[Starlink] An update on Tonga

[Michael Richardson]

Ulrich Speidel via Starlink <starlink at lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:
    > There were quite a few folk on this list a couple of years back who were
    > interested in what was happening to Internet in Tonga after the big volcanic
    > eruption there. I'm not sure where I left off.

Thank you for the update.

    > Spare cable was ordered from France and was installed middle of 2023,
    > restoring the TDCE to service.

How long was the outage caused by lack of spare cable?
Is there an effort to keep more spare cable closer?

    > location. The operators were well aware of the risk, however re-routing the
    > cable would have required it to be lengthened, with the need to insert
    > repeaters, upgrade terminal equipment, and conduct a new marine survey, which
    > would have meant further delays.

Is this on the long-term plan?

    > On 26 August 2024, 11:29 am, a M6.9 quake struck in the area at a depth of
    > about 106 km. Our Science building in Auckland has a "citizen science"
    > seismograph with a big display in its foyer, and my student and I noticed the

That's pretty neat.

    > Meanwhile, Starlink has been licensed to operate commercially in Tonga. For
    > many Pacific Island countries, this is a double-edged sword: On the one hand,
    > this provides short-term relief, on the other hand, it deprives local ISPs of
    > customers and therefore impacts on aspirations to achieve cable connectivity
    > which could provide more bandwidth in the medium term.

Yeah.  I see those edges.

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