A small number of users compared to ground-based internet (again, broadband for hundreds of thousands versus billions).

A steep premium as compared to fiber optics and local wireless.

And low latency as compared to other satellite connections.

Also:

Starlink is still operating at a loss. Its true costs are far higher than what is charged.

SpaceX is pleased to claim it makes money on the Starlinks, but that is based on EBITDA accounting that excludes the cost of building them.

So suddenly the idea of "a million ai datacenters in orbit" pops up, just so there is somehow demand for thousands of satellite launches…

🫣‍️ — ️️️️️️

An unchecked collisional cascade in low orbit would not prevent spacecraft being sent elsewhere; because the collision probability would be low for one brief pass through the debris cloud.

But destroying everything now in low orbit and making those altitudes unusable for the years to decades until the debris fell out of the sky would be quite bad enough.

Small number of users, how? Does this mean the people needing rural internet access? I guess I'd agree, but it mattered to me when I was out there.

Low latency compared to what? Compared to terrestrial connections, Starlink had really very high latency. Low compared to e.g., Hughes?

Premium -- is this in cost, or number of satellites? Starlink was way cheaper than Hughes for a lot more bandwidth.

Where it is needed; satellite internet is not new.

Other operators have provided global coverage with far fewer satellites in high orbits for decades - I made Iridium calls two days drive out of Perth in 2010.

All Starlink offers that they do not is less lag from the satellites being closer, and that comes at the expense of needing thousands of the things.

To emphasize what I am comparing here: Less lag than Iridium can still be much more lag than ground-based wireless.

Starlink's satellites can only handle a limited amount of bandwidth total and per satellite. The entire constellation could only provide a few hundred thousand people the connection speed the fiber-optic connection to my house has.

The cost per user of Starlink is also very high as compared to rolling out more fiber optic and cell towers.

When I spent a summer working somewhere where Starlink was the only good option, Starlink was high latency, but also high bandwidth and almost always available. (Before and after Starlink, our best option was cell data with a booster that barely worked.) What does lower-latency, premium, and small number of users refer to?

Down with Musk, AI for support tickets, etc.