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[ManofOne]

Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite broadband system has received licensing approval for its user terminals from the U.K.’s communications regulator, paving the way for the billionaire’s venture to enter another major market.


The authorization was granted in November, an Ofcom spokesman said by email on Saturday. Greece, Germany and Australia have also approved the new system, according to local reports.


Musk -- now the world’s richest man -- aims to roll out global super-fast Internet coverage to connect users beyond the reach of existing broadband networks by sending thousands of satellites into low-earth orbit.


Starlink has already launched hundreds of the satellites and started testing a beta service in North America. It’s part of the billionaire’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, which shoots the satellites into space.


The approval paves the way for Musk’s venture to enter the British broadband market where it could compete with terrestrial U.K. Internet providers like BT Group Plc and traditional satellite firms like Inmarsat Group Holdings Ltd., as well as OneWeb -- the low-earth orbit satellite system recently rescued from bankruptcy by the government and India’s telecoms conglomerate Bharti Global.


Musk said in December that Starlink would likely be a candidate for an initial public offering once its revenue growth becomes “reasonably predictable.” The U.K. approval was reported earlier by the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-terminals-gets-approval-in-u-k?sref=Qbp5xjjH

 

[MMaRsu]

So what kinda speeds are we talking here

 

[Starfield]

So what kinda speeds are we talking here

atleast 6 parsec

 

[eot]

atleast 6 parsec

Parsec is a unit of distance

 

[Ballthyrm]

So what kinda speeds are we talking here

100 Mbit/s Down and 15 Mbit/s Up , 25-30 ping seems to be the average.
It will get faster as they put more satellites in space.

Here is an example for an after and before for someone in a remote area

 

[GnomeChimpsky]

100 Mbit/s Down and 15 Mbit/s Up , 25-30 ping seems to be the average.
It will get faster as they put more satellites in space.

Here is an example for an after and before for someone in a remote area

What's the catch?

 

[IntentionalPun]

What's the catch?

The catch is that this is good compared to what people have access to in rural areas but not in urban areas.

Tech like this is important to things like shipping/logistics companies for instance.. a world full of trucks/ships that are rarely out of range of good internet is useful.

Also just "iot" devices.. cameras, sensors, that sort of thing. Things like oil pipelines are covered in internet connected sensors, and this kind of tech could make it cheaper to do that in remote areas.

 

[INC]

I signed up for the beta ages ago

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Bt (and kingston communications) will be pissed off at this. They rent their landlines to people and force them to take one, even if they just want the internet.

On top of that, more and more proof that working from home and country living will become the norm over the next generation. Sell your city property now because it'll be worthless soon.

 

[Drew1440]

Bt (and kingston communications) will be pissed off at this. They rent their landlines to people and force them to take one, even if they just want the internet.

On top of that, more and more proof that working from home and country living will become the norm over the next generation. Sell your city property now because it'll be worthless soon.

Virgin Media have been using their own network ever since they started operations (back in the Ntl & Telewest days) and are the only cable provider in the Uk with the exception of Wright Fibre.

Also this sort of technology isn't new, we've had Astra2Connect in the UK which broadcasted off the same Astra satellites that Sky used for downstream, and used a regular 56K connection for its upload. The issue with satellite broadband has always been the shared bandwidth and latency. Unless the satellite in question uses targeted spotbeams then bandwidth will always be a problem. Hopefully Starlink have a solution to that. Eutelsat's KASAT did look to be a promising solution.

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Virgin Media have been using their own network ever since they started operations (back in the Ntl & Telewest days) and are the only cable provider in the Uk with the exception of Wright Fibre.

Also this sort of technology isn't new, we've had Astra2Connect in the UK which broadcasted off the same Astra satellites that Sky used for downstream, and used a regular 56K connection for its upload. The issue with satellite broadband has always been the shared bandwidth and latency. Unless the satellite in question uses targeted spotbeams then bandwidth will always be a problem. Hopefully Starlink have a solution to that. Eutelsat's KASAT did look to be a promising solution.

I've used Virgin media (lulz) since the NTL days (128kbit download speed, suck it 56k peasants!). I've never heard of Wright Fibre, is it a southern thang?

Aye, i memba hearing about sky dish style broadband, but heard it was expensive and shit.

Either way, the UK needs to pull it's finger out of it's arse BB wise. In Norfolk i maxed out at 1.5mbps, in scotland it was 6, and on a street not far from Dewsbury, i struggled to get 7mbps. Meanwhile, poor arse muck farmers in Romania get upwards of 100mpbs and they live in a hovel, in the poorest part of the EU.

Fair play to them, but it's backwards IMO.

 

[ManofOne]

The catch is that this is good compared to what people have access to in rural areas but not in urban areas.

Tech like this is important to things like shipping/logistics companies for instance.. a world full of trucks/ships that are rarely out of range of good internet is useful.

Also just "iot" devices.. cameras, sensors, that sort of thing. Things like oil pipelines are covered in internet connected sensors, and this kind of tech could make it cheaper to do that in remote areas.

The estimated price too is a bit much

 

[Drew1440]

Also forgot to mention CityFibre, who were laying lines in my town earlier last year which is supposed to the FTTH, rather than FTTC that BT Openreach use. Currently Vodaphone are set to use them for their Gigafast internet, not sure about TalkTalk or Sky.

Wright Fibre only operate in the Isle of Mann, basically the last UK cable company that isn't Virgin.

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Did you know that only BT has IPv6? And that Virgin is using IPv4? Messed up that, cause it adds extra lag/delay/latency in games

 

[Draef the Badger]

So instead of China spying on us it'll be Elon Musk. I for one welcome our Cyberpunk dystopia.

 

[GAMETA]

Is this ping global?

Can I finally play Street Fighter with japanese people and not lose?

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

What's the catch?

The catch is these little pricks are fuckin up astrophotography with their nice neat little lines of internet giving fury.

 

[dr_octagon]

there's a starman waiting in the sky, he'd like to come and play CoD with us but the ping is too high

 

[eddie4]

i got invited to the beta, but it's $500 for the dish and $100 a month currently. so I'll skip for now.