The Starlink system is a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite system being built by SpaceX. Starlink is different from traditional geo stationary satellites as it sits in LEO, this has an effect of reducing the latency on connections from 600-800ms for geo to 40-50ms for Starlink. With latency around 40-50ms and speeds between 50 and 150Mbps Starlink is equivalent to 4G+ and VDSL or fibre connections.
Starlink will allow sites in rural locations like offshore islands, forests and mountain tops, where 4G or 5G coverage isn’t available or is sporadic, to get high quality connection to the internet. This will be a game changer for remote monitoring of CCTV where previously it was simply not possible to get internet connectivity at these locations.
Starlink does however have one drawback, it operators a carrier NAT (CGNAT) system. This is similar to 4/5G mobile network. This means that Dynamic DNS and port forwards will not work and they don’t offer options for Static IPs. That is where the i-spi comes in. Simply connect the i-spi to the Starlink system and you get four port forwards on a static IP.
Starlink may not usurp 4G or 5G solutions in urban areas as its monthly price point and ease of deployment may not compete with cellular tariff plans, however in LTE ‘not spots’, Starlink in combination with the i-spi by Netcelero, is an amazing partnership to enjoy high definition real time remote CCTV monitoring.
