[Starlink] [NNagain] one dish per household is silly.

[Dave Taht]

On Fri, Nov 10, 2023 at 7:33 AM Bill Woodcock <woody at pch.net> wrote:
>
> > On Nov 10, 2023, at 12:44, Dave Taht via Nnagain <nnagain at lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:
> > Steve song's analysis here:
> > https://manypossibilities.net/2023/11/starlink-and-inequality/
>
> He makes some good points.
>
> > A) Am I the only person left in the world that shares his wifi?
>
> My neighbors and I do.

The history of internet expansion beyond the edge is always of someone
getting a good connection and either sharing it or attempting to
resell it. It makes for visions of capturing every home with FTTH or
billing per user dubious.

>
> > A single dishy can easily serve dozens of people
>
> But that’s a different question than whether Starlink’s contract _allows_ you to share it.  The contract does not.

It appears to.

>
> So I think saying that it’s a good thing because it’s good when you don’t follow the rules is… well, perhaps a little too much of a stretch for a general argument.

As near as I can tell from the terms of service:

https://www.starlink.com/legal/documents/DOC-1020-91087-64

There is no prohibition against sharing. The closest that document
comes to it is: "The Standard Service Plan is designed for personal,
family, or household use."

resale is prohibited.

> > I know of refuge centers in the ukraine serving hundreds of people as one example.
>
> And if Musk weren’t cutting Starlink connectivity for Ukrainian defensive uses, those refugee centers wouldn’t have so many people in them.  And, more to the point, Ukrainian graveyards wouldn’t have so many people in them.
>

Remarkably, the terms of service do include this:

"However, Starlink is not designed or intended for use with or in
offensive or defensive weaponry or other comparable end-uses. Custom
modifications of the Starlink Kits or Services for military end-uses
or military end-users may transform the items into products controlled
under U.S. export control laws, specifically the International Traffic
in Arms Regulations (ITAR) (22 C.F.R. §§ 120-130) or the Export
Administration Regulations (EAR) (15 C.F.R. §§ 730-774) requiring
authorizations from the United States government for the export,
support, or use outside the United States. Starlink aftersales support
to customers is limited exclusively to standard commercial service
support. At its sole discretion, Starlink may refuse to provide
technical support to any modified Starlink products and is grounds for
termination of this Agreement."



-- 
Oct 30: https://netdevconf.info/0x17/news/the-maestro-and-the-music-bof.html
Dave Täht CSO, LibreQos