down / 9.7 Mbps up

#55

Post by zhte415 » Thu, Aug 27, 2020, 9:20 AM UTC

Fantastic. I'm keenly curious on how this will work with national regulations. Having a single global ISP is very attractive on the surface and that's with the huge caveat on monopoly, but as an additional option. I'm just not sure how this will interact with some nations' policy/restrictions. Looking at this aspect very much.

Re: SpaceX Starlink average speedtest is 42.3Mbps down / 9.7 Mbps up

#56

Post by eecc » Thu, Aug 27, 2020, 9:20 AM UTC

Torkel wrote: post #15

Zr40 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would HFT even consider using it? They are located as close as possible to the exchange they operate on, not across states or halfway across the world.

Same stock is listed in more than one place, and also e.g. stock movements in NY affect stocks in London. There are undersea cables built for this purpose: https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a...

What a waste of human ingenuity. And I thought ad-tech was bad enough

Re: SpaceX Starlink average speedtest is 42.3Mbps down / 9.7 Mbps up

#57

Post by kaliszad » Thu, Aug 27, 2020, 9:21 AM UTC

endogui wrote: post #33

Zr40 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would HFT even consider using it? They are located as close as possible to the exchange they operate on, not across states or halfway across the world.

HFT have installed microwave relays between Chicago and New York and between London and Berlin to arbitrage on the 47% fiber optic delay between the exchanges. A LEO satellite relay serves the same purpose. I can see London to New York, New York to Tokyo fiber connections being superceded by LEO satellite.

If you mean Deutsche Börse AG, than that would be Frankfurt am Main and not Berlin which is a slight difference of about 400 km. Frankfurt to London is actually a shorter distance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stock_exchanges

Re: SpaceX Starlink average speedtest is 42.3Mbps down / 9.7 Mbps up

#58

Post by chrisco255 » Thu, Aug 27, 2020, 9:22 AM UTC

moritonal wrote: post #20

kumarvvr wrote: post #4

This is amazing. I know there will be latency issues, but for majority of web browsing, videos, etc, it shouldn't matter. We are entering the era of spacenet and the future looks bright. Imagine having devices as small as phones or set-top boxes that can directly access internet using satellites. It would lead to a revolution in many industries.

Could you expand on which industries will be improved? My normal life is covered entirely by 4G, with 5G now appearing. I guess you mean things like internet on planes, shipping internet, off-shore rigs? But what things can't they do at the moment because of prohibitorily slow/costly satellite internet?

Tons of areas have either no 4G at all or the signal is too weak to work fast.

Re: SpaceX Starlink average speedtest is 42.3Mbps down / 9.7 Mbps up

#59

Post by baq » Thu, Aug 27, 2020, 9:24 AM UTC

mollusca wrote: post #18

The true question is: may I be able to play an online video game in the deep Sahara before the modern human civilization collapses?

50ms ping should be reasonable for most games.

whippersnappers who complain about 20ms ping should watch some quakeworld or quake 3 cpma where this dude rat used to destroy everyone on 300ms.

Re: SpaceX Starlink average speedtest is 42.3Mbps down / 9.7 Mbps up

#60

Post by de_watcher » Thu, Aug 27, 2020, 9:24 AM UTC

kome wrote: post #54

I prefer a clean sky and earth telescopes to work instead of 42.3Mbps down / 9.7 Mbps up. see: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02480-5

I prefer an orbital ring already across the entire sky.