Starlink operator SpaceX is fighting Virginia’s plan to deploy fiber Internet service to residents, claiming that federal grant money should be given to Starlink instead. SpaceX is already in line to win over $3 million in grant money in the state but is seeking $60 million.

Starlink is poised to benefit from the Trump administration rewriting rules for the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant program. While the Biden administration decided that states should prioritize fiber in order to build more future-proof networks, the Trump administration ordered states to revise their plans with a “tech-neutral approach” and lower the average cost of serving each location.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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    “But I want a monopoly! I demand a monopoly! I’m not rich enough. I’m afraid I will run out of money and starve!” - The Goblin

    It seems like the best solution would be to confiscate Starlink and nationalize it. Same with Space X. We paid for all of it, it should be ours. He can still work there, but he’ll collect a government salary, and expect to answer to a boss. Or get fired. Either way, I don’t care.

    He can keep Tesla, that will be bankrupt in 2 years anyway.

    • SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      It seems like the best solution would be to confiscate Starlink and nationalize it.

      Not in the land of the Star-Spangled Banner, I’m afraid. That would be socialism. Orange Führer wouldn’t like that.

  • Dr. Moose@lemmy.worldOP
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    This is absolute insanity. To think that fiber and satellites are even on the same playing field is absolute brain damage.

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        Yep, $400bn wasted on fiber “deployments” that never went anywhere while telcos pocketed the cash, and that was as of like a decade ago.

        • Blisterexe@lemmy.zip
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          And across the pond the french government spent 20bn to have the government build out fiber and now basically everyone in france has super cheap fiber internet.

          Paying companies to do stuff that’s against their financial incentives doesn’t work.

    • TheTurner@lemmy.zip
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      We just got fiber 3 weeks ago. I pay for 600Mb/s and it is honestly the best internet I’ve had. I was afraid that we wouldn’t get it, but I was astonished when a salesman stopped by. I signed up that day. Lol

    • Jhex@lemmy.world
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      Do something about it then…

      PS: maybe you are, if so, Kudos to you… but the majority seem to only rue it

        • stringere@sh.itjust.works
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          Electronic Freedom Foundation has a Take Action page.

          • Creativity & Innovation; Tell Congress: Throw Out the NO FAKES Act and Start Over
          • Privacy; Congress Can Act Now to Protect Reproductive Health Data
          • Privacy; Congress Can Act Now to Protect Reproductive Health Data
          • Free Speech; Congress Shouldn’t Control What We’re Allowed to Read Online
          • Creativity & Innovation; Tell Congress: No to Internet Blacklists
          • Free Speech; The TAKE IT DOWN Act Will Censor Legal Speech Without Helping Victims

          All campaigns: https://act.eff.org/action

          Or become a member and support their efforts financially.

          MEMBER BENEFITS Your 12-month membership sustains EFF’s legal work, development of privacy-enhancing technology, and public activism 365 days a year. We’re pleased to offer a few benefits as a token of our appreciation!

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        • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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          Maybe start with doing some research on the Internet yourself instead of asking random strangers from other countries to fix things for you.

  • Scrizzle@lemmy.zip
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    Didn’t work. They are laying fiber everywhere as we speak. So happy to kiss Comcast goodbye.

    • bitwolf@sh.itjust.works
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      So happy for you! I’m still stuck with shady cable as they cancelled the 2024 rollout.

      I swear Cable internet was propped up by hidden fees and promo pricing.

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        The way they are rolling through Central Virginia I’d say they will have most of VA done soon (relative to years). Even Bumpass has it now.

      • FunkFactory@lemmy.world
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        Comcast doesn’t necessarily have to go away as long as they don’t have a monopoly on the infrastructure used to deliver an essential utility to homes. But I’d have to agree it would be nice if they just went away too.

  • ruuster13@lemmy.zip
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    Starlink is literally his plan to rule the world. If you singularly control access to the internet for everyone, you’ve won the information war… against everyone. The good news is his Nazi addict ass will likely die young from a chest-cavity attack.

    • iglou@programming.dev
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      Good luck having that shitty tech win over Europe, where fiber is proliferating particularly quickly. We all know satellite internet cannot come close to the speed and reliability of fiber.

      Plus we hate Musk.

      It’s good for remote areas and at sea, it’s shit everywhere else

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    Reminds me of the German Telekom and their unceasing effort to slow down state subsidised fibre deployment.

    The subsidies are primarily for towns left behind with bad ADSL (it was below 30mbit average and is now afaik 100mbit), that want to build their own local fibre nets cause nobody else does.

    They seem to watch for construction permits and then swoop in and build a few fibre adsl distribution boxes or elevate a street or two with fibre to raise the average speed in town just above threshold. The local net looses the subsidies and usually stops construction or if already built only commercial customers are still allowed to be connected…

    • ComfortableRaspberry@feddit.org
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      I love it when they reopen construction sites where cables from other carriers were recently buried (after Telekom said no) because NOW they want to provide their shit there too.

    • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one
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      Reminds me of the German Telekom and their unceasing effort to slow down state subsidised fibre deploymen

      Capitalism is a disease.

    • bitjunkie@lemmy.world
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      It would be a shame if some random accident were to befall those token distribution boxes…

    • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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      When we got cable TV and proper broadband internet with it, the previous company relying on the local monopoly got extremely pissed. Every of their services costed the multitude of what competitors, even on phone line, could offer. Most outrageous was ADSL. Competitor ADSL started at HUF5 000 for 384k download speed, topped at HUF15 000 for 2M, per month. The local provider? It started at HUF20 000, for a laughable 256k download speed. Explanation? The parent company thought it was a luxury, because you could just send a hand-written mail instead of the e-mail, get a dish TV with HBO and a tape recorder with a timer instead of torrenting movies, etc.

    • jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works
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      Recently talked my MIL into switching to T-Mobile home Internet instead of StarLink. I even volunteered to mount an external cell antenna on her roof if the signal wasn’t good enough.

      Elmo and his shitty satellite company can kiss my ass.

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          They do offer their T-Satellite service which uses Starlink. It only works with supported mobile devices (not home Internet) and is additional to your regular plan.

          T-Mobile is honestly one of the easiest cell operators to deal with in my experience. I would take them over AT&T any day.

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      If you figure out the right protocol you could probably catapult a series of twisted pears from house to house.

      The way the internet is going, bashed and bruised fruit salad sounds preferable to the actual data anyway.

      • MasterBlaster@lemmy.world
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        The visuals are priceless. Screaming, agonized pears flying from building to building with California raisins singing in flight amongst them. I think i just found a reason to play with AI video generation!

        • bryndos@fedia.io
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          Previously i’ve only accepted AI into my life as a thing to use when I get asked ‘stupid business jargon management /HR question’ at work.

          but I’m tentatively prepeared to allow this, it might be raisin the bar.

      • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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        Hey, we just need someone to innovate the shielded twisted pears, that will give us a much better fruit salad than the unshielded twisted pears.

  • ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online
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    Capitalism breeds innovation and advancement, folks!

    Also didn’t Rupert Murdoch also stifle fiber adoption in Australia because better internet would cut into his TV and print empire there?

    • interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml
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      Why is it always this same recurring cast of 100 same rotating cunts over and over ? If we get rid of them, can we at least have fresh new cunts, this batch is extremely stale, LUIGI !!!

      🧱🧱👽                        🔫
      🧱🧱🧘                        🔫
      🧱🧱🦵🏼                        🔫
      
      • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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        I was reading a (non-fiction) book about Gallipoli, a battle that was fought in Turkey in 1915-16 during WWI. At one point, an Australian journalist by the name of “Keith Murdoch” shows up and starts contributing to the Allies’ failures and eventual withdrawal. And I was like “wait, is that?” and the answer was “yep”. Keith Murdoch was born in 1885 and was Rupert Murdoch’s (full name Keith Rupert Murdoch) father. Aside from helping to fuck up Gallipoli, Papa Murdoch led a smear campaign against Australia’s greatest WWI general (who just happened to be Jewish) and got him removed from command. The Murdoch name has been a stain on humanity for a long time.

    • dellish@lemmy.world
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      Kinda. Murdoch killed the NBN because Foxtel was not in a position to compete with fibre.

  • abbiistabbii@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    “Hey, can we provide Fibre broadband to our residents?”

    “No, we got a lot of money from Sattelite providers, eat shit and die.”

    Hey, this seems familiar.

  • flop_leash_973@lemmy.world
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    the Trump administration ordered states to revise their plans with a “tech-neutral approach” and lower the average cost of serving each location

    In other words don’t give the tax payer the best options you can, give them the cheapest options to implement you can.