This is kind of a weird response, do you disagree with that coverage map or something? I don't know about your friend, but it's not unreasonable to give technic

This is kind of a weird response, do you disagree with that coverage map or something? I don't know about your friend, but it's not unreasonable to give technical people on HN a little more credit then that. I kept thoroughly abreast of every possible broadband option even in my area and I know they do too. "A friend's flat" doesn't sound like a semi-rural or rural zone, where as simple geography you can be miles away from even the nearest village. DSL falls off pretty hard with distance, when you're at 15000+ feet/5000+ meters there isn't much to be done, even with bonded lines (if that's even an option). Nearest cable TV service to me is about 3.5 miles off and has been that way for 20 years now at least. Various WISP efforts have added new possibilities in the last 5 years, but mountainous regions still result in very hit/miss service and since many of them are quite ad hoc and local performance is also hit/miss (though they're often a lot of fun to actually deal with, good technical enthusiastic people you can have a real conversation with and come up with creative solutions with like the old days). It's a real miracle that fiber came through here via our great local ISP, though another few houses/mile away and I'd have missed it. And now everything is on hold again due to lock down. Starlink definitely will be able to at least smooth out the current total patchwork. The question will just be if it's a low density area and (while constellation is building and before optical interlink sats) if it's in a covered zone. Won't always be the best option I'm sure, but it won't be the case that two people a mere half mile away as the crow flies with a small hill between them have to deal with total feast/famine differences.