People Had to Be Convinced of the Usefulness of Electricity

Re:People Had to Be Convinced of the Usefulness of Electricity by smoldesu on Sunday March 19, 2023 @12:33PM (#35220698)

Well, because people live on those lands. I grew up in a rural area, and my limited access to internet almost failed me in multiple classes that required online testing. My bare-minimum Hughesnet setup would only give you 50kbps after you depleted the "Full Speed" 50 gigabytes a month of 25MBit speeds. No worries though, only $10/gigabyte to get back online so you could take your Biology quiz without getting kicked off halfway through.

Now that stuff like Starlink exists, it's easier to give the finger to Hughesnet and exploitative WISPs. Even still, the years I spent growing up with bare-minimum internet at cable-package prices has made me spiteful. It should have been addressed long before the private sector got around to fixing it.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:People Had to Be Convinced of the Usefulness of Electricity by freedomben on Sunday March 19, 2023 @02:15PM (#35221864)

Fellow ruran here, I've tried explaining to people just how good it felt to give Hughesnet the bird (in some regions called "the finger") when Starlink rolled in, and until you've had nothing else it's hard to imagine how much it affects.

Also people forget: farmers have families and kids, etc, and while the farmer themselves may not need much internet, the kids can't even do basic school anymore without it. But that said, farmers still have and watch TVs, facetime with their families, stream music, etc.

All that said though, Starlink is up to like $120/month and still not reliable enough to fully ditch the backup exploitative WISP if you work from home as I do, so Starlink is walking dangerously close to the line of exploitative. But they're here and working, so I will happily pay the money. I just hope that over time the $/b will get a lot more competitive.

[ Parent | on HN ]