The first Starlink user test results
Capitalism in space: The first Starlink test results by actual users are finally coming out, and they suggest that the constellation will deliver very fast internet speeds indeed.
The article however reveals this tidbit that up until now SpaceX has managed to keep nicely obscured:
While Starlink will provide the kind of speeds and latency that should work for many services and games, Musk said the company simply won’t have the capacity to compete in major metro markets—a caveat often left unmentioned in Starlink coverage. “It’s not good for high-density situations,” Musk said. “We’ll have some small number of customers in LA. But we can’t do a lot of customers in LA because the bandwidth per cell is simply not high enough.”
As a result, Starlink won’t do much for the estimated 83 million Americans stuck under a broadband monopoly (usually Comcast), or the millions more whose only options are a duopoly; usually either the cable company or a sluggish DSL line from the local phone company.
In other words, the service will likely not be made available in dense urban areas, at least not initially.
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Capitalism in space: The first Starlink test results by actual users are finally coming out, and they suggest that the constellation will deliver very fast internet speeds indeed.
The article however reveals this tidbit that up until now SpaceX has managed to keep nicely obscured:
While Starlink will provide the kind of speeds and latency that should work for many services and games, Musk said the company simply won’t have the capacity to compete in major metro markets—a caveat often left unmentioned in Starlink coverage. “It’s not good for high-density situations,” Musk said. “We’ll have some small number of customers in LA. But we can’t do a lot of customers in LA because the bandwidth per cell is simply not high enough.”
As a result, Starlink won’t do much for the estimated 83 million Americans stuck under a broadband monopoly (usually Comcast), or the millions more whose only options are a duopoly; usually either the cable company or a sluggish DSL line from the local phone company.
In other words, the service will likely not be made available in dense urban areas, at least not initially.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
To be fair, he has been upfront and clear about this all along.
That is why initial markets are northern latitudes. Not just because of orbital slots make it easier to cover with fewer satellites, but rather that the population is sparse, connectivity is expensive, and they are easy wins.
Though they claim to have 700K users signed up to request service, be interesting to see how many are supportable, considering cell size.
It’ll be available, but at a higher price than is charged by providers in the major metro areas, so in those areas there’ll be lower rates of up-take. Generally rural broadband is the most expensive, and the Starlink system will be optimized for those customers.
https://www.inverse.com/innovation/spacex-starlink-heres-how-much-it-will-cost-to-subscribe
I guess I’ve always assumed that the market for Starlink was rural based. Very tough to compete against a landline connection where the infrastructure is already there. That said there is a huge market potential just in the US for rural areas which simply can’t get a fast and reliable link currently.
It’s not very difficult to imagine that the base antenna’s can be designed to ALSO work with terrestrial cellular networks. Terminals can be designed to fallback to the cell networks when conditions require it (like high traffic, or poor sat connection). This is much like what your phone does with wifi vs. cell.
Cellular based internet works quite well in high/medium population areas, and it’s weakness is more rural areas.
Seamlessly combine starlink and cell based internet and you have a service that can scale well in most markets. (The few exceptions would be very dense high rise areas)
If you go to the Starlink website, you can sign up to receive notification of service availability at your address.
My interest in Starlink if very selfish. I hope to someday be a California ex-pat and I like the idea that high-speed Internet access (which my job depends upon) would not be a limitation if the promises of Starlink comes to pass for rural locations. I assume there are many others like me who are eager for the freedom Starlink can bring.
The article’s author, Karl Bode, seems disappointed that he is among the 83 million that will continue to be “stuck under a broadband monopoly”
That still leaves tens of millions of Americans and millions of businesses eligible to sign up for the service. Worldwide, the potential customer base is even better. It looks to me that Starlink is likely to be a wildly successful enterprise.
I begin to wonder whether Starlink and OneWeb will have enough capacity to satisfy the world market for this service.
I want it just fast enough to make 25 mbps download and 5 mbps upload.
I don’t need anything faster.
I will just download anything I want to watch.
And ease of mobility. I want the antenna on top of my camper.