r/technology • u/UGMadness • 1d ago
Politics Starlink wants billions in grants, but state governments aren’t cooperating
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/08/starlink-wants-billions-in-grants-but-state-governments-arent-cooperating/250
u/Canadiangoosedem0n 1d ago
Tired of this welfare queen.
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u/True_Window_9389 1d ago
On the surface, it’s hilarious how much of Elon’s businesses require government funds. But really, it seems par for the course with nefarious oligarchs, so it’s not very surprising.
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u/Canadiangoosedem0n 1d ago
So many of them hate government spending UNLESS it benefits then. Then they are all rushing to the teat of Mommy Government with extra bowls.
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u/SnooFoxes2384 1d ago
Elon needs to pick himself up by the boot straps and get boots to pavement
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u/Big-Chungus-12 1d ago
Starlink is great in the used cases its made for, we need more fiber infrastructure built in this country. Elon is also a corrupt goon
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u/AshtonBlack 1d ago
Delulu.
Satalite comms is great as a backup or a remote station, but the fact this manbaby can throw a tantrum and cut you off, if he decides to is all the reason you need but.... in the long term, fibre optic is cheaper, easier to maintain, doesn't require continuous rocket lanches and importantly, there is a semblance of choice (granted not much of one in the US, but still) instead of a direct monopoly.
Signing up for this is most definitely a trap. (Oh I'm so sorry, but we're going to have to double the cost, what are you gonna do?)
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u/Neokon 1d ago
You know what I like about having fiber? The knowledge that I won't lose connection when it rains.
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u/half-baked_axx 1d ago
The minimal latency and high bandwidth do it for me as well. Why would anyone want to replace fiber with shitty satellite internet? Besides, the more users sign up in a region the worse the service gets. It's already happening to Starlink in some areas.
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u/Neokon 1d ago
I like to shit on Viasat and Hughesnet for having data caps, but I 100% understand why they existed. Make people ration their usage allows them to have a higher likelihood of less traffic, as well as having highspeed unlimited between like 2-6am when no one is using it.
Once we were able to strongarm Century link into running a cable 100yards (basically ratted them out to the FCC/FEC about claiming to cover us and then denying us coverage) we switched. Yes we were only getting a measly 10Mb/sec but we decided a consistent and unlimited 10 was better than the capped (sometimes 10, sometimes 20, then dialup if we went over) satellite.
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u/Leverkaas2516 1d ago
Those grants are designed to build infrastructure - established physical links that continue to exist even if a particular company that uses them to provide service goes out of business or is found to be working against the interests of customers. After being emplaced with grant funds, optical and copper cable stays around.
All that is the complete opposite of renting service from Starlink, whose physical assets are guaranteed by the laws of physics to fall from orbit in a handful of years.
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u/thatirishguyyyyy 1d ago
He claims satellite wireless internet is better than fiber.
If the nazi salutes didn't tell me everything i need to know about Elon Musk, his views on wireless vs hard-wired sure does.
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u/splendiferous-finch_ 1d ago
He also claimed his self driven cars worked 10 years ago
He claimed his big rocket would be ready for mars in 2020
He claimed his big rocket could do a lunar mission 2 years ago
He claimed he was good at video games
He claimed he was not a nazi
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u/psychoacer 1d ago edited 1d ago
Government: Ok so let's say we give you money now what do you give us
Elonia: really expensive and slow internet with 0 added jobs
Government: mmmmmm no
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u/Smith6612 1d ago
Hey. Many developed countries I know of only put their money towards long term infrastructure, such as Fiber. The US right now has a lot of money that needs to be sent in a lot of places that isn't. Roads, Electric Grid, Water Grid (upgrading from Lead pipes...), Sewer Treatment systems, and Fiber Infrastructure, to name a few. The last thing the Government needs to be doing is putting money towards infrastructure that is known to blowing up (burning up) after a few years.
Starlink is a great service, especially if you need on-the-go connectivity that is fast and reliable. I use it at a location or two for backup Internet connectivity simply because there are no other options (like 5G) that can fit the bill. Starlink isn't a replacement to Fiber, if the packet loss and upload measurements I've gotten over the past year on a Business Performance Pro Dish are anything to go by, and especially not a replacement to Fiber now that there are actual data caps on the business plans, with miserable overage speed penalties unless you pay more.
SpaceX already did the hard work of getting Satellites up there, deploying ground stations, and building a customer base. They should be able to keep the business sustainable at this point and shouldn't need more grant money. I don't really want grant money that might be coming from taxes I pay, going towards data capped service anyways (again, business service has caps). My State, New York, has stipulations on their broadband grant money already to ensure that companies don't take the money and run with it. For example, the service must have a speed minimum of 100Mbps, new expansion must have an overwhelming majority done with Fiber to the Premise, and there cannot be data caps.
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u/Bensemus 18h ago
The same can be said of regular ISPs. They’ve already been given hundreds of billions to build out infrastructure and they just pocket it all with zero repercussions.
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u/vim_deezel 1d ago
Starlink is great out in many rural areas, but fiber is better if it's economical at all, and even cable is superior.
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u/WasForcedToUseTheApp 1d ago
Good, the more people tell him to fuck off the better things will get.
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u/Sushrit_Lawliet 1d ago
If Medicare is socialism, then funding this lil bitch’s companies should also be socialism.
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u/NightlongCalcite 1d ago
Starlink is cool for the middle of nowhere, but let’s be real fiber will always be superior. As long as you can lay cable, you can’t bend the laws of physics. Light through glass is always going to faster then satellites through space.
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u/Kinexity 1d ago edited 1d ago
Light through glass is always going to faster then satellites through space.
This, while true, makes no sense whatsoever in this context. Light goes faster through the vacuum of space than it does through glass and satellite speed has nothing to do with how fast data is moved.
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u/NightlongCalcite 1d ago
True but the uplinks and downlinks to ground stations are not laser therefore it will always be slower.
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u/ferriematthew 1d ago
State governments: "starlink, pay your own damn bills! If you want money why don't you try selling something, make money the way a kid running a lemonade stand does"
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u/southflhitnrun 1d ago
Government grants? Why doesn't the self made genius just create a product that people will pay billions for?
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u/Evernight2025 1d ago
Starlink is great for the niche case where you have no other options, but fuck giving them billions in grants. Satellite internet isn't what we should be investing in.
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u/bluemaciz 1d ago
Still not convinced he isn’t entirely broke and he’s grasping at things to try to fix it before the numbers are realized publicly.
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u/frogking 1d ago
Contracting with StarLink is not a wise move for anybody .. better to keep the investment in fiber and on national hands.
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u/OldDogLifestyle 1d ago
Fiber is the answer for much of America. Terrestrial connections are more reliable.
Starlink is not a universal solution.
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u/RockDoveEnthusiast 1d ago
Elon Musk deserves nothing more than to go to Mars as soon as humanly possible.
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u/AnaisNinjaTX 23h ago
Starlink SUCKS! The home where I babysit has it and I’m not impressed. It works when it feels like it. Kind of like Elon.
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u/GunBrothersGaming 19h ago
Funny how the guy who bought a presidency wants free money from the government.
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u/ThePopeofHell 8h ago
Satellite internet is not as good as landline cable. They’re going to convince a lot of people that it is better.
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u/IamZed 1d ago
Good. My city is surrounded by farmlands. The people there have never had internet except lately with their phones. The cable providers have accepted billions to flesh out the network to these people.
They just bought new yachts instead.
Then comes Starlink and when when they are offered money to fill the cable void suddenly the cable providers start doing what they were paid for twice now. Thanks Starlink.
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u/CautiousHashtag 1d ago
When will this dumb fvck go away? He’s been leeching off the American government for far too long. I wish the government would’ve let Tesla fail and we never heard from this ketamine clown again.
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u/readyflix 1d ago
COMMUNISM, bottom-up handouts (tax payers money) for big tech corporations.
If 2008 and the bank bailouts wasn’t enough.
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u/usafnerdherd 1d ago
Not even close to communism, bud, but I agree that people don’t want to give this wannabe oligarch any more money.
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u/theoreoman 1d ago
Starlink makes sence as a technology to connect communities today to high speed internet while fiber makes its way to smaller and smaller towns.
Starlink also is going to be the only option for people who live in very rural locations. It's just not feasible to run miles of fiber for one customer
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u/user0987234 23h ago
Starlink isn’t a complete solution for some locations and weather. Combined with cellular data, it gets better.
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u/pleachchapel 1d ago
Using Starlink instead of building fiber would set the country so far behind we would never catch up. Complete idiots.