Comment on A million new SpaceX satellites will destroy the night sky — for everyone on Earth

• CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I know not all remote areas can be reached by fiber

  Did you miss this part? You’re arguing over something I didn’t claim, and didn’t say.

  But since you brought it up, SpaceX received nearly $1 billion in subsidies from the FCC in 2020 to support rural customers. That money is what I’m talking about. It wasn’t for ships. It was to connect rural customers because it would otherwise not be profitable for large ISPs to serve them. This billion should have gone to supporting county PUDs, not a rich nazi fuck’s company. It should have stayed with the public.

  Unless you’re saying that the billion from taxpayers should have been given to him to support ships in international waters?

  As a bonus, fiber doesn’t lose capacity just because it gets cloudy. Try using Starlink when a cumulonimbus cloud is overhead.

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  • zpiritual@lemmy.ca ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I don’t know what a fcc is but if it helps us having good internet I’m all for it. I work on ships and I’ve used starlink on ships in storms and all kinds of bad weather including finding the antenna covered in ice and snow. It’s fantastic. Our old geostationary communication system fails as soon as a passing bird looks at it.

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    • CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      The FCC is the Federal Communication Commission for the US. They’re a US federal agency meant to do domestic policy.

      The intent of the subsidies was not for ships or international communication. It was meant for rural US properties. That’s why it should have been allocated to PUDs (public utility district). It would have been more useful for the people paying the taxes to give broadband subsidies.

      Shipping companies can pay their own way - they’re corporations and can afford it. The subsides should not have gone to SpaceX.

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  • cole@lemdro.id ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I don’t think you’ve ever used Starlink if you think clouds make it fail.

    …you do realize it started in Seattle, right?

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    • CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Seattle typically doesn’t get hail core cumulonimbus (supercells). It’s not the same. Plus, I simply am bringing up an edge case since the person who originally replied brought up ships when talking about rural fiber (an edge case).

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