STARLINK pre-order

[Ddunmire]

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/09/spac...iders-ipo.html

Is anyone going to pre-order for their boat? What challenges are you considering for the set-up. What do you hope to achieve?

[murofsresiurc]

I went to the pre-order page but I am stopped at "service address". That is NA for a boat. I did put in a couple dirt addresses to see when service is expected to be available. It looks like 2022 for SE Alaska.

[BillKny]

Elon-hype aside, it will be some time before Starlink works across the ocean.

The first generation of satellites was not equipped with the planned inter-satellite laser communications needed to service users more than about 500 miles from a ground station.

This is why the commercial roll-out is geographically limited to fixed addresses for the foreseeable future.

My understanding is that they have only just now started to launch satellites with the needed infrastructure for over-the-horizon connections.

Someday... but not today.

[Brian.D]

Wonder how Elon solved the problem of landing rights?

[CarlF]

While Starlink is currently limited to one node there's no hardware reason it can't move to different nodes. This is a business decision. Elon has said he sees it working on cross country trucks and they already have it working on Starlink rocket recovery ships.

While it's not going to work in mid ocean for a while because of the need for lasers, the land stations cover large areas. A land station in Florida covers almost all of the Bahamas. And while Starlink has to get permission from a country to put in a ground station, I don't think there's anyway for a country to limit reception - anymore than they can limit you from receiving a radio station from beyond the borders.

I don't particularly care about mid-ocean service. I'd just like high speed unlimited internet when anchored or docked on the US East Coast and the Bahamas. I'm sick and tired of marina wifi that can't stream and "unlimited" cell phone data plans that can only stream about 8 hours of high quality TV or movies a month before they throttle you.

[DockDoc]

https://www.teslarati.com/starlink-1...on-test-video/

Anyone know how much user side gear it takes to set it up? Do you need a dish?

[bergius]

Here was a pretty good article on why Starlink isn’t quite ready for us yet: https://seabits.com/starlink-is-not-...your-boat-yet/

Should also be mentioned that the antenna appears to consume 100W, so powering that on a small boat would be tricky.

[Llarian]

Originally Posted by DockDoc

https://www.teslarati.com/starlink-1...on-test-video/

Anyone know how much user side gear it takes to set it up? Do you need a dish?

You specifically need the Starlink dish, which is about $500.


Right now, the service does not roam, and it is geo-locked to the service address. It's been stated that you might get service nearby (within 15 miles or so), but the satellites are only programmed to serve a given terminal within its assigned cell and there is no handoff at this point.


So, don't expect to throw this on a boat and sail off into the sunset, there will almost certainly be different hardware, and there needs to be a lot more satellites (and a new satellite generation with laser interconnects) launched before the service will be feasible for marine use.

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by bergius

Here was a pretty good article on why Starlink isn’t quite ready for us yet: https://seabits.com/starlink-is-not-...your-boat-yet/

Should also be mentioned that the antenna appears to consume 100W, so powering that on a small boat would be tricky.

And another article, not only why it isn't ready for boats, but why it will cost a whole lot more than the current land beta.

[marshmat]

We've pre-ordered one for the house. They aren't available for portable use yet, and won't be for a while longer.


The technology is quite capable of handling boat- or aircraft-mounted use. It's a phased array antenna that is already doing active tracking of a satellite moving 25,000 km/h; compensating for the movement of the boat/plane is just a matter of sensing the unit's orientation and doing a co-ordinate frame conversion.


The FCC and other licensing agencies have made it very clear that Starlink devices will not be licensed for mobile use until they've been demonstrated to comply with all the technical rules for fixed-station use during this beta testing phase. Hence, SpaceX added some code to ensure the units will not work while in motion until it becomes legal for them to do so. It's a regulatory hurdle, more than a technological one.


The first few blocks of satellites lack the bird-to-bird links for communication beyond the horizon. Those are in the works, along with 2nd- and 3rd-gen user terminals that are less power-hungry.