Starlink - availability in NZ?

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PolicyGuy

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#271982 4-Jun-2020 12:29

With the seventh 'production' launch of a batch of sixty Starlink satellites today, SpaceX are getting close to the point at which they will have enough birds up there to offer a beta service in the northern USA.

If they carry on with the projected launch rate (e.g. see this article: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/06/evaluating-spacexs-starlink-push/), they will have 24x7 coverage over NZ latitudes by early to mid next year (2021), and will probably be in a position to start offering commercial services.
Assuming Starlink works more or less as anticipated, there are quite a lot of places & people in NZ for whom Starlink would be in some cases the only way of getting broadband, or in many cases vastly better than what is available now.

So ...

Can Starlink work legally in NZ? Are the frequencies that Starlink uses, and for which it is licenced in the USA, actually currently available in NZ, or are they already allocated to someone else? (yes, @sbiddle, I am thinking of your expertise here! 😉 )
What are the likely impacts on existing providers such as RBI, Farmside, Rural ADSL & WISPs? If Starlink can offer, say, 50Mb/s and sub-100ms ping times, it could completely destroy the business models currently in use, depending of course on Starlink's pricing.

We live in interesting times!

Oblivian

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#2498134 4-Jun-2020 13:04

I thought I had seen a recent article on a tech forum outlining the beta test gear someone had but cant' find it at hand..

Looks like Ku Band. So the likes of Optus have a good hold but I imagine lots left as it's fairly wide

10.7-11.7 GHz

https://hackaday.com/2020/02/20/how-does-starlink-work-anyway/

Some of this batch have VisorSat to see if they are duller too. With intention of the next lot to all have them

Tracer

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#2499206 5-Jun-2020 17:57

Should be awesome for rural folk, or anyone outside UFB really.

DjShadow

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#2499207 5-Jun-2020 18:01

Tracer:

Should be awesome for rural folk, or anyone outside UFB really.

Its the areas where Satellite is the only option where it'll be great. I'm thinking of areas like Haast and the Chatam Islands as examples

cws82us

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#2597249 3-Nov-2020 20:00

Turns out Starlink already has IP address spaces for Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

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quickymart

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#2597252 3-Nov-2020 20:03

DjShadow:

Tracer:

Should be awesome for rural folk, or anyone outside UFB really.

Its the areas where Satellite is the only option where it'll be great. I'm thinking of areas like Haast and the Chatam Islands as examples

Haast will get fibre when the fibre line is extended from South Westland through to Central Otago.

https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/southland/fibre-upgrade-southland-west-coast

snnet

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#2597272 3-Nov-2020 20:24

We're still wiring up the ground stations but I wouldn't think it'd be too far away

BarTender

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#2597277 3-Nov-2020 20:33

I’m just waiting for someone to tear down the dish. As a dish that can transmit without a LNB is very impressive design.

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kiwifidget

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#2597286 3-Nov-2020 20:45

DjShadow:

Tracer:

Should be awesome for rural folk, or anyone outside UFB really.

Its the areas where Satellite is the only option where it'll be great. I'm thinking of areas like Haast and the Chatam Islands as examples

And that part of the Coromandel coast where our bach gets no cellular signal and no landline and no terrestrial Freeview.

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Geektastic

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#2598512 5-Nov-2020 21:08

I'm really hoping that all this unnecessary space junk does not destroy our view of the night sky from earth. It would be a tragedy if that were to happen just so that someone can check Facebook in the Sahara.

Chrisclarke

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#2599725 8-Nov-2020 08:57

I'm certainly keen to see their produce active in NZ. Subscribers to the beta test seem to be reporting great results via reddit. As a rural customer I have access to VDSL (unlimited data but poor speeds (c.25Mbps)) or 4G from Spark (better download speeds but data caps). Potential line speeds are higher - but it seems neither Spark nor Chorus are interested in troubleshooting copper connections to get the best from them - and to be fair I understand the reasons why.

I realise that I have more options than some do, and that needs regarding data and speed vary and so it's a subjective matter.

We stream all of our TV, and have two teenage kids. High quality streaming, my son gaming and daughter chatting with friends via FaceTime causes issues - in fact we can do one of those things without causing problems for someone else in the household.

The beta tests seem to be delivering good results even with fewer than the optimum number of satellites, and even where the view of the sky is partially restricted. Will be interesting to see how the current speeds and latency is impacted as they scale things up...

Linux

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#2599733 8-Nov-2020 09:12

Chrisclarke:

it seems neither Spark nor Chorus are interested in troubleshooting copper connections to get the best from them

@Chrisclarke This is something you can do easily by checking the line stats and making sure you have the best possible setup for a VDSL connection

PolicyGuy

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#2599747 8-Nov-2020 09:36

cws82us:

Turns out Starlink already has IP address spaces for Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

And Starlink already have two ground station ("Gateway") sites registered in NZ, one near Cromwell and the other near Warkworth IIRC, so you can reckon that local Starlink users will have local Internet connectivity via those sites.

SATTV

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#2599827 8-Nov-2020 10:58

BarTender: I’m just waiting for someone to tear down the dish. As a dish that can transmit without a LNB is very impressive design.

The dish is likely to be a phased array antenna printed on a PCB.

Once there are a few more satellites in the air they may not use the disk, they may use an omni like Iridium.

I would love to get my hands one one to have a play with but the whole thinks looks automated so that takes some of the fun out of it :-)

All you have to do is connect it to the box and point it to the sky, the motors move the dish to the optimum angle for the satellites.

For this to work, you will need to be in contact with at least two satellites at a time so there is a seamless hand off from one satellite to another, I also just read that the satellites are in three layers so some will have longer sky time than others.

John

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cyril7

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#2599856 8-Nov-2020 11:28

Hi, yes phased array with a motor to provide approx pointing and the array takes over from there, we use these on our vehicle mounted BGANs, tech has been around for quite some time.

Cyril