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The Almighty Buck Communications United States

SpaceX Gets $886 Million From FCC To Subsidize Starlink In 35 States (arstechnica.com) 129

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: SpaceX has been awarded $885.51 million by the Federal Communications Commission to provide Starlink broadband to 642,925 rural homes and businesses in 35 states. The satellite provider was one of the biggest winners in the FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction, the results of which were released today. Funding is distributed over 10 years, so SpaceX's haul will amount to a little over $88.5 million per year. Charter Communications, the second-largest US cable company after Comcast, did even better. Charter is set to receive $1.22 billion over 10 years to bring service to 1.06 million homes and businesses in 24 states.

FCC funding can be used in different ways depending on the type of broadband service. Cable companies like Charter and other wireline providers generally use the money to expand their networks into new areas that don't already have broadband. But with Starlink, SpaceX could theoretically provide service to all of rural America once it has launched enough satellites, even without FCC funding. One possibility is that SpaceX could use the FCC money to lower prices in the 642,925 funded locations, but the FCC announcement didn't say whether that's what SpaceX will do. Starlink is in beta and costs $99 per month, plus a one-time fee of $499 for the user terminal, mounting tripod, and router. The 35 states where SpaceX won FCC funding are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

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SpaceX Gets $886 Million From FCC To Subsidize Starlink In 35 States

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  • by zenlessyank ( 748553 ) on Monday December 07, 2020 @05:55PM (#60804806)

    Come on guys! Texas invented rural. This kinda blows.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Texas believes in the free market, not socialist crap. If it's government funded, we don't want it.

    • by Pascoea ( 968200 )
      By a super quick perusal, Texas is getting ~$362M: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/at... [fcc.gov]
    • by hondo77 ( 324058 ) on Monday December 07, 2020 @07:50PM (#60805194) Homepage
      It's between Mexico and Oklahoma but that's not important right now.
  • Que the Telecom / ISP whine-fest about how they should be given the opportunity to provide said service.

    ( While completely oblivious to the fact they were given said chance and money in the past to do exactly that and failed to deliver )

    • by Pascoea ( 968200 )
      End of the first paragraph: "Charter is set to receive $1.22 billion" There a significant number of "traditional" ISPs/Telcoms that are getting another suckle off the gov't teat.
  • We know that the incoming Biden administration will bring changes to the FCC and we know that Ajit Pai is going to step down.

    Out of curiosity, does anyone know if this decision was due to be made know, or did the current FCC leadership bring it forward so they could make the decision ahead of a Democratic-led decision being made? It feels almost churlish to ask, but with so many current departments being saddled with political decisions and wholesale staff changes, maybe it is a valid question?
    • We know that the incoming Biden administration will bring changes to the FCC and we know that Ajit Pai is going to step down. Out of curiosity, does anyone know if this decision was due to be made know, or did the current FCC leadership bring it forward so they could make the decision ahead of a Democratic-led decision being made? It feels almost churlish to ask, but with so many current departments being saddled with political decisions and wholesale staff changes, maybe it is a valid question?

      I've no idea, but I do know that it makes no damn difference whatsoever which administration is in charge of wasting taxpayer money. They are pretty much head to head in that game.

  • by colonslash ( 544210 ) on Monday December 07, 2020 @06:19PM (#60804876)

    Charter is getting over $1k per home for delivering service? And they get all of the profits from that? And they've been paid to do this in the past and didn't?

    If this isn't enough to make you libertarian, fuck you.

    • Charter is getting over $1k per home for delivering service? And they get all of the profits from that? And they've been paid to do this in the past and didn't?

      If this isn't enough to make you libertarian, fuck you.

      So, basically I've been paying for my Spectrum line twice over the last year and a half.

    • Charter is getting over $1k per home for delivering service? And they get all of the profits from that? And they've been paid to do this in the past and didn't?

      It's really going to blow your mind when you find out that the US government (We The People) has paid hundreds of billions of dollars to telcos to build out the last mile and deliver "broadband" (by FCC definition) to all customers, and the telcos have been giving that money away to executives (in the form of bonuses) and to shareholders (in the form of buybacks and dividends) instead of using it in the way they were instructed.

      If this isn't enough to make you libertarian, fuck you.

      Fuck me? Come and try it, kiddo. Instead of responding to selfishness with selfi

    • 1K over ten years. A bit over $8/month.
  • by Sebby ( 238625 ) on Monday December 07, 2020 @06:20PM (#60804884)
    In case anyone asks, yes there are requirements, within the 6th year, so that they can't just simply pocket the cash:

    Providers must meet periodic buildout requirements that will require them to reach all assigned locations by the end of the sixth year. They are incentivized to build out to all locations as fast as possible.

    • And "buildout" for Starlink doesn't require laying any new fiber, so it's hard to see what would stop them. What I do wonder is how they build out the 'last mile' from the Starlink Terminal to users. The best way seems to be a 4G/5G cell towers (with Starlink for uplink), but the phone companies own the licenses for that bandwidth.
      • What I do wonder is how they build out the 'last mile' from the Starlink Terminal to users.

        With a satellite. Are you new?

        The best way seems to be a 4G/5G cell towers (with Starlink for uplink), but the phone companies own the licenses for that bandwidth.

        So what you meant is how they build out the 'last mile' from the internet to the starlink terminal? Answer, they site it someplace where that is easy. It only has to have LoS to both the satellite and the user at the same time, so it only has to be relatively near them.

        Also, before 5G (or even 4G) existed, people were using point to point microwave links to connect remote sites (or towers) to larger networks. But what you really want is to just use fiber. And as it happens, fib

  • Charter? So far today I've had 10 disconnects lasting 10 seconds or longer with Charter. This was a very good day indeed for them. Fuck Charter
  • I'm an astronomer (Score:4, Informative)

    by Mr.Fork ( 633378 ) <{edward.j.reddy} {at} {gmail.com}> on Monday December 07, 2020 @06:35PM (#60804942) Journal
    ...and Starlink is the bane of our research and study of the night sky. Sure, it's an interesting (& not cheap) rural broadband solution - and there needs to be regulation on what they can put up in the sky. It's already hurting some research projects (that I know of), and there are some pretty big ones out there that it will harm research.

    And let's be clear, this isn't some alturistic project from Elon, it's a business to make money. I just wish he would find a way to darken the devices in the night sky to not interfere with astronomy & scientific research... :(
    • by ASDFnz ( 472824 ) on Monday December 07, 2020 @07:12PM (#60805078)

      As an anature astronomer I get where you are coming from and I feel your pain.

      As someone who has lived and worked in some of the most underserved places on the planet where they barely have access to any sort of information infrastructure and all the things that go along with it (education, banking, heath etc...) I can see the difference that this is going to make to billions of people's lives.

      It sucks for us night sky lovers, but we are just going to have to suck it up and work around the problem.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by backslashdot ( 95548 )

        Stop spreading the myth that this will F up the night sky. The satellites are only visible at dawn and twilight because beyond that the satellites are well in the Earth's shadow and can't reflect sunlight. Furthermore the positions of the satellites are known and predictable down to the millisecond in advance so any camera can briefly shut off the sensor for the instant a satellite passes its field of view).

        • Re:I'm an astronomer (Score:5, Interesting)

          by ASDFnz ( 472824 ) on Monday December 07, 2020 @07:56PM (#60805216)

          Stop spreading the myth that this will F up the night sky.

          Your using hyperbolic language there, I did not say that.

          The satellites are only visible at dawn and twilight because beyond that the satellites are well in the Earth's shadow and can't reflect sunlight.

          And radio astronomy? Radar? Infra red? You need to learn a bit more about astronomy before you are qualified to comment.

          Furthermore the positions of the satellites are known and predictable down to the millisecond in advance so any camera can briefly shut off the sensor for the instant a satellite passes its field of view).

          The cameras used in astronomy are not your average cell phone camera and they literally do not work like that. It takes minutes to hours of continuous photon counting to produce one frame that will be one of thousands used in post processing to create a single image.

          • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

            by backslashdot ( 95548 )

            So clouds, water vapor, various atmospheric phenomena, birds, and airplanes are totally fine with you? IR astronomy from Earth being crap is why we're launching JWST. The atmosphere has too much water vapor. As for radio astronomy, I havent seen NRAO file a complaint. And besides, what the heck. Serious astronomy should occur in space. Especially radio, which should be behind the lunar far side.

            And don't BS me about image stacking .. I've done it before .. quit acting like there is no way to subtract unwant

            • by ASDFnz ( 472824 )

              So clouds, water vapor, various atmospheric phenomena, birds, and airplanes are totally fine with you?

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

              IR astronomy from Earth being crap is why we're launching JWST.

              JWST is better, but IR astronomy is not crap.

              As for radio astronomy, I havent seen NRAO file a complaint

              That is because they are just going to deal with it for the greater good.

              I've done it before

              I actually don't believe you. You know too little to have actually done any actual astronomy.

              Finally, global broadband is far more immediately valuable to the world today that fake Earth-bound astronomy.

              That is LITERALLY what I said in my post that pissed you off so much. Go home, take a chill pill and relax, you're too angry to internet.

              • Thanks for the useless link to "whataboutism" .. it doesn't invalidate the fact that you are throwing a hissy fit over satellites when there are far worse things to worry about that you seem to be able to live with. It's like complaining about some peeing in the ocean when you are about to be eaten by a shark.

                You seem to have done far less astronomy than me if we are going by knowledge levels. First, you didn't know that image stacking is the way most astronomy is done. Second, you obviously didn't know thi

                • by ASDFnz ( 472824 )

                  Thanks for the useless link to "whataboutism"

                  You did not seem to be familiar with the logical fallacy you you were engaged in, I was being helpful.

                  it doesn't invalidate the fact that you are throwing a hissy fit over satellites when there are far worse things to worry about that you seem to be able to live with. It's like complaining about some peeing in the ocean when you are about to be eaten by a shark.

                  What hissy fit? Me saying that we need to just deal with it? The part you finally decided to agree with me on?

                  You seem to have done far less astronomy than me if we are going by knowledge levels. First, you didn't know that image stacking is the way most astronomy is done. Second, you obviously didn't know things like meteors, clouds, even airplanes, are a non-issue when you stack thousands of short exposure images in software like registax. How can we take you seriously?

                  Again, you know shit and your lies pretending to don't impress me. Just your statement about turning off camera sensors tells me that much.

                  Dude, you need to calm down and take your head out of Elons ass. Just because I say something that you perceive to criticize him (but did not actually) you h

          • You need to learn a bit more about astronomy before you are qualified to comment.

            Personally I don't need to learn about astronomy. I'll let AAS do the qualified commenting, since they are actually qualified. And their comment is that so far Starlink is fucking up astronomy and the only positive things they have to say about Starlink is that Musk's company is at least in two way communication and looking for engineering solutions to the very real problem.

            And no, the special coating was far from enough.

            It takes minutes to hours of continuous photon counting to produce one frame that will be one of thousands used in post processing to create a single image.

            Yep, and they are already negatively affected by satellites, especially when you're try

        • But go far enough north, and the sun will often shine 'over the pole' to illuminate satellites well into the night. If someone's idea of an enjoyable summer evening is stargazing, and they use a telescope, they will see lot of Starlink satellites for many of those evening hours.

          That said, the changes they have made make them all but invisible one they are in their operational attitudes and, altitudes.
        • Stop spreading the myth that this will F up the night sky. The satellites are only visible at dawn and twilight because beyond that the satellites are well in the Earth's shadow and can't reflect sunlight.

          It's not a myth. The satellites are visible well after dawn and before twilight because of their altitude. They can remain in sunlight while still being visible above the horizon on the night side of the planet [wikipedia.org].

          I ran some rough calculations [slashdot.org]. With the current Starlink altitude of 550 km, you can be

          • So you say it's a problem for 1.5 hours after sunset. Why in the world would anyone try to do astronomy within 1.5 hours of sunset? "Astronomical twilight", so named because it's pointless to do astronomy before then, is also about that long after sunset.

          • Some good news is that (IIRC) they have scrapped the plans for anything higher than around 550km. The 1000km-ish orbits were for the more inclined ones that were going to serve the pole regions, or mostly stuff over 55 degrees I think.

            Instead they're just going to run them lower and use more of them like they do in denser areas. So, that's probably bad news.

        • The satellites are only visible at dawn and twilight because beyond that the satellites are well in the Earth's shadow and can't reflect sunlight.

          Horseshit. A significant chunk of the Starlink constellation will be high enough that the satellites will be visible as much as an hour or more after full darkness. (Heck, I've seen the ISS after full darkness (not "twilight") - and many Starlink birds will be much higher.)

          Furthermore the positions of the satellites are known and predictable down to the

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by backslashdot ( 95548 )

      It's only visible at dawn and twilight. Use common sense. Are you really an "astronomer" .. I'm suspcious of people who hate the space/rocketry industry but claim to love the stars.

      • It's only visible at dawn and twilight. Use common sense.

        I prefer to use reality rather than parrot propaganda and bullshit. (Which you mistakenly call "common sense".) How long after sunset and before sunrise a satellite will be visible is a function of it's altitude - and there will be a significant portion of the constellation higher than the ISS... which is often visible well after full dark.

    • The eventual solution is to end terrestrial astronomy and spend the needful to do it from space. Terrestrial communications are more important than non-urgent research which can be delayed as long as expedient.
      Those affected should push for a new space race with research as the goal. Astronomy works better without an atmosphere but we tolerate the current arrangement because it's an inexpensive legacy.

    • So where's your proposal to stick a bunch of cameras on the backside of some of those satellites, use the network for data transfer, and create a giant synthetic aperture space telescope?

      Life and lemons, right?

    • Could some proportion of the starlink satellites have radiotelescope equipment on the outward facing side like atacama? It would immediately be one of the largest radiotelescope. The bandwidth to deal with the data is already there.

  • Cable companies like Charter and other wireline providers generally use the money to expand their networks into new areas that don't already have broadband.

    Haaaa-hahahahaha!

    Someone's been reading the press releases. The reality is that most companies getting free Federal millions use it to fund their respective CEO's next excessive bonus for screwing the customer. I suspect that SpaceX will become the first company to use Federal millions for their intended purpose.

  • We're looking to move a little further out, and I'm getting really sick of how every house we go look at has no hope of broadband. When you go to look at a property and there are signs for Hughes Net on the corner, you might as well turn around. Well, if your needs are like mine anyhow.
  • I was at my sister-in-law's house last night near Shelbyville Tennessee. Their only broadband options are HughesNet and cell-phone hotspot.

    They had HughesNet and it was practically unusable. They advertise 60ms latency, but it's BS. The jitter was through the roof.

    Their cell-phone provider clarified the unlimited plan so now they spend at least two weeks a month at 128kbps.

    Starlink can't spin up fast enough, IMHO.

    • Wow, small world. Until this Starlink stuff gets fully online, you'll be happy to know Monster Broadband is installing towers over in your area this year. It's not the greatest broadband but it's better than cellphone hotspots and 1.5Mb AT&T DSL. I've got it over in Winchester. It's especially infuriating because Comcast is literally across the street at the jail but they won't pull a cable over. It would use less than 200' of coax. The local office laughed when I asked how much they would charge

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