Starlink internet is going from rural savior to unreliable luxury

Re:Starlink internet is going from rural savior to unreliabl... by crispinb on Monday April 03, 2023 @01:47AM (#35419006)

> it's a bandaid solution to your governments poor planning and infrastructure rollout ..

Well yes, but a needed bandaid. That's what happens when governments vacate their role - individuals are left to manage on their own (and the devil take the hindmost).

Australian here like you. Generally appalled by the NBN debacle. Starlink's beyond my means, but if I had a remote job I'd find it a godsend where I live (rural Northern Rivers). Our "NBN" is SkyMuster, which is from all accounts not up to much (even if you can get the NBN to connect it).

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Re:Starlink internet is going from rural savior to unreliabl... by melbournegrad on Monday April 03, 2023 @06:47AM (#35421342)

I don't want to get off topic but the NBN hasn't even worked. I'm only offered wireless in my apartment 4km from the CBD, currently 1.7 Mbps

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Re:Starlink internet is going from rural savior to unreliabl... by crispinb on Monday April 03, 2023 @05:04PM (#35431260)

Yes, fixed wireless has been vastly overused. Presumably when NBN were short of budget for an area, or where there weren't enough wealthy folk calling their pet MP.

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Re:Starlink internet is going from rural savior to unreliabl... by nikcub on Monday April 03, 2023 @09:20AM (#35423041)

Australia has a real problem with getting the last ~2% of residents connected. SkyMuster cost $2B and has 100k connections - so $20k per connection.

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Re:Starlink internet is going from rural savior to unreliabl... by crispinb on Monday April 03, 2023 @04:58PM (#35431185)

It's very patchy though even for those in urban areas. Fixed wireless has been way over-used in areas that could easily have been wired.

And SkyMuster is supposed to be a last resort, but is pushed anywhere local topography offers a mild inconvenience for fixed wireless. I'm 4km from a village, and 30km from Lismore - hardly the back of beyond.

And the NBNCo is just an old-style Telco: bloated with plushly-remunerated suits, utterly indifferent to users, and grossly inefficient. Before I knew how bad it was I tried to get signed up with SkyMuster. It never happened. I had multiple appointments made by NBN with different contractors, none of whom knew anything about the other appointments. It never actually happened and I ended up cancelling the whole thing and making my own arrangements.

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