Times Up, Told You So, DirecTV is Dead

[timmac]

AT&T is reportedly trying to sell DirecTV to private-equity investors just five years after buying the satellite provider. The negotiations with potential buyers come after millions of customers ditched DirecTV over the past two years, and could value DirecTV at much less than the $49 billion AT&T paid for it.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/08/att-reportedly-trying-to-sell-directv-after-massive-cust...

Millions cutting the cord, would not buy that expensive satellite dish..

:B

[CFerguson]

"... that the tests so far show the network has “super low latency” with download speeds greater than 100 megabits per second. That’s fast enough to stream multiple HD movies at once, and still have bandwidth to spare..."

Your broadband good for that kind of speed, bill? I didnt think so. I guess we dont have to wait years afterall!

And Oopsie on that ground station thing you griped about:
"SpaceX has also begun testing spacecraft with inter-satellite laser links, which could eventually allow data traffic to flow through the network without going through ground relay stations. "

“With 1,440 satellites, that’s when we get 24/7 global coverage, and the plan is to not stop there,” Hofeller said. “We’ll continue to launch, and with each launch, we can provide more and more capacity. There’s never enough capacity. You can’t limit what your kids want to watch, and what your family wants to consume. So we’ll continue to densify the network.”
I love the future.

Quotes source:
https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/09/16/spacex-plans-falcon-9-launch-thursday-
from-kennedy-space-center/

Oh, and in case you want to watch the latest batch of 60 launch today Thursday at 2.19pm, here's the link:
https://www.spacex.com/
(only 60% chance of good weather tho)

[CFerguson]

Huh-Oh, bill. The Future Train is coming on HARD now. Better get off the tracks or youll be run over!
referring to this Thursady's launch: "...if successful, Starlink-12 would leave SpaceX just two launches away from a constellation large enough – or nearly so – to begin public internet service beta tests."
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-drone-ship-departure-next-starlink-launch/

And you are dead wrong in your last post. File it away and get back to us in a couple of years when you have to eat it.
The Future is coming and there is nothing any of us can do but embrace it or get run over. GO ELON!

[shastagary]

In March, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said, "We're targeting latency below 20 milliseconds

read the part about latency in this article SpaceX Starlink speeds revealed

[Bill_Satellite]

I could write a book about how I will be able to make my RV fly in the near future but that still won't make it true. You seem to ignore the parts where I agree the internet service will work. Of course it will work. Will anyone give up Fiber Internet for satellite Internet? Of course not!

[CFerguson]

Apparently you are still not reading more than the titles to the links. Try again and note the part about lowering orbits and such.
AND especially concentrate on the part about comparisons to broadband speeds that have ALREADY been achieved. (and before you start on again about just being tests, also note that 42000 satellite vs where we are today part).

If youre not bothering to read the meat of the matter that SpaceX is publishing why are you bothering to argue with yourself. If you are having trouble with some of the releases, PLEASE say so and I'll be happy to help.

[Bill_Satellite]

I should have been more clear. The distance to an Earth based transmitter is actually 500 miles (250 miles up and 250 miles down) and then you hit an Earth station.
A) I never said it won't work
B) The speed of light is what it is.
C) NEVER have I implied that data transmission is instantaneous, it is controlled by the speed of light. The speed from my cell to the tower or the speed from my phone to the satellite and back to Earth. I have been working with satellite internet for years and the improvement in latency to a satellite 250 miles above the Earth compared to the latency from a Geo-synchronous satellite located 22,500 miles above the Earth will be AWESOME. Would I give up by fiber internet for any kind of satellite based internet? Of course not...and neither would you!

[CFerguson]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Thanks for keeping your post kind and civil. I know all the facts and the facts include not being able to change the speed of light. A signal to a tower a mile away and a tower 250 miles away WILL increase latency no matter what. I like how you imply I think I am smarter than Elon but belittling me offers no real benefits here.

I think you missed that part about how many satellites are going to be in the Starlink web and how fast the speed of light (ie, the laser part you missed before too) transmits data. Seriously, you should read the entire article and think a bit before trying to say it doesnt work.
No where has anyone other than you implied that data transmission is instanteous. All comparisons are made to the best commercial grade broadband has today. And Elon is about to CRUSH that whether anyone likes it or not.

[Bill_Satellite]

Thanks for keeping your post kind and civil. I know all the facts and the facts include not being able to change the speed of light. A signal to a tower a mile away and a tower 250 miles away WILL increase latency no matter what. I like how you imply I think I am smarter than Elon but belittling me offers no real benefits here.

[CFerguson]

Hate to tell you bill, but pretty much everyone is going to believe Elon instead of agreeing with you.

Oh, and btw, Elon has already "figured out the laser communication between satellites". (( https://factschronicle.com/spacex-successfully-tests-starlink-satellite-connectivity-using-space-lasers-24439.html )). And you might want to reread that link i posted above on latency.

Again, if you are having trouble following it, i'll be glad to help you understand how good it ALREADY is. ((oh ok, here it is again if you cant be bothered to scroll: https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starlink-beta-speed-results-vs-broadband/ ))

The future is Now. Well,maybe in 2021..... :B

[Bill_Satellite]

You do know that a phased array antenna must move to work properly, right? I'm not suggesting it won't work or it won't work despite moving on a continuous basis but it will be very interesting to see how latency at 250 miles vs. a few miles (tower to cell) will affect the overall experience. I know it's coming and I know it will work but I still have questions about costs to remain profitable and speed comparisons with satellite and 5G (which Starlink is likely not).
There continues to be a ground station issue and the number of ground stations required. If Elon can figure out the laser communication between satellites (not kidding here) the number of ground stations might be reduced but the latency will increase slightly.

[Dutch_12078]

Bill.Satellite wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:
The dish is self aligning and about the size of a large pizza box. The installation instructions are: "Aim it at the sky. Plug it in. In either order."

Now that's funny! So the only users are going to be mobile users? Why would any fixed location need an auto seeking antenna? Is the antenna going to have to track the satellites moving across the sky? If so, the antenna is going to be constantly moving?
This gets more interesting everyday!

The phased array dish has motor drives that self align it for the fixed installation location so no installer or user adjustments are needed. The mobile units will likely have a different mounting arrangement. Once installed and auto-aimed, the phased array does the satellite tracking with no moving parts while the programming handles the satellite to satellite hand offs, similar to cell tower switching.

[CFerguson]

Here's another update on Starlink early beta testing:
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starlink-beta-speed-results-vs-broadband/
Absolutely Amazing what this guy is accomplishing. I look forward to laughing at comcast and telling them what i really think about how they treat people.

[CFerguson]

Good post, Dutch! Elon et al have a great sense of humor.

[ghiotom]

My understanding is that the dish doesn't move, but elements inside the dish will track and hand off satellites as they move into and then out of range of the dish antenna.

[Bill_Satellite]

Dutch_12078 wrote:
The dish is self aligning and about the size of a large pizza box. The installation instructions are: "Aim it at the sky. Plug it in. In either order."

Now that's funny! So the only users are going to be mobile users? Why would any fixed location need an auto seeking antenna? Is the antenna going to have to track the satellites moving across the sky? If so, the antenna is going to be constantly moving?
This gets more interesting everyday!