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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.