Tariffs incoming.
Amazon's Kuiper secures license to take on Starlink in the UK
Telecom watchdog Ofcom has granted a license application from Amazon Kuiper Services Europe for satellite connectivity in the UK. The license will allow Kuiper to operate user terminals in the Ka-band. The plan is to let homes, businesses, and public sector organizations use the Kuiper satellite constellation once it finally …
COMMENTS
-
-
Tuesday 4th February 2025 11:31 GMT AMBxx
Rural is what it's aimed at.
I get 20Mb broadband and very sketchy 4G. All our mobile calls have to go over WiFi.
5 years ago, 20Mb was great. Now, more and more websites are assuming you have more and are becoming slow. I also struggle with the dreadful 1Mb upload speed.
Broadband contract is up in 11 months. I'm seriously considering switching to a satelite service.
-
Tuesday 4th February 2025 11:46 GMT Lee D
Until 2 years ago I could only get 4Mbps down and 1Mbps up.
And that was in a major town inside the M25.
I used 4G instead and got about 30/10.
I moved to a rural area (literally an AONB, SSI, etc. miles from the nearest town), and I get 75/20 and the 4G is pretty awful.
I would have Kuiper in a heartbeat if available (same as I would have had Starlink if a certain person wasn't involved in it).
-
-
Wednesday 5th February 2025 14:56 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: " I am not giving any more business..."
Never say never. If His excellency Emperor Trump the 1st has his way, Canada will be the 51st state, Panama the 52nd and WE will be the 53rd.
I say that because Starmer has been so 'I must sit of this fence made of shards of glass' and has not stood up to the madman at all.
It makes us a nice juicy target. Then Trump can turn the Highlands into one huge golf course like he wants to do with Gaza. Stay at Trump Gaza only $50000 per night.
-
-
-
-
-
Wednesday 5th February 2025 00:18 GMT doublelayer
Rural US internet prices are extreme, so satellite systems can turn theirs up as far as possible. Urban US generally has reasonable cabled service at much lower prices, so people aren't interested in the service anyway. European Starlink has more competition, and the capital cost to provide a cable to most uncabled locations is lower because the distances are shorter, so they have to have lower prices in order to get any customers.
The same pattern is visible when comparing other countries' prices. Canada and Australia get high prices as well, and the UK is not much better with a residential monthly price of £75, but France, Italy, and Spain get 40 euros, presumably because those countries have more competitive and complete terrestrial networks.
-
-
-
Tuesday 4th February 2025 11:43 GMT Lee D
Yay!
Hurry up.
I would have had Starlink years ago if it hadn't been associated with Musk.
And though Bezos is also your typical billionaire (i.e. sociopath gold hoarder), at least he's not an *absolute* moron to go with it.
I live rurally and I would use this as a lovely backup but also the MOST I can get is 75Mbps DSL. With no plans for fibre... ever... at the moment.
-
Wednesday 5th February 2025 09:53 GMT rg287
Re: Yay!
And though Bezos is also your typical billionaire (i.e. sociopath gold hoarder), at least he's not an *absolute* moron to go with it.
This is true. Definitely less of a moron and distinctly less white supremacy/Boerish behaviour.
But given the way he's interfered with WaPo's editorial, he's demonstrated he can bootlick with the best of them.
Competition is good. My parents get 5-10Mbps with almost no functional upload. Tried a 4G modem and that's got poor coverage as well. They're in a quirk where they're half a mile from a village with VDSL and now FTTH available. But for reasons history does not recall, their phone line comes from the next village over, some 3 miles away. OpenRetch are going to have to do something with their line if they want to bump off PSTN - but until they do, the only non-terrible options are:
* Starlink
* Found their own community ISP and lay their own fibre to an accommodating network POP (or use OneWeb for backhaul)
* Now Kuiper
-
-
Tuesday 4th February 2025 12:06 GMT Anonymous Coward
Global warming fix?
One of the solutions global warming that has been suggested is to put up an orbiting reflector. At the moment, it's been deemed too expensive and difficult. With yet another project with several thousand satellites, I wonder how long it will be until there are enough to do the job? That, or there won't be enough room to safely launch anything...
-
Wednesday 5th February 2025 10:36 GMT hoola
Re: Global warming fix?
I don't think the companies lobbing these swarms up actually care if they use the available orbit space or have an impact on other larger (and far more expensive/useful) payloads.
Musk has already proved the when ESA had to move their satellite out of the way of his junk because they simply don't care. They did not answer any do the calls or anything.
Their satellites are disposable, why should they worry about hitting a few £100m pounds worth of someone else's kit?
-
-
-
Wednesday 5th February 2025 09:44 GMT cookiecutter
Well...I didn't like looking at the stars anyway
Roll on the Kessler Syndrome! The sooner the better in my opinion now. Hopefully followed by that asteroid slamming into Space KKKaren & Shiny skulls inane f grins
If the governnent at the time (I wonder WHO it could have been?) hadn't cancelled BTs fibre roll out in the 90s so it could be sold off cheap, within 30 years every village would have been dug up now and fed with fibre..but hey ho..Market forces and all that