This stinks.

Last edited Sun Nov 9, 2025, 06:28 PM - Edit history (1)

"It seems inefficient and wasteful to continually fund satellite replacements every year for internet service, especially when investing once in fiber optic infrastructure could provide a solution with a service life exceeding 100 years."

I don't know about 100+ year service life for fiber, but your point stands.
The biggest, and best benefit that satellite based services have is the versatility. They can service anywhere with a clear view of the sky, so ranger stations, field camps, cabins, etc. can all benefit where it's just not feasible to run overhead or buried utilities of any kind.

Amazon’s Project Kuiper, which is in the process of sending 3,200 satellites to low earth orbit, was preliminarily awarded $25.4 million in federal funds from the Colorado Broadband Office in a final proposal submitted last week. It’s part of the $42.5 billion Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment program, which Congress approved in 2021 as part of the Infrastructure Act.

Where the satellites are wasteful is light pollution and orbital debris.

Even so, my great grandparent's ranch, which is still about as far away as you can get from a WalMart in the 48 States, got both a telephone and electric service in FDR's New Deal.

Installing fiber is easy compared to that.

Satellites pollute the air when they are launched. And they pollute the air, oceans, and land when they are disposed of.