Author is a moron. Starlink and other such systems will be profitable, and will provide low-latency, high bandwidth Internet to rural areas that’ll never get fiber. Current satellite Internet has so-so bandwidth with extremely high latency.
I have selfish motives, as we’re planning on moving to a much more rural area...as telecommuting becomes more prevalent this will remove one of the main obstacles to country living.
SpaceX is driving the cost of orbiting things way down, Musk is brilliantly leveraging his own technologies!
There will be an ever increasing demand for bandwidth, as people get more of their video entertainment from the internet. The satellites will also deliver global phone service.
Why would they single out StarLink Internet? Musk is number four to petition, and so far the only American company to obtain approval for an internet constellation of satellites. His competitors sought to block the new arrival gaining the required operating license, through manipulating the FCC and other bureaucratic routes. As is, NASA managed to slip in a mandate of an accelerated deployment and deorbit scheme applicable specifically to SpaceX satellites, so as to increase risks of a fumble.
There are more than a half dozen competitors evaluating this opportunity. When a pack of companies compete for the same target, there is a sound business basis for that move. In the StarLink plan, seventy percent of revenue comes from back-haul and other services, rather than providing direct internet access to subscribers. One third or fewer satellite node hops can manage a link, relative to several dozen fiber node hops around the planet.
As for the threat to complacent internet providers, my ISP sees the writing on the wall, and recently moved to lower rates/deliver more service, as to lock in their customer base before the new competition arrives.
I'd like to have a van decked out with a bed, desk, and computer with internet so I can "work from home" anywhere in the country. I'd take a year off of going to work and drive around the country working remotely during the day, and at 5:00, enjoy wherever I am.