Mobile Starlink for Cybertruck?

[Stubdetoe]

I am a long time P85+ owner and have always been frustrated by the many dead cellular areas for navigation and streaming in my car in Canada and likely in many other parts of North America. What are the thoughts of having an optional mobile Starlink dish built into the Cybertruck (or any other Tesla for that matter)? Both companies are obviously connected. Seems like a win-win for the customer who would have unlimited high speed connectivity, and for Tesla who will be able to offer something no other car company can! If they make Starlink standard in all cars, then they eliminate the spotty connectivity and connection costs in providing AT&T (believe they use Telus in Canada) cellular coverage. Seems like the cargo box in the Cybertruck is a great place to conceal the dish which could extract itself from the inside wall when needed.

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[Zapharus]

This is a great idea. Hopefully it’s implemented.

 

[Crissa]

Satellite will also have dead zones anywhere there's lots of trees, buildings, or canyons. Each type of communications has its downsides.

A better way to deal with it is more caching in the vehicle, which I certainly hope they do.

-Crissa

 

[Stubdetoe]

Cellular is line of sight, satellite is always pointing upwards. In regions with limited cell coverage it would be very helpful in canyons and dead zones. Trees and tall obstructions could be minimized with caching as you say. Anything is better than nothing up here in the boonies!

 

[Crissa]

Cellular is line of sight, satellite is always pointing upwards. In regions with limited cell coverage it would be very helpful in canyons and dead zones. Trees and tall obstructions could be minimized with caching as you say. Anything is better than nothing up here in the boonies!

Satellite is line of sight, Cellular is blobby and can bounce and penetrate. That's why trees block Satellite and not Cellular.

It's a matter of frequency and signal strength. Cell towers are within a mile or ten from you while satellites are are going to be hundreds for Starlink or twenty-two thousand miles for geosynchronus satellite service.

-Crissa

 

[CyberGus]

Satellite is line of sight, Cellular is blobby and can bounce and penetrate. That's why trees block Satellite and not Cellular.

It's a matter of frequency and signal strength. Cell towers are within a mile or ten from you while satellites are are going to be hundreds for Starlink or twenty-two thousand miles for geosynchronus satellite service.

-Crissa

The advantage of Starlink is in the number of satellites; most places the line-of-sight is basically straight up, with visibility to multiple signals.

For geosynchronous satellites, they're in only 1 part of the sky, which is not directly over you unless you live on the equator.

 

[DoulosDS]

I think the frunk lid should be replaced with the Starlink antenna built into it. It should be fiber reinforced composite for RF transparency and painted to match the car. Or, for CyberTruck, black with optional cool graphics.

 

[Pgiatrakis1]

I think it’s a great idea, however I’m curious about the price. I am a model Y owner and a StarLink customer and I’m paying ~$130/month now plus $9.99/month for my Tesla. It would be nice to find a middle ground but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

 

[BeastSlayer]

I'll be a subscriber. And yes, one dish permanently in the CT and a small portable extension.

 

[Crissa]

The advantage of Starlink is in the number of satellites; most places the line-of-sight is basically straight up, with visibility to multiple signals.

For geosynchronous satellites, they're in only 1 part of the sky, which is not directly over you unless you live on the equator.

Yeah, they still have trouble with canyons of wood, steel, or dirt, tho. They don't spend alot of time directly above.

-Crissa

 

[Crissa]

The throughput is not so good in that mode. Ultra-low bandwidth things like SMS.

-Crissa

 

[charliemagpie]

Experts pls forgive this random thought. lol

Maybe a starlink signal-receiving array is positioned around the perimeter of the glass?

 

[Kahpernicus]

IIRC correctly spacex has said the starlink satellites aren't suited for non-stationary use.

They (he) also said they're working on creating a mobile solution. So yea

 

[Crissa]

Experts pls forgive this random thought. lol

Maybe a starlink signal-receiving array is positioned around the perimeter of the glass?

The phased-array design is a forest of tiny antennas in a grid, so you couldn't just have the edge of the grid.

IIRC correctly spacex has said the starlink satellites aren't suited for non-stationary use.

They (he) also said they're working on creating a mobile solution. So yea

The stations weren't suitable. The satellites are fine.

-Crissa

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