Starlink vs Kuiper

[SavnTheWales]

Looks like Amazon is preparing to compete with Starlink. Two prototype satellites launch in May. Production in first half of 2024.

[Isaac-1]

Starlink exist today, and has been active (with limited availability) for about 2 years, the other may be coming next year if everything goes on schedule. By then Starlink should be well on its way to launching its version 2 satellites, and will probably be on version 4 or 5 of its user terminal dish.

[SeeTheUSA]

My hope is that the two companies get into price wars with each other, perhaps feature competitive scenarios, too.

Capitalism works if the political folks don’t mess with it.

[hilgert]

To get the same coverage with high speed and low latency, Kuiper and other Starlink competitors have a lot of work to do in order to catch up.

Starlink has over 3500 satellites in orbit today.

Kuiper has 0 satellites in orbit today, and is planned to have only half of their satellites up by 2026. As Isaac-1 notes, by that time Starlink will have a much larger number of satellites in orbit, with several years of experience.

Maybe Apple will get into the game with iSpace satellites.

[Stuff-Happens]

We have Visible for $35/month - Unlimited everything. Also ATT Mobley for $23.79/ month - Unlimited internet. $59 TOTAL monthly…. Have yet to see a need to spend more than that EXCEPT when we traveled through Canada on our way to Alaska. Just got back from 2 months road trip West Coast to East Coast & back… Ifs I was living in the REAL Boondocks maybe…..

[pasdad1]

I don’t really see any company able to compete with spaceX since they get the rocket launches for only the cost of fuel basically.

If Amazon (blue origin) ever builds a rocket that makes it to orbit, they have a chance, but then they are years behind.

If Amazon has to pay full price for launches, I don’t see them ever able to offer a service cheaper than SpaceX.

[hilgert]

Note that OneWeb, a Starlink competitor, uses SpaceX to launch it's satellites. I think they have over 500 in orbit now. This is due to the war in Ukraine (OneWeb used Russian rockets prior to the war), and OneWeb made a deal with SpaceX for launch services.

[hjabernathy]

Originally Posted by hilgert

Note that OneWeb, a Starlink competitor, uses SpaceX to launch it's satellites. I think they have over 500 in orbit now. This is due to the war in Ukraine (OneWeb used Russian rockets prior to the war), and OneWeb made a deal with SpaceX for launch services.

I went to OneWeb’s website since I’d never heard of this company. According to them, they have 648 satellites in Low Earth Orbit. Compare that to over 3500 for STARLINK. Furthermore, STARLINK has approval for up to 7500 satellites with a planned buildout of 29,000. They’re chucking them up at a rate of about 50/launch, kind of like tossing rice at the entourage at a wedding. It appears that OneWeb, headquartered in London, is primarily targeting governments, businesses and communities. Competition is always a good thing. Hopefully they can catchup to STARLINK and generate some cost reducing incentives since “The Link” has raised prices TWICE in the last year, currently $150/month starting on 24 April 2023. For us full time RVers, STARLINK is a welcome option. Admittedly we’ve only had it for about a month. But in that time we dropped DISH at a cost savings of about $140/month. Yeah we gave up local live TV, but we haven’t gone through withdrawals yet in that regard. There are options to get delayed transmission of shows we watch, usually at a cost of course. And we can raise our “old” roof antenna to receive local TV when we’re in range of a signal, like near a significant city.

We have unlimited Verizon which includes Disney+, HULU Basic and ESPN+ which we got when we upgraded our phones last year to IPhone 14’s; those included services amount to about a $15/month savings. They recently upgraded our allocation of broadband while in Canada to 2gb/day from the previous 0.5gb/day; it’s still not enough to stream a movie. But with STARLINK we no longer care, so long as we can get a clear sky above our DISHY satellite receiver. We also have Amazon Prime but have not signed up with Netflix yet which costs $16/month for their mid level service.

Hans

[paul65k]

Originally Posted by Stuff-Happens

We have Visible for $35/month - Unlimited everything. Also ATT Mobley for $23.79/ month - Unlimited internet. $59 TOTAL monthly…. Have yet to see a need to spend more than that EXCEPT when we traveled through Canada on our way to Alaska. Just got back from 2 months road trip West Coast to East Coast & back… Ifs I was living in the REAL Boondocks maybe…..

I agree and also have the same 2 cell solutions. With that being said we have invested heavily in our off-grid capabilities and find ourselves in many situations (>30% of the time) with no or non-usable coverage on either of the cell services.

That being said we actually have (2) of the Mobley devices and keep one at our vacation home and will keep the home automation working when we're not there, it has trouble keeping up with the rest of our needs hence the reason we have SL. While I'm pretty bummed about losing portability We'll probably convert to roaming when we travel this summer to take the SL with us and then turn it on and off when we're not at the vacation home..... in the end, our cost will probably be close now that we are no longer in a "Congested" area and our monthly will likely go to $90

[hjabernathy]

[QUOTE.. in the end, our cost will probably be close now that we are no longer in a "Congested" area and our monthly will likely go to $90 [/QUOTE]

I’m interested in how you determined that you’re not in a congested, or high use, area. I have studied STARLINK’s maps, and I see no indication of the type of use area. If they reduce your monthly bill to $90, please let us know.

As for us, we are full time RVers. We travel most of the Western US and lots of Canada. We have Verizon Unlimited, which for anyone in the know is not truly unlimited. We pay about $135 to Verizon for three devices and $150 to STARLINK per month. We consider that a reasonable expense for the service we receive.

We are retired and don’t need to work. So we don’t need the internet for anything but information and enjoyment. That makes STARLINK a good option. I will report on it further after our season in British Columbia this coming spring and summer. There’s a lot of trees up there compared to the open desert in the Southwest US where we spend our winters.

I purchased a 150’ cable from STARLINK and a separate four-leg stand off EBAY to increase our ability to find an open-sky area. And we can take the DISHY and Modem in our Jeep to a clear area and power it off the inverter in the Jeep when we need to get internet.

I anticipate that between having a good cellular service and STARLINK, we will be able to get connected wherever we are. I will add that we are seeing more and more STARLINK Dishy antennas on RVs. It’s catching on.

For those of you who haven’t heard, there’s a brewing conflict between STARLINK and DISH. The latter is attempting to build a 5g wireless network, and STARLINK has data suggesting that 5g can significantly affect their satellite signals. You’ll have to do your own research if you’re interested in learning about this. I found it interesting reading. This could be important in densely populated areas which is where DISH is going to focus its wireless service if it is successful. From what I’ve read so far, that’s a BIG ‘IF’.

[DennisZ]

Originally Posted by Stuff-Happens

We have Visible for $35/month - Unlimited everything. Also ATT Mobley for $23.79/ month - Unlimited internet. $59 TOTAL monthly…. Have yet to see a need to spend more than that EXCEPT when we traveled through Canada on our way to Alaska. Just got back from 2 months road trip West Coast to East Coast & back… Ifs I was living in the REAL Boondocks maybe…..

Does Visible have a hot spot only service or do they only do phones, looks like only phones from their website.

Thanks, Dennis

[Isaac-1]

It is only phones, but you can get one of their cheaper phones and put it in hot spot mode, or tether it by USB to a travel router,etc.

[MRUSA14]

Originally Posted by hjabernathy

....STARLINK has approval for up to 7500 satellites with a planned buildout of 29,000.

If Starlink eventually has that many satellites, their competitors will want a similar number in order to compete. Could amount to 100,000 or more. How many satellites can orbit the earth without interfering with each other?

As for prices coming down, I am not optimistic. Have you priced the cost of launching a satellite lately?

[Isaac-1]

Have you followed the SpaceX starship project in south Texas which intends to lower cost to orbit by a factor of 50, they have their first test launch coming up in a few weeks