Starlink RV installation and use

[Jerryss2]

Originally Posted by litzdog911

Check out this video from the Mobile Internet Resource Center. Starlink is not ready for mobile RV'ers yet .....
https://youtu.be/Yk-IyKGYFZY

Yes, I’ve seen that. They are smart people, but in this case I don’t agree. They tend to follow ALL the carrier rules. I know that changing locations is not explicitly available yet with starlink.

Looking for feedback if anyone has moved their starlink and if they geo-fence you.

[move on]

Why should Starlink succeed when Iridium failed?

[dixonge]

Originally Posted by move on

Why should Starlink succeed when Iridium failed?

1. Iridium has $560M annual revenue - why did you think it had 'failed' somehow?
2. SpaceX launches Iridium satellites for them
3. Starlink is expected to take a lot of Iridium's customers (eventually)


https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/co...nk_vs_iridium/

[move on]

In the 90's Iridium was supposed to be the future of the cellphone industry. 66 LEO satellites would provide service anywhere on earth. The cost was enormous but the rewards were to be even bigger. The system worked but in the end it was put out of business by the proliferation of cheap local cell towers. The company declared bankruptcy and billions were wiped out. Today it exists as a niche business serving seafarers and other remote customers. It makes money but only because the reorganized business doesn't have to worry about paying off the original investment. That said I hope Musk can make it work this time.

[dixonge]

Originally Posted by move on

In the 90's Iridium was supposed to be the future of the cellphone industry. 66 LEO satellites would provide service anywhere on earth. The cost was enormous but the rewards were to be even bigger. The system worked but in the end it was put out of business by the proliferation of cheap local cell towers. The company declared bankruptcy and billions were wiped out. Today it exists as a niche business serving seafarers and other remote customers. It makes money but only because the reorganized business doesn't have to worry about paying off the original investment. That said I hope Musk can make it work this time.

An interesting read on them here:

https://www.airspacemag.com/space/th...idium-5615034/

But Iridium and Globalstar were both sat-phone companies. If you want comparison points for Starlink, you'll need to look at companies providing internet over satellite, like Teledesic, HughesNet, Viasat or OneWeb, etc. The technology and methodology are vastly different.

Iridium still has just 95 satellites. SpaceX had 120 in orbit w/ 2 launches and is now approaching 1,000. The latency on sat internet is high, w/ Starlink it will be low enough for gaming.

Air and Space Magazine has looked into this comparison in depth:

https://www.airspacemag.com/space/sp...rld-180975837/

In recent news SpaceX got almost a billion in federal subsidies for providing rural internet. That's a nice piece of revenue to put on the books. Also much cheaper launch costs than anyone else who doesn't own their own rocket company.

[rarebear.nm]

The truth will be known soon. Then much of the speculation will go on the trash pile.

[Isaac-1]

It really comes down to one thing, SpaceX Owns their own fleet of semi reusable rockets which means left hand and paying right hand to launch the Starlink satellites. Also keep in mind we know how much SpaceX charges for commercial launches, but we have little idea what their incremental cost is per launch, but no matter how you cut it this means the cost to orbit for Starlink is a fraction of any other satellite communications provider to date, with some estimates having the satellites actually costing more than the cost to launch them into orbit.

[ScopesNC]

While most of you think Starlink is the next great thing I DON'T. It ruins the night sky for some of us who enjoy it. As an amateur astronomer its a disaster. A lot of us do video and photography and starLink ends that for the most part. Won't ever get a clean image of the sky again and the same holds true for any ground based telescope. The images will be streaked with sats all the time. To watch the night sky when Star Link is fully up and running is going to be sad. You'll never see the stars again with out sats all in the night skies. Now I know most of you won't care as you have no interest in the night skies other than maybe looking at fires by the camp side. Those that live in light polluted cities wont care either. The night skies will never be the same and it is sad this has been allowed. Enjoy that streaming TV and internet and know it has cost us one of natures many great offerings. To me it really is sad. Now if they were to paint them black so they don't reflect any light , well then maybe. Who knows , but for now I DON'T LIKE STARLINK. After the beta testing is over and if people are happy with it just one question remains now that our night skies are ruined. Where do I sign up?

[docj]

Originally Posted by Rolling Chaos

Now if they were to paint them black so they don't reflect any light , well then maybe. Who knows , but for now I DON'T LIKE STARLINK.

FWIW Starlink has experimented with a coating to make its satellites less visible. It's not clear if that was a one-shot trial or a continuing effort.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...r-astronomers/

[Isaac-1]

They have also added a sun visor to reduce the sunlight being reflected. It should also be noted that the chain of Starlink satellites that draw most complaints are from just after they are launched, when they are still in a lower orbit, and are oriented horizontally with their solar panels reflecting lots of sunlight, not when they are on station oriented vertically at a nearly 3 times higher altitude.


I admit these on orbit Starlink satellites might leave streaks on astronomical photos, but these days most of this is easy enough to remove using stacked images and digital image software. As to visually spotting a on orbit Starlink satellite in a telescope available to a typical backyard astronomer, it is at best challenging, and not something one is going to accidentally do very often.


Ike


p.s. I too am into astronomy and had my concerns about this

[treeoflib]

Originally Posted by Rolling Chaos

While most of you think Starlink is the next great thing I DON'T. It ruins the night sky for some of us who enjoy it. As an amateur astronomer its a disaster. A lot of us do video and photography and starLink ends that for the most part. Won't ever get a clean image of the sky again and the same holds true for any ground based telescope. The images will be streaked with sats all the time. To watch the night sky when Star Link is fully up and running is going to be sad. You'll never see the stars again with out sats all in the night skies. Now I know most of you won't care as you have no interest in the night skies other than maybe looking at fires by the camp side. Those that live in light polluted cities wont care either. The night skies will never be the same and it is sad this has been allowed. Enjoy that streaming TV and internet and know it has cost us one of natures many great offerings. To me it really is sad. Now if they were to paint them black so they don't reflect any light , well then maybe. Who knows , but for now I DON'T LIKE STARLINK. After the beta testing is over and if people are happy with it just one question remains now that our night skies are ruined. Where do I sign up?

While I agree and sympathize with your premise, Starlink is a tiny fraction of stuff in orbit, from debris to functioning satellites. And new clusters of small and micro sats are going up almost daily. This ship has sailed and SpaceX is just one part of the problem. Its getting crowded up there.

[Isaac-1]

Actually Starlink is quickly becoming a significant percentage of the number of satellites in orbit, there are roughly 6,000 satellites in orbit depending on how you count things like lost screw drivers, etc. Many of which are in higher orbits than these small Starlink satellites which measure about the size of a table and weigh in at about 500 pounds. As of today Starlink has 953 operational satellites in orbit and are actively launching about 90-120 per month, with the goal of reaching over 4,500 in orbit by the end of 2027.

[Don/Lou]

Att
gsgriffin original poster
Do you have any updates for us ?
or has someone told you to not comment ?
would appreciate an update Thx

[Cory2]

Originally Posted by Don/Lou

Att
gsgriffin original poster
Do you have any updates for us ?
or has someone told you to not comment ?
would appreciate an update Thx

Beta is currently in geolock so I'd be surprised if it works while out of the original service area it was ordered for. Hopefully they will remove the geolock and allow mobility in the future.