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Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

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Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#21

Post by [deleted] »

threeseed wrote: post #18
breadwinner wrote: post #17

The world needs an alternative to Starlink yesterday. If you criticize Musk on X, the self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” will reduce distribution of your posts [1]. We don't want someone like that owning critical internet infrastructure. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/23/business/elon...

We have an alternative for 99% of the world and it’s fibre. Which brings everyone the same speeds instead of perpetuating a digital divide between cities and rural areas. Which may not be bad now but once we start moving to ten and hundred gigabit plans, solutions like Starlink are going to resemble dialup.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#22

Post by threeseed »

robalpha wrote: post #20
threeseed wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have an alternative for 99% of the world and it’s fibre. Which brings everyone the same speeds instead of perpetuating a digital divide between cities and rural areas. Which may not be bad now but once we start moving to ten and hundred gigabit plans, solutions like Starlink are going to resemble dialup.

This makes zero sense. Fibre is not going to be economically viable in rural areas at all. If that's the only option, they won't have any internet at all. I also don't think we'll be moving to >10g plans anytime soon. Only a small portion of users have even close to 1g, and everyone else seems fine with it.

a) Hospitals and roads are not economically viable either. We do it because it serves the national good and by making people more productive it improves the economy as a whole.

b) In Australia they are trialing 100g over the existing fibre network.

c) Everyone was fine with dialup at one point as well.

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#24

Post by laurencei »

threeseed wrote: post #22
robalpha wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This makes zero sense. Fibre is not going to be economically viable in rural areas at all. If that's the only option, they won't have any internet at all. I also don't think we'll be moving to >10g plans anytime soon. Only a small portion of users have even close to 1g, and everyone else seems fine with it.

a) Hospitals and roads are not economically viable either. We do it because it serves the national good and by making people more productive it improves the economy as a whole. b) In Australia they are trialing 100g over the existing fibre network. c) Everyone was fine with dialup at one point as well.

I'm from Australia.

You dont want to use us as an example of internet speeds or leading the world on anything in this space.

Our internet infrastructure/speed etc is considered sub optimal by many. It is (slowly) getting better - but it has been years of lost oppoutunity.

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#25

Post by ty6853 »

breadwinner wrote: post #17

The world needs an alternative to Starlink yesterday. If you criticize Musk on X, the self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” will reduce distribution of your posts [1]. We don't want someone like that owning critical internet infrastructure. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/23/business/elon...

It's hilarious hearing family/friends who I have invited to remote areas shit-talk Starlink while using it, because we have no great other choice. Personally I will buy internet from Satan himself if it works and for the right price.

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#26

Post by ty6853 »

robalpha wrote: post #20
threeseed wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have an alternative for 99% of the world and it’s fibre. Which brings everyone the same speeds instead of perpetuating a digital divide between cities and rural areas. Which may not be bad now but once we start moving to ten and hundred gigabit plans, solutions like Starlink are going to resemble dialup.

This makes zero sense. Fibre is not going to be economically viable in rural areas at all. If that's the only option, they won't have any internet at all. I also don't think we'll be moving to >10g plans anytime soon. Only a small portion of users have even close to 1g, and everyone else seems fine with it.

A lot of rural areas have small-scale wireless ISPs at 10-100mbps. You just have to install a directional antenna on your roof.

This doesn't work once you get really remote, nor does fiber.

In any case none of them beat the experience of pulling an antenna out of a box and it pretty much just working.

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#27

Post by lowmagnet »

robalpha wrote: post #20
threeseed wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have an alternative for 99% of the world and it’s fibre. Which brings everyone the same speeds instead of perpetuating a digital divide between cities and rural areas. Which may not be bad now but once we start moving to ten and hundred gigabit plans, solutions like Starlink are going to resemble dialup.

This makes zero sense. Fibre is not going to be economically viable in rural areas at all. If that's the only option, they won't have any internet at all. I also don't think we'll be moving to >10g plans anytime soon. Only a small portion of users have even close to 1g, and everyone else seems fine with it.

Weird, I'm sitting here in a rural area and I have 1g fiber. You may have forgotten that cooperatives exist. It's a common error, since they mainly exist in exurb and rural areas.

The cool thing is that since they often own the power right of way, they can run fiber on it without any change.

The way coops work is that we're the owners, we vote for initiatives, etc. The local power company is now our region's #1 internet provider, hands down.

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#28

Post by threeseed »

laurencei wrote: post #24
threeseed wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a) Hospitals and roads are not economically viable either. We do it because it serves the national good and by making people more productive it improves the economy as a whole. b) In Australia they are trialing 100g over the existing fibre network. c) Everyone was fine with dialup at one point as well.

I'm from Australia. You dont want to use us as an example of internet speeds or leading the world on anything in this space. Our internet infrastructure/speed etc is considered sub optimal by many. It is (slowly) getting better - but it has been years of lost oppoutunity.

a) Australia is a very large, geographically diverse country that has committed to rolling out fibre in rural areas. It is an example that it can be done and you don’t need to rely on bandwidth limited satellites.

b) Our internet infrastructure was sub-optimal but is being upgraded to full fibre to the door across the country. 1g is available to consumers today, 10g to businesses, 100g in testing. And it’s future proof.

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#29

Post by tastyfreeze »

threeseed wrote: post #22
robalpha wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This makes zero sense. Fibre is not going to be economically viable in rural areas at all. If that's the only option, they won't have any internet at all. I also don't think we'll be moving to >10g plans anytime soon. Only a small portion of users have even close to 1g, and everyone else seems fine with it.

a) Hospitals and roads are not economically viable either. We do it because it serves the national good and by making people more productive it improves the economy as a whole. b) In Australia they are trialing 100g over the existing fibre network. c) Everyone was fine with dialup at one point as well.

The interstate wasn't built for public good or trade. It was built for military. Public use for commerce is a byproduct.

Re: Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink

#30

Post by wenc »

WalterSobchak wrote: post #2

That's a really interesting name. How would you pronounce it?

Before I learned Dutch pronunciation, I always thought it was "coo-ee-per". But the other comment is correct -- it's approximately "kyper".

Now try Huygens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiaan_Huygens

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