On Tuesday, September 1, 2020, 11:05:10 PM PDT, grarpamp
   <grarpamp@gmail.com> wrote:
   On 8/28/20, jim bell <[1]jdb10987@yahoo.com> wrote:
   > "Starlink's speed tests may look impressive, but experts say SpaceX's
   > satellite-internet project is unlikely to win any federal subsidies
   >
   "[2]https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-beta-speedtest-resu
   lts-bandwidth-ping-latency-fcc-rdof-2020-8
   > Jim Bell's comment:
   > I doubt SpaceX NEEDS any Federal subsidies for Starlink.  If it is a
   working
   > system (and these reports seem to show that it works well) then it
   will
   > provide competition to the incumbent wire- or fiber Internet services
   we
   > have been locked into for too long.
   >If they accepted an assortment of major cryptocurrencies such as
   Bitcoin, Bitcoin_Cash, Monero, Zcash, etc
   and enabled fully prepaid service and user owned prepaid hardware,
   they might get a lot more customers around the world from those.
   More customers = less subsidies. And accepting cryptocurrency
   is a big marketing win that matches Starlink's tech image.
   I'm hoping that Starlink management will become rather UNcooperative
   with the various nations in which their customers reside.  Unlike
   fiber-line internet, which must "play nice" with the tyrant-in-chief
   for fear he will cut them off, in principle Starlink could smuggle in
   their "UFO on a stick" devices, which could be hidden and thus operate
   "unauthorized".
   I talk to a person who communicates with Philipines and Cambodia, and
   apparently those governments will simply turn off the Internet in those
   countries.   I have also read that India is rather quick on the 'off
   switch' in neighborhoods.
   [3]https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-50819905
   I wonder if a small village could share a single Starlink device,
   running a WiFi router for local distribution.
                   Jim Bell

References

   1. mailto:jdb10987@yahoo.com
   2. https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-beta-speedtest-results-bandwidth-ping-latency-fcc-rdof-2020-8
   3. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-50819905