Why is this advertising-like stuff worth of hackernews?
Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims
61–70 of 374 posts
Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims
#62Still tricky to set up. Tried to get a Gen 2 working for an affected family yesterday, no beans.
Yes.
I bought the last two units left at any HD for a few hundred miles; drove them up there Monday.
Apparently my friend had to drive in and out of his (utterly destroyed) neighborhood in Swannanoa because it required the app and cell service to set up. And when they returned home it wouldn't work. Took multiple trips back and forth to get it usable in the area where it was actually needed.
Then of course the Helene intro deal requires an extensive form to fill out, so he just paid for it.
And, incrementally, we all give our money to another publicly funded, government protected, privately held monopoly. And yet... it's charity.
Anyway, the entire neighborhood is using it to coordinate resources to dig out their holler. So hey, she'll do for now.
Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims
#63Why doesn't the government have a few planes or blimps fly overhead with base stations from the major mobile carriers?
If the government started this project tomorrow I would stall it in the courts until they could prove that they did the necessary environmental reviews. Besides, privacy is a big concern and we can’t have the government use the opportunity to become Big Brother as the sole Internet provider for so many people.
We must protect freedom. Sometimes that costs the lives of children and sometimes that of adults. But freedom is important.
Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is this even enforced? Don't you have plausible deniability by claiming you just wanted to send high entropy random noise?
Ham radio people are Lawful Good types. Your Chaotic Good idea isn't well recieved by them. No way there is any ability to enforce that law in a disaster zone, they have enough trouble with looting and the like.
There is also a surprising number of stereotypical american self-identified “constitutionalist” types on there, which results in funny conversations when I speak to them (without a license, natch) about the 10th amendment and the FCC/access to spectrum.
Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims
#65Why doesn't the government have a few planes or blimps fly overhead with base stations from the major mobile carriers?
If the government started this project tomorrow I would stall it in the courts until they could prove that they did the necessary environmental reviews. Besides, privacy is a big concern and we can’t have the government use the opportunity to become Big Brother as the sole Internet provider for so many people. We must protect freedom. Sometimes that costs the lives of children and sometimes that of adults. But freedo…
Environmental review for blimps?
Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims
#66We have a free solution already but not as well known - Ham Radio. You can even send email over WinLink.
I'm grateful that I don't need a license to operate a Starlink dish here in Starlink's home country, yet.
A license is definitely required to operate Starlink, just not by you.
They tried not servicing Crimea due to an unwillingness to get involved in the war, and the DoD quickly made them toe the geopolitical line. (They are also a huge customer of a military-only service called Starshield, also run by SpaceX/Starlink, which either runs separately on the same Starlink satellites, or is dedicated Starshield satellites with very similar technology.) This is the same USG that issues the launch licenses for the entire rest of the business via the FAA, so, like Apple/China, they have little option if they don’t want to be dead in the water.
If the USG wants your dish off, it will be off. No license revocation is required, just a phone call.
Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims
#67Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims
#68Despite the hate on the promo the tech they offer is still pretty cool. Only way I knew my in-laws were safe near Asheville was because one of their neighbors had starlink and a generator. Took a week for them to get power and cell phone service back and there is no way to get to them without a helicopter so if it wasn't for the product we would have just learned that they were alright.
Curious…it’s not been a week yet? It certainly feels longer. Glad to know they’re alright. My family is in Swannanoa, and still without power and water.
Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is weird what happens when you privatize so much and then find out too late it isn’t profitable for companies to have fleets of emergency internet blimps primed and ready to go 24/7.
The only mobile provider in Costa Rica was government owned, hugely profitable, subsidized internet and landlines, and was mandated to provide internet to every single citizen. In urban areas, they had to make sure every single house had mobile coverage. And courts made them comply. Then came the US around year 2002 and forced the country to a free market, and paradise was lost. Everything is US level now (more expen…
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Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims
#70Why doesn't the government have a few planes or blimps fly overhead with base stations from the major mobile carriers?
The govt is sending satellites:
> an additional 140 satellites are being shipped to assist with communications infrastructure restoration.
From:
Biden-Harris Administration Continues Whole-Of-Government Response to Hurricane Helene https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20240930/biden-harris-adm...