4 ms·

10 years or less (likely less) starlink will have that covered IMO. Feel free to consider this a bet to come back to.

by s5300 5y ago

PawBer 5y ago
I think it's more of a poverty problem than technology problem.
- onion2k 5y ago
  It's a bit of both. Delivering an internet connection to a remote mountain or desert location is a hard problem. It's compounded by other tech problems like an unreliable electricity supply. If the people there have very few resources it's even harder.
onion2k 5y ago
Will Starlink ever be affordable for people living in least developed counties?
- rsj_hn 5y ago
  I guess that depends on how much they develop and how ubiquitous the tech is. Cell phones, for example, are widely used in developing nations. Tech in general has been the best at reducing costs over time compared to things like food and energy which haven't really fallen in price.
- arpa 5y ago
  I consider myself very well off. My internet is 4G and gets me about 15-20Mbps on a good day. I was considering starlink, but a set up fee of 600€ is a bit too much. Starlink is NOT feasible in developing countries. It's Elons' cash cow now.
  - s5300 5y ago
    Can’t one dish essentially serve an entire region through wiring to it? €600 for an entire village/favela/whatever else to have some form of internet sounds fairly reasonable in the early 21st century. And prices will surely go down over the next few years.
    - ben_w 5y ago
      I was about to suggest the one-per-village idea too. It isn’t designed for lots of ground stations to be close to each other anyway. That said, given the base station is currently sold below cost, it may take quite a while to get cheap.
    - arpa 5y ago
      Only if you're willing to pick up the responsibility for hosting/downloading CP for example...
paxys 5y ago
Most of the world relies on mobile devices and mobile networks for their connectivity needs. Starlink isn't going to really move the needle in the developing world.

10 years or less (likely less) starlink will have that covered IMO. Feel free to consider this a bet to come back to.

by s5300 5y ago

10 years or less (likely less) starlink will have that covered IMO. Feel free to consider this a bet to come back to.

PawBer 5y ago

I think it's more of a poverty problem than technology problem.

onion2k 5y ago
It's a bit of both. Delivering an internet connection to a remote mountain or desert location is a hard problem. It's compounded by other tech problems like an unreliable electricity supply. If the people there have very few resources it's even harder.

onion2k 5y ago

Will Starlink ever be affordable for people living in least developed counties?

rsj_hn 5y ago
I guess that depends on how much they develop and how ubiquitous the tech is. Cell phones, for example, are widely used in developing nations. Tech in general has been the best at reducing costs over time compared to things like food and energy which haven't really fallen in price.
arpa 5y ago
I consider myself very well off. My internet is 4G and gets me about 15-20Mbps on a good day. I was considering starlink, but a set up fee of 600€ is a bit too much. Starlink is NOT feasible in developing countries. It's Elons' cash cow now.
- s5300 5y ago
  Can’t one dish essentially serve an entire region through wiring to it? €600 for an entire village/favela/whatever else to have some form of internet sounds fairly reasonable in the early 21st century. And prices will surely go down over the next few years.
  - ben_w 5y ago
    I was about to suggest the one-per-village idea too. It isn’t designed for lots of ground stations to be close to each other anyway. That said, given the base station is currently sold below cost, it may take quite a while to get cheap.
  - arpa 5y ago
    Only if you're willing to pick up the responsibility for hosting/downloading CP for example...

paxys 5y ago

Most of the world relies on mobile devices and mobile networks for their connectivity needs. Starlink isn't going to really move the needle in the developing world.