Starlink loses out on $886 million in rural broadband subsidies

misk@sopuli.xyz to Technology@lemmy.world – 482 points –
Starlink loses out on $886 million in rural broadband subsidies
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I live two hours from a city, waaaay up in the Alps and I have gigabit fibre for€40 a month lol

Your infrastructure sucks donkeyballs πŸ˜‚

two hours is waaaay out there guys!

My sides are in orbit! Here is a side-by side of the Alps

next to a small section of the American Rockies,

which is still nothing compared to Canada (yes there are people in that big empty area).

No offense, but true European rural doesn't exist.

No offense, but true European rural doesn't exist.

Bro, come to northern Sweden and say that again lol

Also if we're talking about the European continent as a whole finland, the urals, and maybe the west coast of ireland depending on definitions.

Yeah, I just get a bit peeved cuz I live up here, lol!

If I drive 250km to my grandparents I will not see much of buildings and people.

Come to the most uninhabitable place on the continent for some real rural living!

Shit, that picture outside Edmonton is hardly even distant, there are a bunch of communities in northern Alberta and BC that don't even have roads going to them because they're too far away.

Me -

Your infrastructure is shit

You -

Here, I will demonstrate how correct you are

πŸ˜‚

You were being an ignorant dick and I called you on it. It's not my fault you can't handle a few hours on the road.

No where in Europe is "remote."

Come to the South West US where you can drive 100 miles in any direction and barely see another human.

You can easily drive 100 miles in northern Sweden and see nothing but trees lol

Or maybe don't go there and then complain about the obvious shortfalls of the place. The rural exodus happened for a reason.

The rural exodus happened for many reasons, none of which have to do with the availability of high-speed internet. People are born where they are born, and often live there too. Sometimes that place is densely populated and replete with amenities, such as the Alps, sometimes it's not. You don't have to be an uneducated dick.

"Haha stupid poor people. Why don't you just move somewhere else? Have you tried not being poor? Have you tried not being born in a impoverished remote or rural area? Did you even try to upgrade your parent's income bracket, or trade-in for better parents?”

Or maybe you meant, "Why don't you just abandon your grandparents who live at, or across the border? I'm sure the Mexican or American governments will pick up the slack when you move away. I'm sure familial cultural importance and dynamics are the same in Switzerland as they are around the Mexican border".

It's not a shortfall thanks to Starlink. Are you following along?

It's a difference between definitions of "city" and "middle of nowhere" between the US and Europe. The US is a massive place. Part of the reason the US appears to have such a crappy infrastructure is that when, say, mobile carriers want to improve it to upgrade something to 5G, they have to do so for the entire country, with many US states having an area the size of whole European countries. Texas itself is the size of Germany. That is a much bigger undertaking than improving it for a single European country or even a block of countries like western or central Europe. Things are so spread out here that "remote" can mean REALLY remote in some areas. Distances between reasonably sized cities in the US can be much larger than in Europe, and the US has more people in those more rural areas than some think, especially in states in the middle of the country. Local ISPs for internet in those areas can be good depending on the area, but a lot of people in the really rural areas would still be better and more easily served by a service like Starlink.