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by qa_acc 1093 days ago
IMHO this article is garbage because moving internet backbone in space isn't a sustainable choice in the short, medium and especially long period. Starlink knows that, they are operating in loss, burning money of investors, hoping that some kind of new sci-fi tech will change the game, but honestly that won't happen. Image if the current cellphone network was in space, every time the tech has a generational step forward you should burn all the satellites and re- launch a new constellation. Moreover, you need to reach consumers (the last mile ) on Earth and you can't do that with lasers. Customers will rely in radio communications, that in this case have low quality compared to other alternatives, when they are available. In fact the point of satellite Internet is to cover a niche market: you use that solution if there are no alternative and if you can afford the costs. So you can accept lower connection speed, variale QoS, etc , hoping in a better alternative in the future and, when that alternative arrive in form of a wired traditional connection, instantly the customers migrate there. So that market constantly decrease, not increase. If competitors realise that exist clusters of satellite customers in some rural zones and they are willing to pay more for Internet connection they will take over completely and , anyway, in times of remote working, someone should invest in providing fast internet in remote places that are characteristic of better quality of life for remote workers want a better life, instead of invest in satellite internet. Laser telecommunications are already a thing but in optic fibre and there in fact they have more sense than in a fragile and expansive satellite constellation.