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

There's a difference between functional and fast.

There's quite possibly effects, not just to hobbyist astronomers, but also to bees and other humans, from all the transmission.

There are multiple options - the market should dictate that. Obviously the market says there's not sufficient return to pull wires to some locations, OK, what other options exist? The USA and Canada arent the only places with large areas without coverage/connectivity. Maybe the satellite is the best bet, maybe not. It is an option, to be considered against others, and with the long-term ramifications still unclear.

We dont know what we dont know.

Ultimately I have to wonder if too much stuff up there will limit other operations in space?
 
Well get this, darn it, I hate Spectrum. Another price increase, they dont even tell you anymore, it just shows up on your bill.

Now up to $75 a month for 100/12 service. The real death of cable internet service is being accelerated by the cable companies on thirst for shareholder profit.
Home internet 5g coming up fast (thank you T Mobile) and I am going to find a lower cost service. Our community still waiting for our local electric company provided fiber service, years behind and a fantastic service $49 for 100/100/ but slow getting into community with underground lines.

Anyway, I stumbled on something new by Tmobile, almost by accident and its available to me! Actual payment is $50 a month for LTE home internet service. Free equipment, nothing to lose, free trail too, unlimited data min 25 mbps service, others reporting higher.

Coming up fast behind that (not there yet) is the 5G service. Ok, so here is the catch, I read everything and part of the terms of service is that the service is for USER activity and not automated activity that triggers something. I assume that will mean no security cameras and stuff like that.
I suspect someday, landline internet service will be the same as traditional landline phone service. OUTDATED
 
There's a difference between functional and fast.

There's quite possibly effects, not just to hobbyist astronomers, but also to bees and other humans, from all the transmission.

There are multiple options - the market should dictate that. Obviously the market says there's not sufficient return to pull wires to some locations, OK, what other options exist? The USA and Canada arent the only places with large areas without coverage/connectivity. Maybe the satellite is the best bet, maybe not. It is an option, to be considered against others, and with the long-term ramifications still unclear.

We dont know what we dont know.

Ultimately I have to wonder if too much stuff up there will limit other operations in space?

What works in physics isn't how things work in politics and businesses. These satellite internet is welcome in a nation that has a monopoly on Internet. Not just dictatorship in a banana republic, but also rural USA where cable companies and landline phone companies are monopolies.
 
Ultimately I have to wonder if too much stuff up there will limit other operations in space?
Well it sounds like it's getting crowded up there, but space has a lot of.... space. They can get out of the way if it looks like there's going to be a collision but keep in mind that Elon's satellites are in low earth orbit to reduce latency. Other satellites are in higher orbits. And the FCC licenses them so other companies have different bands that they use.

At $500 for the device and $100 a month, could be an option for people who don't want to put up with cable. But that might be an intro price. The reason for up to 42k satellites is for additional bandwidth, can't have too many people on at the same time.
 
What is the cost per month of the service? I put my Canadian address, just to see what happens. In my neighborhood Bell Canada laid fiber optics this summer and screwed up our lawns in the process. Now he fiber optic cable is only a few inches under the grass in some spots. Anyhow some guy comes by the other day to sign us up to their fabulous $125 a month deal and then screw you royally after 12 months. I get my internet from a reseller and I told bell at the time that I'd never use them even if they were the last company on earth.
 
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.


Everyone should pay particular attention to the wording in that article.

Look at headline, vs what this is. Heres the line from the inside of the article

  • SpaceX won $885 million in bids for Starlink across 35 states. The company now has to complete a long-form application to secure rights to the subsidies — and deliver on its promises.

This is a contract bid win being described as a subsidy.

Watch this later be described by some one as "SpaceX getting a subsidy" vs. Spacex winning a bid through actual demonstrated performance.
 
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What is the cost per month of the service? I put my Canadian address, just to see what happens. In my neighborhood Bell Canada laid fiber optics this summer and screwed up our lawns in the process. Now he fiber optic cable is only a few inches under the grass in some spots. Anyhow some guy comes by the other day to sign us up to their fabulous $125 a month deal and then screw you royally after 12 months. I get my internet from a reseller and I told bell at the time that I'd never use them even if they were the last company on earth.
It's $100 a month in the US plus the $500 device charge. I think it might be more in Canada. Not sure if they opened up there yet. They only have 901 satellites up there now but each time they launch, they put up another 60. They have 6 more launches planned through February.
 
It's $100 a month in the US plus the $500 device charge. I think it might be more in Canada. Not sure if they opened up there yet. They only have 901 satellites up there now but each time they launch, they put up another 60. They have 6 more launches planned through February.
So I guess it's the option when you have no other options.
 
What works in physics isn't how things work in politics and businesses. These satellite internet is welcome in a nation that has a monopoly on Internet. Not just dictatorship in a banana republic, but also rural USA where cable companies and landline phone companies are monopolies.

What I stated was exactly business - if there was money, they would have the infrastructure. It has nothing to do with the physics of the situation - in fact, it looks like the physics IS the thing that is getting worked on.

Rural USA isn’t the only place with monopolies. I have an effective monopoly in the suburbs, smack in the middle of arguably the most important section of the USA: the Boston to Richmond corridor. That doesn’t affect only rural USA. The money wasnt there for the infrastructure... and the representation didn’t care to push to subsidize it.
 
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So I guess it's the option when you have no other options.

$100 isn’t exactly an option when in many one or two provider areas, service can be had for $39.99/mo. Far from high competition...

The niche of this will be the challenge. Especially when cell towers that connect to the device in everybody’s pocket get ever faster. More of those are more manageable than ten thousand satellites. But the economics will determine that story’s end, not us. If there are enough satisfied customers, that’s the end of the story....
 
We have a number of options. None of them are close to $39 and haven’t been for years. It’s pretty much $75 here in SC for service from Spectrum, 100/10 or ATT 25 service for $55 ish
ATT has data caps.
One option for the lucky is a private company fiber here at $49 for 100/100 but they are slow to get fiber into communities with under ground utilities.
I think the future is 5g, as I just about was ready to try TMobile LTE home internet for fun while not getting rid of spectrum just yet. Available in my area at $50 actual payment, free equipment min 25 Mbps to 50 Mbps. I still may try it but there is a big stipulation that it’s for user interaction and streaming and no automated devices. I assume that means no security cameras, DB cams ect. We will see, cost me nothing to try for fun and soon they will be rolling out the 5g home service too.
Anyway Musks service doesn’t look to expensive if one doesn’t have the option of cable/fiber or cell.
But I think cell will be the big competition in a very short time frame.
T-Mobile expansion into this has exploded faster then anyone imagined, something like 300 cities and their rural areas in less then a year.
I find it exciting, thinking cable could be the outdated service like the landline phone was someday
 
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DSL is being discontinued in many areas, the slow speed was $9.99 a month for 6 years jumped to $14.99 then to $35 and got discontinued in my area.

Not sure why overpriced internet is the only option now days
 
DSL is being discontinued in many areas, the slow speed was $9.99 a month for 6 years jumped to $14.99 then to $35 and got discontinued in my area.

Not sure why overpriced internet is the only option now days
Hopefully that will come to an end much like cell pricing has stagnated and gone down over the last 10 years. I forgot to mention in my other post that Verizon is also launching thousands of satellites across the US which will compete with musk I assume.
If you’re Into this stuff I think it’s going to be a very interesting decade.
 
$100 isn’t exactly an option when in many one or two provider areas, service can be had for $39.99/mo. Far from high competition...

The niche of this will be the challenge. Especially when cell towers that connect to the device in everybody’s pocket get ever faster. More of those are more manageable than ten thousand satellites. But the economics will determine that story’s end, not us. If there are enough satisfied customers, that’s the end of the story....
The problem with cell towers is that 5G has a short range so while you'll get higher speeds in the city, not so much in the rural areas which is what we were talking about.
Hopefully that will come to an end much like cell pricing has stagnated and gone down over the last 10 years. I forgot to mention in my other post that Verizon is also launching thousands of satellites across the US which will compete with musk I assume.
If you’re Into this stuff I think it’s going to be a very interesting decade.
I don't think Verizon is doing it, there's a few others out there like Amazon. Musk might have the lead now though. He can launch his cheaply and he's already there. Amazon has deep pockets though and Bezos also owns a launch company but they seem to be behind SpaceX. At least there'll be some completion.
 
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