Starlink and the future of communication at sea

[Eder]

I didn't read the entire thread. I was excited about the launch of Starlink but was dismayed to find subscriptions are geo locked so useless for a coastal cruiser.


Also for those like us that value connectivity when far off shore...what is the odds of Musk wasting money on a satellite out in the abyss?


I havent yet found an inmotion Starlink sat dish....fixed ones cost over $700 in Canada..


I think the dream will be better than reality.

[bcboomer]

Originally Posted by Eder

Also for those like us that value connectivity when far off shore...what is the odds of Musk wasting money on a satellite out in the abyss?

I think the dream will be better than reality.

The satellites are not stationary so he doesn't need more of them to cover the oceans.

What he needs is the next generation of satellites, which are in production, that have inter-satellite communication. That communication eliminates the need for ground stations.

I'm happy to have decent internet after 7 years of promises from the marina and if it works in the Salish Sea that will be a bonus. From what I've seen, it may be quite soon.

[Dsanduril]

The unfortunate thing, for our use, is this nugget from the beta FAQ:

Can I travel with Starlink, or move it to a different address?

Starlink satellites are scheduled to send internet down to all users within a designated area on the ground. This designated area is referred to as a cell. Your Starlink is assigned to a single cell. If you move your Starlink outside of its assigned cell, a satellite will not be scheduled to serve your Starlink and you will not receive internet. This is constrained by geometry and is not arbitrary geofencing.

We may be waiting awhile.

[Eder]

Originally Posted by bcboomer

The satellites are not stationary so he doesn't need more of them to cover the oceans.

I thought they were stationary in relation to the earth? I doubt any off shore sailing would be covered by Starlink but we'll see.

[Eder]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

The unfortunate thing, for our use, is this nugget from the beta FAQ:
Can I travel with Starlink, or move it to a different address?

Starlink satellites are scheduled to send internet down to all users within a designated area on the ground. This designated area is referred to as a cell. Your Starlink is assigned to a single cell. If you move your Starlink outside of its assigned cell, a satellite will not be scheduled to serve your Starlink and you will not receive internet. This is constrained by geometry and is not arbitrary geofencing.



We may be waiting awhile.

This bit makes me cry, my hope of broadband on the sailboat is fading.

[Franziska]

It will change. Eventually.

Technology for shipboard use is already used by SpaceX for their droneships.

Further, the zones are fairly large, so maybe we can subscribe to say the Caribbean or the Med in the future, which would already make life for those of us who need internet for work (on a boat) à lot easier.

World wide coverage is definitely planned by Starlink.

The shipping industry is surely also hoping for this, as there is simply not enough competition in the field of sat internet & communications yet to drive the prices down.
Starlink will help and one more network will help this further.
Still, it would be unwise if we end up with several networks of several thousand satellites each.

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by Eder

I thought they were stationary in relation to the earth? I doubt any off shore sailing would be covered by Starlink but we'll see.

Eder, you need to read up on the StarLink system more. The whole object of the exercise is to NOT have satellites in geostationary orbits, as the speed-of-light delay (latency) for that is excessive, like half a second to get a reply. The birds are all in low-earth-orbit (LEO) so they can minimize latency, which they're hoping to get down to about 10ms or so.

Since they're in LEO, they can see boats in the ocean as well as a user-terminal on land. Better, actually, as there's less competition over the ocean. But since they can't see a ground-station from out there, they need to relay your signal through other satellites, sort of like Iridium does, & for that they need inter-sat comms. The first 700-ish birds didn't have this, but later birds do, & they're already de-orbiting some of the original birds.

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by Franziska

... Still, it would be unwise if we end up with several networks of several thousand satellites each.

Why do you say this, Franziska? Competition is usually good for us consumers. If Bezos wants to put up a similar constellation & try to compete for my dollars, I'll happily stand back & watch the feathers fly, & then select the best system for my needs.

[Franziska]

I am for competition. You probably misunderstood, but I am against polluting space more than necessary. So it should be capped to 2-3 systems.

Maybe we need a system of subletting those satellite fleets for reasonable prices to allow more competition than.

There are already lots and lots of complaints by scientists already badly affected.

Further every satellite increases the collision risk which can lead to a dramatic chain reaction making the space area around earth virtually unusable. This has to be avoid at all cost.

Best would be, if each of these companies putting up thousands of satellites needs to make mandatory contributions as well to tackle the growing space junk problem.

Originally Posted by Jon Hacking

Why do you say this, Franziska? Competition is usually good for us consumers. If Bezos wants to put up a similar constellation & try to compete for my dollars, I'll happily stand back & watch the feathers fly, & then select the best system for my needs.

[bcboomer]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Further every satellite increases the collision risk which can lead to a dramatic chain reaction making the space area around earth virtually unusable. This has to be avoid at all cost.

There are 170 million objects circling the Earth large enough to damage a satellite. Another 30 or 40 thousand won't be significant.

[Lance Monotone]

Originally Posted by bcboomer

There are 170 million objects circling the Earth large enough to damage a satellite. Another 30 or 40 thousand won't be significant.

Hold my beer.

[toddster8]

I got the invitation from Elon a few weeks ago to sign up for Starlilnk beta. They gave me two hours to decide before they moved on to someone else. Seems like they have all the customers they need at the moment.

[AKA-None]

Read an interesting SIFY short awhile back where the planet had put so much crap up they couldn’t get to orbit due to the massive amount of junk that took out anything attempting to get past. I wonder if that is our future?

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by billknny

We are glad you are so excited about it. I'll call when I want any of those great benefits. I already know I don't need them, because I don't have them...

But don't go by me... I have never had a "real time video chat" with anyone, ever, anywhere. Not sure why I would want one in the middle of the ocean. Heck, I make about one PHONE call every other month, and haven't seen a tv show for 40 years, so I am probably more than a bit of an outlier...

You are probably the only sane well balanced person around.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

Read an interesting SIFY short awhile back where the planet had put so much crap up they couldn’t get to orbit due to the massive amount of junk that took out anything attempting to get past. I wonder if that is our future?

Yes. Too much junk can effectively make an impenetrable shell around a planet. Preventing anyone from leaving.

On the upside, it’ll cool the planet.