-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Starlink UK
- Thread starter OneTinyFish
- Start date
-
- Tags
- starlink
It’s not for me. I live just on the outskirts of civilisation and can get about 23 meg. That’s fast enough to cover key needs at the moment.
I have to agree that the copper wire connection is the debilitating factor to many. My next door neighbours on one side enjoy 10 meg less than me because their phone lines take a longer more circuitous route than mine.
In addition, those with underground connections from the pole fare even worse than those with overhead wires due mainly to inadequate corrosion protection.
I guess that one day all comms will come via satellite.
I just hope that one day Starlink doesn’t become self-aware...
I have to agree that the copper wire connection is the debilitating factor to many. My next door neighbours on one side enjoy 10 meg less than me because their phone lines take a longer more circuitous route than mine.
In addition, those with underground connections from the pole fare even worse than those with overhead wires due mainly to inadequate corrosion protection.
I guess that one day all comms will come via satellite.
I just hope that one day Starlink doesn’t become self-aware...
Glan gluaisne
Active Member
Not being able to host services would be a PITA.
The comment about 50 year old copper pretty much describes our connection!
The comment about 50 year old copper pretty much describes our connection!
Sparkeur
Member
And mine, which waves about in the wind on its 9km suspended journey from the exchange.
I was crowing to my son, who lives in Dubai, about how I would soon have hi-speed internet when he casually mentioned he gets on average, a 215mbps download time. As with Singapore, Bahrain and Thailand - all about 220mbps - a lack of legacy copper seems to help.
Glan gluaisne
Active Member
We get around 4 to 6 Mb/s down, usually, sometimes it gets up to about 8Mb/s. Up speed improved a lot when we got FTTC, but the down speed didn't improve as much as I'd hoped. If we can manage to get FTTP sorted it should make a massive difference. It needs several of us to reach a cost-sharing agreement, though, as the cost of running fibre down here needs to be shared between a handful of houses to make it affordable (the quote from Openreach to do this as a community project is eye watering, even with the vouchers that the business users get).
A lot of the infrastructure problems there days are down to the lack of proactive maintenance by utility companies. It all reactive now.
parent ‘s broadband was ridiculously slow for FTTC. After many months and renewing lines to and inside the house, it turned out to be corroded connections in a junction box missing it’s lid on a pole a quarter of a mile away!
parent ‘s broadband was ridiculously slow for FTTC. After many months and renewing lines to and inside the house, it turned out to be corroded connections in a junction box missing it’s lid on a pole a quarter of a mile away!
I looked into this as Virgin Media are annoying me with a phone call about my service (upsell) every few days. I pay £70 for a fast cable connection but every time I see their van in the area parked up I know we will have a disconnect at some point lasting all day (working from home no fun without internet).
Starlink is a bit more but not much more expensive and I would think about it if I was sure prices wouldn't start creeping up a lot more in future. Not having to deal with companies like Virgin Media would be nice though and you can take Starlink with you wherever you go.
Starlink is a bit more but not much more expensive and I would think about it if I was sure prices wouldn't start creeping up a lot more in future. Not having to deal with companies like Virgin Media would be nice though and you can take Starlink with you wherever you go.
Glan gluaisne
Active Member
Mirrors our experience with Virgin at our old house. We inherited them when they took over from NTL. NTL weren't great, but Virgin were simply appalling. After doing battle with them for around 6 months, during which we lost cable TV for over two weeks and lost internet connectivity pretty much every day, I installed a Freesat dish for TV and reverted to using the old BT phone line (that was luckily still installed) for broadband. By pure luck, within a few months of doing this our local exchange was unbundled and we then got broadband speeds that were pretty close to that we'd had from the cable service. Nothing would induce me to deal with Virgin Media ever again after that experience.
Sparkeur
Member
I think as more satellites are launched and more users sign up, prices might possibly come down although I also believe Starlink eventually will offer speeds far in excess of what is seen today.
Be careful about thinking you can take Starlink where ever you want...:
'Your Starlink is assigned to a single cell. If you move your Starlink outside of its assigned cell, a satellite will not be scheduled to serve your Starlink and you will not receive internet. This is constrained by geometry and is not arbitrary geofencing.'
You’re certainly paying too much. Is it not part of a package, and have you ever threatened to leave so they knock a few quid off?? For £108 a month I get broadband (1GBs download, 52MBs upload, 6ms ping), two TiVo boxes, full Sky package with movies and sport, landline with all inclusive package, and a SIM card (which I don’t use) with unlimited calls, texts and data. My service has been rock solid for years.
Starlink must be a lifesaver for those with no real alternative, and I presume this is who it’s aimed at, but a decent fibre connection is much faster and much cheaper.
ACarneiro
Active Member
Virgin Media are the absolute pits. I will absolutely avoid them like the plague whenever I can.
Interesting about the Starlink geographical limitations.
I should expect that for a higher monthly fee yo would be allowed to "roam"? I can't believe it'll be an unsurmountable technical problem to allow that to happen...
Interesting about the Starlink geographical limitations.
I should expect that for a higher monthly fee yo would be allowed to "roam"? I can't believe it'll be an unsurmountable technical problem to allow that to happen...
Sparkeur
Member
I think the cunning plan is to initially bring people who have useless ground based internet, higher speeds. Then, gradually increase the speeds as more of the 12,000 approved Starlink satellites come online. Hyperspeeds of 1 or 2 Gb/s will bring new applications and new users (not just in the countryside) and in the meantime, Starlink will start to implement their plan to have up to 40,000 satellites in low-earth orbit. I can't begin to imagine the political and technical frontiers that type of infrastructure will break.
I also can't wait for them to float
ACarneiro
Active Member
Yeah.... states “blocking access to the internet” is going to be much harder to implement.
Not impossible, mind you.
He won’t float unless he needs money.
And I don’t think he does.
Not impossible, mind you.
He won’t float unless he needs money.
And I don’t think he does.
Sparkeur
Member
ACarneiro
Active Member
I don't think he will want to. He already mentioned plenty of times how much he regrets floating Tesla (although it had to be done).
Sparkeur
Member
Musk will no doubt happily play games with the markets - especially the shorters but if his president says, as she did a couple of weeks ago to JPMorgan Chase, 'It's likely we'll spin-out [Starlink] and go public'..I wouldn't bet against it.
SpaceX Floats Plan to Take Starlink Public—But Will IPO-Averse CEO Elon Musk Approve?
SpaceX Floats Plan to Take Starlink Public—But Will IPO-Averse CEO Elon Musk Approve?
ACarneiro
Active Member
Other than greed and unless their cash position is worse than suspected, I cannot see what they could possibly gain from floating.
I do wonder where all the investments,ent is coming from. Putting all those thousands of satellites in orbit (not to mention developing the tech) is probably gonna cost a couple of quid...
I do wonder where all the investments,ent is coming from. Putting all those thousands of satellites in orbit (not to mention developing the tech) is probably gonna cost a couple of quid...
Sparkeur
Member
In 2016 Musk reckoned that the full cost would be in the region of $10 billion. Bear in mind that SpaceX raised $850 millionrecently with a recent funding round, valuing the company at $74 billion. They have no problem raising cash.
Why would they IPO? It'd shift Starlink out of SpaceX and allow others to manage it once it's built.
They currently have ~10,000 subscribers. How long until they have a million? Each paying $100 per month...that's $1.2 billion per annum in rental.
Why would they IPO? It'd shift Starlink out of SpaceX and allow others to manage it once it's built.
They currently have ~10,000 subscribers. How long until they have a million? Each paying $100 per month...that's $1.2 billion per annum in rental.
