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Starlink has achieved breakeven cash flow

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Re: Starlink has achieved breakeven cash flow

#181

Post by Zigurd »

fragmede wrote: post #149
Zigurd wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starlink also has capex and subsequent opex for ground stations. Even with inter-satellite communications links in the 1.5gen satellites, it needs ground stations and interconnection with backbone operators. It is unclear if, as bad as many terrestrial ISPs are, Starlink has a TAM big enough. It's going to be slower and less reliable than terrestrial wireless, and expanding terrestrial wireless coverage is going to b…

> expanding terrestrial wireless coverage is going to be cheaper for a very large percentage of potential customers. If that's the case, why has it taken until SpaceX for there to be viable Internet service to many of the rural areas they service? People are replacing 3Mbit DSL links, or even dial up (yes, in 2023, dial-up) service with starlink. terrestrial fiber beats Starlink handily, except where it hasn't been r…

Because ISPs suck and they defrauded the government of the money that was supposed to pay for expanded broadband coverage.

Elon has a nose for picking feckless, evil, competitors: People hate car dealers. People hate their ISP. Elon absolutely saw these opportunities.

Re: Starlink has achieved breakeven cash flow

#182

Post by organsnyder »

coding123 wrote: post #122
organsnyder wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starlink has also been used by Musk to dictate decisions in the Ukraine war. That's far more serious than "just" a "culture war" issue.

If Starlink had not existed, there would have been no decision to make. Just because it is an option doesn't mean the country needs to use it, depend on it at all. If your success or failure in a war depends on one company doing something or not, you're definitely doing WAR wrong.

Yes, perhaps it was naïve for Ukraine to assume that Musk's offer of Starlink access would come with no strings attached. Though I can certainly understand if Ukraine assumed that even if Musk tried to do something, the US government wouldn't let that happen, so perhaps the blame is on the United States.

That being said, Musk did interfere. Whether he should have been trusted not to isn't really the point—the fact that he is inclined to use his wealth to dictate international policy in this way is extremely troubling.

Re: Starlink has achieved breakeven cash flow

#183

Post by TaylorAlexander »

snapplebobapple wrote: post #148
webkike wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven’t met him, but he has bought out my favorite social media website solely so he can insert his insipid opinions and comments, so I think the negative reactions are warranted. Why do people always talk about needing to meet a guy to have an opinion on them? I haven’t met Dick Cheney either

I don't think that's the main reason he bought it. It looks to me like he's trying to create a knockoff of the baidu app for the non chinese language sphere where one can conduct their whole life through the app (think twitter + whatsapp/telegram/signal/teams + your banking + online purchases + delivery). If he pulls it off he's going to be a lot richer regardless of the up front pain point of far leftie aversion to…

> regardless of the up front pain point of far leftie aversion to freedom of speech kneecapping legacy revenue streams

Musk is not in favor of free speech, he is in favor of allowing speech he likes to get a free pass while limiting the speech of people and groups he disagrees with. The left does not like what he is doing because they disagree with which speech he is allowing and which speech he is blocking. What I have seen lately is users reporting trouble for accounts which support Palestine (which are not making any posts which violate twitter rules). And of course Musk is supportive of accounts which primarily exist to harass trans people, which is justifiably upsetting for people who just want trans people to be able to exist without harassment. But it's not about "free speech" it's about who gets to control the speech. The "free speech" line is just a convenient narrative.

Re: Starlink has achieved breakeven cash flow

#184

Post by signatoremo »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #134
sneak wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starlink was already shut off in Crimea because of the war. He denied a request by the Ukrainians to turn it back on in that geofence that they made specifically so that they could use it to conduct an airstrike. I’d have denied that request too. Please make sure you communicate the facts correctly when spreading this meme. More generally though: why do people love spreading false narratives? It’s ok not to like tech…

> turn it back on It was never turned on in the first place.

It has been turned on, according to Kyrylo Budanov, commander of Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Directorate:

[KB] There have been no problems since it's been turned on over Crimea.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/exclusive-interview-wi...

Re: Starlink has achieved breakeven cash flow

#185

Post by Dig1t »

rootusrootus wrote: post #46
next_xibalba wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it matter to you? I am fascinated by people who have such strong opinions about Musk, particularly on the negative side. The vast majority have never met him and, if they were honest, have probably been positively impacted by him (or not at all). Personally, I hope it’s true. Starlink is good for the world.

Equally, I'm fascinated by people who white knight for him. I assume to some extent it must just be ideology. Objectively, he has a history of making bold claims about his products that either never come to fruition, or are delayed for years. Being skeptical of what he says is the rational choice. > have probably been positively impacted by him Well, every time my Model 3's wipers go batshit insane, I get a little ir…

I have good internet because of Starlink. Before I had absolutely terrible options and there was no hope on the horizon. Starlink specifically is very good for the world, it's giving rural people access to the full experience of the internet, which people in cities have taken for granted for a long time.

Developing reusable rockets was thought to be impossible and there was no hope for lowering the cost to orbit on the horizon _at all_ by anyone in the world, country or company. Rocket technology developed by governments is laughably bad compared to what SpaceX has built. Now, Starship promises to lower the cost to orbit to an incredibly low number and open up access to space to normal people. This is not a pie in the sky plan, the rocket is literally sitting on the pad in south Texas, waiting for bureaucratic rubber stamping so that it can launch.

I am not white knighting, I don't care about the personal foibles of the man running the thing, I am cheering on science, technology, and the progress of the human species.

Re: Starlink has achieved breakeven cash flow

#186

Post by bryanlarsen »

signatoremo wrote: post #184
bryanlarsen wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> turn it back on It was never turned on in the first place.

It has been turned on, according to Kyrylo Budanov, commander of Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Directorate: [KB] There have been no problems since it's been turned on over Crimea. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/exclusive-interview-wi...

Yes, the Department of Defense is now in control of the geofencing in the Ukraine theatre.

Re: Starlink has achieved breakeven cash flow

#187

Post by mrangle »

rootusrootus wrote: post #46
next_xibalba wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it matter to you? I am fascinated by people who have such strong opinions about Musk, particularly on the negative side. The vast majority have never met him and, if they were honest, have probably been positively impacted by him (or not at all). Personally, I hope it’s true. Starlink is good for the world.

Equally, I'm fascinated by people who white knight for him. I assume to some extent it must just be ideology. Objectively, he has a history of making bold claims about his products that either never come to fruition, or are delayed for years. Being skeptical of what he says is the rational choice. > have probably been positively impacted by him Well, every time my Model 3's wipers go batshit insane, I get a little ir…

In fairness, and while Musk cerainly has a fan club, the "white knighting" tends to be in response to the aforementioned hating. Not the inverse.

There are few such men, and arguably fewer who have the enthusiastic haters that Musk does.

I understand criticism. However, a (multiple) path of innovation is always going to be riddled with mistakes and failures. Within this context, the specific enthusiasm for hating Musk, by some, seems petty to others.

Re: Starlink has achieved breakeven cash flow

#188

Post by snapplebobapple »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #183
snapplebobapple wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's the main reason he bought it. It looks to me like he's trying to create a knockoff of the baidu app for the non chinese language sphere where one can conduct their whole life through the app (think twitter + whatsapp/telegram/signal/teams + your banking + online purchases + delivery). If he pulls it off he's going to be a lot richer regardless of the up front pain point of far leftie aversion to…

> regardless of the up front pain point of far leftie aversion to freedom of speech kneecapping legacy revenue streams Musk is not in favor of free speech, he is in favor of allowing speech he likes to get a free pass while limiting the speech of people and groups he disagrees with. The left does not like what he is doing because they disagree with which speech he is allowing and which speech he is blocking. What I h…

I don't think you are correct about free speech being a means to a different end rather than an end in itself for him. He has stated he is in favor of free speech and has converted the rules and enforcement to focus on things breaking the law, which is a reasonable thing to do if your position is supporting freedom of speech because the refining system for the law is based around constitutional ideas of free speech (among other things). I agree that that would make him supportive of accounts that violate far left ideas of what should be allowed to be said to anyone because freedom of speech necessitates putting up with a bunch of ugly things being said that fall short of illegal speech rather than just irrationally and incorrectly claiming words are violence and banning all ugly from the conversation.

Re: Starlink has achieved breakeven cash flow

#189

Post by johnnyworker »

mckirk wrote: post #23
next_xibalba wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it matter to you? I am fascinated by people who have such strong opinions about Musk, particularly on the negative side. The vast majority have never met him and, if they were honest, have probably been positively impacted by him (or not at all). Personally, I hope it’s true. Starlink is good for the world.

People value trustworthiness, and Musk's track record with public statements about his businesses definitely isn't the best in that regard -- though that largely concerns the utopian predictions/promises he likes to make, I suppose. Maybe statements of his about the current state of affairs are more reliable.

Here's him not knowing what he is talking about, very confidently and to the detriment of those who actually do know, about something really basic.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/14/musk_twitter_rpc_spat...

Re: Starlink has achieved breakeven cash flow

#190

Post by JumpCrisscross »

TheLoafOfBread wrote: post #160
theultdev wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Timely! Now do the courts (or have those been perfect over the decades?) Under that logic, maybe Musk is just another African American being persecuted by the US government.

Jury is mob-based justice. If mobs likes you, then you are basically immune to consequences as illustrated by the link above.

> Jury is mob-based justice

Have you served on an American jury?

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