StarLink Beta testing begins

[Shuffler]

Will they remove the blinking satellites if no one subscribes?

Eagler

You mean the eyesores?

[Vulcan]

StarLink is never going to work. Rural Iinternet Users will be so unhappy with download and upload speeds because do not measure up to what they currently have with ViaSat or HughesNet.

Outside of their seattle testing (actually and in some seattle tests) the numbers are starting to get interesting. On speedtests to a starlink hosted site they are getting anywhere from 18-100ms latency. That's pretty much first hop performance. Equally their download speed bounces around from 15mbps to 105mbps.

It will be interesting to see how well it performs outside of the beta, where congestion and handoff performance will start to have an impact.

[Rondar]

You mean the eyesores?

How is this affecting you in any way, shape, or form? 

[Shuffler]

How is this affecting you in any way, shape, or form?

Look up at the sky. It affects everyone on earth.

[Rondar]

I seriously doubt you are out looking at the sky all night.  I was outside last night with my telescope and wasn't bothered at all.  What did you observe in your telescope last night?

[saggs]

I'm excited for Starlink as it would have to try pretty hard to be a worse deal than what I have now.  $100 a month is actually a competitive price for the rural internet market.

They stated the public beta would begin in "northern lattitudes" I thought 'great' seeing as I live at 65°N.  However they never contacted me. 

So... 

[Shuffler]

I seriously doubt you are out looking at the sky all night.  I was outside last night with my telescope and wasn't bothered at all.  What did you observe in your telescope last night?

You will figure it out over time. If you observe through your telescope long enough.

[Rondar]

Saggs, as I live pretty rural albeit in Kansas, I also applied very early for beta testing.  Never contacted either.  I had read where in the beginning phases they wanted to keep the beta testers close to the Seattle area so if there were glitches or problems it would be close to where the engineers could have a fairly quick look.

[DaddyAce]

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Thank you  Mano for a really helpful  link!   

[Mano]

 

[DaddyAce]

You're further up north so you will get it before I will.  If you do, give us a report.
.

Well after spending some time trying to figure out what it would take to set up Starlink here etc, I tried to go for it this AM, but the link on my email invite no longer works....so I think I've been uninvited to try their Beta.  I did call and leave a message, and also re-registered as interested,  but, at least for now, I don't expect to be in a position to report soon.....

[DaddyAce]

Starlink just sent me another email invite, good until 9 November.  Based on what I can find it looks so much better in terms of download and ping, I'm going to go for it.

[AKKuya]

Just out of curiosity, how will solar flares, solar wind, the Van Allen belts, micro meteors, and other cosmic oddities NOT interfere with this satellite system?

And, the physical distance from the orbital satellites and the ground creates a lot of room for disruption.

For those who are knowledgeable, please give the short version. 

[mikeWe9a]

Just out of curiosity, how will solar flares, solar wind, the Van Allen belts, micro meteors, and other cosmic oddities NOT interfere with this satellite system?

And, the physical distance from the orbital satellites and the ground creates a lot of room for disruption.

For those who are knowledgeable, please give the short version. 

The Van Allen belts extend from about 1,000 to 8,000 miles above the surface of the Earth.  The Starlink orbits are below 400 miles above the surface, so they will not be affected by the Van Allen belts.  As such, the satellites enjoy at least some protection by the Earth's magnetic field (which is responsible for the Van Allen belts) from solar wind and flares.  While an orbit of a few hundred miles "leaves a lot of room for disruption," that space is pretty empty of anything able to cause disruption.  Any disruption is likely to occur within the atmosphere itself - I had DirecTV satellite television for a few years, which operates on the same band, and it was subject to signal drop due to heavy rain and thunderstorms.  DirecTV for example has its satellites in geostationary orbit at just over 22000 miles above the surface, so it enjoys less protection by the Earth's magnetic field.

Mike

[DaddyAce]

Well, ordered Starlink Friday AM.  They shipped same day, it's supposed to be here tomorrow (Monday).  Downloaded the app, and as expected, it looks like the best location to set it up will be on our roof, so I ordered the roof mount for $24 yesterday....apparently that will take 2 weeks to as month to get here.