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Ask HN: Can you use Starlink terminals with other satellite netorks?

2 pointsby uxcolumbo2 months ago
This is in relation to this video.<p>Europe Steps Up Satellite Capabilities Amid Doubts Over Musk&#x27;s Starlink https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=_5VxZqamfzM<p>Rather than replacing the terminals (around 40k), is it possible to modify Starlink&#x27;s terminals to use Eutelsat&#x27;s network for example?

2 comments

bigfatkitten2 months ago
No, not at scale. There&#x27;s no scenario in which this would become an economically worthwhile approach.<p>There is no commonality between the air interface etc between Starlink and the other networks, so you couldn&#x27;t reuse terminal hardware off the shelf.<p>You could possibly reverse engineer a terminal and write entirely new firmware for it, but it&#x27;s full of semi-custom silicon and so this would be extremely expensive.<p>There are secure boot protections, so you couldn&#x27;t mass deploy that firmware in the field anyway. Each would need expensive individual rework by skilled hands to be converted.
stop502 months ago
I think the earlier generations had an hardwarebug that allowed interacting with the software, but that had been fixed since it was reported