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Starlink operator SpaceX is fighting Virginia's plan to deploy fiber Internet service to residents, claiming that federal grant money should be given to Starlink instead. SpaceX is already in line to win over $3 million in grant money in the state but is seeking $60 million.

Starlink is poised to benefit from the Trump administration rewriting rules for the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant program. While the Biden administration decided that states should prioritize fiber in order to build more future-proof networks, the Trump administration ordered states to revise their plans with a "tech-neutral approach" and lower the average cost of serving each location.

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[-] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 28 points 2 days ago

"But I want a monopoly! I demand a monopoly! I'm not rich enough. I'm afraid I will run out of money and starve!" - The Goblin

It seems like the best solution would be to confiscate Starlink and nationalize it. Same with Space X. We paid for all of it, it should be ours. He can still work there, but he'll collect a government salary, and expect to answer to a boss. Or get fired. Either way, I don't care.

He can keep Tesla, that will be bankrupt in 2 years anyway.

[-] SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It seems like the best solution would be to confiscate Starlink and nationalize it.

Not in the land of the Star-Spangled Banner, I'm afraid. That would be socialism. Orange Führer wouldn't like that.

[-] richardmtanguay@lemmy.zip 12 points 2 days ago

Looks like Elon Musk is getting way too powerful for his own good! He obviously hates competition! :-(

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[-] Taalnazi@lemmy.world 60 points 3 days ago

Musk is a domestic terrorist.

[-] Revan343@lemmy.ca 41 points 3 days ago

Musk isn't American; he's an international terrorist

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 10 points 3 days ago

But he is, he has both US and Canadian citizenship in addition to S. African.

[-] frongt@lemmy.zip 7 points 2 days ago

As an American, I do not claim him.

That's fine, but he's still a US citizen according to the law.

He cheated after coming here illegally. Then did a bunch of sex crimes and destroyed american jobs. No. Sorry but illegal immigrants to the torture prison.

I don't make the rules; i just write fanfic about them being enforced evenly.

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[-] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 127 points 3 days ago

I’m so fucking tired of living in this god damned dystopia.

[-] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 16 points 3 days ago

Don't worry, it ends eventually.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago

all bleeding stops 🙄

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[-] drmoose@lemmy.world 250 points 4 days ago

This is absolute insanity. To think that fiber and satellites are even on the same playing field is absolute brain damage.

[-] kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 54 points 3 days ago

The problem I see is that we've already paid for fiber

[-] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 38 points 3 days ago

Yep, $400bn wasted on fiber "deployments" that never went anywhere while telcos pocketed the cash, and that was as of like a decade ago.

[-] Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 29 points 3 days ago

And across the pond the french government spent 20bn to have the government build out fiber and now basically everyone in france has super cheap fiber internet.

Paying companies to do stuff that's against their financial incentives doesn't work.

[-] TheTurner@lemmy.zip 20 points 3 days ago

We just got fiber 3 weeks ago. I pay for 600Mb/s and it is honestly the best internet I've had. I was afraid that we wouldn't get it, but I was astonished when a salesman stopped by. I signed up that day. Lol

[-] Scrizzle@lemmy.zip 42 points 3 days ago

Didn’t work. They are laying fiber everywhere as we speak. So happy to kiss Comcast goodbye.

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[-] pyre@lemmy.world 54 points 3 days ago

they hate you. always remember. they hate your entire existence. they'd literally crush you in a hydraulic press if they could. giving you pain is the only way they feel a semblance of happiness.

Look, yes, will we and they and literally all life end they aren't stopped?

Sure, yes, obviously.

Can they be negotiated with persuaded medicated or coerced into rational sane self interest? Nope. Not one of them.

But if youre not willing to end all life for theit bullshit, to kill yourself in such a slow and spectacylar manner that no life escapes, you're advocaging violence, you vig murdering dummy.

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[-] ruuster13@lemmy.zip 105 points 4 days ago

Starlink is literally his plan to rule the world. If you singularly control access to the internet for everyone, you've won the information war... against everyone. The good news is his Nazi addict ass will likely die young from a chest-cavity attack.

[-] iglou@programming.dev 26 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Good luck having that shitty tech win over Europe, where fiber is proliferating particularly quickly. We all know satellite internet cannot come close to the speed and reliability of fiber.

Plus we hate Musk.

It's good for remote areas and at sea, it's shit everywhere else

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[-] ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 32 points 3 days ago

Capitalism breeds innovation and advancement, folks!

Also didn't Rupert Murdoch also stifle fiber adoption in Australia because better internet would cut into his TV and print empire there?

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[-] MyOpinion@lemmy.today 38 points 3 days ago

Musk is a toxic stink in this world.

[-] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 60 points 3 days ago

i hope elon dies and starlink goes bankrupt

[-] haych@feddit.uk 30 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I'd rather Starlink just be independent from Musk. There are people who just can not get a good Internet connection and rely on it, and other Satellite Internet companies are awful.

I hate Musk as much as the next person, but Starlink is brilliant and works well. If they got rid of Musk and stopped being dicks like they are with this, it'd be okay.

[-] warm@kbin.earth 29 points 3 days ago

Id rather all this space trash burn up and we just spend the money on providing internet via land.

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[-] thatcrow@ttrpg.network 27 points 3 days ago

I hope some hero gives him the UnitedHealth CEO treatment.

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[-] andallthat@lemmy.world 25 points 3 days ago

but not in this order, the reverse would be so much more satisfying

[-] Onsotumenh@discuss.tchncs.de 50 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Reminds me of the German Telekom and their unceasing effort to slow down state subsidised fibre deployment.

The subsidies are primarily for towns left behind with bad ADSL (it was below 30mbit average and is now afaik 100mbit), that want to build their own local fibre nets cause nobody else does.

They seem to watch for construction permits and then swoop in and build a few fibre adsl distribution boxes or elevate a street or two with fibre to raise the average speed in town just above threshold. The local net looses the subsidies and usually stops construction or if already built only commercial customers are still allowed to be connected...

[-] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 14 points 3 days ago

Reminds me of the German Telekom and their unceasing effort to slow down state subsidised fibre deploymen

Capitalism is a disease.

[-] ComfortableRaspberry@feddit.org 16 points 3 days ago

I love it when they reopen construction sites where cables from other carriers were recently buried (after Telekom said no) because NOW they want to provide their shit there too.

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[-] _druid@sh.itjust.works 78 points 4 days ago

I will string together old coathangers and twisted, unheated solder before I use starlink.

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[-] LordCrom@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

This company is acting like a spoiled brat of a child.

[-] abbiistabbii 46 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

"Hey, can we provide Fibre broadband to our residents?"

"No, we got a lot of money from Sattelite providers, eat shit and die."

Hey, this seems familiar.

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[-] slaacaa@lemmy.world 41 points 3 days ago

Capitalism breeds innovation

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[-] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 25 points 3 days ago

the Trump administration ordered states to revise their plans with a “tech-neutral approach” and lower the average cost of serving each location

In other words don't give the tax payer the best options you can, give them the cheapest options to implement you can.

[-] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 28 points 3 days ago

Owh hell no! Just rollout fiber ASAP.

[-] MapleEngineer@lemmy.world 23 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Does fiber go down when it rains?

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[-] Kapirotto@lemmy.ml 17 points 3 days ago

That's the magic hand of the market that all talk about...

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[-] thedruid@lemmy.world 25 points 3 days ago

Federal. Money should go to the poor. Elon musk can fuck off.

[-] thatcrow@ttrpg.network 23 points 3 days ago

Keep in mind, the cost of businesses to control politics is woven directly into the prices of their products and services.

[-] Ilixtze@lemmy.ml 26 points 4 days ago

Capitalism is truly wonderful

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this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2025
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