3 ms·

In the US, there is a program kicking off known as BEAD that throws money at states to implement broadband access to underserved communities. Fiber being the cl

In the US, there is a program kicking off known as BEAD that throws money at states to implement broadband access to underserved communities. Fiber being the classic mechanism: cheap, fast, reliable. With new occupants in the White House, I expect that the FCC will come under intense pressure to allow Starlink service to qualify as broadband. This article gives me pause that Starlink could ever provide decent broadband service?

tonyarkles 2y ago
It’s an interesting article. I’ve had Starlink for close to two years now at a Canadian farm and while I have noticed (and tested to verify) the kind of variance they’re seeing… in practice it has been a complete non-issue. Teams calls with 20 people, massive bulk data uploads and downloads from S3, etc. and the service has been basically flawless. There have been a couple of 1-2 minute outages here and there, generally during very intense thunderstorms. And then through a series of fortunate events for me I ended up with gigabit symmetric fibre out there this fall. I haven’t cancelled the Starlink subscription yet, still waiting to feel confident that the fibre is reliable long-term.
chiph 2y ago
I'm not sure BEAD is needed, as the Telecommunications Act of 1996 expanded the definition of Universal Service to include high-speed internet. The FCC later set up the Connect America Fund in 2013 to administer this, defining high speed as 10/1 broadband. https://www.fcc.gov/general/universal-service https://www.fcc.gov/general/universal-service https://www.fcc.gov/general/connect-america-fund-caf https://www.fcc.gov/general/connect-america-fund-caf A friend is served by a rural cooperative telco and has fiber to the home. They were able to get grants from the Connect America Fund to run fiber in their service area, so I think it's been a success. It may be that there are other rural telcos who don't know they can do this, or are just bad at writing grant requests. And BEAD won't help solve that.

tonyarkles 2y ago

It’s an interesting article. I’ve had Starlink for close to two years now at a Canadian farm and while I have noticed (and tested to verify) the kind of variance they’re seeing… in practice it has been a complete non-issue. Teams calls with 20 people, massive bulk data uploads and downloads from S3, etc. and the service has been basically flawless. There have been a couple of 1-2 minute outages here and there, generally during very intense thunderstorms. And then through a series of fortunate events for me I ended up with gigabit symmetric fibre out there this fall. I haven’t cancelled the Starlink subscription yet, still waiting to feel confident that the fibre is reliable long-term.

chiph 2y ago

I'm not sure BEAD is needed, as the Telecommunications Act of 1996 expanded the definition of Universal Service to include high-speed internet. The FCC later set up the Connect America Fund in 2013 to administer this, defining high speed as 10/1 broadband. https://www.fcc.gov/general/universal-service https://www.fcc.gov/general/universal-service https://www.fcc.gov/general/connect-america-fund-caf https://www.fcc.gov/general/connect-america-fund-caf A friend is served by a rural cooperative telco and has fiber to the home. They were able to get grants from the Connect America Fund to run fiber in their service area, so I think it's been a success. It may be that there are other rural telcos who don't know they can do this, or are just bad at writing grant requests. And BEAD won't help solve that.