SpaceX projected 20 million Starlink users by 2022—it ended up with 1 million::Starlink has a fraction of the projected $12B revenue and 20M users, WSJ says.

  • SpaceBar
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    922 years ago

    My internet where I live is through cable and it’s terrible. Bad. Outtages all of the time. Down for days at times. So I switched to starlink. It’s fine. Works great EXCEPT WHEN IT RAINS HEAVILY.

    Heavy rain blocks the signal. Elon Musk owns it.

    Now, I have a t-mobile hotspot. It’s only $50 per month as opposed to the $110 for Starlink.

    If you have no other decent option, Starlink is amazing. If you have other options, don’t give Musk your money.

    • @dhtseany@lemmy.ml
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      302 years ago

      Yeah, I’ve worked in data centers a fair amount in my day and I can’t believe they allowed Musk to do any of that to begin with. Every data center experience I’ve ever had was met with a thousand rules that were meant to keep the customer safe and I cannot believe they were authorized to do this in any fashion.

      It’s not about whether they owned the equipment or not, it’s about the fact that they violated policies and procedures that were put in place to safeguard other clients and the privacy of their data. Total bullshit if you ask me and I’d be suing the data center afterwards if I was one of their primary clients for the breach of trust.

      • @kungen@feddit.nu
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        22 years ago

        I interpreted it that NTT did nothing wrong (other than not physically stopping Musk)? A Twitter worker let him in, and he assuming didn’t have access to data from other NTT clients.

  • 小莱卡
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    322 years ago

    lol elon fall from grace has been so satisfying to watch.

  • @InvaderDJ@lemmy.world
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    252 years ago

    One thing this article doesn’t get into is whether it is an issue of customer demand or incorrect estimates on how many customers Starlink can handle.

    Musk is a dumbass, unserious douche. But from everyone I’ve heard from who has Starlink and NEEDS it, it’s a godsend. For rural and mobile users (van life, RVs, boats, etc) I don’t think there is a better option.

    Another question is whether this Starlink service should be nationalized or at least duplicated by other countries. I’m uncomfortable with it being used for war as it is honestly. It’s a supposed civilian, consumer aimed service that I think arguably can be considered a military target right now. Countries like Russia could make an argument for attacking these satellites. And for countries like Ukraine that are relying on it, having it being at the whims of someone like Musk also seems like it isn’t optimal.

    • @dustyData@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      It’s a supposed civilian, consumer aimed service

      The internet was invented to wage war. It’s not an admirable goal, but it’s what it was made for. Only after the fact did we turn it into the banal meme stream it is now. When SpaceX requested permission to the FAA to launch its hundreds of thousands of garbage cans, military infrastructure backup was actually part of the pitch to justify the sky contamination. The Pentagon agreed to acquire Starlink for UA because it was part of the listed capabilities of the network. And military operations are not just about destroying things and killing people. Military operations include rescuing the wounded and safeguarding civilians from harm. Armies need to have good communications for this, to avoid destroying non-military targets, reduce the risk of collateral damage, coordinate evacuations and to defend themselves from the opposing force. A communication network should be a neutral channel, what Musk has done with it is to politicize and weaponize it, like the Russians weaponize medical care, judicial freedom and other things that should be basic human rights but are used to coerce individuals to commit atrocities against others.

    • @PFShady@lemmy.world
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      132 years ago

      My parents have it because of where they live. The only other option they had was century link DSL at 1.5Mbps. Now she can watch streaming services, work from home, etc. The service has been great, Musk is a douche.

    • @SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
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      142 years ago

      Countries like Russia could make an argument for attacking these satellites.

      Russia’s best shot would be accidentally crashing a lunar lander into one.

  • @Rajtinka@lemmy.world
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    172 years ago

    I had Starlink for over a year. They raised the price twice in that time. In addition, it would not play nice with my Uverse streaming service and I would randomly lose my sports and local channels. I live remote, but ended up switching to copper for $50/no and dumped the cable streaming. Since I don’t game, I have not noticed any difference in streaming quality on Netflix or Hulu or Prime. Paying way less than half for copper just made Starlink completely not worth it. The terminal is sitting on a chair in my office…

    • @SpliceVW@lemmy.world
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      42 years ago

      Compared to fiber, yeah. I pay $39 for 300mb fiber. But if that’s not available and you have satellite, it’s competitive. Blows the pants of Hughesnet - 40x faster, way lower latency, for a similar price and no data caps.

      • @CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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        22 years ago

        I’m in the middle of a 250k city and have to pay $120/mo for Comcast 900/12 which is realistically 400/12. I praise any serious competitor entering the market because our ISP situation has been fucked for years in a majority of the country.

  • QubaXR
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    362 years ago

    Lol, sure Elon. Take all my data. Not in a million years.

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    122 years ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    SpaceX’s Starlink division hasn’t come close to meeting customer and revenue projections that the company shared with investors before building the satellite network, according to a Wall Street Journal report published today.

    SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell said in February that Starlink is expected to turn a profit this year.

    "The majority of the world’s population that the business could serve and that can afford high-speed broadband lives in cities.

    In those regions, Internet service is readily available, usually offers cheaper monthly costs than Starlink and doesn’t require specialized equipment."

    But in public he has stated more modest ambitions for Starlink, pointing out that low-Earth orbit satellite ventures have a history of going bankrupt.

    One step forward on profitability is that SpaceX says it is no longer selling Starlink user terminals at a loss.


    The original article contains 654 words, the summary contains 135 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • @dsco@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    72 years ago

    I live less than an hour from Elon and ended up canceling my starlink preorder after eighteen months because I figured it was never going to come.

  • @xts@lemmy.world
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    502 years ago

    “ I think that you will be able to fall asleep in a Tesla, is about two years away” Elon Musk, 2017

    Yeah you shouldn’t believe anything this guy or his companies say lol

    • SkaveRat
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      212 years ago

      I think that you will be able to fall asleep in a Tesla, is about two years away

      I mean, you can do that. It’s just not a good idea if you’re the driver

    • Cethin
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      2 years ago

      I’ve definitely seen articles proving this was an accurate comment. He didn’t specify what the outcome would be though.

  • @Donjuanme@lemmy.world
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    832 years ago

    I was the perfect target for the service, the wife and I went as far as downloading the app to get telemetry from our house, we were like 20% covered and decided to hold off just a little while longer. Then musk went jacking it on the corner in San Diego levels crazy, we pay just about as much for our current Internet (and it’s mobile hotspot backup plan in case the internet goes out and we have vital work that needs to be done, or I need some low latency gaming time) which is 5 mb/s on its best days, and we’re very happy to not be supporting that Russian stooge.