Starlink internet satellites keep emergency workers online amid wildfires

btilly | 222 points

The photo of the Starlink CPE in Malden, WA is not what it appears at first glance. Somebody from the WA EMD put it on top of the generator at the Ziply (local ILEC) CO, which was not burned, and remained online with a fiber link to the rest of Whitman county.

Ziply is the entity known as Northwest Fiber which recently acquired all of the WA, OR, ID ILEC assets of Frontier. The territory which are formerly GTE.

https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/13109751475332710...

Quite honestly it looks to me like a PR stunt. Ziply was already offering a free hotspot of wifi services from the location before somebody showed up and took a photo of the starlink CPE.

walrus01 | 3 years ago

If anybody on hacker news is in any way connected to this project or can get Elon Musk or somebody else at starlink's ear: PLEASE please see if there is any way that they can get some starlink equipment out to the thousands of kids who are currently living on tribal land without internet.

These kids are very literally being left behind due to the covid lockdowns. They can't do online school because they can't get internet access. It's unbelievably tragic and heartbreaking.

blhack | 3 years ago

I've often thought it would be fun to spec out a low-power mesh network protocol for backcountry communication[0] (safety, sharing GPS coordinates, texting). Basically anyone could place waterproof radios with solar panels wherever. You can share the coordinates like a geocache, and if someone gets close enough they can connect with bluetooth to join the network. If a node goes down anyone could repair it. Obviously the network would be very susceptible to abuse/jamming/vandalism, but maybe like wikipedia there would be more people motivated to keep it working than destroy it.

Anyway, maybe Starlink will leapfrog this dream.

[0]: Kind of like https://gotenna.com/ but with an open protocol and static nodes.

anderspitman | 3 years ago

Will the receiver be something you can plug in as a USB device for a laptop and carry with you? Or is it bulkier than that?

Edit: sounds like it's half a meter, so no :-) "If you're accepted for the beta, you can expect to get a user terminal with a flat disc antenna, which measures 0.48 meters in diameter. Musk describes these as looking like a "little UFO on a stick." Your terminal's antennas will self-direct itself for the best satellite signals." [https://www.zdnet.com/article/spacex-starlink-internet-prepa...]

foota | 3 years ago

So, easy to set up and a measured latency of down to 30ms - both great things. The throughput is pretty respectable as well, at least in comparison to urban cable internet (which is, admittedly, a low bar).

5-10 minute connection times, that's a bit concerning. Due to a lack of coverage, or signal to noise issues?

It would still be nice to see some readings over time; how stable are these numbers?

falcolas | 3 years ago

I'm sure Teslas with built-in starlink connection are in the works.

oxplot | 3 years ago

Its amazing to me that seemingly any project Elon Musk is associated with has at least 2-3 Top level comments shitting all over it from who are either incredibly nip-picky or inertly uniformed.

But are utterly convinced their options are amazing.

> “I have never set up any tactical satellite equipment that has been as quick to set up, and anywhere near as reliable” as Starlink, Richard Hall, the emergency telecommunications leader of the Washington State Military Department’s IT division, told CNBC in an interview Monday.

> The company has confirmed that it’s been conducting a private beta test of Starlink with employees, but Hall said Washington’s emergency division use case “grew organically out of previously unrelated talks.” When Washington’s wildfires became increasingly severe in August, with catastrophic damage, Hall saw Starlink as a new solution for areas where the damage meant “there is no other available data connection.”

> “I even did setup to allow kids to do some of their initial schooling too, because they were pressing forward with some limited presence slowly. We covered a whole lot of bases,” Hall said. “Starlink changes the game as far as what’s available.”

Clearly all a PR stunt by Evil genius Elon Musk who never does anything other then spend his time planning the next big PR move to confuse the masses.

Edit: I wrote a response but Hacker News does not allow it, basic point is, provide evidence that it is a PR stunt if that is your claim. The person interviewed seem to have credibility. Seems like interpretation in bad faith to me. Not question your technical knowledge.

nickik | 3 years ago

Since Starlink offers only very limited bandwidth per square meter it will never be the "new Internet for the masses". I can think of only two major use cases:

- American military now can deploy drones around the world without the need for costly relay stations

- Rich people can savely trade their stocks in remote areas while densely populated areas get bombed to shit

Everything else is pure marketing. Like this article.

sprash | 3 years ago

Starlink should be a public good. It's like we learned nothing from the wholesale give away of our airways to corporate interests.

We've given away space.

Compare this opportunity to the magnitude of life changing innovations the GPS public good brought us.

dejavuagain | 3 years ago