Posted on 03/24/2021 6:04:14 AM PDT by srmanuel
In NE Florida, I've seen 3 SpaceX / Starlink launches in the last couple of weeks, all were at night and clearly visible in our area...the latest launch was this morning around 4:30am....
Originally I thought all the Beta Testers were going to be in the Northern Tier of the USA and Southern Tier of Canada, now I've seen videos posted to YouTube from Beta Testers in the UK, Germany and most recently New Zealand and Australia....
A couple of interesting points....
I had no idea Starlink would be so rapidly expanding to the Southern Hemisphere in places like Australia and New Zealand.
A user in the UK is reporting of a huge jump in speed, with downloads now exceeding 400mb/sec....
“And these costs are supposed to get the internet to the poor?”
Who said that?
None of what Starlink is offering is anything like the crappy satellite service of the 90’s or even 2 years ago.
Starlink is a game changer and a large part of the worldwide changes that are going to take place in the coming decade.
The ‘pandemic’ proved we can make ‘work at home’ work. Starlink is going to make places all over the world that were previously off-limits become a possible ‘home’.
As the US fails in the coming years, smaller countries will be competing for our best and brightest. Within a decade, living on a beach while running a thriving business with a very low tax burden will be possible. Starlink will play an important role in that. Within 2 decades, it won’t just be possible, it’ll be the norm.
Maybe I’m wrong. If I am, I give zero effs. I’ll be on that beach with a Starlink gigabit connection, drinking margaritas by the pitcher anyway.
It’s part of the whole sales pitch of the company.
However, just like anything else, early adopters to the tech are footing the bill so it can get cheaper later. It’s my understanding that the intention is to provide a slower speed connection that is free to all. This would also be a massive gamechanger. Wi-fi everywhere. VOIP everywhere. No more cell service necessary.
Just thinking of the possiblities is mind-boggling.
Joking aside, Starlink isn’t using 5G connectivity. They’re not even vaguely the same frequencies.>>>>>>>>>>
Well what are they then?
10G
2 G
?
I’m near Houston. Received the email from Starlink, having signed up on their web page for notifications when it would be available.
I read a discussion about orbital declination that suggested that Earthlink wants to start covering higher latitudes right off the bat. If you can cover, say Norway, you’re automatically going to get New Zealand, southern Australia and South Africa in the bargain. They are going to sell “speed & bandwidth” in established markets and offer “access” to areas never before served with hi-speed internet. One pays for the other.
Looks as if the traffic jams will shut down our space program launches...
Musk will become the first trillionaire within the next 5 years.
$650 for the equipment and $130/month, not available for me until mid-late 2021.
I’m stuck with the cord for at least another 20 months, due to the contract I signed, but this is tempting.
Your service address cannot be changed after placing your order. This order is only applicable to the service address above.
Hardware $499.00
Shipping & Handling $50.00
Tax $30.20
Service $99.00 /mo
Due Today $579.20
Spectrum internet only is about $100 month without any up front costs.
Better Than Nothing Beta
“If any object such as a tree, chimney, pole, etc. interrupts the path of the beam, even briefly, your internet service will be interrupted.”
“In early service, the required clear field of view is a 100-degree cone around the center of the dish (after tilting) with a 25 degree elevation minimum. Some obstructions are worse than others. Obstructions low in the sky will cause more outages because satellites are in this area of the sky more frequently.”
Advice is to download the phone App before purchase and use the Check Obstruction feature. You are asked to access the camera and location. Then place your phone exactly where you want to install the hardware - remember it’s only knee high.
Thx!
I just got T Mobile Home Internet based on a fellow FReeper’s recommendation. I had ATT DSL (only option). ATT was about 6/1. I just ran a speed test on T Mobile. It’s 158/20. Whole different ballgame. Zero data cap. I haven’t had any issues so far. It was the same cost as my ATT. Also, zero up front cost. If you have T Mobile cell in your area you might want to take a look.
The G designation only applies to terrestrial wireless.
“The frequency bands for 5G networks come in two sets. Frequency range 1 (FR1) is from 450 MHz to 6 GHz, which includes the LTE frequency range. Frequency range 2 (FR2) is from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz.”
Per the FCC on Starlink’s permit: “Operations in the 10.7-11.7 GHz (space-to-Earth) frequency band are authorized.”
Thank you for the elucidation.
So it seems thay are establishing a whole new net?
For military contracting or a completely new cell phone network tat will leave 5G looking slow? It seems to be a high frequency range.
It’s not a cell phone network, it’s most similar to satellite phone, but with the traditional satcom restrictions (doesn’t work inside buildings much, line of sight to satellites only). This is for commercial comms, not military, and it’s oriented towards data/internet service, not voice calls.
Info for later
“The frequency bands for 5G networks come in two sets. Frequency range 1 (FR1) is from 450 MHz to 6 GHz, which includes the LTE frequency range. Frequency range 2 (FR2) is from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz.”
Per the FCC on Starlink’s permit: “Operations in the 10.7-11.7 GHz (space-to-Earth) frequency band are authorized.”
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