[Starlink] Alphabet spins off Starlink competitor Taara

[Marc Blanchet]

> On Mar 17, 2025, at 18:50, David Lang via Starlink <starlink at lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:
> 
> Hesham ElBakoury wrote:
> 
>> https://www.theverge.com/news/631049/alphabet-spins-off-starlink-competitor-taara?mc_cid=1a1e15a2db&mc_eid=105d343de1
> 
> Interesting, a laser in a professionally installed/aligned tower is going to be able to have a higher bandwidth than the starlink dishy.
> 
> but the claim that it will be far cheaper than Starlink?? that tower and a ground station that tracks the satellites in real time is going to be FAR more expensive than a dishy. Since it's going to be in motion at all times, it's got mechanical parts to wear out, and physically re-aiming a laser between connections (on both ends) is going to be a lot slower than electronic aiming of a phased array antenna.

Either I don't understand the article or your comment. But my interpretation of the article is that it is "just" (ground) lasers for trunk links between (ground) towers. No satellite involved. It is a replacement of either fibre or radio between (cell) towers. 

Marc.

> 
> As a community gateway where a lot of people share a single satellite connection, it could work, but even there I question if it would be cheaper.
> 
> There's also the question of the cost of satellites. Are they willing to take the Starlink approach of cheap satellites? or are they still thinking 'industry standard' where each satellite is far bigger, heavier, and more expensive?
> 
> David Lang
> 
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