DUMMERSTON — I have been following the efforts to get broadband internet to everyone in Vermont, as well as elsewhere in the U.S.
I've been disappointed at the manner and extent to which poles-and-wires companies are criticizing satellite internet, in particular the SpaceX Starlink system, Elon Musk's satellite constellation.Two of the slams are that it's too risky and will take too long to be operational.
In the meantime, I do not see any of the poles-and-wires companies beating down the doors to complete those last miles.
I shared my thoughts with my brother Richard in Wyoming, a Starlink beta tester. His response is interesting:
“I sent mine back within the 30-day trial period and got a full refund (so not too risky!). I was very impressed with it. Speed and reliability were good. It works! And it works now!
“I'd recommend it to anyone living without good, reliable internet. Their target is residential rural customers. They're not after urban areas and not after commercial customers.
“I sent it back because:
“1. I couldn't run my servers in my office through it due to their network address translations (NAT). Their NAT was totally reasonable. My needs are outside of their target services (for now).
“2. I already have faster internet for less money, so again, I'm outside of their target.”