First satellites launched for global internet from space.
 

The service will connect boats, planes and those currently unable to connect to the internet.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47374246

No pricing was mentioned and I wonder how uploading will be done?

Re: First satellites launched for global internet from space.
 

Uploading shouldn't pose a problem. As far as the end user would see it would be no different than uploading from a fixed line.

You can hold a two way communication by sat phone why should it be any different for data?

Re: First satellites launched for global internet from space.
 

Satellite broadband has always suffered from high latency, but this new network is in a relatively low orbit so that should improve things somewhat.

Satellite broadband has also suffered from being absurdly expensive. I’m always suspicious when people talk up the benefits of something without mentioning the price. So I suspect they probably haven’t addressed that issue. Even if they’ve brought the cost of the system down, they’re serving a market full of people with no other choice. That’s never a good sign when it comes to value.

Re: First satellites launched for global internet from space.
 

I wouldn't have thought that to be possible, don't satellite TV channels have to use massive dishes to get their signals to the satellites? Maybe a standard home dish works as the data involved will be so much smaller.

---------- Post added at 13:09 ---------- Previous post was at 13:05 ----------

True, I always tend to assume that if there's no price on something then it's expensive.

If the price is competitive, it could be a good option for people like yourself who live in rural areas.

Re: First satellites launched for global internet from space.
 

Another forum member has told me this:

Start

Satellites for TV are in geosynchronous orbit, 22000 miles up. The suggested internet ones are zipping around about 750 miles up, so you don't need a dish. Indeed you wouldn't want one, it would be constantly zipping back & forth trying to track these satellites. A simple crossed-dipole aerial would probably work, although I think they plan to use a flat plate phased-array antenna of around 30cm x 20cm. The technology is more like satellite telephone than satellite TV.

End

So, it looks like people won't need a dish at all.

Re: First satellites launched for global internet from space.
 

Yes, I’d assumed something akin to a sat phone aerial would be required, as birds at that altitude aren’t going to be geostationary.

Current satellite internet systems usually have a dedicated dish. There are a few homes near to me that have them, smaller but chunkier than a sky dish and aligned very slightly differently.

As regards price, well within a couple of years as the bandwidth demands of doing anything useful online continue to increase, I may be forced to start contemplating non-fixed-line solutions, and this would be one I would at least look at, although the current generation of satellite internet, which was supposed to be both faster and cheaper than the previous one, has pretty much failed to be any use so I’m not hopeful.

I may look again at a fixed 4g domestic router with a roof mounted aerial. I can get about 12Mb down and 2Mb up with my phone if I stand in the right part of the house. Again, it’s more expensive than my BT package but my BT package is looking increasingly slow.

My one reservation about making any change is that we are in the final 5% of the Scottish Government’s 100% superfast coverage programme, which means our area is scheduled for some sort of subsidised intervention within the next 2 years. My local exchange is to be fibre-enabled this year, but I’m on a 4 mile EO line so that work in itself won’t help, but the state aid may pay for street cabs to be located out in the wilds for us, or they may subsidise 4g systems if fixed line is deemed impractical. I don’t know which, but they’re definitely doing something.

I doubt they will be buying into this new sat system though, as it looks to me as if it still needs some proving time.

Re: First satellites launched for global internet from space.
 

Reading the above brought back memories of a 4 element quad in the back yard, aah the good old days of messing around with CB and HAM Radio :D

Re: First satellites launched for global internet from space.
 

Maybe this is something that rural communities could consider (it's only 11 minutes long)?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003fr0

Re: First satellites launched for global internet from space.
 

Ironically, it’s actually easier to achieve in a community like Rum because it’s very small and self contained. It’s less easy on the mainland and where small-ish communities are nevertheless too large to effectively agree about anything :disturbd:

Re: First satellites launched for global internet from space.
 

Part of my job in the RAF was to DF the ham radio operators whose transmissions were interfering with our Signals Intelligence activities- then we’d send Plod round to have a quiet word... :D

Re: First satellites launched for global internet from space.
 

DF?

Re: First satellites launched for global internet from space.
 

Direction Find (and triangulation from a number of different DF sites to precisely locate geographically).

From Britannica