Fierce Starlink Competition is coming: Amazon to invest over $10 billion in its own satellite internet network

submitted by FediNetizen from cnbc.com

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[–]FediNetizen[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

You can't beat the speed of light in a vacuum, and you're only passing through about a few 10s of km of atmosphere before you're basically in a vacuum. By contrast, in a fiber cable light is at about a constant ~0.7c. You've got a headstart because you don't need to bounce up to to the satellite first, but even if you had a single cable that circumnavigates the globe in a straight line, you'll still get there faster if your signal is traveling in space, purely because your light is going about 40% faster.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Since you're not listening to me I'll just link other articles: https://www.zdnet.com/article/spacex-starlink-internet-prepares-for-beta-users/

The listed latency times for Starlink are greater on average than the listed latency range for fiber. As I said, the refractive index in the sky is going to be an issue. And, unlike fiber, cloud cover will completely disrupt service. (I consider Musk's version-2 claims to be pure marketing puff like he always does)