[bloopernova]

I really hope that this works well.

Being able to break the comcast/att/verizon effective monopolies across the USA would (hopefully) have great positive effects. At least competition would bring prices down for low-latency land-based connections.

Of course, you're swapping control of your internet connection from a "mostly evil" to a "not yet known if evil" corporation.

[nickik]

Competition is not just about price. The capacity of a corporation to be evil depends on alternatives people have.

The closer the competition the smaller the 'evilness' that would make people switch.

The same company can be perfect in one country and a 'evil' in another depending on the situation.

[mseebach]

Companies aren't "evil" as such, but they can get complacent when not exposed to sufficient competition. Once SpaceX is a viable competitor, Comcast will probably fairly quickly "forget" that they are evil.

I seem to recall people reporting that Comcast is actually just fine in many areas with a second viable provider. With SpaceX, that would be all of them.

[stcredzero]

Companies aren't "evil" as such, but they can get complacent when not exposed to sufficient competition.

Power corrupts. Therefore, power in the market also corrupts.

[btown]

> not yet known if evil

A decent heuristic would be whether said corporation manufactures flamethrowers. Wait...

[nickik]

That a different company. Just the same Bond villain in control.

[stcredzero]

There are the good looking Bond villains and the bad looking ones.

Obama and Musk are good looking Bond villains. (The former had assassination sky robots, ICBMs, and a military. The latter has rockets, oceangoing spaceship landing pads, and huge enigmatic installations in the middle of the desert.) Putin and Trump are bad looking Bond villains.

[boznz]

I know which ones I'd rather be a henchman for.

[dustinmoorenet]

They are specifically not flamethrowers.

[colordrops]

* different company

* not flamethrowers

* manufactured by a third party

sorry, I know you are joking, but I couldn't help myself.

[greenhouse_gas]

They'll just turn around, provide better service at lower prices, drive spacex out of the market, and raise them again. They have a lot more money to play with (and their infrastructure is much cheaper to maintain).

[Ajedi32]

"They" meaning... every ISP on the planet? At the same time? Starlink will have the ability to offer coverage globally, even in places where existing ISPs have no infrastructure.

Not to mention that that kind of predatory pricing is illegal in many countries.

[jazoom]

But their potential market is like 1/40 the size.