Although, one could say that technically, the inception of Starlink actually came about a bit earlier, back in 2014, when Elon Musk & partner at the time Greg Wyler, planned on developing & launching upwards of 700 satellites called WorldVu; which was later canned after discussions broke down in the same year. To which SpaceX then filed an ITU application under the alias, 'STEAM'. It was later to be confirmed in connection to Starlink in 2016.

Most of the technology used, including the components used to transmit & receive in the specific RF band at 12 Ghz, is not new. There are, however, still plenty of firsts that Starlink has introduced in it's development cycle, which no other satellite company/provider has yet to implement in current or existing satellites in LEO, MEO & HEO (Low, Medium & Highly Elliptical Earth Orbit). Many of which have not been discussed publicly, besides a general statement of such being made.

First & foremost, I would highly recommend that you check out the video below. Branch Education does a fantastic job covering most of the technical aspects of how Starlink works, without going too much in to technical detail in par with the hard-core engineering elements of Starlink. I can not take any credit for the content provided in the video below. Please also subscribe to the channel as well.

Unlike traditional satellite dishes that you see on houses from satellite companies like DISH Network & DirecTV, those dishes merely act as receivers in the receiving of satellite signal coming from satellites that are typically in GSO (Geosynchronous Orbit) at an altitude over 22,000 miles above the surface of the Earth; Which is then concentrated from the reflector in to the eyes or LNB[F] (Low Noise Block Down-Converter [+Feedhorn]) of a dish, using the Ku 12Ghz band. Since Starlink & satellite cable providers use this radio spectrum, this can cause interference for these services if placed within a close proximity to DirecTV & DISH Network dishes. Starlink dishes send & receive data to the Starlink constellation in LEO (Low Earth Orbit)

There have been a number of different controversies involving SpaceX's Starlink constellation. From concerned Astronomers to other satellite based companies. More notably, many Astronomers specifically expressed concern over these satellites & the sheer abundance of them that Elon & SpaceX wishes to deploy in total; that it would interfere with their observations of the night sky.

astronomers express concern about starlink interfering with observing night sky

via SpaceNews.com:

Satellites interfering with astronomical observations is not a new phenomenon. “Any object in Earth orbit that reflects sun, anything with an albedo greater than zero, can possibly leave a trail in an astronomical image,” said Pat Seitzer, a professor emeritus of astronomy at the University of Michigan.

On any given night, he said, hundreds of objects might pass in view of an observatory. “We’d really like no satellites,” he said, “but that battle was lost a long time ago, beginning in 1957.”

Elon Musk himself had responded to these concerns to numerous different news reporting agencies & to the social media platform, Twitter. Below is a direct quote from Elon on the matter.

via The Guardian:

"'Space is just extremely enormous, and satellites are very tiny,' Musk said. 'This is not some situation where we’re effectively blocking others in any way. We’ve not blocked anyone from doing anything, nor do we expect to.'"

SpaceX themselves have complained that if other companies were allowed to use the 12Ghz spectrum for general 5G services, it would render their constellation unusable. Their complaint was specifically targeted towards DISH Network whom is actively rolling out & expanding their new built from the ground up 5G infrastructure, called Project Greenfield. DISH had responded to their concerns, stating that they can coexist and that it would not affect other providers' usage of this specific band.

SpaceX Asks Customers to Protest FCC Filings in 12Ghz band usage

Elon & SpaceX have already managed utilize the Starlink constellation for a variety of different causes & applications. Below are a few of the more notable collaborations & partnerships that SpaceX & Elon have taken part in.

The new 2nd generation satellites will also be far larger in size in comparison to v1 Starlink satellites. The new variants can only be launched from SpaceX's upcoming super-heavy lift rocket, Starship. However, Elon noted during the announcement in collaboration with T-Mobile, that depending on how Starship development goes & barring any delays, we could see a smaller variant of the v2 satellites which could then be retrofitted in to a Falcon 9's upper, second stage fairing in order to avoid the potential of any long-term delays in rolling out this new service being provided for existing cell-phone users.