If anything, this just highlights the need for Starlink-style connectivity and off-grid power.

Of course, once jamming enters the picture, even that lifeline disappears.

jedimastert 16 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Starlink-style connectivity

Note that one of the higher-profile deliberate internet shutdowns was Starlink itself shutting down internet connectivity in Ukraine.

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ursAxZA 16 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Ultimately it just becomes a question of where you want the choke point to live — in a state actor, or in a private operator.

Neither option is risk-free; the failure modes simply differ.

A government can shut you off for political reasons, a corporation can shut you off for contractual or geopolitical ones.

As long as the system assumes centralized stewardship for safety or reliability, someone will inevitably hold the switch — the only variable is who.

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dylan604 15 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> in a state actor, or in a private operator.

multiple satellite operators are coming on line. what are the odds all of them coordinate to shut down in one region invalidating using the other providers as fail over?

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ursAxZA 14 hours ago | parent [-]

I might be mistaken, but as far as I know there is currently no other LEO broadband provider that is meaningfully comparable at a global scale.

Starlink is often treated as the reference point not because it is perfect or fully resilient, but because there is no second network at a similar scale that could realistically serve as a failover today.

If we imagine a hypothetical future where three mature operators exist, then yes — absent coordinated political or geopolitical action, at least one network might remain online.

However, even that surviving operator would not necessarily provide full coverage of the affected region. Global redundancy is extremely hard in practice, because maintaining continuous, worldwide LEO coverage is not free — it requires massive capex and opex, ground stations, regulatory permissions, and local political approval.

True worldwide failover remains more of a theoretical construct than an operational reality.

	▲	Hackbraten 13 hours ago \| parent [-]
		== Low Earth Orbit

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15 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[deleted]

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onethumb 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Is that true? This comment suggests otherwise, with citations. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46351511

	▲	jedimastert 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That particular section I have to Wikipedia article seems to have gone through a bunch of anonymous edits back and forth around the content of this citation https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/07/elon-musk...

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try_the_bass 15 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Notably absent from TFA...

Probably because it's not actually a truthful characterization of what happened! I know it's popular to find every possible reason to bag on Musk, but you don't need to resort to disinformation to do it.

	▲	tenuousemphasis 4 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Are you trying to argue that Starlink isn't cut off Ukrainian access? Because they did and it was well documented.
	▲	decremental 13 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		[dead]

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easyThrowaway 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Can't talk for the USA, but it's widely acknowledged that the spread of broadband in Europe was driven by P2P and tools like Emule/eDonkey or BitTorrent.

We need some similar killer application for satellite connectivity and mesh networking. Something that makes the technology so requested and so ubiquitous in such a short time that it couldn't be banned even if they tried.

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symbogra 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

In Tanzania they went around to hotels during the ban to make sure they didn't have starlink. It's illegal here but many have it. During that time some enterprising individuals charged tourists to access theirs.

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nradov 15 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The beam forming used by Starlink (and Starshield) is highly resistant to jamming. But Starlink doesn't offer service in some countries. And the ground terminals can be detected.