If you've used old style satellite internet and then used starlink, you'll know that this is not the same technology. Starlink has latency and bandwidth that doesn't even compare to the companies and satellites you are mentioning.
This is a tech and nerd forum. Let us be excited about new technology.
AST's satellite wasn't "old style satellite internet". It was at an altitude of 513km. That's roughly the same altitude as SpaceX's satellites (~550km).
AST's satellite was absolutely "new technology", last September.
SpaceX was beat for the "first phone service satellites", even for low orbit 5G satellites with unmodified phones.
I wish everything wouldn't be referred to as just "5G".
Looks like they used 800MHz, so basically the longest range cell phone bands. Which is about as expected, none of that super-fragile millimeter wave stuff.
SpaceX is using 1900MHz, which will make a difference but probably not a huge difference.
> > This is a tech and nerd forum. Let us be excited about new technology.
It's the same old re-inventing the wheel with Musk cult of personality marketing slapped on top of it.
New thing of the 2020s is the mRNA vaccine which solved a big problem, people took it and then endlessly bitched about it while mirin and salivating at the Tesla cybertruck or the 300k Tesla Roadster which will never enter into production.
It doesn't pay to build stuff and innovate nowadays, it's more about conning people into thinking that some stuff will be built sometime in the future™ and it will be revolutionary, and then move the goalposts perpetually into the future™
Are you saying SpaceX isn't innovating? This has nothing to do with musk by the way, one can say that SpaceX is impressive and innovative while also disliking musk.
Musk doesn't innovate per-se, he just dusts off old DARPA projects and convinced young engineers to work on them. Autonomous cars, reusable rockets, neuralink, Strategic Defense Initiative... Musks genius is making it seem like these are not long-studied military tech objectives but for humanity. The SDI stuff is very DoD centered-- Starlink as a business doesn't compute without military.
vel0city|2 years ago
AST's satellite wasn't "old style satellite internet". It was at an altitude of 513km. That's roughly the same altitude as SpaceX's satellites (~550km).
AST's satellite was absolutely "new technology", last September.
SpaceX was beat for the "first phone service satellites", even for low orbit 5G satellites with unmodified phones.
https://ast-science.com/2023/09/19/ast-spacemobile-achieves-...
Dylan16807|2 years ago
Looks like they used 800MHz, so basically the longest range cell phone bands. Which is about as expected, none of that super-fragile millimeter wave stuff.
SpaceX is using 1900MHz, which will make a difference but probably not a huge difference.
unknown|2 years ago
[deleted]
belltaco|2 years ago
pkaye|2 years ago
paxys|2 years ago
JumpinJack_Cash|2 years ago
It's the same old re-inventing the wheel with Musk cult of personality marketing slapped on top of it.
New thing of the 2020s is the mRNA vaccine which solved a big problem, people took it and then endlessly bitched about it while mirin and salivating at the Tesla cybertruck or the 300k Tesla Roadster which will never enter into production.
It doesn't pay to build stuff and innovate nowadays, it's more about conning people into thinking that some stuff will be built sometime in the future™ and it will be revolutionary, and then move the goalposts perpetually into the future™
mardifoufs|2 years ago
forgot-im-old|2 years ago
This clicked when I saw an employee review at SpaceX https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-SpaceX-RVW...