What is the use of Musk's Starlink plan?

Solve the problem:

1. Internet Access Problems in Remote Areas

In remote areas, more than half of the world's population (hundreds of billions of people) have no access to the Internet. Another example is a ship sailing at sea, a plane in the sky, and a deserted area. These scenarios have a strong demand for Internet access. There are also means to access the Internet, but the cost is expensive and the Internet speed is slow. , the consumer experience is lacking. And StarLink was born for such a scenario. In the future, the price of StarLink's access equipment after mass production can be controlled at US$200, with a diameter of about 20-40 centimeters and a thickness of about 2-3 centimeters. So it can be easily deployed in cars, boats or planes and in homes.

2. Global network latency issues

The current optical fiber network is not a point-to-point direct connection. Physically, the optical fiber is not a straight link and requires many nodes. Submarine optical cables are not distributed in a straight line as we imagined. Considering the topography and geological conditions of the seabed, they are all meandering and winding. The network delay of optical fiber in short-range access can be ignored, but if it is necessary to access data and equipment at a longer distance, it will cause delay. StarLink has no advantage over optical fiber in short-distance network data transmission, but its delay advantage is very obvious for long-distance transmission around the world. The delay is only 25 to 35 milliseconds, which can be used for a very short time. transfer data to another part of the earth surface, which is equivalent to the delay of a point-to-point direct fiber optic cable.

Possible services:

1. Machine

There are currently 20,000 Airliners in the world (the number may even double in the next 20 years). In addition, the number of private jets around the world is also skyrocketing.

2. Cruise

At present, there are 300-400 large cruise ships in the world (with a passenger capacity of more than 1,000 people), each cost ranging from 100 million to 1 billion US dollars, and the price of broadband on cruise ships is very high. All kinds of large cargo ships, ocean-going vessels, offshore cruise ships, private yachts, and various small and medium-sized cruise ships in commercial operation.

3. Island

Purchasing a Starlink package on many small islands and private islands is expected to be significantly less expensive than laying and maintaining submarine cables. And there are tens of thousands of such islands all over the world.

4. Scientific research and tourism

Starlink can greatly improve the safety of scientific research and travel comfort in many remote places.

5. Remote areas

With the de-urbanization of the upper class, some rich people gradually choose to live in the countryside. However, some secluded rural areas inevitably have a large number of mobile phone signal blind spots (such as armonk where IBM's headquarters is located), which can be effectively solved through Starlink.

6. Self-driving electric cars

In some countries, the current 4G network coverage is not comprehensive enough, and the signal in many places is still very poor. Starlink can greatly reduce the dependence of electricity on existing telecommunication facilities.

7. Backup Internet access plan in case of emergency

From the price point of view, the current US commercial user broadband plan is about 1000-3000 US dollars / year. Considering the particularity of Starlink, ordinary users can sell it for 3,000-5,000 US dollars per year, and aircraft cruise and large users are about 10,000-100,000 per year, and the profit is relatively objective.

SpaceX has said it will deploy satellite broadband across the U.S. faster than expected, and it seems unlikely that Musk will knowingly give up revenue in big cities, and he may be trying to delay a conflict with the big cable company, which has potential to sue competitors to delay its development history. Or, he might want to keep public expectations low until Starlink has enough capacity to effectively serve large cities. The Starlink service is expected to launch in parts of the United States this year, but launching thousands of satellites will take years. SpaceX has previously told the FCC that it plans to have global coverage, including "serving the entire United States."

SpaceX says it will deploy satellite broadband across the U.S. faster than expected. On the ground, Musk said, Starlink's future customers will rely on user terminals that "look like UFOs." These devices will have actuators that can point themselves in the right direction as long as they point towards the sky. "It's very important that you don't need an expert to install it," Musk said. "The goal is ... there are only two instructions, and they can be done in either order: point to the sky, plug it in."