"A recent survey has determined that over half of Americans are ready to switch to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service. This was despite only 5% of internet subscribers in the United States being connected via satellite today.
The study was conducted by Reviews.org, which asked respondents whether they would consider getting on board with Starlink once the satellite internet service is fully set up. As it turns out, over half of those surveyed stated that they’d be signing up for the Starlink Beta program, despite the $499 cost of the satellite dish and the service’s current $99 per month fee. "
"Interestingly enough, 55% of the study’s respondents who do not use satellite internet today noted that they would stay with Starlink permanently if the system’s connection was faster, even if its price was higher than their current internet service provider. Over 40% of the respondents also stated that they would stay with Starlink if SpaceX would allow subscribers to make payments on the satellite system instead of an upfront $499 fee. " Teslarati
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It seems to me that Musk is going to get richer and richer. Hell, I can't wait to disconnect from Comcast.
The amount of revenue available to him is going to fund all his visionary colonial schemes for outer space. Up! Up! And Away! (That was the intro on some radio show when I was a kid).
Musk is a force of nature. I am glad that he is not a native born American. I wouldn't want to see his talents wasted on being president of the United States. pl
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starlink-50-percent-usa-adoption-survey/
Colonel - the phrase you mention is from the radio show Superman.
https://www.sffaudio.com/review-of-superman-up-up-and-away/
I was interested to learn that Bud Collyer, known to me as a tv game show host, was Superman on the radio. My first introduction to the character was on television in the early 1950s - I was inspired by the phrase "the never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American Way."
Posted by: DJ | 15 January 2021 at 10:38 AM
One might wonder if the success of his projects has something to do with him not being a native born American. The current crop is pretty dispiriting.
Posted by: Bill H | 15 January 2021 at 11:05 AM
Comcast is going to lose a lot of customers.
Posted by: Fred | 15 January 2021 at 11:39 AM
Waiting patiently on the list.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2hI3-KvYZY
The Fifth Dimension. Class.
Posted by: Steve Ogle | 15 January 2021 at 11:53 AM
Russia may fine Russian citizens if they use Starlink over their Russian ISPs.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/russia-may-fine-citizens-who-use-spacexs-starlink-internet-service/
https://www.popmech.ru/technologies/news-658363-internet-ot-ilona-maska-sochli-ugrozoy-nacionalnoy-bezopasnosti-rossii-i-hotyat-shtrafovat-za-ispolzovanie-starlink/
Posted by: J | 15 January 2021 at 12:39 PM
Colonel,
I have always appreciated that Musk named his initial venture after Nikola Tesla, the visionary scientist/technologist whose innovations underlie much of our modern world, but who was roughly served by the money men, having had his best impulses thwarted by their rapacity.
Not this time, jerkoffs, Elon seems to be, as the Bible enjoins us, to be as wise as serpents in this worldly sphere. He forges ahead quite nicely, thank you very much, without being visibly under their thumbs.
And boy, I too would love to shed the ideologically-driven machinations of Comcast. Go get 'em, Elon.
Posted by: JerseyJeffersonian | 15 January 2021 at 01:56 PM
Dear Colonel, Interestingly, and here I am referencing a blog by Anatoly Karlin, Musk Technologies - electric cars, spaceX, Tunneling, Starlink, etc., are key Mars colonization technologies.
Posted by: ISL | 15 January 2021 at 05:35 PM
Most Russians already have a good and cheap internet service, far better than the satellite "service" that I was forced to use in Australia. Luckily, a nearby phone tower was upgraded and I now have adequate and reasonably cheap mobile internet access. My eldest daughter, in the backblocks of Russia, has a service for USD10 per month, that allows several people to stream videos at once, with no problems. Russians call it a "Sputnik" (satellite) service because of the dish. It's not. It's a fibre-optic service that delivers to the final location by local dishes.
Posted by: Peter Williams | 15 January 2021 at 08:47 PM
Yes and no. Would his electric car make it without govt. subsidy? I doubt it. The thing takes what? 8 hrs. to fill the tank; the 1.5 hr. supercharger would overload the neighborhood network requiring massive retrofitting the current grid, never mind Cali can't even supply enough power already before Tesla conquers the market.
But like Trump, you play your hand with the corporatist you are dealt.
Posted by: BSDN | 16 January 2021 at 11:24 PM
BSDN
We are not talking about his motorcar. We are talking about the commercial viability of his satellite internet service. A great many enterprises require government support to get started, railroads, aircraft production, the internet, etc. You are just negative minded and want to argue.
Posted by: turcopolier | 17 January 2021 at 09:13 AM
BDSN
"Would his electric car make it without govt. subsidy? "
You need to extend that to every other electric car on the planet. Then ask why China isn't getting all cozy with "we've only got 12 years" economy changing true believers.
Posted by: Fred | 17 January 2021 at 10:35 AM