this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2025
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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.

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[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 245 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

This is absolute insanity. To think that fiber and satellites are even on the same playing field is absolute brain damage.

[–] kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 53 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The problem I see is that we've already paid for fiber

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 35 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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 28 points 3 weeks ago

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 21 points 3 weeks ago

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

[–] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 125 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I’m so fucking tired of living in this god damned dystopia.

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[–] ruuster13@lemmy.zip 101 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

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 26 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

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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[–] Manifish_Destiny@lemmy.world 19 points 3 weeks ago

I thought he would just abandon his torso mech and a tiny body would come out.

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[–] _druid@sh.itjust.works 75 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

I will string together old coathangers and twisted, unheated solder before I use starlink.

[–] bryndos@fedia.io 15 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

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.

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[–] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 59 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

i hope elon dies and starlink goes bankrupt

[–] thatcrow@ttrpg.network 29 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I hope some hero gives him the UnitedHealth CEO treatment.

[–] nymnympseudonym@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago

Green hat good

Sig heil bad

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[–] haych@feddit.uk 23 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

I'd rather Starlink just be independent from Musk. There are people who just can not get a good Internet connection and rely on it, and other Satellite Internet companies are awful.

I hate Musk as much as the next person, but Starlink is brilliant and works well. If they got rid of Musk and stopped being dicks like they are with this, it'd be okay.

[–] warm@kbin.earth 26 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Id rather all this space trash burn up and we just spend the money on providing internet via land.

[–] Kage520@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago (11 children)

It's still a good thing for cell coverage in remote areas for hiking emergencies though. The few satellites that currently do that are stupidly annoying and expensive to use. You have to carry specialized equipment, and if you use Garmin, you pay a yearly fee for the privilege of signing up for the low tier plan, then a monthly fee for the service, and then pay by the text message after the first few. Starlink just added T-Mobile so if you have a newer phone and use T-Mobile you can skip all of that and message out in emergencies without all that nonsense. Hopefully more brands will be added soon, but I don't know.

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[–] andallthat@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago

I don't know how much Musk can be separated from Starlink. Not only because Starlink, as part of SpaceX, is privately held but also because the main reason they now have a superior service to offer is that they got fucktons of money from government customers, which is also tied to Musk's action

A big part of Musk's involvement with politics is because everything he does, from EVs to rockets to, now, big energy-guzzling datacenters for AI, needs a lot of government backing, if not in terms of direct contracts at least in terms of regulation and incentives.

Even his direct involvement with Trump wasn't because he suddenly became a Nazi (he's probably always been one, according to his own family) but in order to become even more entangled with government investments, even trying to control NASA directly.

And not only US governments. I remember Musk suddenly being everywhere in Europe pitching Starlink. Meloni's government in Italy was grilled for allegedly agreeing on a big contract with Starlink.

[–] andallthat@lemmy.world 23 points 3 weeks ago

but not in this order, the reverse would be so much more satisfying

[–] Taalnazi@lemmy.world 58 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Musk is a domestic terrorist.

[–] Revan343@lemmy.ca 39 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Musk isn't American; he's an international terrorist

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 10 points 3 weeks ago (11 children)

But he is, he has both US and Canadian citizenship in addition to S. African.

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[–] pyre@lemmy.world 53 points 3 weeks ago (8 children)

they hate you. always remember. they hate your entire existence. they'd literally crush you in a hydraulic press if they could. giving you pain is the only way they feel a semblance of happiness.

[–] dellish@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't think they hate us, it just that they love money more. They can, and do, inflict untold misery and suffering so long as there is money at the end of it.

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

no. there's no end to the amount of disdain they have for you. they'd do it for free too; they just don't have to.

[–] Isthisreddit@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

People who disagree with you are people who never spent time with the ultra rich. I've had the pleasure to hang in those circles and it was absolutely eye opening the complete disdain that social class has toward the working class. It's so fucking crazy that one has to see it for themselves to truly appreciate the hate they have for everyone not in their economic circles.

Preach on brother, but I also understand why the plebs don't believe you

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[–] Onsotumenh@discuss.tchncs.de 50 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (5 children)

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 15 points 3 weeks ago

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 14 points 3 weeks ago

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

Capitalism is a disease.

[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago

It would be a shame if some random accident were to befall those token distribution boxes…

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago

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.

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[–] abbiistabbii@lemmy.blahaj.zone 46 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

"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.

[–] frunch@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] Scrizzle@lemmy.zip 41 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

Didn’t work. They are laying fiber everywhere as we speak. So happy to kiss Comcast goodbye.

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[–] slaacaa@lemmy.world 40 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Capitalism breeds innovation

[–] PushButton@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago

If they could put that brain power to innovate on their product instead of innovate on how to fuck people, that would be great!

[–] MyOpinion@lemmy.today 36 points 3 weeks ago

Musk is a toxic stink in this world.

[–] ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 31 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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?

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[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 28 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

"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.

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[–] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 25 points 3 weeks ago

Owh hell no! Just rollout fiber ASAP.

[–] thedruid@lemmy.world 25 points 3 weeks ago

Federal. Money should go to the poor. Elon musk can fuck off.

[–] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 25 points 3 weeks ago

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.

[–] thatcrow@ttrpg.network 21 points 3 weeks ago

Keep in mind, the cost of businesses to control politics is woven directly into the prices of their products and services.

[–] MapleEngineer@lemmy.world 21 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (4 children)

Does fiber go down when it rains?

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[–] richardmtanguay@lemmy.zip 11 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Looks like Elon Musk is getting way too powerful for his own good! He obviously hates competition! :-(

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[–] dan69@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Why do we need to have debate with lobbyists and groups of that nature.

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

They have more $ than you and i, can buy their ways. How that shits not illegal is fucked. Guess it goes with insider trading for Congress, make laws for/against companies you're invested in. USA is beyond rotten and corrupt from the inside. Blatant bribery with Tim cook delivering gold bars to the white house himself.

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