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A comment on Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth asteroids, study finds. Parent comment

Re:Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth ast... by shagie on Friday January 21, 2022 @07:05PM (#30031634)
> Children who struggle to learn in rural areas and have parents who can afford a hundred dollars a month

If DSL is available in rural Wisconsin, it costs $50/month.

Pull up https://broadbandnow.com/national-broadband-map and look the max speed and go a bit outside of a city. The area my parents live in is (for that $50/month) shows "1 to 30Mbps".

This isn't children hanging out in their parents vacation ranch. This is the children of rural framers and families that have a house in the country rather than a small apartment in the city.

The cost difference for DSL at 1-30Mbps (my parents single DSL network topped out at about 6Mbps) and Starlink at $100/month at 70Mbps is night and day different.

For additional fun, unselect DSL and look at the provider counters for much of the nation. With Starlink, that number is one higher.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth ast... by shaklee3 on Saturday January 22, 2022 @12:48AM (#30034024)
anecdotes don't really prove anything. while you can pay $100/mo, most people in rural America can't, and that's who they need for the most underserved users.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth ast... by shagie on Saturday January 22, 2022 @09:43AM (#30037035)
My point is that they're already paying $50/month for 6Mbps DSL if they have any network connection at all.

Paying $100/month instead for 100Mbps satellite link is $50/month increase in cost and a 12x increase in performance.

The anecdote that I'm addressing isn't the children on a 70,000 acre vacation ranch (that likely can afford $100/month) but rather rural America.

Yes, ISPs and telecommunications needs to improve the network resources when you get more than 20 miles away from a city and suburbia. It will likely cost in the range of $100/month to get that when it is available.

Starlink meets that need now.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Starlink satellites hindering detection of near-Earth ast... by shaklee3 on Saturday January 22, 2022 @10:23AM (#30037442)
that's my point, though. they're nowhere near capacity and you're comparing it to solutions that are at capacity (DSL). just wait until they need to make more money and the system is capacity constrained.
[ Parent | on HN ]