Starlink's satellite-based service can't reach enough people to close the rural broadband gap much, consultant says

Elon Musk's Starlink may seem like a promising solution to rural broadband woes—after all, a satellite requires no "last mile" cable installation—but its technical limitations mean it's unlikely to be a universal solution, telecommunications consultant Tim Fararr writes for Fierce Wireless.

One of the biggest challenges: Starlink relies on an unobstructed signal to reach households, but the satellites are positioned so low in the sky that trees, mountains, or even other buildings are far more likely to block the signal for at least part of the day, Farrar writes.

That's particularly problematic "because this satellite is not simply in one fixed direction, where trimming of a tree or relocation of the antenna to a different spot on the roof may be able to solve the problem," Farrar writes. "Instead the serving satellite will sometimes be to the north, and at other times it may be on the west or east side of a customer’s home. In these circumstances there may be no unobstructed site for the antenna on the customer’s property."

Overall, while Starlink is "an admirable first attempt" to bring rural Americans broadband through satellites, "it cannot and will not become the only option for satellite broadband in the U.S. or around the world, because in many areas at least some potential customers will be unable to access Starlink, due to capacity limitations and/or the difficulty of securing a reliable line-of-sight to the constellation," Farrar writes.