Comment by lxgr

2 years ago

> Breaking existing rules and being unregulatable is probably an intentional point of Starlink.

Looking at Starlink's coverage map (for stationary service at least), they seem to very much be playing by the rules (i.e. international laws and regulations regarding satellite communication services): https://www.starlink.com/map

A "break rules and become unregulateable" approach would not have service boundaries corresponding to political borders.

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lxgr

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mcv  2 years ago

Don't these sats orbit the entire Earth? How is it possible there's anywhere on the planet (except maybe the poles) that they don't cover? Especially the eastern half of the US is particularly puzzling on that map.

  • lxgr  2 years ago

    Satellite-to-satellite forwarding is still being rolled out with Starlink, and without that, every satellite needs to have a ground station within its view to work.

    The initial constellation also lacked polar orbits, which limits the maximum latitude at which satellites are available.

    But both are being addressed now, and then it’s really only a question of regulatory approval.

  • alwa  2 years ago

    I was of the impression that the waitlist in the Eastern US was more a problem of saturated capacity than one of coverage.