-=> August Abolins wrote to Richard Menedetter <=-

 AA> Hello Richard!

 AA> ** On Thursday 11.06.20 - 10:10, Richard Menedetter wrote to Daniel:

 RM> Sorry ... I could not find any price information for their satellite
 RM> service there.

 AA> :( Likewise. It just seems suspicious that he got away with the project
 AA> without actually stating what the price of using the service would be
 AA> to a customer.  Wouldn't the bottom line price be the logical concern
 AA> before tossing 1000's of more space junk up there that can put other
 AA> people at the risk of falling debris?

They're not junk if they serve a purpose and especially if they deorbit when
done.

And on the price, it will be a worldwide service and would be open to a larger
subscriber base than a traditional provider. It would be much easier to provide
an inexpensive service when spreading the cost to a larger base of customers.
This is why many areas of the US lack broadband internet. The providers don't
see a value of laying fiber in rural areas that are so underpopulated that
they'd never get a return of investment.

 RM> How much more reasonably priced is the Space X offering?

 AA> I have to wonder too. I think the use of the satellite tech will
 AA> eventually be promoted as a premium service thus higher than current
 AA> prices for the same bandwidth.

Current satellite offerings are super expensive particularly due to the cost of
the satellites and the launch cost. They are also high latency and slow speed.
I have friends living in the mountains who had it and were forced to ditch it
in favor of really slow hotspot service. I send him dvd's of linux every few
months so he can patch his computers.

 AA> For example, the current home satellite-dish solution was heavily
 AA> promoted as "a solution at last!" for rural communities.  The initial
 AA> signup cost seemed reasonable. Some installations offered free hardware
 AA> setup, but the equipment for the home wasn't cheap. Now, many years
 AA> later, the sign up and equioment cost is a bit lower, but only for the
 AA> first 3 months.  This kind of presentation of "affordability" is
 AA> misleading.

SpaceX's solution will be a 'ufo on a stick.' No dish needed.

 AA> I just spotted "720 satellites for total coverage in 2020" in
 AA> wikipedia. Then its 1584 by 2021-2022.

 AA> And now I read that Daniel stated that Musk want's 20,000 of things in
 AA> the sky.

That would be an eventual goal, but I may be wrong on the number. I know it's
in the tens-of-thousands and recently got approval for more. The satellites are
really small compared to the ones you normally see in orbit. Each no larger
than my computer desk and less than a foot thick. Each blade have dozens of
individual computers in a mesh, powered by solar, and armed with autonomous
navigation.

This is the future.

Daniel Traechin
... Visit me at gopher://gcpp.world
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