[NNagain] [Starlink] FCC Upholds Denial of Starlink's RDOF Application

[rjmcmahon]

Hi All,

We're trying to modernize America. LBJ helped do it for electricity 
decades ago. It's our turn to step up to the plate. Tele-health and 
distance learning requires us to do so. There is so much to follow.

A reminder what many women went through before LBJ showed up. I'm 
skeptical a patriarchy under Musk is even close to capable. We probably 
need a woman to lead us, or at least motivate us to do our best work for 
our country and to be an example to the world.

A Hill Country farm wife had to do her chores even if she was ill – no 
matter how ill. Because Hill Country women were too poor to afford 
proper medical care they often suffered perineal tears in childbirth. 
During the 1930s, the federal government sent physicians to examine a 
sampling of Hill Country women. The doctors found that, out of 275 
women, 158 had perineal tears. Many of them, the team of gynecologists 
reported, were third-degree tears, “tears so bad that it is difficult to 
see how they stand on their feet.” But they were standing on their feet, 
and doing all the chores that Hill Country wives had always done – 
hauling the water, hauling the wood, canning, washing, ironing, helping 
with the shearing, the plowing and the picking.

Because there was no electricity.

Bob
> On Fri, 15 Dec 2023, Sebastian Moeller via Starlink wrote:
> 
>> Hi Frantisek,
>> 
>> 
>>> On Dec 15, 2023, at 13:46, Frantisek Borsik via Nnagain 
>>> <nnagain at lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Thus, technically speaking, one would like the advantages of satcom 
>>> such as starlink, to be at least 5gbit/s in 10 years time, to 
>>> overcome the 'tangled fiber' problem.
>>> 
>>> No, not really. Starlink was about to address the issue of digital 
>>> divide -
>> 
>> 	I beg to differ. Starlink is a commercial enterprise with the goal to 
>> make a profit by offering (usable) internet access essentially 
>> everywhere; it is not as far as I can tell an attempt at specifically 
>> reducing the digital divide (were often an important factor is not 
>> necessarily location but financial means).
> 
> Every Inernet company " commercial enterprise with the goal to make a
> profit by offering (usable) internet" don't dismiss a company because
> of that. Starlink (and the other Satellite ISPs) all exist to service
> people who can't use traditional wired infrastructure
> 
>> 
>>> delivering internet to those 640k locations, where there is literally 
>>> none today. Fiber will NEVER get there. And it will get there, it 
>>> will be like 10 years down the road.
>> 
>> 	This is IHO the wrong approach to take. The goal needs to be a 
>> universal FTTH access network (with the exception of extreme 
>> locations, no need to pull fiber up to the highest Bivouac shelter on 
>> Mt. Whitney). And f that takes a decade or two, so be it, this is 
>> infrastructure that will keep on helping for many decades once 
>> rolled-out. However given that time frame one should consider 
>> work-arounds for the interim period. I would have naively thought 
>> starlink would qualify for that from a technical perspective, but then 
>> the FCC documents actually discussion requirements and how they were 
>> or were not met/promised by starlink was mostly redacted.
> 
> what do you consider 'extreme locations'? how long a run between
> houses is 'too far'?
> 
> we've seen the failure of commercial fiber monopolies in cities with
> housing density of several houses per acre (and even where there are
> apartment complexes there as well) because it's not profitable enough.
> When you get into areas where it's 'how many acres per house' the cost
> of running FTTH gets very high. I don't think this is the majority of
> the population of the US any longer (but I don't know for sure), but
> it's very clearly the majority of the area of the US. And once you get
> out of the major metro areas, even getting fiber to every town or
> village becomes a major undertaking.
> 
> Is running fiber 30 miles to support a village of 700 people an
> 'extreme location'? let me introduce you to Vermontville MI
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermontville,_Michigan which is less
> than an hours drive from the state capitol.
> 
> David Lang
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