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Friday, December 18, 2020

SpaceX vs Kuiper on Internet Delivery

Been following SpaceX for some time, and is use of multiple satellites to fill remote areas with high speed internet service.   Now in limited test.   And considering Amazon's competitive Kuiper, here is an outline of their current efforts.  How will this effect the current land based cable services that fill in internet services? 

Amazon’s Satellite Internet Antenna Pulls 400Mbps During Testing   By Ryan Whitwam in ExtremeTech

For years, satellite internet has been a last resort for people living in remote areas. SpaceX has made waves offering its new Starlink service to select regions with much higher speeds than traditional satellite connections — testers are reporting as much as 150Mbps down. Amazon thinks it can do better with its new antenna technology. The company says its prototype for satellite internet is managing 400 Mbps right now, but we don’t know when consumers will be able to put it to the test. 

You’ve probably heard from people stuck with satellite internet from companies like HughesNet and Viasat. Most likely, they were not happy with the multi-second latency and anemic speeds, but it’s better than nothing. That’s actually what SpaceX called its Starlink beta this year: Better Than Nothing. Starlink is currently limited to the northern US and southern Canada, and it requires a hefty $500 setup fee. That includes the company’s satellite dish, which connects to the network over the Ka wireless band.

Amazon’s upcoming Project Kuiper service will be similar to Starlink, but the company claims its prototype Ka phased-array antenna will give it the edge. Amazon’s goal is to reduce the size and cost of the hardware — after all, every customer will need one to access the Kuiper network. However, that’s difficult with Ka-band equipment, which needs more physical separation between transmission (27-30GHz) and reception (17-20GHz) hardware due to the wide range frequencies.   ... " 

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