Starlink Internet satellite dishes were delivered to Ukraine, and the country’s deputy prime minister thanked Elon Musk.

It is not clear where they are going – but it is likely that the government will use them.

At present, internet access in Ukraine is quite good but is expected to deteriorate as conflicts escalate.

Meanwhile, businesses are trying to get their hands on parabolas as backup systems.

Mikhail Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, has asked for Musk’s help and posted a picture of the arrival of Starlink food on Twitter.

How does Starlink work?

Connect the antenna – or terminal in its official name – and it will automatically connect to the nearest Starlink satellite in the sky, of which there are more than 2,000.

The satellite then communicates with the nearest earth station or gateway that provides the Internet.

These gateways are located all over the world, but they cannot be too far from the place of the Internet connection. Fortunately, Ukraine has a gateway to neighbouring Poland.

The Internet connection goes from the gateway to the satellite and then to the terminal. Users simply connect the router to their terminal and the rest is taken care of by technology.

One of the main problems with previous iterations of satellite Internet is latency, but the constellation of Starlink satellites is a relatively new technology – they operate on a low orbit, so the latency is measured in milliseconds, not seconds.

There is usually a price for this. In the UK, food costs £ 495 (including shipping) and is then subscribed to £ 89 a month. There is no indication that Ukrainians have to pay a fee for the service.

Terminals need a clear view of the sky to operate, and there is an app to help users find the right place to place them.

Usual considerations are protruding trees and other obstacles – In Ukraine, users need to consider security and how they might show up to Russian forces.

After setup, the speeds they offer vary, but a user who has already accessed a terminal wrote on Twitter on Monday that it had reached 200 Mbps (megabits / s) for some time.

How useful will Starlink be?
Businessmen like Stephen Veselovsky, CEO of the Lviv IT Cluster, are trying to get their hands on more terminals, but find it difficult.

“We’re trying to buy receivers, but I’m not sure it will work.”

Currently, Internet services are working well in most Ukrainian cities, but it will be important for businesses to have a contingency plan in case of network failure, Veselovsky said.

NetBlocks, which monitors internet speeds in Ukraine, told the BBC that the internet had collapsed in some areas, such as the administrative center of the Luhansk region in Sievierodonets.

“Friends and family reported no contact with loved ones in the past few hours,” he wrote last night. Currently, the company claims that the internet speed is about 80% of the standard registered level.

However, Alp Toker, NetBlocks, cautioned against viewing Starlink as a substitute for telephone networks and broadband: “Starlink can provide connectivity by creating a personal hotspot for people near the device. This is very useful for journalists and resistance groups or the elected government. “

Mr Toker said these tools would be most useful in providing journalists and politicians with information to the world in the event of a power outage in Kyiv.

“Even if only a select few of these tools were selected, it’s better than a complete lack of information.”

Safe?
Some have questioned the security of using the satellite internet during a conflict and suggest that the antennas could become targets for Russian forces.

On a widely shared Twitter thread, John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at The Citizen Lab, said Musk’s offer of help was “good to see” but cautioned users, noting: “Russia has decades of experience attacking people with their satellite communications. targeting ’.

But Toker said that although “there is some risk of being detected through drones flying overhead, for example,” it could be a greater risk for ordinary citizens to have to explain why they had the device in their possession.

What are the other options?

Starlink is not the only satellite internet company operating in the region. Viasat’s commercial satellite Internet company said it had hit a broadband event on February 24, the day of Russia’s occupation.

The company has not revealed who or what is behind it but said there is a “partial network outage” affecting fixed-line internet customers.

Source: BBC

Starlink — here. Thanks, @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/dZbaYqWYCf

— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) February 28, 2022