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Re:SpaceX’s Starlink Constellation construction begins by rayiner on Tuesday April 16, 2019 @11:40PM (#19679579)
It’s not at all similar. There is no alternative to wired electricity. There are lots of alternatives to wired broadband, and they’re getting better every day. A double digit percentage of households earning six figures has no wired broadband (cellular only), and that percentage is growing.

Note that water is more important than broadband, and the government doesn’t step in to build/compel people to build water/sewer systems in rural areas. (I live 10 minutes from the capital of Maryland, and we just got city water/sewer in 2015, and I just have to drive another 5 minutes down the road before all you have is well water/septic systems.)

Re:SpaceX’s Starlink Constellation construction begins by hedora on Wednesday April 17, 2019 @12:22PM (#19683945)
The government does compel you to have water and sewerage handling out in the country. You can’t build or get a conventional mortgage without both.

Wells and septic tanks scale better in sparsely populated regions, so they require that in places that are outside of municipal systems.

Re:SpaceX’s Starlink Constellation construction begins by discordance on Wednesday April 17, 2019 @03:52AM (#19680611)
Solar + storage is an alternative to grid, although initial costs are high.
Re:SpaceX’s Starlink Constellation construction begins by rayiner on Wednesday April 17, 2019 @07:28AM (#19681572)
If it had been in 1930, you likely wouldn’t have seen rural electrification be a government policy.