Starlink Internet Revolution

In this content, we will tell about the project that Elon Musk provides internet from space. What is a Starlink? How much is the subscription fee? How does it work? We will answer questions like.

In short, Starlink is a satellite internet project that enables people to connect directly to the internet from space. However, this is not a project that does not stand on the ground and will be a guest of our lives in an uncertain future. It is a business that we can use today, that will bring an era to the communication revolution in the world, and unplug many telecommunication companies around the world.

Let’s think: If you live in a big city, it is possible to easily access 1 gibaite internet speed with the fiber cables coming to your home if you are in an exclusive or newly constructed neighborhood in the district you live in. However, if you are in a rural area, if there are only two internet providers serving your apartment, you are likely to encounter speeds as low as 20 megabits per second or even 0.8 megabits per second. Even worse, you may not have internet infrastructure in your home and you may have to use mobile modems that are relatively successful with 4.5 or 5G but have very high subscription fees.

Yes, living in a place where there is no infrastructure does not mean that you will be deprived of it for life. Firms are making new investments every day to expand their fiber networks, but there is still a significant difference in profitability between investing in a city to deliver fiber connectivity to hundreds of thousands of customers, and investing in a small town or rural area. Therefore, it may be too late or impossible for some of us to have a fiber connection for everyone.

Starlink’s $ 499 satellite reached innovative technologies at affordable prices.

Starlink satellites, which were sent to space with SpaceX company owned by Elon Musk, have started to offer internet service at an average of 150 megabits per second from anywhere in the world to solve this problem. It was also opened to the service of a limited number of users with the Beta It Is Better Than Nothing recently released.

Below, we will answer the curious questions about Starlink and discuss the problems it may encounter. Let’s start with the first and most important question.

How Can I Be A Member Of Starlink?

The project, which is still in beta phase, unfortunately, does not cover the whole world and is available for a limited area and you can start your subscription service at starlink.com if you wish. By entering the website, you can check whether your address is available for now, and if there is a suitable satellite for your region, you can start your subscription, and you can start using it with pleasure when your antenna arrives. If your region is not yet suitable for service, information is provided about when you can start receiving services.

Starlink currently has around 15 thousand users. However, according to statistics released last February, it has hundreds of thousands of users waiting for the day it will use across the United States (by the way, let’s point out that it is a first-come, first-served queue system). If you book now, you can pre-book your place by making a refundable deposit of $ 99.

How Much Is Starlink’s Monthly Fee?

Starlink’s monthly fee is now $ 99. The one-time satellite antenna you will buy to connect to the internet from the satellite antenna has a price tag of $ 499. We can compare this antenna to an incredibly advanced modem. It should be noted that in the future, they are planning to increase their monthly fee to 10 dollars for the whole world. Of course, it is not cheap now, but even now it is a serious alternative for those who live in the countryside and in harsh conditions.

So How Does Starlink Work?

Starlink, owned by Elon Musk, launches its satellites into orbit with SpaceX, also owned by Elon Musk, and we access the internet by connecting to these satellites with the advanced small satellite antennas we purchased. Below is a video of some of the Starlink satellites placed on one of SpaceX’s truck-like rockets that can go into space.

Satellite internet technology has actually been around for years. It is basically based on the transmission of data via a satellite, not via cables, but via radio signals. Instead of being transported by cables, the data is transmitted first to the satellite and then to the receiver by radio waves. Starlink basically relies on the same technology, but uses a different way to shorten ping times, which we can call latency, and provide faster data transfer.

In the formerly used satellite technology, satellites were located 35 thousand kilometers above our planet. This both reduced the data transfer rate and caused extraordinarily high ping numbers (latency times). Starlink positions the satellites only 480 kilometers above. In this way, there is no delay and provides even less than the latency you would get with a fiber connection.

Thanks to these antennas, it becomes possible to access the internet at high speed from every corner of the world.

Meanwhile, delay times should not be underestimated. Billions of dollars of leveraged transactions are made in stock exchanges, even for millisecond differences, large investments are made. For example, while the delay in data transfer at 12800 kilometers with fiber connection between London and New York was 76 milliseconds, companies invested $ 300 million in fiber to reduce this delay to another 20 milliseconds and reduce it to 56 milliseconds in total. If we state that Starlink plans to consider the latency to 3.6 milliseconds from all over the world in the next ten years, I think it is not necessary to mention how high the economic value of Starlink is.

How Is Starlink’s Connection Speed?

It currently offers download speeds between 150 megabits per second and 80 megabits per second, while also offering upload speeds of 30 megabits. Latency averages 30 milliseconds even in the earliest beta stage. The project states that thanks to SpaceX, the download speed will reach 300 megabits per second by the end of 2021.

The company, which plans to send 40 thousand satellites to the sky in the long term, currently has 1100 satellites in the sky. They also state that as the number of satellites increases, the given speed will increase up to 10 gibabite such per second. However, it should be noted that it is not very ethical for Starlink to launch so many satellites into the sky only with permission from the USA. According to Article 6 of the Outer Space Treaty published in 1967, all world states are responsible for the damages they cause during their activities in space.

It should also be noted that in recent months, the international space station had to maneuver for the first time in order to avoid hitting an old satellite piece orbiting the earth. I think there will be a regulation on this business in the next decades. I guess that at least the minimum technical conditions will be published by international institutions such as the united nations.

Lets continue. One of the most criticized issues of internet service providers is that they sell over capacity and people face internet outages. How will this be in Starlink? Won’t the system clog when millions of people start using this project?

Cowen’s analysts published a report stating that the project could serve up to half a million people at the speeds it said, even if it reached 12,000 satellites. They stated that as the number of users increases in the future, they may experience congestion. Starlink did not make a statement on the subject, but it is a fact that the limits of satellite internet technology are different from what is known, as we can see from the extraordinarily cheap and technological antenna they offer. I think such a revolutionary work is already prepared for this problem.

Does It Work In Cold Weather Or Rain?

As you know, even the antennas that we receive television service in our home are interrupted in television broadcasts during stormy days. Mobile modems fail in bad weather conditions. What about Starlink?

The company specially designed the antenna to withstand the harsh winter conditions and placed an anti-icing heater on the antenna with thousands of signal receivers, but still added that the antenna should be fixed well and placed in a position where the sky can be seen at the highest possible location.

There are concerns that Starlink will accelerate our orbit to return to garbage.

When we look at the user comments on Reddit, the users who tried the system stated that they did not encounter any problems in bad weather conditions and they were very pleased with the internet they used, but they stated that there may be a second slowdown when the internet connection jumped from one satellite to another, and in very difficult weather conditions, there may be a decrease in speed and increase in latency. You see, human beings are still a little helpless in the face of nature.

In Which Countries Can We Use Starlink?

Starlink Coverage by Speedtest

No official coverage map has been published. However, by looking at the speedtest data of Oakla, which can measure the internet speeds of people, we can say that the areas where Starlink is used effectively are as in the image.

Starlink is in 30 states of the USA, Canada; In Europe, it is used effectively in Germany and England. Another region with high service areas is New Zealand.

In fact, at this stage, it is advantageous to live in a country with few users to participate in beta, but it is costly. On the other hand, it does not make much sense for people living in big cities that can afford this cost to use Starlink for now. But there is no reason why people living in rural areas should not try. Those living in the countryside can try Starlink instead of applying to mobile modems or satellite internet companies that provide services with much higher latency.

How Does It Performance In Online Games?

If you have an internet speed of at least 20 megabits per second, you know the success of online games, it is more related to the ping, which we call latency. As we explained above, Starlink’s biggest claim is to reduce ping times anyway. With an average latency of 30 milliseconds even in the earliest beta, Starlink can be a good internet provider for online games.

You can find videos of many online games played with Starlink link on Youtube.

So Easy To Install The Starlink Antenna?

Users say the setup takes five minutes and they don’t need any technical support. However, it is necessary to make sure that the antenna is placed in a high place with a clear view of the sky. Phone applications developed by SpaceX can be used to find the most efficient location.

The antenna comes with a 100-meter cable, but users can use creative ways to increase this distance. The most important information is this: For now, you cannot take your antenna anywhere you want like a mobile modem and connect to the internet from there. For now, the company is programming your connection to be assigned to a single region, and this is not possible when you want to take it and install it in another region.

The company says this restriction will disappear as the number of launched satellites increases. They have not yet received the necessary approvals to come to transportation vehicles such as cars, ships and planes. In other words, the bowls are ready to be connected in motion and to change shape, but this will take time.

Does Starlink Have A Quota?

My scientific answer to this question is: In the 21st century, there is no quota for Starlink neither in downloading nor uploading quota for God’s sake. In the future, maybe they will launch low-priced packages to finance growth, but then I do not find it very likely that they will go such a route as it will be no different from other mobile providers.

Apart from that, Starlink’s monopolization and the possibility of bankruptcy of all telecommunication companies is another interesting part. I guess that technology companies such as Amazon and Apple will also enter this business in the coming years. Google even had a project called Project Loon to take the internet to regions with no internet access, but I think it failed. Although similar projects are successful, it should be reminded that none of them have the advantage of Starlink’s rocket-launching SpaceX. It is a fact that they cannot settle in the sky at least for the same price as Starlink. As the famous ad says, the future is really exciting!

If we can, we will take it and use it and write its review, but it is very expensive, dear reader. I could not resist the last time I bought Call of Duty Modern Warfare’s 2019 edition to examine it. It really hurts people. Anyway, I hope we will be a website where companies reach us automatically without having to spend extra money or spend money to experience these technologies. This is very difficult. Heheh. Take care until you see me in the next post.