https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1497258566347943936 On Fri, Feb 25, 2022 at 9:15 AM Nathan Owens wrote: > Per the Starlink 4-11 Launch webcast just minutes ago, they have launched > service in Tonga. > > On Fri, Feb 25, 2022 at 9:12 AM Ulrich Speidel > wrote: > >> Matangitonga said that Starlink wanted to launch this week. But I haven't >> heard confirmation from anyone that they actually have. >> >> I guess a dishy without a link might still make a nice coffee table if >> nothing else & might even keep your coffee at temperature for a bit longer, >> but seriously: I suppose they must think in earnest that they'll be able to >> deliver at least some service some percentage of the time, which is more >> than some of the smaller places have right now. And I don't really want to >> dump on them - at least they tried, as did with varying levels of success >> almost everybody else in the satellite business, and that's really all you >> can ask for. >> >> Tongans are also an incredibly patient and grateful people, whatever they >> have they make do with. I first had plenty of opportunity to witness this >> when we went there on our honeymoon in 2003. One of the island villages we >> stayed on in the Ha'apai group had piped water to the beachfront properties >> installed yonks ago, before they got electricity. Then the Australians >> brought electricity around 2002 & used a trench digger to put the cable in >> along the main drag, unaware that there were water pipes in the ground. The >> locals were too grateful for the electricity to complain that they now >> needed to walk to the cistern to get their water, and the problem remained >> unsolved a year later - we had to wash from big barrels and a bit of >> rainwater off the roof. As we left Ha'apai after a hair-raising boat >> passage in a 4 m boat in 6 m swells, we didn't have a flight booked, so >> went to the Ha'apai office of the long since defunct Royal Tongan Airlines >> to book ourselves on the next flight out. The two ladies in the office gave >> us their most welcoming smiles, along with the regret that they couldn't >> book us a ticket as the computer were down. We asked how long such outages >> typically lasted and were told that they didn't know but this one had >> lasted three months already. We then made our way to the airport with the >> help of a few bored Mormon missionaries. We were the only people there >> until the station manager turned up. He reckoned there would be seats and >> told us that he was the local baker as well and had been trying out artisan >> bread recipes, which the locals liked, but was finding it difficult to get >> the right flour. Nice chat! Eventually the plane arrived early without any >> passengers. Pilots and station manager spent ten seconds bitching about >> their employer (rightfully so, a long story I shan't repeat - but neither >> the employees' nor the management's fault, though), then the pilots decided >> that they wanted lunch in Vava'u and off we took 15 minutes ahead of >> schedule... >> On 22/02/2022 8:45 pm, Daniel AJ Sokolov @mobile wrote: >> >> So the Starlink terminals have arrived on Tongatapu, but are not >> operational yet? >> >> Cheers >> Daniel >> >> >> On February 22, 2022 7:31:25 a.m. UTC, Ulrich Speidel >> wrote: >> >FWIW... this restores connectivity to ~80% of Tonga's population. >> > >> >The domestic cable may be up to 9 months off, depending on cable lead >> >time, apparently it's got to come from France. In the interim, there's >> >work on more satellite connectivity, I heard from a satellite ISP in NZ >> >today that they were about to ship a few units for Eutelsat links up. I >> >haven't heard any further about operational readiness of Starlink, but >> >have heard from a well-connected source that the dishys delivered to >> >Tonga will remain in Tongan government service in underconnected places >> >if and when service becomes available. >> > >> >I would expect them to hang onto a couple of units for Tongatapu just in >> >case there'll be more turbidity currents messing with the cable, heaven >> >forbid. >> > >> >-- >> >**************************************************************** >> >Dr. Ulrich Speidel >> > >> >School of Computer Science >> > >> >Room 303S.594 (City Campus) >> > >> >The University of Auckland >> >u.speidel@auckland.ac.nz >> >http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~ulrich/ >> >**************************************************************** >> > >> > >> > >> >_______________________________________________ >> >Starlink mailing list >> >Starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net >> >https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/starlink >> >> -- >> **************************************************************** >> Dr. Ulrich Speidel >> >> School of Computer Science >> >> Room 303S.594 (City Campus) >> >> The University of Aucklandu.speidel@auckland.ac.nz http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~ulrich/ >> **************************************************************** >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Starlink mailing list >> Starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net >> https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/starlink >> >