Has anyone in here applied to beta test Elon Musks internet service?

It is in a technological society. Isn't it kinda obvious now? Zoom calls, video streaming, internet gaming, other work from home jobs.

No it is not "obvious" at all. I have no real need for any of those things and could easily live without them if I decided to live in an out of the way rural area. I certainly don't see ruining earth-based astronomy as worth it for people to do internet gaming out in the woods. Heck, I have friends who do not use the internet at all.
 
No it is not "obvious" at all. I have no real need for any of those things and could easily live without them if I decided to live in an out of the way rural area. I certainly don't see ruining earth-based astronomy as worth it for people to do internet gaming out in the woods. Heck, I have friends who do not use the internet at all.
Then you're not very astute. He doesn't require 100% penetration to make a profit. Only a small percentage, about 3-4 percent. And it's a high enough percentage that it will be a profitable venture as his cost of launching is one of the lowest out there. I still know people that don't have a smart phone, but that's not Musk's target audience.

Yeah unfortunately, the FCC already approved Starlink to launch up to 12,000 satellites and they might launch another 30,000 on top of that.
 
Then you're not very astute. He doesn't require 100% penetration to make a profit. Only a small percentage, about 3-4 percent. And it's a high enough percentage that it will be a profitable venture as his cost of launching is one of the lowest out there. I still know people that don't have a smart phone, but that's not Musk's target audience.

Yeah unfortunately, the FCC already approved Starlink to launch up to 12,000 satellites and they might launch another 30,000 on top of that.

I would say the same about you. Funny how that works. It's very unfortunate that the FCC has thrown ground-based astronomy to the dogs for this nonsense, so that huckster Musk can further line his pockets. Wonder who he paid off.
 
I would say the same about you. Funny how that works. It's very unfortunate that the FCC has thrown ground-based astronomy to the dogs for this nonsense, so that huckster Musk can further line his pockets. Wonder who he paid off.
You're the one asking the questions. He's not the only one doing it, just the first to get a good number out there. There's a few others that have put up a few satellites but haven't gotten far.

Look up Dunning Kruger.
 
No it is not "obvious" at all. I have no real need for any of those things and could easily live without them if I decided to live in an out of the way rural area. I certainly don't see ruining earth-based astronomy as worth it for people to do internet gaming out in the woods. Heck, I have friends who do not use the internet at all.
Just because you or your friends don’t need/want internet doesn’t mean other people are in the same boat. My pre-schooler has to do daily zoom calls for class or else he gets counted as absent, I’d gladly take Starlink over cellular or slow (<25mbps) internet just to make my life easier. God forbid anybody find enjoyment in something, like gaming, that you don’t.
 
Why does everyone need high speed internet service? It's not exactly a necessity like air, water, or food. I think Musk's idea of orbiting all those satellites is ludicrous.
Some might have asked that question when an automobile was developed that could go over 50MPH for a sustained amount time. After all that was even faster then a race horse could travel.

.. and orbiting all those satellites? Well, some people might have said that about installing all those telephone poles when the telephone and electric current was available to be distributed to individual homes.

The future is the future. Just hope someday some cosmic even doesnt unfold, destroy the satellites (very real possibility, however remote) and leave us all without water and food as all food production will come to a halt until farmers can figure out how to disconnect from the "cloud" and run things. in the meantime tens 9if not more) of millions of food animals will die.

Heck, many people dont even know where or what state their bank is in, nor have they ever seen the building. Some would say, high speed reliable internet is as necessity as for or water if they cant get to their money to buy it. 🙃
 
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Why does everyone need high speed internet service? It's not exactly a necessity like air, water, or food. I think Musk's idea of orbiting all those satellites is ludicrous.
Are you actually employed in modern age or retiree? Do you own a home not acccessible to high speed internet.

This will be a boon to towns lacking decent internet services and make real estate there more valued. Towns without high speed internet get passed over by people who make higher incomes that can help infuse local economies with need money and related job to support them.

You guys crack me up think $600 is a lot of money to hook on when you have speeds under 3Mbps or nothing otherwise. It took my brother in law who finally enjoys the fruits of his labor on a board for few years for this: https://www.wired.com/2016/04/why-western-mass-doesnt-have-the-internet/

His town had to get 80% of residents to pay a $1500-$2000 hookup fee for fiber on pole and a few years of service to get off the ground. Some sitting real estate sold because people from NYC and Boston have swooped in some places.
 
Why does everyone need high speed internet service? It's not exactly a necessity like air, water, or food. I think Musk's idea of orbiting all those satellites is ludicrous.

I know right - lets keep the plebeians in their place. After all who better to decide what they get than us!

Whats cool about this is we get to keep taking their tax money for the services they don't get, because the cable and internet companies squandered all their federal loans and grants and only deliver a fraction of areas and speeds they were supposed to with it.
 
Are you actually employed in modern age or retiree? Do you own a home not acccessible to high speed internet.

This will be a boon to towns lacking decent internet services and make real estate there more valued. Towns without high speed internet get passed over by people who make higher incomes that can help infuse local economies with need money and related job to support them.

You guys crack me up think $600 is a lot of money to hook on when you have speeds under 3Mbps or nothing otherwise. It took my brother in law who finally enjoys the fruits of his labor on a board for few years for this: https://www.wired.com/2016/04/why-western-mass-doesnt-have-the-internet/

His town had to get 80% of residents to pay a $1500-$2000 hookup fee for fiber on pole and a few years of service to get off the ground. Some sitting real estate sold because people from NYC and Boston have swooped in some places.

I just moved from So cal to Nor cal and lack fo connectivity killed lots of otherwise workable options.

Even afghan warlords get cell connectivity.
 
I know right - lets keep the plebeians in their place. After all who better to decide what they get than us!

Whats cool about this is we get to keep taking their tax money for the services they don't get, because the cable and internet companies squandered all their federal loans and grants and only deliver a fraction of areas and speeds they were supposed to with it.

To not organize one area properly doesn't mean much necessity to not organize another area sufficiently (or prohibit). Especially "whatever it takes" takes a bit more to be justified.
 
No I haven't applied. But I have to add that we can only hope that Starlink fails since it is fundamentally wrong to allow ONE company to pollute the night sky all in the name of internet access and profits. Sure the people at Starlink claim they are darkening the satellites but inevitably astronomers will be impacted and some of the long-exposure images of his satellites in the sky are just disgusting. He wants 30,000+ satellites while only about 9,000 have been launched in human history. His hubris knows no bounds. Sorry for the rant. I love the electric car but hate elon musk.
Having spent 10s of thousands of $ on astronomy and building my own back yard observatory, I do know something about astronomy.
Given that, show me the stats on how many astronomers will have their hobbies significantly impacted by these satellites.
I used the term hobby intentionally.
I do know that Starlink, if it lives up to its potential, will positively impact millions of people in Canada and the US. And many more millions across the globe when it is fully implemented.
I'm not a huge fan of Musk myself, but in this case, I can only see the astronomy complaint as being a ruse for the Musk haters
 
Are you actually employed in modern age or retiree? Do you own a home not acccessible to high speed internet.
I actually "Liked" your comment a couple posts up, just wanted to point out one prejudice of yours which is sad.

"Employed in the modern age or retiree?"

Come on man, many, tens of millions, of "retirees" have built the internet and operating systems it runs on, never mind the stuff your computer is running on right now. Many retirees know far, far more then modern day snowflakes who would know nothing should a hi-cup develop on their PC or Mac, they would only know how to bring it to the Apple Store.
I mean, just drive by Best Buy, blew my mind years ago when I saw the first "Geek Squad" trucks. The young dont know squat about computing anymore.

With that said, I do understand the context which you refer to "Saabist" and no, not all snowflakes are clueless, just giving an example.
Just felt the need to respond, if Saabist is retired, not everyone is like him or the people he knows. 🙃
 
No prejudice just don't understand what MODERN life someone leads where having no internet service.
I actually "Liked" your comment a couple posts up, just wanted to point out one prejudice of yours which is sad.

"Employed in the modern age or retiree?"

Come on man, many, tens of millions, of "retirees" have built the internet and operating systems it runs on, never mind the stuff your computer is running on right now. Many retirees know far, far more then modern day snowflakes who would know nothing should a hi-cup develop on their PC or Mac, they would only know how to bring it to the Apple Store.
I mean, just drive by Best Buy, blew my mind years ago when I saw the first "Geek Squad" trucks. The young dont know squat about computing anymore.

With that said, I do understand the context which you refer to "Saabist" and no, not all snowflakes are clueless, just giving an example.
Just felt the need to respond, if Saabist is retired, not everyone is like him or the people he knows. 🙃
He questioned the need. Also what bothered me is he likely has the access to high speed but does not think other people "need" the service. He does not realize many people across the globe have a cell/smartphone but no access to running water or electricity. The access to the world opens peoples lives up to oppurtunity and high speed more so.

I fired a guy(Canadian 55 years old) who had somewhat reliable (video chat /screen share worked) in South America for moving to a place Spain and thinking it was acceptable to not working sorting his internet for two weeks. He said his place was cheap, he complained about taking bus for an hour to work. I said fine don't work or move tomorrow.
 
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He questioned the need. Also what bothered me is he likely has the access to high speed but does not think other people "need" the service. He does not realize many people across the globe have a cell/smartphone but no access to running water or electricity. The access to the world opens peoples lives up to opportunity and high speed more so.

That's the Dunning Kruger effect in action. The less you know, the smarter you think you are.
 
Why does everyone need high speed internet service? It's not exactly a necessity like air, water, or food. I think Musk's idea of orbiting all those satellites is ludicrous.

You work from home using it, you watch video with it, it is not necessary but it helps a lot. This is what helps you get a job that pays $350K a year. Can you live without it? Sure, but you can also live without a car, AC, television, etc.

Ground based astronomy is also not a NEED. If you are concerned a slow motion long exposure photos will be impacted by the flying across, there are digital camera filters and algorithms that can get that improved. Your cloudy weather would impact much more than that.
 
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Why does everyone need high speed internet service? It's not exactly a necessity like air, water, or food. I think Musk's idea of orbiting all those satellites is ludicrous.
Probably because those who cannot get it will be left behind.

It's similar to living in LA without a car. Sure, some can get by without a car, but to prosper, you need one.

The day is coming when you need a fast pipe to the interwebs to prosper. There is a digital divide between the haves and have nots with respect to connectivity.

What is your solution to close this divide for those who need/want high speed internet.


Asking why does everyone need it is evading the question. What is your solution for those who need or "gasp" even WANT such a thing?
 
The day is coming when you need a fast pipe to the interwebs to prosper. There is a digital divide between the haves and have nots with respect to connectivity.
I thought someone would have mentioned SpaceX winning a $885 million contract to provide internet services to rural areas, part of a $9.2 billion award to many other companies.

 
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