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>On the contrary, running cable to many of these places would be overwhelmingly environmentally damaging (in many cases you'd have to build a road through a for

>On the contrary, running cable to many of these places would be overwhelmingly environmentally damaging (in many cases you'd have to build a road through a forest or blast through a mountain) How so? How do this people landed in this place without a road and electricity? Rural homes must have roads to reach the city to buy fuel and food. There are also wireless terrestrial ways to transmit internet too.

lmm 5y ago
> How do this people landed in this place without a road and electricity? Rural homes must have roads to reach the city to buy fuel and food. They might rely on generators for electricity, and access might involve a boat, or a quad bike trail that would need enlarging before you could bring construction equipment in and run a cable along it. > There are also wireless terrestrial ways to transmit internet too. I mean ultimately the proof is in the pudding; if it were practical to run internet some other way they would already get it that way.
- simion314 5y ago
  >They might rely on generators for electricity, and access might involve a boat, or a quad bike trail that would need enlarging before you could bring construction equipment in and run a cable along it. Who are this people? ARe they poor farmers or rich dudes on islands? >I mean ultimately the proof is in the pudding; if it were practical to run internet some other way they would already get it that way. It might be practical but not obscenely profitable. I double that Elon sells his stuff only to the above people, the people living in isolated environments with no roads and electricity are too few. In many places it is legal to put cables on the electricity polls and connect a village 25Km away in 1 single day, from what I read this is not allowed in US so you have no internet or a monopoly.
  - lstodd 5y ago
    > Who are this people? ARe they poor farmers or rich dudes on islands? You know, there are poor dudes that live on islands too. Like one of my friends. It's a river island, it's only about five kilometers to the nearest cellular tower, and as you might guess running fiber across a major waterway is out of question. So we built a 20-meter tower with a 1.5-meter parabolic dish on top just to get 3G-ish speeds on the site. Quit the condescension, please. There are a LOT of people living in such environments. Hell, when we were doing rural cellular in Africa, it was like three days over non-existing roads to get to the installation site. No electricity, only satcom, and that with 1-second rtt. Starlink is the best thing that could've ever happened for those applications.
    - simion314 5y ago
      Why I am not convinced that Elon and all HJN-ers here are thinking at poor people but instead find this extreme cases to shamelessly use them to promote the technology to work around the fact they don't like their mobile provider.
      - lmm 5y ago
        Because you're looking at your own prejudices rather than the facts? I'm no fan of Musk and Starlink will never be any use to me (I live in the biggest urban area in the world), but knee-jerk reactionism disguised as environmentalism is one of the biggest barriers to actually fixing environmental issues.

lmm 5y ago

> How do this people landed in this place without a road and electricity? Rural homes must have roads to reach the city to buy fuel and food. They might rely on generators for electricity, and access might involve a boat, or a quad bike trail that would need enlarging before you could bring construction equipment in and run a cable along it. > There are also wireless terrestrial ways to transmit internet too. I mean ultimately the proof is in the pudding; if it were practical to run internet some other way they would already get it that way.

simion314 5y ago
>They might rely on generators for electricity, and access might involve a boat, or a quad bike trail that would need enlarging before you could bring construction equipment in and run a cable along it. Who are this people? ARe they poor farmers or rich dudes on islands? >I mean ultimately the proof is in the pudding; if it were practical to run internet some other way they would already get it that way. It might be practical but not obscenely profitable. I double that Elon sells his stuff only to the above people, the people living in isolated environments with no roads and electricity are too few. In many places it is legal to put cables on the electricity polls and connect a village 25Km away in 1 single day, from what I read this is not allowed in US so you have no internet or a monopoly.
- lstodd 5y ago
  > Who are this people? ARe they poor farmers or rich dudes on islands? You know, there are poor dudes that live on islands too. Like one of my friends. It's a river island, it's only about five kilometers to the nearest cellular tower, and as you might guess running fiber across a major waterway is out of question. So we built a 20-meter tower with a 1.5-meter parabolic dish on top just to get 3G-ish speeds on the site. Quit the condescension, please. There are a LOT of people living in such environments. Hell, when we were doing rural cellular in Africa, it was like three days over non-existing roads to get to the installation site. No electricity, only satcom, and that with 1-second rtt. Starlink is the best thing that could've ever happened for those applications.
  - simion314 5y ago
    Why I am not convinced that Elon and all HJN-ers here are thinking at poor people but instead find this extreme cases to shamelessly use them to promote the technology to work around the fact they don't like their mobile provider.
    - lmm 5y ago
      Because you're looking at your own prejudices rather than the facts? I'm no fan of Musk and Starlink will never be any use to me (I live in the biggest urban area in the world), but knee-jerk reactionism disguised as environmentalism is one of the biggest barriers to actually fixing environmental issues.