It looks like starting out they're going to prioritize rural Washington State. From the FAQ which is buried for some reason at <a href="https://www.starlink.com/main.16ae0a3588c339b10118.js" rel="nofollow">https://www.starlink.com/main.16ae0a3588c339b10118.js</a>.<p>q:Who can participate in Starlink Beta?<p>a:Starlink Beta will begin in the Northern United States and lower Canada, with those living in rural and/or remote communities in the Washington state area. Access to the Starlink Beta program will be driven by the user's location as well as the number of users in nearby areas. All beta testers must have a clear view of the northern sky to participate.
I really hope Starlink works out. I have relatives whose only option is satellite internet and with the ultra-low data caps streaming video is just not an option at home. Imagine living without Netflix or Youtube.
Today I received an email message from SpaceX/Starlink to obtain my "service address." Previously I had provided my email (more than once, actually) on the Starlink "beta" sign-up page. This is the first communication I've seen from them.
TBH, I'd really like to work for the FCC doing this stuff. I know it's grunt work, but it would be such a great end-of-career job to scrutinize hardware to the nth degree, and just have to worry about doing a precise job, not a fast one.
Interestingly, this device seems to <i>only</i> be a WiFi router. The test results don't mention any protocols other than 802.11, or any frequency bands other than the 2.4GHz/5GHz bands used for WiFi. So the actual satellite communications must be handled by something else.
If anyone from Starlink is reading this thread: Add a Lat/Lon option for addresses in the service address entry form.<p>Many rural homes have mailing addresses that don't resolve correctly. For example, the input form forced me to use "Anacortes, WA" for my house in the San Juans. The islands are a perfect Starlink test market, whereas Anacortes has plenty of broadband options.
I am buying an RV this week.
Both me and my wife work fully remotely for 5 years now.
Having a satellite internet terminal on the roof would make it... way more interesting.
Starlink will be great in rural Canada where the ISP oligopoly has no incentive to provide fast internet. I am curious how it will perform in stormy weather. Does it cut out like satellite TV?
I really like that competition is coming, but hate that it is in area that again no one else can compete.<p>To bring competition all what's really needed is a legislation mandating that the last mile can be leased to any company (for a reasonable fee of course) and we would get back once again to times when we needed sites like dslreports.com to decide which ISP of so many in your area to use.
<p><pre><code> Frequency Range
2412.0-2462.0
5180.0-5240.0
5745.0-5825.0
</code></pre>
Looks like your standard wireless AC router (2.4ghz and 5ghz).<p>Whatever this is, it doesn't "talk" to starlink, per its FCC application:<p>> <i>In this application, SpaceX proposes to operate in the 10.7-12.7 GHz, 13.85-14.5 GHz, 17.8-18.6 GHz, 18.8-19.3 GHz, 27.5-29.1 GHz, and 29.5-30 GHz bands.</i><p><a href="https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-authorizes-spacex-provide-broadband-satellite-services" rel="nofollow">https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-authorizes-spacex-provide-b...</a>
For those unclear on the concept: Starlink is SpaceX's satellite network. The Starlink Wifi router will connect to that satellite network to provide wireless home internet.
So they're probably going to use the same scammy techniques as other ISPs where they require you to rent a $100 standard router for $200 per year.
The one thing I find iffy is that the current generation of Starlink Sats aren't supposed to do Sattelite to Satfelite communication, so the actual latency benefits around the globe aren't going to materialize the first couple of years. I'm really interested when they plan to have their service to be actually competitive latency-wise.
Good, the best live on a paved road and I can't even get DSL. I got a garbage mobile connection with a 80ms ping time to google and im paying out the ass for it and it is unreliable as fuck.
So, will they look like little rockets?<p><a href="https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/2AWHPR201/4805891" rel="nofollow">https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/2AWHPR201/4805891</a>
My mom lives on Fox Island, and has no access to the Internet aside from LTE, which is very expensive and unreliable. Hoping she'll get a look from the Starlink team!
A Starry employee told me they're going to start offering Starlink Internet next year in rural areas. In my city they're offering a $50/month 200-300 mb/s service using Air Fiber from Ubiquity.
No, I do not consent to yet another source of EMF blasting me at all times. I also do not consent to my view of the cosmos being permanently altered. Hope this idea, Starlink and all future competitors (it won't be just Starlink of course) go belly up.