SpaceX Star-link satellite internet

[Off da Grid]

Could be an interesting way to get on line in the future when out and about, especially in the U.K. as our mobile operators don’t seem interested in filling the not spots.
I think they should be made to fix the not spots before rolling out 5G.
If it’s like 4G it will be years before it’s worth bothering with.

 

[Guigsy]

At least to begin with, it's going to require a dedicated device to connect to the network. It's not clear whether that'll just look like a home WiFi router, or something bigger with an aerial of some kind.

For the first couple of years, there won't be many satellites to offer much coverage it first, and there's not many downlink base stations, so it'll be patchy and slow. I suspect that they'll first sell it to compete with satellite internet and it'll not be cheap. As they get more satellites up and more base stations, there'll be more consumer offerings... at which point it'll be competing with other constellation services from companies like Blue Origin.

 

[Off da Grid]

Plug in and point at the sky doesn’t matter in what order according to Elon Musk, apparently it’s a ufo type of external aerial so imagine it’ll have a Wi-fi router on the internal side.
Going live in N America by next year.

 

[Guigsy]

The US still has vast areas where there's not even the option of fixed broadband. They are forced to use satellite internet which is low bandwidth, expensive and massive latency. I suspect SpaceX will sell to those consumers first. There's not going to be demand for that kind of thing for most of Europe.

I also suspect ships and commercial airlines would love even a basic and expensive service and will be early customers.

It'll be a few years before it's an alternative to home (and semi mobile) broadband.

 

[DBK]

Lot of controversy about it. There could be tens of thousands of them up there soon interfering with astronomy and changing the night sky completely. The company say they are working on making them less reflective but they can only put black board paint on the satellite not the solar panel - which is about ten times bigger. They've got I think permission to launch a certain number but more will follow and there are other companies planning the same.

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