SpaceX starlink in South Africa

Hanno Labuschagne said:
Calling those who have pre-ordered Starlink in South Africa. Has anybody checked whether their arrival dates have changed or remained the same?
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Mine also still says 2022. I wonder if they have reached an agreement with ICASA yet.

I would think with the chip shortages, uncooperative countries are not a high priority.
 
Pingsting said:
Mine also still says 2022. I wonder if they have reached an agreement with ICASA yet.

I would think with the chip shortages, uncooperative countries are not a high priority.
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True.

I suspect Nigeria will be the first in sub-saharan Africa, given our governments ineptitude and roadblocks.
I wish it were sooner.
 
Starlink seems to have introduced a new dish (rectangle?!). Not visible to us on the main site, but you can check it out in the FAQ's. Seems it comes with a shorter, detachable cable, a redesigned router without an aux port (if you want a 3rd party router you need to by an Ethernet adapter kit)

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Crusader said:
Starlink seems to have introduced a new dish (rectangle?!). Not visible to us on the main site, but you can check it out in the FAQ's. Seems it comes with a shorter, detachable cable, a redesigned router without an aux port (if you want a 3rd party router you need to by an Ethernet adapter kit)

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Yup, saw that on reddit the other day.

Not sure its going to be a consumer benefit - likely cheaper for Starlink to manufacture.
Less happy about the router - I'd be far happier with an ethernet port.

Not sure if you can use standard PoE to power the new dish, as the connector looks different in their manual.
If thats the case, will be annoying. Guess we'll find out more once they ship to consumers.
 
itareanlnotani said:
Yup, saw that on reddit the other day.

Not sure its going to be a consumer benefit - likely cheaper for Starlink to manufacture.
Less happy about the router - I'd be far happier with an ethernet port.

Not sure if you can use standard PoE to power the new dish, as the connector looks different in their manual.
If thats the case, will be annoying. Guess we'll find out more once they ship to consumers.
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Yeah, the details are pretty scarce at the moment. Will need to see one in action. The detachable cable is one benefit. Not sure about the rest. Seems to be a step down in many aspects.

Edit: Seems the new router replaces the power brick so the POE to the dish comes from the router. And the Ethernet dongle add-on apparently goes for $20 (steep price to have a wired connection)
 
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Dave said:
You are quite a belligerent sock puppet, aren't you?
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Mmmhhh I hit a nerve... was it the "Government employed" quirk by any chance?
I'll take "Are you a meter maid, or speed trap tiffy" for R50?
 
Hanno Labuschagne said:
Calling those who have pre-ordered Starlink in South Africa. Has anybody checked whether their arrival dates have changed or remained the same?
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Starlink is targeting coverage in your area in 2022.
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Pre-ordered 16th February 2021.

Am in the KwaDukuza/Stanger area in KZN. Looking forward to testing this :love:

They might be here faster than Zoomfibre who hasn't even started trenching in our suburb :laugh:.
 
The issue is simple. All service providers require an appropriate licence to operate a service in SA -- Starlink would require such a licence or have a local partner to deliver services within SAs borders. If no such licence is acquired, the service provider would be operating illegally.


Next, it has never been a requirement to have a local GS, in fact many VSAT services are operated via hubs not within our borders.

The issue is all about the quality of the services delivered via an overseas GS.
That is the issue. A long back haul back to SA inevitably means poorer service.

Now, we will see just how much benefit Starlink will get out of their ISL links.
 
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Geoff.D said:
The issue is simple. All service providers require an appropriate licence to operate a service in SA -- Starlink would require such a licence or have a local partner to deliver services within SAs borders. If no such licence is acquired, the service provider would be operating illegally.


Next, it has never been a requirement to have a local GS, in fact many VSAT services are operated via hubs not within our borders.

The issue is all about the quality of the services delivered via an overseas GS.
That is the issue. A long back haul back to SA inevitably means poorer service.

Now, we will see just how much benefit Starlink will get out of their ISL links.
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Good luck trying to enforce licensing for satellite-based services in ZA since they haven't even done so to any great extent in the past. As for a GS location if ZA is an obstacle I'm sure that Angola or any of our neigbours would be happy to comply (heck, Lesotho might wanna become a tech hub) just adding a couple ms to hop to Cape Town or Joburg. It would be a pity though if ZA did provide resistance as it would be in our interests to embrace it especially since rural areas aren't exactly serviced to any great extent.
 
Geoff.D said:
If no such licence is acquired, the service provider would be operating illegally.
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Spacex is going to break a lot of ground with starlink's availability; and hopefully it ends up undermining the no value add local licensing in the same way that internet media accessibility is undermining the monopolies of SABC and DSTV.

Plus if I acquire a Starlink unit and subscription outside of the borders of SA; then it would be effectively me not Starlink that is operating "illegally". The extent of the Starlink potential for disruption is only going to grow over time; for example: Starlink phone services will inevitably undermine terrestrial phone providers including of course ICASA's revenue streams... and another big plus point will be avoidance of the ridiculous roaming costs.
 
Seems the pre-order dates were changed last night, only targeting south Africa in 2023 now on all existing pre-orders as well
 
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