Informative White Paper on Broadband Technologies

Johnboy1951

https://www.eff.org/wp/case-fiber-home-today-why-fiber-superior-medium-21st-century-broadband

The Case for Fiber to the Home, Today: Why Fiber is a Superior Medium for 21st Century Broadband

Executive Summary
The debate over the best infrastructure to deliver fixed last-mile broadband service in the 21st century is settled, and fiber is the undisputed winner. Fiber-to-the-home deployments are a better option for consumers today, and they are the only option that will allow expansive, efficient upgrades to America’s networks for a generation.

The Cush

and not a mention of satellite delivered broadband, what's the future for constellations like Starlink?

listermint

The Cush wrote: »

and not a mention of satellite delivered broadband, what's the future for constellations like Starlink?

Hypothetical. Right now and not in the immediate future is it in providing domestic connections in Ireland. Were not even on its radar. Anyone saying different is selling snake oil.

NewClareman

The Cush wrote: »

and not a mention of satellite delivered broadband, what's the future for constellations like Starlink?

There's little debate about the superiority of fibre for urban deployments - the target for Starlink is less densely populated areas and, potentially, mobile Vehicles.

The issue of the most suitable technology for rural broadband is a hot topic in the USA at the moment, with potentially billions of $ of funding at stake. The FCC has adopted a technology neutral position with fixed wireless and DSL providers being allowed to apply to provide gigabit connectivity. FCC bidding procedures for rural broadband.

Following lobbying from Space X, low earth orbit satellite providers are allowed to bid in the low-latency tier, but have to prove their technology works. If Starlink connectivity is accepted it will be a big boost for the platform.

The Cush

NewClareman wrote: »

Following lobbying from Space X, low earth orbit satellite providers are allowed to bid in the low-latency tier, but have to prove their technology works. If Starlink connectivity is accepted it will be a big boost for the platform.

I've been following it a bit, Starlink claiming low latency, 20ms, lets see how it goes.

listermint

NewClareman wrote: »

There's little debate about the superiority of fibre for urban deployments - the target for Starlink is less densely populated areas and, potentially, mobile Vehicles.

The issue of the most suitable technology for rural broadband is a hot topic in the USA at the moment, with potentially billions of $ of funding at stake. The FCC has adopted a technology neutral position with fixed wireless and DSL providers being allowed to apply to provide gigabit connectivity. FCC bidding procedures for rural broadband.

Following lobbying from Space X, low earth orbit satellite providers are allowed to bid in the low-latency tier, but have to prove their technology works. If Starlink connectivity is accepted it will be a big boost for the platform.

In the US perhaps.



Vast swathes of the us have zero cell phone coverage and I mean zero. What suits rural USA may have no bearing on suitability for an island of this size.

NewClareman

The Cush wrote: »

I've been following it a bit, Starlink claiming low latency, 20ms, lets see how it goes.

Yeah, that's why they've been allowed to submit a bid as a potential supplier of US rural broadband.

The bottom half of Ireland is within range of the current constellation. I've submitted my details on the off chance they extend the beta trial outside continental North America.

NewClareman

listermint wrote: »

What suits rural USA may have no bearing on suitability for an island of this size.

The technology will be equally effective, regardless of location. However, they may not consider the Irish market attractive, from a commercial perspective.

listermint

NewClareman wrote: »

The technology will be equally effective, regardless of location. However, they may not consider the Irish market attractive, from a commercial perspective.

Untested in real reality or load.

Statements like this cannot be made presently

NewClareman

listermint wrote: »

In the US perhaps.
Vast swathes of the us have zero cell phone coverage and I mean zero. What suits rural USA may have no bearing on suitability for an island of this size.

NewClareman wrote: »

The technology will be equally effective, regardless of location. However, they may not consider the Irish market attractive, from a commercial perspective.

listermint wrote: »

Untested in real reality or load.

That is the concern of the FCC and they will be evaluating that area carefully.

listermint wrote: »

Statements like this cannot be made presently

I'm not sure what part of my reply you are disputing. Anyway...

The space segment is substantially the same, apart from any routing prioritisation, so the effectiveness should be similar. The substantive issue is how Irish Starlink users would be be connected to the broader Internet via gateway nodes. I had thought that gateway nodes would be few and far between, located in North America initially. This would mean that early users Elsewhere would have a different experience.

However, it appears that technology has advanced more than I thought. Starlink Gateway Nodes are been deployed in a wide range of areas. It would appear that the only technology limitations are visibility of the Starlink constellation and suitable backhaul. Given this, the only impediment to deploying them locally would be regulatory.

.

bk

Given the nature of the technology, if it works in the rural US, it will work in rural areas here. If it doesn't work there, then it won't work here either.

And again, given the nature of the technology, if it works, they will definitely want to sell it across Europe, no point in having thousands of sats passing over Europe and not selling it here.

Of course, it is yet to be seen that it will actually work as advertised and beyond that how it scales for hundreds of thousands or millions of users.

But it certainly will be interesting to watch how it develops.

listermint

NewClareman wrote: »

It would appear that the only technology limitations are visibility of the Starlink constellation and suitable backhaul.

I rest my case....


Or, you rested it for me

NewClareman

listermint wrote: »

I rest my case....


Or, you rested it for me

You do realise that both of the technical criteria I set are already met?

listermint

NewClareman wrote: »

You do realise that both of the technical criteria I set are already met?

They're not but how and ever. All about the Elon train. Choo Choo Choo.

NewClareman

listermint wrote: »

They're not but how and ever. All about the Elon train. Choo Choo Choo.

Are you seriously suggesting that Cork city is north of 52 degrees, or that no suitable backhaul is available there? Cmon, surely you know better.
Next thing you'll be suggesting you know how to hack the quantum internet.

On a general note it is nonsense to suggest that Starlink will be less effective in rural Ireland than in other jurisdictions. The substantive issue is just how effective that is. Given the very limited information available on the Starlink architecture, there are at least two areas of concern: latency and throughput.

Latency will be impacted by the routing in the space and land segments and by any processing/buffering. The original proposal was to use free space lasers for direct inter-satellite links. Reports suggest that this will require significant hardware upgrades, so may not be available for some time. If this report is correct, multiple Satellite - Earth Station hops may be required. This would impact latency, substantially.

The bigger concern is throughout - i.e. how many users can be accommodated simultaneously, at what "speed". This is entirely in the hands of Starlink and won't be known until service parameters are published. It is possible that they would offer different products, at different price points.