SpaceX’s Starlink Satellites will Offer Broadband That’s Fast Enough for Competitive Gaming

[Tsing]

Image: SpaceX



SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation is set to bring broadband internet access to rural areas and other harder-to-reach destinations, but what will the latency be like? Fast enough for competitive matches in CS:GO or Rainbow Six: Siege, according to CEO Elon Musk.



“It will be a pretty good experience because it’ll be very low latency,” said Musk during Monday’s SATELLITE 2020 opening day keynote (via ArsTechnica). “We’re targeting latency below 20 milliseconds, so somebody could play a fast-response video game at a competitive level, like that’s the threshold for the latency.”









That sort of latency isn’t too far off from your typical, fixed broadband connection...

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[Grimlakin]

You know what if this really lets streaming work and isn't crazy expensive it's great for rural areas. Most of those are on satellite already so that won't be a shock to them and they are adjusted to dealing with the quirks of that medium already.

 

[LeRoy_Blanchard]

If it really offers 20ms level of latency then I will say goodbye to my Cable internet giving the prices are good and the bandwidth it there (with no data caps)

 

[Grimlakin]

If it really offers 20ms level of latency then I will say goodbye to my Cable internet giving the prices are good and the bandwidth it there (with no data caps)

If they can offer gig + speeds... the problem is going to be the up stream. But if its gig and 100mb plus up and around 50 bucks a month I would want in but I'm not in their target market so I doubt I will be given the option.

 

[Riccochet]

I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[Burticus]

If it really offers 20ms level of latency then I will say goodbye to my Cable internet giving the prices are good and the bandwidth it there (with no data caps)

Not if you live in the city you (probably) won't. The article says it's not great or geared for big cities. These are for rural areas that can't get anything but satellite, and remote countries.

 

[Brian_B]

I'd be pretty happy with anything that meets (and delivers) the meager FCC's definition of broadband, with a sensible data cap/usage policy (preferably, none).

 

[LeRoy_Blanchard]

Not if you live in the city you (probably) won't. The article says it's not great or geared for big cities. These are for rural areas that can't get anything but satellite, and remote countries.

I do live in a "City" but my only two physical connection ISPs are Spectrum (100Mbps) or North State DSL (14Mbps)

If they can give me more than 100Mbps and close to 20ms latency then Spectrum can kiss my ***.

Nearly the entire City has up to 500Mbps (Might be 300Mbps) options, but in my apartment complex I'm only able to get up to 100Mbps.

It would be dumb for them to only offer the service to rural areas when the satellites can literally cover the entire Continent or the entire Earth for that matter. Take my money.

 

[Burticus]

I do live in a "City" but my only two physical connection ISPs are Spectrum (100Mbps) or North State DSL (14Mbps)

If they can give me more than 100Mbps and close to 20ms latency then Spectrum can kiss my ***.

Nearly the entire City has up to 500Mbps (Might be 300Mbps) options, but in my apartment complex I'm only able to get up to 100Mbps.

It would be dumb for them to only offer the service to rural areas when the satellites can literally cover the entire Continent or the entire Earth for that matter. Take my money.

My brother in law that has a house in upstate NY would kill to have either of those options. He has "3mb" dsl (3 being the maximum, and best possible speed that he never gets. It's more like 768k, when it works) and he also has Hughesnet which is just as bad but costs double-triple.

Does your apartment allow satellite dishes on your patio / sticking out a window? Some do, some don't. And I'm assuming Starlink will use a dbs or smaller size, I don't recall reading how big the dishes will be.

 

[Burticus]

Found this.

The early clues on what SpaceX's Starlink will cost

SpaceX's internet service is set to offer high-speed access, but at what cost?

www.inverse.com

$100-300 for install, they are targeting for around $80 a month. It will require a dish. There is no mention of speed... just says "high speed"

"The system is expected to use a dish to connect. This, Musk explained in January, would use an object that “looks like a thin, flat, round UFO on a stick.” This stick is also fitted with “motors to self-adjust optimal angle to view sky.”

 

[LeRoy_Blanchard]

Yeah, we can have dishes; but it's not clear on what they say in the lease agreement. It says if you have a patio, you can have a dish, but if you have a balcony you can not. Yet, the 2nd and 3rd floor balconies sit right about the 1st floor patio. Not sure what that's all about. Except it also says you can't screw into the rails, siding, window ledge, etc.. but it has to be on the patio and not outside the patio.

So I'm thinkin' when the time comes I can just provide a way to mount the dish/dome/whatever to a tripod sort of thing and sit it on my balcony. Use some "U" bolts to secure it to the rail so it doesn't tip over.

Additionally, how well do these things work inside? Do they need physical line-of-sight?

 

[Brian_B]

Additionally, how well do these things work inside? Do they need physical line-of-sight?

Most every dish I know of does require direct LOS, and internet ones in particular are very finicky about it since the transmit power from the dish is extremely low (compared to a receipt-only service like satellite TV, where a dude after a 6-pack of Bud can line the dish up).

This constellation service may be more forgiving since it has a larger footprint to aim at, I don't know. I think Musk said their dishes would be motorized and self-aligning, which would imply they need LOS.

 

[LeRoy_Blanchard]

Well if they're self-aligning with motors then that does answer my question. They wont work indoors.