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Starlink Direct to Cell (direct.starlink.com)
submitted 1 year ago by spiritedpause@sh.itjust.works to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[-] ArtificialLink@yall.theatl.social 39 points 1 year ago

I know a lot of people have issues with Elon musk. But starlink really has been an incredible game changer for people in rural areas or places where it's not practical to get cell or internet service. My parents live on the side of a mountain in Colorado where there's no cell service and it would have been thousands of dollars to run an internet line. Starlink has completely changed the game for their connection to the outside world and with us. I'm sure this will be even better for them.

[-] jay9@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago

Bad people can do good things. And good people can do bad things.

The technology and drive to get this rate of growth is amazing.

[-] aodhsishaj@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago
[-] reinar@distress.digital 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

yes, he bought it, now the question is how he will ruin it. I wouldn't want him anywhere near my network traffic, Elmo is the type of guy to run Musk-in-the-middle for shits and giggles, even without any other possible incentives.
And before any tls or e2e discussion starts - it's still possible to learn quite a lot if you are sitting on the channel level if you don't run vpn on your gateway constantly.

[-] Z4rK@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

None of these articles are about his contribution to the technical part of the companies, except Twitter. Maybe I misunderstood what point you were trying to make.

[-] GlitzyArmrest@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

First, Musk didn't do this, the engineers at SpaceX did. Second, I fully acknowledge that it makes internet cheaper and gives more people access, and that's a great thing. What's not so great is the impact to astronomy from the ground. And unfortunately, this issue is only going to get worse as more subscribers and competitors join in. I really wish there was a solution, but even with SpaceX painting the bottom black the satellites are still visible.

I'm also nowhere near smart enough to come up with a solution here, so I suppose this is more of a rant than anything.

[-] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago

How many thousands of dollars?

It's $600 to get the equipment set up, and $110 a month thereafter. It's the only viable solution for some, but I have to wonder if ISP's are truly to blame for 95% of our rural internet issues.

Maybe instead of 4,000 space launches, we should hold ISP's accountable and provide better solutions on the ground that don't fuck up the environment and ruin our view of the stars for generations to come.

[-] ArtificialLink@yall.theatl.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Like thousands upon thousands of dollars to run cable because the infrastructure doesn't exist at all. And yes, ISPs are absolutely to blame for rural internet issues. They don't see it as a valuable investment so they don't want to expand to those areas because it's such a small community and instead put the burden on the community. Even though the government subsidizes the shit out of them for them to do specifically stuff like this. They don't have enough rules they have to follow.

And sure, I'm sure we'll be able to hold ISPs responsible reasonably well overnight and that will fix rural people's problems overnight. Starlink is really good for a lot of people. I'm not saying it's good for the environment or space. But it helps people who basically have no way to connect with the greater world connect.

[-] TryingToEscapeTarkov@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

No one will trust Starlink after what Elon pulled in the Ukraine.

[-] ripcord@kbin.social 17 points 1 year ago

That doesn't seem to be the case. People don't seem to give a shit and people love on Starlink (more than not)

[-] rustyricotta@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 year ago

Yep. The people that use starlink are using it because it's likely their only option, or at least it's miles above (pun unintended) what few other alternatives they might have.

[-] V0lD@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Intend your puns people

[-] cyberpunk007@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I use it cause I travel across a border where the coverage sucks. I also travel to other remote areas where I sometimes get cno coverage. I love it.

[-] Steve@startrek.website 6 points 1 year ago

Disagree. Source: am starlink customer

[-] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

This is what Apple should be working on instead of basically just sitting on cash.

More players, cheaper for consumers.

[-] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Apple gave up in innovation when Steve Jobs died.

[-] LostXOR@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

From their timeline it seems it'll be a year or two before it becomes available, but that's pretty cool nonetheless. I wonder how strong (and sensitive) of an antenna the satellites need to communicate with phones designed for much shorter range communication, and if it'll work with cloud cover.

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 5 points 1 year ago

Actually, because its line of sight the transmitters not need be super powerful. I am an amateur radio operator and the sats i can talk to in LEO use like 100mW (0.1W) transmitters and we can pick them up. The biggest proble.m really is that the satellite needs a large antenna to pick up the phone. The higher the frequency they use the smaller the antennas on the sats can be.

[-] satanmat@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Brilliant!!

Text will be golden, like …LIKE Apple has in their new iPhones.

Voice though… hmm I gotta wonder if it’ll sound like old overseas calls or bad zoom calls with the lag?

But hell yeah this is big. IF it works…

[-] aodhsishaj@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Ahhhh the worst of both worlds.

[-] FaceDeer@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

Howso? Do you think cell phones with this feature will only be able to communicate with Starlink satellites?

[-] ugjka@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

It is going to be very compressed video and audio and browsing will be akin to dial-up. Game changer none the less

[-] cyberpunk007@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

How do you know this?

[-] ugjka@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

https://www.androidauthority.com/t-mobile-starlink-satellite-connectivity-3207661/

In a tweet following the launch event, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed that Starlink V2 satellites will reach 2 to 4 Mb/s per cell zone. That’s enough for texting and perhaps voice calls, but not much else. Remember, this bandwidth will have to be shared by all users in the cell zone.

[-] cyberpunk007@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Ah nice. Well a single 1080p steam on Netflix consumes about 4Mbps. VoIP calls about 1.7Mbps.

It'll do but yeah it's not great. It's definitely enough for surfing the net.

I wonder how big these "cell zones" are.

Produce could make a difference here too. I frequently travel so having one plan that works everywhere would be awesome. Hopefully the price is right. Starlink internet itself is pricey.

[-] ugjka@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Weather conditions will probably heavily impact what speeds you will get, and you can't use this indoors or in vehicle. But if you break your leg while hiking you can get help, that is the point of this, not to stream netflix

this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023
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