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[return to "Starlink's laser system is beaming 42 petabytes of data per day"]
1. Scound+ld5[view] [source] 2024-02-01 19:48:34
>>alden5+(OP)
So which points are getting “faster than fibre” latency because of this? Extra distance up and down, but make up for it on the long-haul.

Won’t beat HF radio though.

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2. ggreer+Ak5[view] [source] 2024-02-01 20:18:09
>>Scound+ld5
Optical fiber has an index of refraction of around 1.6, so signals travel at around 0.6c. For a perfectly straight cross-continental link (5,000km) with no delays from amplification/retransmission, that's about 26 milliseconds. Assuming the satellites are directly overhead, Starlink adds another 500km up and down, making the minimum possible latency around 20 milliseconds. The real number might be slightly higher or lower depending on the location of the satellites.

My guess is the real latency depends mostly on the latency of relay nodes (either satellites or routers on earth), not the medium through which signals travel.

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