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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

#81

Post by Alupis »

LinuxBender wrote: post #72
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…

True, but their first customer is the U.S. Army which tells me this networks primary purpose is the same as the original intent of the internet itself. A mobile network that is available and reliable anywhere. Civilians usually get to do all the beta testing and provide feedback that improves the technology. Also many of the places I have been looking at moving to don't even have POTS lines. This would fill the gap w…

> Also many of the places I have been looking at moving to don't even have POTS lines

Where are you, if you don't mind telling. I had thought, perhaps incorrectly, that in the US it was required by law to have POTS lines run to all homes - which led to it being installed during construction.

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

#82

Post by gamblor956 »

For comparison, DSL is 1.5 Mbps. 4g is between 5Mbps and 12 Mbps (up to 50Mbps in burst mode), while 5g generally starts at 50Mbps. Cable internet is usually 25 Mbps, and up to 1 Gbps if you're willing to pay, and fiber is up to 10 Gbps if you're lucky enough to live in an area with fiber built out to your home.

So in other words, Starlink is useful if you live too far away from a major residential center to have access to better and cheaper forms of internet access.

There aren't enough people in the US or EU that live in rural areas far from decent internet connections for Starlink to be more than a tiny fraction of the ISP market.

On top of that, unlike existing forms of internet access, Starlink is susceptible to weather conditions.

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

#83

Post by Alupis »

jedberg wrote: post #73
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…

I think they serve different purposes. Satellites serve areas where they can't run wires or it's insanely expensive for too few people. Think very rural areas and war torn areas. Imagine being able to get unblocked internet in China by using satellites? Or in Belarus. Or the middle of Amazon (rainforest)?

Will Starlink even be able to legally sell internet services in China? Would they not have to comply with CCP's censorship policies and disconnect people at their will?

I strongly disagree with CCP's policies here, but that's not for us to decide.

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

#84

Post by arcticbull »

gamblor956 wrote: post #82

For comparison, DSL is 1.5 Mbps. 4g is between 5Mbps and 12 Mbps (up to 50Mbps in burst mode), while 5g generally starts at 50Mbps. Cable internet is usually 25 Mbps, and up to 1 Gbps if you're willing to pay, and fiber is up to 10 Gbps if you're lucky enough to live in an area with fiber built out to your home. So in other words, Starlink is useful if you live too far away from a major residential center to have acc…

> There aren't enough people in the US or EU that live in rural areas far from decent internet connections for Starlink to be more than a tiny fraction of the ISP market.

Oh, I'm not sure that's true. 41,000,000 Americans don't have access to broadband [1]. That's the entire population of Canada and then some.

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-19/where-the...

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

#85

Post by bargl »

jedberg wrote: post #78
bargl wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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're in Silicon Valley then you probably get GREAT cell service You'd think so, but we have the same problems as everyone else. In fact, I get much better reception in Sacramento and Las Vegas than in the Bay Area.

No, you don't have the same problems as everywhere else. You said it took 10 years to get fiber, there are rural places where that's not an option.

There are places where there is no sewer and houses must have septic.

There are places where there is no water and houses must have wells / rain capture.

Those are the target audience for this technology. Not people who are waiting to go from 60 -> 100 -> 1000 Mbps. This won't compete there, not based on the specs of these satellites and their 10 year plan.

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

#86

Post by gamblor956 »

jedberg wrote: post #73
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…

I think they serve different purposes. Satellites serve areas where they can't run wires or it's insanely expensive for too few people. Think very rural areas and war torn areas. Imagine being able to get unblocked internet in China by using satellites? Or in Belarus. Or the middle of Amazon (rainforest)?

People keep bringing that up as a common use case, but how do you propose that people in China or wartorn countries will get their hands on the modems they would need to use Starlink?

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

#87

Post by ShakataGaNai »

Alupis wrote: post #28
driverdan wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How was the LTE signal with a good quality antenna? LTE is already faster than this, assuming you can get at least a half signal.

Ya, the 11Mbps side of it is very disappointing. That's pretty in-line with slow DSL and existing satellite connections. The latency will be interesting to see too, since that was the boldest claim Musk made with this venture. The article seems to have cherry picked the best speedtests to show in their graphic - I'm curious what real-world in-application latencies are, ie. inside Call Of Duty Modern Warefare or somet…

11mbps is amazing for what this is. Sure, it's "slow DSL" speed, but if you can get slow DSL you don't care about satellite internet. This is for all the places in the world that you can't get 4G cell service, let alone DSL.

11mbps plus a ping time of sub100 ms means that most people could telework anywhere in the world, even in the middle of an ocean. Unless your job requires you to download/upload huge amounts of data, it's more than enough for surfing, working, zoom, etc.

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

#88

Post by petschge »

gamblor956 wrote: post #82

For comparison, DSL is 1.5 Mbps. 4g is between 5Mbps and 12 Mbps (up to 50Mbps in burst mode), while 5g generally starts at 50Mbps. Cable internet is usually 25 Mbps, and up to 1 Gbps if you're willing to pay, and fiber is up to 10 Gbps if you're lucky enough to live in an area with fiber built out to your home. So in other words, Starlink is useful if you live too far away from a major residential center to have acc…

DSL might only be 1.5 Mbps where you are but it is standardized between (at least) 0.7Mbps and 300 Mbps. I personally have used it at speeds between 2 and 100 Mbps.

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

#89

Post by robotnikman »

gamblor956 wrote: post #82

For comparison, DSL is 1.5 Mbps. 4g is between 5Mbps and 12 Mbps (up to 50Mbps in burst mode), while 5g generally starts at 50Mbps. Cable internet is usually 25 Mbps, and up to 1 Gbps if you're willing to pay, and fiber is up to 10 Gbps if you're lucky enough to live in an area with fiber built out to your home. So in other words, Starlink is useful if you live too far away from a major residential center to have acc…

The fact that people can actually switch from their current ISP to starlink is a big deal though.

Most people just use the internet for social media and video streaming, which starlink provides more than enough bandwidth for

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

#90

Post by LinuxBender »

Alupis wrote: post #81
LinuxBender wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but their first customer is the U.S. Army which tells me this networks primary purpose is the same as the original intent of the internet itself. A mobile network that is available and reliable anywhere. Civilians usually get to do all the beta testing and provide feedback that improves the technology. Also many of the places I have been looking at moving to don't even have POTS lines. This would fill the gap w…

> Also many of the places I have been looking at moving to don't even have POTS lines Where are you, if you don't mind telling. I had thought, perhaps incorrectly, that in the US it was required by law to have POTS lines run to all homes - which led to it being installed during construction.

The land I am looking at is in the south western part of Wyoming. Could you link the law? My understanding is that once a line is run, there is a process to decom the line, but that no line is required for a home. Many homesteaders do not have phone lines or on-grid power. The only requirements I am aware of are around septic systems.
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