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But wires aren’t the only terrestrial option. I can’t fathom how many satellites it would take to support all the internet users as a monopoly.
by jtbayly 2y ago
But wires aren’t the only terrestrial option.
I can’t fathom how many satellites it would take to support all the internet users as a monopoly.
- toast0 2y agoFair enough; I didn't read your comment very closely, I guess. Terrestrial radio seems a lot less expensive in areas with population. When you get out beyond rural and more into wilderness, satellite is likely cost competitive, because having a LEO constellation cover the wilderness comes at no additional cost, and having radio coverage in the wilderness involves setting up base stations with low usage --- you can do some things with longer range / larger cells, but it depends on terrain and maybe protocol limits? GSM had a concept of 'timing advance' that effectively limited the maximum cell size, but I don't know if that's a limitation if you're not using TDMA.