Qantas starts international wifi

[moa999]

viasat deal and into starlink with every passing day

Given the costs of satellites I suspect they are pretty locked in.

StarLink also won't be the only LEO network - as above you've got Telesat Lightspeed, and also Bezos's Kuiper.

 

[justinbrett]

I was team viasat based on the total bandwidth (1 Tbps vs 96 Gbps) but now Starlink has announced they are launching their own 1 Tbps sats, it might be game over.

 

[sudoer]

I was team viasat based on the total bandwidth (1 Tbps vs 96 Gbps) but now Starlink has announced they are launching their own 1 Tbps sats, it might be game over.

Starlink V2 sats offer 96 gbps per satellite which is a really important distinction when they have almost 7000 satellites in orbit.

ViaSat-3 may do 1 Tbps but there's only three satellites, so that 1 Tbps is shared across a far larger geographic area.

It was already game over before Starlink V3 was announced.

Besides bandwidth, the latency difference between ViaSat and Starlink is chalk and cheese, and that's going to make more of a difference to perceived everyday performance, especially if an app is using a chatty protocol.

 

[p--and--t]

Starlink V2 sats offer 96 gbps per satellite which is a really important distinction when they have almost 7000 satellites in orbit.

ViaSat-3 may do 1 Tbps but there's only three satellites, so that 1 Tbps is shared across a far larger geographic area.

It was already game over before Starlink V3 was announced.

Besides bandwidth, the latency difference between ViaSat and Starlink is chalk and cheese, and that's going to make more of a difference to perceived everyday performance, especially if an app is using a chatty protocol.

They might need some sky hooks to keep them up there

https://www.business-standard.com/amp/world-news/failing-starlink-satellites-worry-scientists-120-fell-from-space-in-jan-nc-125020701419_1.html

 

[moa999]

They might need some sky hooks to keep them up there

That's the nature of any LEO satellite - they aren't in a geostationary orbit, their orbit will decline over time.

And without substantial fuel for orbit raising maneuvers, StarLink will need to replace it's satellites more than most.

Satellites also need a ground link station to talk to which I believe limits StarLink capacity over the ocean, as they use sat-sat links to combine traffic until they reach a satellite over land that can transmit to ground.

 

[justinbrett]

Starlink V2 sats offer 96 gbps per satellite which is a really important distinction when they have almost 7000 satellites in orbit.

ViaSat-3 may do 1 Tbps but there's only three satellites, so that 1 Tbps is shared across a far larger geographic area.

It was already game over before Starlink V3 was announced.

Besides bandwidth, the latency difference between ViaSat and Starlink is chalk and cheese, and that's going to make more of a difference to perceived everyday performance, especially if an app is using a chatty protocol.

But you can’t access 7000 different satellites from a particular position. If you’re over a congested area like NE USA, you’re fighting a lot of others for bandwidth (and starlink users in the U.S. already report congestion in peak periods there).

Viasat allows the bandwidth to be averaged out over a much larger area, and they only have 250K ground users so the difference in network wide bandwidth needs to be weighted.

But if Starlink launches thousands of 1Tbps sats then it is game over.

 

[elanshin]

The other big difference is that until there is an alternative to SpaceX, they can fund their own launches much cheaper than anyone else can.

Even more so when Starship enters commercial operations.

 

[Quickstatus]

Starlink V2 sats offer 96 gbps per satellite which is a really important distinction when they have almost 7000 satellites in orbit.

There are already geographical "cells" where Starlink is congested and/or you can't obtain a geolocked Starlink for those areas.
In order to increase bandwidth for just those cells, the ENTIRE Starlink network needs to be upgraded because you need a recurring train of satellites to service each dish.

Additionally due to the LEO nature of Starlink, each satellite manoeuvres itself using krypton gas ion thrusters powered by solar. Eventually the krypton gas is exhausted and the satellite is deorbited as it can no longer remain in position relative to the other satellites. It is estimated that the entire network needs to be replaced once every 5 years instead of a GSO satellite which can remained in place for 15-20 years. Hence Starship.

 

[05flyer]

Unsure if this is new (or whether just a reference to possible wifi while over Australia), but have spotted that this A332 CGK-SYD flight in July is marked as having a "chance of wifi".

 

[SYD]

Unsure if this is new (or whether just a reference to possible wifi while over Australia), but have spotted that this A332 CGK-SYD flight in July is marked as having a "chance of wifi".

The existing domestic system works between SYD <-> WA coast and nothing between CGK. The new system should work throughout the trip.

The last CGK-SYD flight I did about 6 wks ago had the new system, but wasn’t active. So no wifi at all the entire trip.

So possibly that note is inferring that some aircraft aren’t currently wifi enabled (and you probably won’t know for sure until closer)?

 

[05flyer]

The last CGK-SYD flight I did about 6 wks ago had the new system, but wasn’t active. So no wifi at all the entire trip.

Promising to hear that the hardware's installed for the new system.. now if only they'd get around to connecting it!