Starlink Gets Nearly 1 Billion Grant For Rural ISP Access

#1
VolnJC

VolnJC

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#1
Lack of high speed internet access is a big issue just not sure I like the government giving out billions to ISPs...At out home here on the Gulf Coast we have 2 options 3mbps DSL or Viasat...which gives us about 20mbps...which is barely doable for me working from home and homeschooling our autistic son. We pay 160 a month for 100gbs..We can usually get it to last about 20 days if we both max out our phone hotspots for streaming...so we end up paying well over 250 a month for lousy access...really pulling hard for Starlink and its low latency promise U.S. Government Promises SpaceX Starlink $886 Million for Satellite Internet | The Motley Fool
 
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#2
#2
VolnJC said:
Lack of high speed internet access is a big issue just not sure I like the government giving out billions to ISPs...At out home here on the Gulf Coast we have 2 options 3mbps DSL or Viasat...which gives us about 20mbps...which is barely doable for me working from home and homeschooling our autistic son. We pay 160 a month for 100gbs..We can usually get it to last about 20 days if we both max out our phone hotspots for streaming...so we end up paying well over 250 a month for lousy access...really pulling hard for Starlink and its low latency promise U.S. Government Promises SpaceX Starlink $886 Million for Satellite Internet | The Motley Fool
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I hope Starlink is wildly successful. Some of us only have one option for decent high speed internet, and decent is a stretch. My local gov has passed a resolution that we can allow outside folks to provide county-wide high speed. We split the costs with the company for providing the infrastructure. It is the only time I can remember in years that the liberal and conservative folks in my neck of the woods agreed on something.
 
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#3
#3
Simulation of the first SpaceX Starship launch to Mars after Starlink gets finished.

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#4
#4
VolnJC said:
Lack of high speed internet access is a big issue just not sure I like the government giving out billions to ISPs...At out home here on the Gulf Coast we have 2 options 3mbps DSL or Viasat...which gives us about 20mbps...which is barely doable for me working from home and homeschooling our autistic son. We pay 160 a month for 100gbs..We can usually get it to last about 20 days if we both max out our phone hotspots for streaming...so we end up paying well over 250 a month for lousy access...really pulling hard for Starlink and its low latency promise U.S. Government Promises SpaceX Starlink $886 Million for Satellite Internet | The Motley Fool
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More free stuff!

That works out to just under $138 in subsidies per customer, per year -- not enough to pay outright for the cost of Starlink (which currently retails at $99 per month for service, plus $499 for equipment).
 
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#6
#6
I have probably said this before, but I live 10 miles from launchpad 39A. Lately there have been 2 launches a month, and each of them has been a payload of 60 satellites. IT's about the only good thing about living in Florida. That and being a shoe salesman.
 
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#7
#7
TNVOLNAVY said:
More free stuff!

That works out to just under $138 in subsidies per customer, per year -- not enough to pay outright for the cost of Starlink (which currently retails at $99 per month for service, plus $499 for equipment).
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Elon Musk ain't spending his own money. I have to laugh at those that champion SpacEx as 'private enterprise'.
 
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#10
#10
It would be cheaper, in the long run, to lay cable than have to rely on satellites for high speed internet access.
 
#11
#11
SpaceCoastVol said:
I have probably said this before, but I live 10 miles from launchpad 39A. Lately there have been 2 launches a month, and each of them has been a payload of 60 satellites. IT's about the only good thing about living in Florida. That and being a shoe salesman.
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We have a Starlink ground station about 10 miles from us.The Rural Rout of SpaceX Global Dominion
 
#15
#15
n_huffhines said:
How do you know this?
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Because you don’t have to launch a truck and a couple technicians into space if a tree branch severs a cable or a relay box malfunctions.
Satellite internet may eventually become competitive in terms of speed and bandwidth caps as cable and fiber. Right now, though, it’s expensive and slow.
 
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#17
MG1968 said:
Because you don’t have to launch a truck and a couple technicians into space if a tree branch severs a cable or a relay box malfunctions.
Satellite internet may eventually become competitive in terms of speed and bandwidth caps as cable and fiber. Right now, though, it’s expensive and slow.
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Yeah, but you said long run and that's what I don't know about. Expensive, incapable tech can become cheap, feasible tech in a matter of a decade. IDK enough about it, I was just hoping you had a link to an explanation of why this isn't viable.
 
#19
#19
MG1968 said:
If you can’t run cable, odds are unless the satellite is in geosynchronous orbit over your yurt, your access is going to be crap most of the time.
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not true. Starlink will have some 40,000 satellites that will act similar to cell towers.
 
#21
#21
MG1968 said:
Sounds like the beginning of a SyFy movie plot. “ All they wanted was broadband internet access, what they got was something far more sinister .”
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LOL no doubt. I am starting to wonder how we are gonna launch other rockets through the cloud of fast moving metal objects anymore.
 
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#22
#22
MG1968 said:
Sounds like the beginning of a SyFy movie plot. “ All they wanted was broadband internet access, what they got was something far more sinister .”
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It certainly does.

I will say this though, Elon Musk has been wary of AI for a while now.
 
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