Is Elon Musk's "Starlink" doomed to only modest success? (satellite community)

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SpaceX Says 5G Interference Could Make Starlink Internet 'Unusable'
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-starlink-inte...1849093964

INTRO: Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet company is on a collision course with 5G. That’s what SpaceX wants you to think, anyway.

In a spicy new analysis released this week, SpaceX, which owns and operates the Starlink satellite network, argues that television provider Dish’s attempts to open up the 12GHz spectrum for both satellite use and Dish’s 5G mobile network would lead to interference that would, in effect, render Starlink’s product “unusable.” SpaceX’s Starlink satellites currently rely on the coveted 12GHz band to provide downlink services in the U.S.

In its analysis, SpaceX claims some amount of “harmful interference from terrestrial mobile service” (i.e. Dish’s 5G network) within the 12.2-12.7GBHz spectrum band would occur about 77% of the time. The company claims that interference could result in full Starlink outages 74% of the time. From SpaceX’s perspective, Dish’s lobbying efforts potentially pose an existential risk to Starlink’s business in certain markets. Dish, on the other hand, has previously said opening up 12GHz to 5G represents a “win-win” for all involved.

“We want co-existence,” Dish EVP of External & Legislative Affairs Jeff Blum told Fierce Wireless last year. “We believe co-existence is possible. We want to protect our own satellite service.” (MORE - details)

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Starlink Is In Big Trouble: Elon’s miracle internet just had the rug pulled from under it, and it could derail his future space plans.
https://medium.com/predict/starlink-is-i...798b2c2fe1

EXCERPTS: ...But this vital lynchpin for Musk’s plans was recently dealt a massive blow that could derail his master plan. The big question is, can Musk solve this crisis?

The massive blow came from the FCC pulling $888.5 million worth of funding. Back in 2020, the FCC gave Starlink this subsidy to provide internet access to rural communities.

But according to the FCC, Starlink failed to meet the criteria of this subsidy as it was too slow and too expensive, which is why their subsidy was recently removed. For some context on this figure, Starlink’s estimated current annual revenue from subscriptions is $500 million.

This means that, in one fell swoop, the FCC just eliminated 64% of Starlink’s income. For any business, such a significant drop in turnover is precarious, but for Starlink, it could become catastrophic... (MORE - missing details)

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To steal a phrase from Mark Twain, "Reports of [Starlink's] death are greatly exaggerated".

Despite everyone eagerly trying to write Starlink's premature epitaph, here's something interesting scheduled for Thursday August 25 at 7 PM CDT at Starbase.

It's a joint announcement by Elon (CEO of SpaceX and its Starlink division) and Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. Right now they are just teasing it, and details are matters of conjecture.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1562477813613047811

But speculation is that SpaceX/Starlink and T-Mobile are going to announce an alliance where T-Mobile gets use of the Starlink satellite network. And Starlink will get access to T-Mobile's groundbased cell network to deliver its high-speed internet. Or something like that.

https://www.geekwire.com/2022/t-mobile-a...nectivity/

Details remain murky, but it will all become clear tomorrow here. It could be a coup for both companies. 

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Qzli-Ww26Qs

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But speculation is that SpaceX/Starlink and T-Mobile are going to announce an alliance where T-Mobile gets use of the Starlink satellite network. And Starlink will get access to T-Mobile's groundbased cell network to deliver its high-speed internet. Or something like that.

It's actually pretty cool. The idea is to use the big new Starlink2.0 satellites like cell towers in space, to enable people to get voice and data cellphone coverage, wherever they are.

The service will use SpaceX Starlinks and will utilize existing cell phone frequencies controlled by T-Mobile. Elon says that the satellites will carry the world's most advanced phased array antennas. He said their engineers had to solve problems like Doppler shifts in frequencies as the satellites zoom overhead at 17,000 mph. But they think they have the technical problems beat.

Good news and bad news.

Good news is that it will work with existing cell phones wherever you are. You don't need a special phone or have to point it at the sky or anything like that. It should work in your car. As far as the phone is concerned, it's as if it is communicating with a conventional cell phone tower. And T-Mobile says that they will include the service in most of their existing plans at no additional cost. (It might be an add-on cost in some of the cheapest plans.) So from the user point of view, setting it up will be seamless, just use your existing phone like normal. If it doesn't detect a better cell signal, it will default to the nearest Starlink.

And in response to a question, Elon said that it will continue working in natural disasters like hurricanes, fires, tornadoes or earthquakes, which might knock out land based cellular coverage. So employing it as a survivable backup communications channel for first responders is a possibility. When asked if everyone trying to use it at once after a disaster will crash it, he said voice might stop working if it's overloaded, but text should continue working because it requires very little bandwidth per text.

Bad news is that it won't have as much bandwidth as existing cell coverage. But it should work ok for voice and text and some light data. But probably not streaming music or video. Photos should display. Elon says that if you live in an urban or suburban area that already has good cell coverage, you probably won't be using this. But if you are in a rural place with bad cell coverage and lots of dead areas, you are its target user. Or urban people who want to stay in contact while vacationing in a remote area.

And there's still the Starlink ground terminals for those who want high-speed internet coverage in more remote places that don't have it easily available. Today's announcement is more about voice and text.

The plan is for it to roll out starting around the end of 2023. It will initially be a text-only beta and voice will be added in due course. T-Mobile customers don't need to do anything and their phones will default to the Starlinks if they are all the connectivity that's available.

That's assuming that it gets FCC approval, which it should. (But with today's federal government, who knows. All these decisions are political these days.) There's also the problem that the V.2 Starlinks are so big that it will take Starship to launch them, but the FAA might take months or even years before allowing Starship to launch. So SpaceX is looking at the possibility of a StarlinkV.2 'mini' that will fit in a Falcon9 payload fairing.

So far the plan is only to have it in the US. But it's technically capable of working anywhere on Earth. The problem is that T-Mobile only controls its frequencies in the United States. Other companies and governments control the same frequencies in other countries. The T-Mobile CEO says that his company welcomes cell phone providers outside the US to contact him to join the arrangement. Voice, text and some light web surfing on your phone anywhere with no dead zones will be ideal for remote places in Africa or wherever. (Except that the places that need it most often have governments most resistant to allowing it.) The Australian outback will probably appreciate getting cell phone service as will northern Canada. My guess is that they will be the most likely early adopters outside the US.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/spacex-and-..._lead_pos1

https://spacenews.com/spacex-and-t-mobil..._id=130964

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Even if Slate doesn't like Starlink, soldiers in Ukraine do.

Praise from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1575485554203967488

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Florida Governor Ron DiSantis has been in contact with Elon Musk and SpaceX has agreed to send ~120 Starlink terminals free of charge to hurricane-struck communities in southwest Florida to restore communications for first responders.

https://twitter.com/teslaownersSV/status...4371166208

https://twitter.com/SawyerMerritt/status...8428691456

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Starlink service begins in Japan

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1579587196033462272

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Starlink servce begins in Alaska and northern Canada

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1594835418117451776

https://www.starlink.com/map

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Starlink service now up and running in two of the most isolated and remote places on Earth, Pitcairn Island and Easter Island.

They used to be dependent on mail-boats that delivered letters every few months, now they have high-speed internet!

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1595110752092028933

Photo of Pitcairn Island's only settlement from Wikipedia commons

[Image: 800px-Adamstown1.jpg]

Starlink phased array antenna

[Image: FiL4AFBUAAE1_sO?format=jpg&name=4096x4096]

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Starlink provides connectivity to the most remote research outposts in Antarctica

https://twitter.com/COLDEX_STC/status/15...6699622401