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This, combined with the really mediocre service available from Starlink[0], combined with the plan to put up many thousands more satellites, is truly dishearten

This, combined with the really mediocre service available from Starlink[0], combined with the plan to put up many thousands more satellites, is truly disheartening. 0. https://www.theverge.com/22435030/starlink-satellite-internet-spacex-review https://www.theverge.com/22435030/starlink-satellite-interne...

1023bytes 5y ago
Mediocre maybe compared to fiber
cyberlurker 5y ago
Yea, I wish we’d go back to the “Google fiber” days of a disruptive tech company laying cable and fiber optics everywhere. And before someone says it, Yes yes, Google bad, but I liked the initiative.
- pwinnski 5y ago
  Google was making it work before incumbent companies sued and blocked them[0]. The problem with broadband in the US is not technical, and it's not solely distances or the nature of rural spaces. It's political and economic. We managed to deliver electricity and then telephone to everyone with a push from the federal government, we could do it again. But now AT&T, Comcast and Time-Warner are too powerful, so we end up with ground-based telescopes suffering instead. 0. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160314/09374733901/isps-are-blocking-google-fibers-access-to-utility-poles-california.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160314/09374733901/isps-...
  - mlindner 5y ago
    > so we end up without a night sky. Please don't use hyperbole like this as some people believe it and it confuses the conversation. Starlink will not erase the night sky. Starlink in operational orbits is not human eye visible. This is only a concern for ground based telescopes, not the average person viewing the night sky.
    - pwinnski 5y ago
      You're right, thanks. Edited.
      - mlindner 5y ago
        Thanks for editing.
mlindner 5y ago
Don't cite the verge article. They failed to even set up the service properly and then complained that they didn't get good service. Every starlink customer complained that it was completely misreported. It's called "RTFM".
- pwinnski 5y ago
  The only complaints I've seen involve two hours of obstruction, which seem like they'd be hard to resolve without major effort the author admitted he didn't want to go through for a trial product he would not be keeping. Cutting down trees or running cable long distances or building tall towers all seem like pretty drastic choices. In the end, politicians with enough will to stand up to the terrible telco conglomerates currently holding back rural broadband would be a better answer here in the US, no need to pollute the sky. Launch a federal program like those that ensured electricity and telephone to every rural customer, with a generous minimum speed, and customers for Starlink in the US drop to near-zero.
  - mlindner 5y ago
    > The only complaints I've seen involve two hours of obstruction, which seem like they'd be hard to resolve without major effort the author admitted he didn't want to go through for a trial product he would not be keeping. Cutting down trees or running cable long distances or building tall towers all seem like pretty drastic choices. Yeah many Starlink customers do exactly that or hire someone to do that for them. They've had to do similar drastic measures in many cases to even get service at all via microwave antennas on tall towers or LTE antennas on tall towers or other such things. The guy wasn't desperate for good internet, which is why he didn't feel it was worth it.
    - pwinnski 5y ago
      Hence my description of this solution as mediocre at best. Everything you say was described in the Verge article by the author, so I don't see how the article is inaccurate or should be avoided.

1023bytes 5y ago

Mediocre maybe compared to fiber

cyberlurker 5y ago

Yea, I wish we’d go back to the “Google fiber” days of a disruptive tech company laying cable and fiber optics everywhere. And before someone says it, Yes yes, Google bad, but I liked the initiative.

pwinnski 5y ago
Google was making it work before incumbent companies sued and blocked them[0]. The problem with broadband in the US is not technical, and it's not solely distances or the nature of rural spaces. It's political and economic. We managed to deliver electricity and then telephone to everyone with a push from the federal government, we could do it again. But now AT&T, Comcast and Time-Warner are too powerful, so we end up with ground-based telescopes suffering instead. 0. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160314/09374733901/isps-are-blocking-google-fibers-access-to-utility-poles-california.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160314/09374733901/isps-...
- mlindner 5y ago
  > so we end up without a night sky. Please don't use hyperbole like this as some people believe it and it confuses the conversation. Starlink will not erase the night sky. Starlink in operational orbits is not human eye visible. This is only a concern for ground based telescopes, not the average person viewing the night sky.
  - pwinnski 5y ago
    You're right, thanks. Edited.
    - mlindner 5y ago
      Thanks for editing.

mlindner 5y ago

Don't cite the verge article. They failed to even set up the service properly and then complained that they didn't get good service. Every starlink customer complained that it was completely misreported. It's called "RTFM".

pwinnski 5y ago
The only complaints I've seen involve two hours of obstruction, which seem like they'd be hard to resolve without major effort the author admitted he didn't want to go through for a trial product he would not be keeping. Cutting down trees or running cable long distances or building tall towers all seem like pretty drastic choices. In the end, politicians with enough will to stand up to the terrible telco conglomerates currently holding back rural broadband would be a better answer here in the US, no need to pollute the sky. Launch a federal program like those that ensured electricity and telephone to every rural customer, with a generous minimum speed, and customers for Starlink in the US drop to near-zero.
- mlindner 5y ago
  > The only complaints I've seen involve two hours of obstruction, which seem like they'd be hard to resolve without major effort the author admitted he didn't want to go through for a trial product he would not be keeping. Cutting down trees or running cable long distances or building tall towers all seem like pretty drastic choices. Yeah many Starlink customers do exactly that or hire someone to do that for them. They've had to do similar drastic measures in many cases to even get service at all via microwave antennas on tall towers or LTE antennas on tall towers or other such things. The guy wasn't desperate for good internet, which is why he didn't feel it was worth it.
  - pwinnski 5y ago
    Hence my description of this solution as mediocre at best. Everything you say was described in the Verge article by the author, so I don't see how the article is inaccurate or should be avoided.