Starlink profit growing rapidly as it faces a moment of promise and peril

"He wants to take food off the table of people—hard-working people."

See full article...

 

[stormcrash]

You - and no one else - can just define any of these people as racists. That’s my choice - and I don’t think they’re racists.

But beyond that, I don’t discard people and put them in irredeemable categories just because I disagree with them or things they may say. Both Trump and Musk have said things I disagree with before, but that doesn’t mean that should he discarded as a result of that.

I don’t wish ill upon any of you.

Tesla has literally lost lawsuits for having a racist hostile work environment with black workers being demeaned and abused by management. The fish rots from the head

 

[stk5]

Go Elon Go! The tears of progressists are like honey to me.

"Progressist"? Is your belief that satellite internet is some sort of non- or anti-progress — a movement toward homo sapiens' preindustrial, "natural" state?

 

[stormcrash]

Nah, citation needed. He has, however, demonstrably saved lives in wartime and emergency situations with SpaceX. Sounds like you are very clearly advocating for removal of communications to people in those situations, based on your spin.

You mean he's price gouged the US military to aid Ukraine and enrich his pocket, but has actively worked to stop payments of Medicaid coverage for life saving drugs and treatment, stopped the flow of aid abruptly to the world, and is advocating driving up prices to push more people into destitution. Fuck Musk

 

[CrazyHarry1]

Ironically, that is pretty much exactly what Trump and Musk are doing. But you all are too blind and too biased to see it.

I'm sorry, what????

 

[DarthSlack]

According to Trump himself, nothing short of total capitulation of Canadian national sovereignty; Trump wants his own Vichy France, a slave state to use for free labor and pillaging of natural resources and industrial material to prop up a failing economy as long as possible.

Yeah, but you REALLY don't want to try and conquer a country filled with people who have hockey sticks and know how to use them.

 

[Sajuuk]

You - and no one else - can just define any of these people as racists. That’s my choice - and I don’t think they’re racists.

But beyond that, I don’t discard people and put them in irredeemable categories just because I disagree with them or things they may say. Both Trump and Musk have said things I disagree with before, but that doesn’t mean that should he discarded as a result of that.

I don’t wish ill upon any of you.

Exhibit A of "NOT RACISM, NO SIREE".

For the unaware, Beattie is a current Trump nominee for the State Department.

 

[DarthSlack]

You - and no one else - can just define any of these people as racists. That’s my choice - and I don’t think they’re racists.

But beyond that, I don’t discard people and put them in irredeemable categories just because I disagree with them or things they may say. Both Trump and Musk have said things I disagree with before, but that doesn’t mean that should he discarded as a result of that.

I don’t wish ill upon any of you.

Musk is on the record as a supporter of the Great Replacement theory.

Trump has routinely discriminated against Black people in his businesses.

Please tell me how that isn't racist and how you aren't lying your ass off when you say you don't wish ill on any of us. You're actively supporting people who want to divide this country so they can profit. That's wishing ill in anybody's book. Including the one that's nominally about Jesus Christ.

 

[Urist]

Yeah, but you REALLY don't want to try and conquer a country filled with people who have hockey sticks and know how to use them.

Trump has fallen victim to one of the classic blunders:
Don't get involved in a land war in Asia.
Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.
and
DONT FUCK WITH THE CANADIANS

 

[needSomeCoffee]

Like most here -- I assume -- I have multiple monthly subscriptions. Of these, ONE [1] company sends me an email alerting me to my upcoming charge: Starlink. Not sure what that means... maybe they think their service is so valuable they have no fear of me cancelling. If so, then they would be correct.

 

[AndrewMack]

Ignoring the person/owner, it is a brilliant business (Starlink). Many customers have no choice to get this service from others. Large moat to entry. I would also suggest this is one of most valuable uses of space that does not require government funding. If space is to become real business driven, we need to find more ways to make money up there,

But we can't. Musk has tied himself closely to his businesses and has proven over and over again he is quite happy to weaponize them to suit his whims and to further his aims. Which are harmful to pretty much everyone who earns under 100M a year.

So, no, I can't ignore the person / owner and love the business. Because they are one and the same.

 

[stormcrash]

As long as you recognize that you’re as much a sinner as I am and no greater in the eyes of God than anyone else.

I confess as much every Mass during the Penitential Rite

I confess to Almighty God,
and to you my brothers and sisters,
that I have greatly sinned.

In my thoughts, and in my words;
in what I have done, and what I have failed to to;
through my fault, through my fault, through my most grevious fault.

Therefore I ask the Blessed Mary ever virgin,
all the angels and saints,
and you my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.

Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy,
Lord have mercy

And for the record I don't like to get all preachy in public, but even as sinners we are called to go forth to proclaim the gospel to all nations in thought word and deed. Jesus warned about the pursuit of wealth and comfort in this life that many today would do well to heed

 

[Unstablefan]

gvv

Like most here -- I assume -- I have multiple monthly subscriptions. Of these, ONE [1] company sends me an email alerting me to my upcoming charge: Starlink. Not sure what that means... maybe they think their service is so valuable they have no fear of me cancelling. If so, then they would be correct.

I get that from every utility. If you value that, maybe you should check your account settings?

EDIT: Subscription (fixed monthly fee) /= utility, so not actually a good parallel.

 

[coopster]

Ignoring the person/owner, it is a brilliant business (Starlink). Many customers have no choice to get this service from others. Large moat to entry. I would also suggest this is one of most valuable uses of space that does not require government funding. If space is to become real business driven, we need to find more ways to make money up there,

We've done a great job polluting the planet, but I really feel like there could be more junk in the sky. You know, if corporations would just block the sun 24 hours a day for profit, that would be especially "brilliant business."

 

[nzod]

But we can't. Musk has tied himself closely to his businesses and has proven over and over again he is quite happy to weaponize them to suit his whims and to further his aims. Which are harmful to pretty much everyone who earns under 100M a year.

So, no, I can't ignore the person / owner and love the business. Because they are one and the same.

You just need a little push in the form of a special severance procedure to have your perception of the owner and business surgically split. Poof, done - permanent and perfect cognitive dissonance.

 

[stk5]

Musk is on the record as a supporter of the Great Replacement theory.

Trump has routinely discriminated against Black people in his businesses.

Please tell me how that isn't racist and how you aren't lying your ass off when you say you don't wish ill on any of us. You're actively supporting people who want to divide this country so they can profit. That's wishing ill in anybody's book. Including the one that's nominally about Jesus Christ.

Every time somebody in one of these threads goes off about how they don't think musk is even a bigot, and we all need to be more respectful and not call him mean things despite his own words and actions, "why can't we just talk about rockets", and blah blah blah, I think of On Smarm, because they always play the same hits

Smarm should be understood as a type of bullshit, then—it expresses one agenda, while actually pursuing a different one. It is a kind of moral and ethical misdirection.

The evasion of disputes is a defining tactic of smarm. Smarm, whether political or literary, insists that the audience accept the priors it has been given. Debate begins where the important parts of the debate have ended.

To actually say a plain and direct word like "corrupt" is more outlandish, in smarm's outlook, than even swearing. A disagreeable attitude is one thing, but a disagreeable fact is much worse.

Talk about something else, smarm says. Talk about anything else.

 

[StevePi]

Guess this guy is a Nazi too eh? <heavy sigh>

Could you please provide the video that is taken from? Then we can compare it against the Nazi salute that Musk gave.

Edit: spelling mistake.

 

[StevePi]

Because it clearly wasn't a Nazi salute. Just watch the frigging video yourself.

Since you appear to be very familiar with it, could you please upload a video of yourself showing us what it looks like?

 

[ducatisymphony]

Actually, it’s taxation on imports - that may or may not actually raise prices domestically. It depends on what the foreign producer does - if anything - to maintain their sales.

The tariffs aren’t being done to actually raise much in the way of cash. They’re being used as bargaining tools to get those other countries (except China) to capitulate on issues of national interest. For China their purpose is probably more aimed at recovery of our own domestic manufacturing ability or to refocus our reliance to more friendly countries.

Your first paragraph does absolutely nothing to answer my question and instead dances around rephrasing it in some wild attempt at claiming we (Canada) will reduce our prices instead of simply finding new trading partners or holding fast on prices since so much of what we export to you guys is so necessary for your economy and society to function. Right, got it.

I know I am going to regret this based on your last non-answer, but could you now explain what "issues of national interest" Canada is being asked to capitulate on since Trump himself was asked what Canada could do to avoid these tariffs and he responded...."Nothing".

 

[akial]

No mention of the risk that if we end up in a war with anyone decently armed, they missile every satellite in range ASAP?

 

[greendave]

Just cover it up with a bumper sticker.
View attachment 101771

Problem is that's mostly not true.

We knew he was crazy at least as far back as the Thai cave rescue incident (2018). Nobody owning a Model 3 or Y goes back that far...

(Now if it said '... before we knew Elon was a Nazi,' that'd be defensible)

 

[Shitpostradamus]

Problem is that's mostly not true.

We knew he was crazy at least as far back as the Thai cave rescue incident (2018). Nobody owning a Model 3 or Y goes back that far...

I took delivery of a model 3 in december 2017 (I don't want to talk about it beyond that…)

 

[deadman12-4]

It seems the moral stance to hope for starlink to fail at this point.

 

[stormcrash]

Mine is up the end of March, I'm considering terminating also. Agree with your sentiments.

Oh so now it's "virtue signalling" to want to not be ruled by an unelected billionaire oligarch who is actively and admittedly causing "pain" to ordinary people to prove his fake point about "government waste" and boost his geo and personal political power

 

[MMarsh]

Without looking at the contract, it's hard to say if it's strictly legal but I'll bet it'll get through any review. This is more that just "not liking politics", the US has declared economic war on Canada and Musk is basically part of the government. Note that you won't be able to buy US beer, liquor or wine in Ontario next week either. There's a billion dollars (Canadian) of sales that just disappeared.

Canadians buy over 40% of all the American booze that gets exported worldwide.
Or we did, until yesterday. I doubt we ever will again. Ontario's cut off purchasing entirely; BC's explicitly pulled "red state" products from shelves; the rest are making similar moves. Nobody overseas seems too eager to pick up what's about to be a lot of surplus supply, either. I smell layoffs.

Welcome to a trade war. It's politically inadvisable for the Canadian government to do business with US corporations right now, especially those who are tied to Musk. Since Ford is a politician, he's doing the right thing in the eyes of his constituents.

Mr. Ford is a greedy, greasy, slimy scumbag who has longstanding ties to organized crime and who has spent his entire term in power looking for ways to funnel public assets into the hands of the people who put him in charge of his party. He keeps failing to balance the budget of a province that already has the world's largest sub-sovereign debt. He's the single biggest reason why Canadians are losing faith in our health-care system and our infrastructure projects.

So it's tremendously painful to say this..... these past couple of weeks, on these issues, he's been knocking it out of the park and being just the exact right kind of fine statesman cross pissed-off pit bull that we need to deal with the Trump White House. I still won't vote for him but I'd not be the least bit upset if he got a trade-envoy-to-Washington post after we turf him from Queen's Park.

 

[StevePi]

Actually, it’s taxation on imports - that may or may not actually raise prices domestically. It depends on what the foreign producer does - if anything - to maintain their sales.

Who actually writes the check for the tariffs? Is it, or is it not, the importer?

 

[Dogs in a Pile]

Well, yesterday I cancelled Starlink since it has been replaced by Verizon 5G Home Internet. Same or better speeds and $50/mo less expensive.

I was happy to be shed of it as much for knowing I wasn't supporting an openly fascist Nazi as saving the money. But had Verizon not become available I'm not sure I would have dropped it. My only other alternative was a local rooftop microwave setup that got me 15-30 Mbps off hours and 10-20 Mbps in the evenings.

I'm sure most ARS'ers would gladly live without high speed internet if SL was their only option but after living with 100-300 Mbps seconds for a few months it would be tough to go back.

 

[DaVuVuZeLa]

But he landed a rocket on giant metal chopsticks, so it's cool.

 

[MMarsh]

Yeah, but you REALLY don't want to try and conquer a country filled with people who have hockey sticks and know how to use them.

Sci-fi readers might recognize Canada in:
The Culture ship Mistake Not..., short for Mistake Not My Current State Of Joshing Gentle Peevishness For The Awesome And Terrible Majesty Of The Towering Seas Of Ire That Are Themselves The Mere Milquetoast Shallows Fringing My Vast Oceans Of Wrath.

Historians might think about where the Geneva Conventions come from, and how many clauses in them are a direct result of Shit The Canadians Did In WW1 Because It Totally Fucking Worked Even Though It Was Brutally Horrifying.

 

[Shitpostradamus]

Real, serious question:


What else has to be compromised by Musk and his ilk to have full access to see who voted against Trump?

 

[DaVuVuZeLa]

Who actually writes the check for the tariffs? Is it, or is it not, the importer?

It is the importer, who can either absorb the costs or pass them onto the the customer to recoup what they paid.

The importer always chooses the latter.

 

[A Man A Plan A Canal Panama]

"...At the same time, Musk's activities may make it challenging for Starlink in the long term in countries that seek to punish him and his companies. For example, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported Monday that Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford will rip up Ontario's nearly $100 million contract with Starlink in the wake of US tariffs on virtually all Canadian goods."

Yay!

Can't spell Felon without Elon!

 

[Psychophant]

Real, serious question:


What else has to be compromised by Musk and his ilk to have full access to see who voted against Trump?

Our elections are incredibly secure and there is a secret ballot. This is literally impossible. This is why they can't throw out votes even when they later charge and convict someone with voting fraudulently.

 

[Uragan]

Mine is up the end of March, I'm considering terminating also. Agree with your sentiments.

Actions speak louder than words. Cancel your subscription now if you find Ars so distasteful. Hell, why don't you leave Ars completely since it doesn't line up with your politics apparently?

 

[DarthSlack]

Real, serious question:


What else has to be compromised by Musk and his ilk to have full access to see who voted against Trump?

That has to go state-by-state. Red states will roll over and let Musk scratch their bellies. States that still have a modicum of decency and integrity will have to be brow beaten using the payment system Musk just compromised.

 

[Program_024]

Before people praise Doug Ford too much, the guy is a politician first and foremost and has been doing some pretty shady things.

First one that comes to mind involves land development. Land in southern Ontario is pretty expensive, partly because of land outside the cities are part of the Green Belt. The Green Belt, as far as I understand it, largely protects agricultural land from urban development so farming can continue. Ford controversially released some land from the Green Belt to build more housing. Turns out there were some developers close to him (close enough to attend a wedding party for one of Ford's kids) that had purchased the land before it was released from the Green Belt and had known before hand what Ford was going to do. Basically the developers got expensive land for cheap using back channels. Once the whole thing blew up, Ford was forced to reverse his decision.

Then there's this science center in Ottawa. It was getting old and in need of repairs. Instead of commissioning the repairs, Ford wanted it demolished and relocated to make way for a development project. This one is controversial because the science center was shut down without much notice and I think the relocation would've been more expensive than the repairs. There was some shady developer business going on though.

I'm sure there's more dirt to be found. Those were the just a couple that hit the national headlines. Ford is making a big show of this whole trade war to secure votes. He conveniently called for a provincial election shortly after the whole tariff thing came up. So while Ford has done something to show he isn't putting up with US trade antics, I still wouldn't put too much trust in him.

 

[Keith Tanner]

Like most here -- I assume -- I have multiple monthly subscriptions. Of these, ONE [1] company sends me an email alerting me to my upcoming charge: Starlink. Not sure what that means... maybe they think their service is so valuable they have no fear of me cancelling. If so, then they would be correct.

That's just good customer communication. We have Starlink as a backup ISP at our work (the main one is a fixed microwave link that gets wobbly in the winter) and those emails are much appreciated. But they're also just like the ones I get from most of my other vendors that offer business subscription services, like various SaaS offerings. So maybe you're seeing business level communication instead of consumer level. Since all of those charges need to be accounted for, you're unlikely to forget about one.

Sure would be nice if Disney/Netflix/Paramount/Audible/whoever sent out a notice every month, but that would remind too many people of the service they're paying for but not using...

 

[siliconaddict]

I was considering Starlink as a backup for internet. That and you can pause internet easily enough. But prior to January 20 I wasn't thrilled with the Muskrat. Now? I'd sooner go without internet than support that asshat.

 

[stormcrash]

I was considering Starlink as a backup for internet. That and you can pause internet easily enough. But prior to January 20 I wasn't thrilled with the Muskrat. Now? I'd sooner go without internet than support that asshat.

You know something has gone deeply evil too if people are replacing it with service from Verizon like some others have said on this thread too

 

[Uragan]

Before people praise Doug Ford too much, the guy is a politician first and foremost and has been doing some pretty shady things.

First one that comes to mind involves land development. Land in southern Ontario is pretty expensive, partly because of land outside the cities are part of the Green Belt. The Green Belt, as far as I understand it, largely protects agricultural land from urban development so farming can continue. Ford controversially released some land from the Green Belt to build more housing. Turns out there were some developers close to him (close enough to attend a wedding party for one of Ford's kids) that had purchased the land before it was released from the Green Belt and had known before hand what Ford was going to do. Basically the developers got expensive land for cheap using back channels. Once the whole thing blew up, Ford was forced to reverse his decision.

Then there's this science center in Ottawa. It was getting old and in need of repairs. Instead of commissioning the repairs, Ford wanted it demolished and relocated to make way for a development project. This one is controversial because the science center was shut down without much notice and I think the relocation would've been more expensive than the repairs. There was some shady developer business going on though.

I'm sure there's more dirt to be found. Those were the just a couple that hit the national headlines. Ford is making a big show of this whole trade war to secure votes. He conveniently called for a provincial election shortly after the whole tariff thing came up. So while Ford has done something to show he isn't putting up with US trade antics, I still wouldn't put too much trust in him.

I hate Doug Ford and Ford Nation with a seething fury, but I can agree with him giving a big middle finger to Musk.