Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims • Hacker News Board

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#81

Post by bena » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 7:43 PM UTC

This might be good for responders, but not so much the victims. But then responders will have their own networks so won't need this.

When you've been hit like this, you aren't going to use your power for this. You have bigger issues. You have to dry out your house, demolition, etc. And that's when you get power. You might not get it for weeks. And honestly, once power reaches residences, power to other services has usually been restored already.

Either this is well-meaning but ill-executed. Or meant to be seen as well-meaning, but with the realization that is almost purely gestural.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#82

Post by mindcrime » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 7:47 PM UTC

willcipriano wrote: post #57

neveroddoreven wrote: post #49

Earlier 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.

I think what you say is largely true, but here is an existence proof that at least one person is both a Ham Radio Operator AND Chaotic Good.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#83

Post by tomohawk » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 7:48 PM UTC

There would likely be 20K starlink terminals available in the are had the FCC not revoked their participation. Would probably be handy about now.

https://twitter.com/ajtourville/status/1840577643839955098

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#84

Post by duxup » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 7:48 PM UTC

UberFly wrote: post #80

duxup wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing personal but that's "a lot" of vague, qualified, and loaded phrases like "mostly free" "more than the US govt" and such ... but the source is just some guy's twitter page?

You are coming across as someone with an axe to grind. There are plenty of private people and organizations getting supplies to the areas in need. Starlink hardware is definitely included as it's the best way to get remote communication up and going at the moment.

I like accuracy, numbers, details. I see statements that seem to say something specific but with a lot of qualifiers and vagueness and I start to wonder.

I was satisfied with the other person's response.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#85

Post by hammock » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 7:54 PM UTC

jagtstronaut wrote: post #17

Despite 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.

>Despite the hate on the promo

What does "hate on the promo" mean?

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#86

Post by hammock » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 7:56 PM UTC

duxup wrote: post #12

You gotta have the hardware right? Isn't this then just ... kinda a normal "free 30 days" offer? This seems not far from handing out free AOL disks, except you also need some added hardware?

The action was taken in response to replies like this: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1841207137420132549

Wherein good samaritans are bringing hardware into the affected areas and having trouble/ delays using gift cards to get the accounts online and in service

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#87

Post by tjohns » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 7:56 PM UTC

delichon wrote: post #77

sneak wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 wi…

Apparently in the US you require the "requisite character qualifications to be and remain a Commission (Amateur Radio) licensee." https://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-upholds-decision-to-revoke-ama... Starlink's character qualification is whether you pay their bill.

Starlink itself is the FCC license holder, not you as a private user.

This means that Starlink is the one that needs to stay in the good graces of the government, and inherits the obligation to monitor the activities of their users.

I guarantee you if you're using Starlink to commit crimes, they're going to drop you as a customer.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#88

Post by svnt » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 7:57 PM UTC

usrusr wrote: post #41

svnt wrote: post #13

How long does it take to rebuild fiber infrastructure? This is not a kindness, it is a promotion. Six months would be a kindness.

It can be both at the same time, nothing wrong with that. Win-win is real, not everything is zero sum.

My comment has little to do with zero sum, but I’ll assume you’re trying to imply that people in rural NC are going to re-subscribe to their local ISP and keep the promotional ISP, you know, once everything is repaired.

But let’s change the story a little: Local ISP has all their infrastructure destroyed, but Comcast’s network is still online. Comcast offers a one-month-free promotion but you have to purchase several hundred dollars in equipment, so you are strongly incentivized to continue with Comcast afterwards.

In what way is this win-win?

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#89

Post by therein » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 7:58 PM UTC

tjohns wrote: post #60

neveroddoreven wrote: post #49

Earlier 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?

The meaning of any messages sent over amateur radio needs to be clear to an outside observer. The specific rule is 47 CFR 97.113(a)(4): "No amateur station shall transmit: [...] messages encoded for the purpose of obscuring their meaning, except as otherwise provided herein." So no, high-entropy random noise of substantial length wouldn't be allowed because the meaning of the message would be unclear and unknowable.…

What if you say it is to transmit high entropy random data generated at geographically remote locations, for peer to peer verification, for a well-announced long-running experiment to see if geolocation leads to biases in random number generation.

Let's have Princeton PEAR sponsor it. Call it NCC20 for NotChaCha20.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#90

Post by lupusreal » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 7:59 PM UTC

nynx wrote: post #65

renewiltord wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

What if it crashed on a squirrel?