[FemtoStar]

Hi there!

FemtoStar Project lead here. We're very aware of how impressive of a system Starlink is, and our intention is anything but to ignore it.

The key point, to that FAQ item, is that FemtoStar and Starlink are not directly comparable products because FemtoStar is MSS and Starlink is FSS, which results in a swath of differences beyond the basic "Starlink is faster".

FemtoStar, as well as offerings like Inmarsat BGAN, Iridium Certus, etc are MSS offerings. If you want to compare MSS, compare between these.

Starlink, as well as offerings like HughesNet and other VSAT providers, are FSS offerings. If you want to compare FSS, compare between these.

If you compare FemtoStar to Starlink on speed alone, Starlink wins just as HughesNet wins if you compare it to BGAN on speed alone. That doesn't mean any of these are bad products, just that different classes of terminal are for different jobs. Antenna size is directly related to attainable data rate, and just as scaling up the FemtoStar terminal would get you faster speeds on FemtoStar, scaling down the Starlink terminal would get you slower speeds on Starlink. There's a reason MSS companies usually offer a range of terminal sizes - not everyone needs the same combination of performance and portability. Starlink may indeed introduce a smaller, lower-speed terminal in order to enter the MSS market (though they do not currently have MSS licenses in any country we are aware of, only FSS and FSS with ESIM licenses), but Starlink as it stands is FSS.

To your second point, inter-satelite links (ISLs) and point-to-point connectivity are not the same thing. Starlink has ISLs on a handful of satellites (in-plane links only, no crosslinks yet) which it plans to use for point-to-point connectivity, but this is not part of their consumer offering. FemtoStar actually doesn't have ISLs at all, but it will support point-to-point connections for all users on all terminals as the standard service.

In Starlink's case, yes, their network uses the user's location in order to do that. In FemtoStar's case, however, a high degree of geolocation-resistance is actually attainable using a combination of terminal-side geolocation mitigations and larger-than-usual transmit beams on the satellite. The terminal provides a very rough point for beam pointing on the satellite, but the provided point is randomly selected and can be hundreds of kilometers from where the user actually is.

Please let us know if you have any more questions! - The FemtoStar Project

[yencabulator]

You keep claiming Starlink is fixed position, yet they have already demonstrated it on planes, and intend to put it on large-ish vehicles in the near future.

> but this is not part of their consumer offering

It's beta! They'll use inter-satellites links once they know how to do it well enough. You, once again, seem to pretend that Starlink will never do something, just because the beta doesn't currently do it that way.

Anyway, please adjust your spin to explaining more about why your approach to privacy, or whatever, is great -- and spend less time spreading FUD about your competition. That'll help your project come across as much more credible.

[FemtoStar]

We're not anti-Starlink - as we said, we find it extremely impressive and actually intend to use it at some of our own ground stations. For what it is designed to do (broadband to fixed terminals, where privacy and openness is not a concern) it is extraordinarily good.

It isn't us calling Starlink fixed - FSS and MSS, and FSS with ESIM (Earth Station in Motion) are legally defined and separate categories with separate licenses and separate rules, and Starlink is FSS - those are the licenses they hold and those are the bands their hardware is designed for. FSS terminals ARE allowed to move (this is what an ESIM is and I imagine is the "large-ish vehicles" you're talking about). As for on aircraft, I believe that was an experimental license but also aeronautical satcom licensing is sometimes an substantially separate situation legally.

We are not the ones calling Starlink Fixed Satellite Service - SpaceX and the FCC are. Literally any one of their FCC filings will include the phrase "fixed satellite service" or "FSS" somewhere, because that's what they are and that's the license they have.

WRT ISLs, I repeat, ISLs and point-to-point connectivity are not the same thing at all. ISLs are where satellites communicate with eachother directly. Point-to-point connectivity has nothing to do with ISLs (though it can use them if the network has them) and is a matter of terminal-to-terminal links without use of a dedicated feeder link or official ground station. Starlink does not need ISLs to do point-to-point, and FemtoStar (which will not have ISLs at all) can do point-to-point just fine without them.

We're fully aware Starlink is a beta, and to be fair to them, even in beta they're much closer to done than we are. We also know they totally COULD do MSS if they decided to get into that market. However, we also know that the core offering of Starlink is internet service via official ground stations, and that they haven't made any moves towards MSS so far - only FSS with ESIM licenses. There are many positive terms with which SpaceX could be described, but without a doubt "open" is not one of them, and that seems to hold true for Starlink no matter how high-tech it may be.

I really struggle to see a situation where someone considering Starlink would consider FemtoStar a valid alternative, or where someone considering FemtoStar would consider Starlink a valid alternative. The terminal size, the network architecture, the privacy properties, the openness, the performance, the licensed service type, there's way too many major differences in design goals and priorities to make an apples-to-apples comparison.