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Starlink amazing solution to a problem that should have been solved by governments years ago, the USA has power to most homes and USPS will deliver anywhere so

Starlink amazing solution to a problem that should have been solved by governments years ago, the USA has power to most homes and USPS will deliver anywhere so why do we not have the same for internet? God knows

protocolture 7mo ago
Starlink is an amazing solution to the problem of "How do I keep my orbital transport business somewhat liquid" which isn't really the kind of problem governments are meant to resolve.
- vablings 7mo ago
  Correct, the government should have ran fiber lines to every home in the united states
  - protocolture 7mo ago
    The government should have torn up your copper monopolies a few decades earlier, but the one thing the US has done right is sort of letting local power companies and ISPs work it out for themselves where it comes to fibre. Enforcing a single standard everywhere is bad actually.
    - vablings 7mo ago
      Nah, they should have done what the UK government did with Project Gigabit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/project-gigabit-uk-gigabit-programme https://www.gov.uk/guidance/project-gigabit-uk-gigabit-progr... https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/02/milestone-as-gigabit-broadband-coverage-reaches-90-percent-of-uk.html https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/02/milestone-as-g... If you were a savvy businessman, you could make a lot of money just connecting customers with FTTH rather than the prior situation. There was an explosion of "altnets" build off the backs of this legislation https://web.archive.org/web/20151015205446/http://www.alphr.com/news/broadband/391612/bt-aimed-to-get-true-fibre-to-25-of-uk-the-actual-figure-0-7 https://web.archive.org/web/20151015205446/http://www.alphr.... Funnily enough BT got a bucketload of money from the government and did absolutely cock all with it. Even funnier the formerly big 5 isps are rated some of the lowest on customer satisfaction despite being actual cash cows for years https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/03/new-which-survey-awards-best-and-worst-uk-broadband-isps-for-2026.html https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/03/new-which-surv...
      - protocolture 7mo ago
        Yeah vouchers are slightly better than subsidies alone tbh
- kevin_thibedeau 7mo ago
  The US kept Iridium alive for the military and intelligence services. If Starlink falters they will fund it the same.

protocolture 7mo ago

Starlink is an amazing solution to the problem of "How do I keep my orbital transport business somewhat liquid" which isn't really the kind of problem governments are meant to resolve.

vablings 7mo ago
Correct, the government should have ran fiber lines to every home in the united states
- protocolture 7mo ago
  The government should have torn up your copper monopolies a few decades earlier, but the one thing the US has done right is sort of letting local power companies and ISPs work it out for themselves where it comes to fibre. Enforcing a single standard everywhere is bad actually.
  - vablings 7mo ago
    Nah, they should have done what the UK government did with Project Gigabit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/project-gigabit-uk-gigabit-programme https://www.gov.uk/guidance/project-gigabit-uk-gigabit-progr... https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/02/milestone-as-gigabit-broadband-coverage-reaches-90-percent-of-uk.html https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/02/milestone-as-g... If you were a savvy businessman, you could make a lot of money just connecting customers with FTTH rather than the prior situation. There was an explosion of "altnets" build off the backs of this legislation https://web.archive.org/web/20151015205446/http://www.alphr.com/news/broadband/391612/bt-aimed-to-get-true-fibre-to-25-of-uk-the-actual-figure-0-7 https://web.archive.org/web/20151015205446/http://www.alphr.... Funnily enough BT got a bucketload of money from the government and did absolutely cock all with it. Even funnier the formerly big 5 isps are rated some of the lowest on customer satisfaction despite being actual cash cows for years https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/03/new-which-survey-awards-best-and-worst-uk-broadband-isps-for-2026.html https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/03/new-which-surv...
    - protocolture 7mo ago
      Yeah vouchers are slightly better than subsidies alone tbh
kevin_thibedeau 7mo ago
The US kept Iridium alive for the military and intelligence services. If Starlink falters they will fund it the same.