Starlink

[LouNY]

I haven't seen any break down of where the new users are. I would be willing to bet that who gets a dish is complicated, and probably favors folks who can generate buzz one way or another for Starlink.

All the best,

Peter

That certainly doesn't explain how I got mine then

 

[BigBlue1]

I haven't seen any break down of where the new users are. I would be willing to bet that who gets a dish is complicated, and probably favors folks who can generate buzz one way or another for Starlink.

All the best,

Peter

In my opinion that is highly unlikely that they care _who_ their customers are. But they do care that _all_ customers have good service, so the 'buzz' part is kinda accurate.

Starlink's infrastructure involves sat dishes, satellites and ground stations. The sats communicate with the dishes and ground stations to relay network traffic. Sats change which customers' dishes and ground stations they connect to as they orbit.

Sat dishes are 1:1 with customers. The other two pieces aggregate customers. Their sat network is built out at something like 3000 of the eventual 12000 sats. I haven't seen numbers regarding ground stations. However, their roll-out plan seems to limit the number of customers within any particular geographic region (designated by what they call a 'cell') to ensure that the limited number of sats and ground stations aren't oversubscribed. As they launch more sats they'll be able to support more customers at the quality of service they choose to provide.

To me it is a smart system they have in place. It helps them provide high quality service from the start even though their infrastructure build-out is not yet complete. It's frustrating for potential new customers but satisfying for paying customers. And paying customers are the ones giving feedback on the service, so it's best to keep them happy.

 

[Fallon]

To stay in orbit at their low altitude the satellites have to orbit relatively quickly & intrinsically cover more ground than just the US. From a business perspective if you have a limited number of satellites & bandwidth, it makes sense to try & use them for as close to 100% of their orbit rather than just the small part of their orbit over the US.

If the satellite bandwidth is the limit, there are no real downsides. If the number of dishes they can manufacture is a bottleneck it does slow down the US rollout. I suspect both are bottlenecks to a degree, at least in some cells.

 

[plowhog]

According to this article, SpaceX received $3billion of US govt subsidies. So maybe its fair to ask if US taxpayers help build it, why are they on wait lists while other countries are getting deliveries?

If I was the leader of a foreign country, I would hold out for a minimum number of deliveries before agreeing to give SpaceX an exclusive on rural sat licenses in my country. Multiply by many countries, add production shortages, and .... here we are.

Just the same, I look forward to getting an email that my SpaceX order is ready to be fulfilled .... regardless of the history, delays, and frustrations. After all, it seems delays and frustrations are an embedded part of satellite internet! (Been doing that with HughesNet for years!)

 

[IXLR8]

My understanding is that NONE of the ISP's have yet received any of the gov't subsidies. The new FCC commissioner has put it all on hold as he felt the initial subsidy awards were not done in a fair manor based on faulty data and they are all up for review.

 

[BigBlue1]

According to this article, SpaceX received $3billion of US govt subsidies. So maybe its fair to ask if US taxpayers help build it, why are they on wait lists while other countries are getting deliveries?

If I was the leader of a foreign country, I would hold out for a minimum number of deliveries before agreeing to give SpaceX an exclusive on rural sat licenses in my country. Multiply by many countries, add production shortages, and .... here we are.

Just the same, I look forward to getting an email that my SpaceX order is ready to be fulfilled .... regardless of the history, delays, and frustrations. After all, it seems delays and frustrations are an embedded part of satellite internet! (Been doing that with HughesNet for years!)

Do you know if the subsidies for SpaceX have anything to do with Starlink? SpaceX has a much broader scope of function than just Starlink.

 

[plowhog]

Do you know if the subsidies for SpaceX have anything to do with Starlink?

Only what I read in the article.

I don't blame a private company for trying to conquer global market share. Just observing that with limited availability, shipping dishes "there" results in fewer dishes "here."

 

[BigBlue1]

Only what I read in the article.

I don't blame a private company for trying to conquer global market share. Just observing that with limited availability, shipping dishes "there" results in fewer dishes "here."

But if you read above you'll see that part of the issue is system load by geography. It isn't just equipment availability. At the present infrastructure build-out they can only support so many people per location/sat at acceptable levels. Selling the service in other parts of the globe impacts this fact not at all.

A lot of people want to find fault with Starlink and look for all sorts of ways to poke them in the eye but reality is that they are doing things pretty well, IMO.

 

[plowhog]

A lot of people want to find fault with Starlink and look for all sorts of ways to poke them in the eye but reality is that they are doing things pretty well, IMO.

Maybe so.

But, to be fair, they did a terrible, inexcusable job of letting customers twist in the wind based on install dates given out that were not met. Really terrible handling of that-- non-existent communication or updates-- leading to widespread mocking of the company by those who felt duped.

I ran a technology company for 20+ years. I can attest it is a very difficult industry to do a good job in. And if you soil your reputation with some products or service that fall short, it is very difficult to turn around the negative impressions you have built. Starlink is grappling with that now.

SpaceX/Starlink has resources so much greater than we ever had that's it's hard to even imagine it. So I did expect better of them. But, if I receive an email saying a slot has opened for me, I will proceed forward despite the past.

 

[Wakey]

We have Verizon MiFi which costs us $80 a month.... You gave us your speeds, how much bandwidth do you get for a month with your plan? We only get 15G.

We pay out the nose for incredibly slow internet. Verizon is the only option here. We are on the list for Starlink, but I am reluctant to get too very excited as to how soon we'll get it...been signed up for about a year.

I had the same plan and I called displeased and they updated it to 50 gig per device. The first month, after it went over 15 gig it started to crawl so I called again and they have this flimsy fine print that says you can get good speed so long as no one in your area is using the network which is laughable so they appeared to have changed that as well. I think I pay an extra ten bucks a month.