$12,162.16 per "underserved" customer vs $600.00 for satellite service; guess which one our Hartford Looters are going with?

Starlink satellites fly over greenwich, unused

Greenwich gets $1.8M from state to upgrade broadband internet, most of any municipality in CT

GREENWICH — Verizon has been awarded $1.8 million from the state to upgrade its internet infrastructure all over town.

Oh — the money’s going to a nice, generous-to-politicians corporation like Verizon? Notice my shocked face.

The money will improve broadband internet access for 148 local businesses and residences that meet the federal government’s definition of “underserved” because current internet speeds are so slow.

The upgrades are for Verizon FIOS — the company’s wired “fiber-to-the-premises” connections — not Verizon Wireless.

Fiberoptic, no less; no plain ol’ cable for the underserved, if undeserving (in fact, there’s no means test for receiving this gift from the taxpayers, so the mana will fall into the homes and businesses of the rich and poor alike: Equity!)

Here’s a daring thought: do impose a means test, require business proprietors and those living in multi-million dollar back country homes and to pay for their own cable, fiber or otherwise, and buy $600 Starlink receivers for the handful of peasants shivering in unheated, cableless hovels down in Chickahominy Hollow.

The locations were selected based on the Federal Communication Commission's National Broadband Map, which included 152 residences and businesses in Greenwich that lack reliable broadband speeds as of Dec. 31, 2023.

Verizon did not seek any financial contribution from the town of Greenwich on the project, instead securing the funds with help from the town's three representatives in the state house. The work must be completed by Dec. 31, 2026 per the grants rules.

Reps. Rachel Khanna in the 149th District, Stephen Meskers in the 150th and Hector Arzeno in the 151st all supported the grant application. All three are seeking reelection in November.

Gee, if only there were a less expensive way to get high-speed internet service to these 148 households. Well, after spending 5 years and millions and millions of federal dollars paying the state’s cable providers to expand into rural locations, Maine’s Democrat governor Janet Mills had to throw in the towel and look to the heavens for relief from the cost of extending service to the last, most-remote 9,000 homes and businesses. Oh, how that must have hurt!

Maine will give Elon Musk’s satellite dishes to remaining homes without internet access

Maine will offer Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite dishes to the roughly 9,000 homes and businesses in the state that still lack internet service.

The Maine Connectivity Authority shared that plan Thursday while launching the Working Internet ASAP Program that will help the state fulfill its goal of offering internet connection options to all Mainers by the end of this year.

To bring service to the 1.5 percent of Maine homes and businesses without it, the state will coordinate the purchase of Low-Earth Orbit satellite hardware and service reservations from Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX, the aerospace company founded by Musk.

What’s a news article from a liberal rag like the Bangor Daily News without a gratuitous bit of editorializing?

“Musk, the world’s richest person whose ownership portfolio also includes Tesla and X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has not shied away from touting Starlink while also courting controversy as he stumps for former President Donald Trump.”

Now, back to the regularly scheduled broadcast:

Starlink has already brought internet to rural parts of Maine in recent years, though early users in 2021 complained of high prices and dropped connections. The Maine Connectivity Authority said Thursday it selected Starlink following a competitive bid process this summer.

What’s the cost: Brian Allenby, the connectivity authority’s senior director of program operations, said the total cost of purchasing the equipment along with offering free shipping and professional installation is still not set, especially given not all households may take the offer. Allenby cautioned a broadband-focused news outlet’s report on how the equipment alone likely will cost $5.4 million [$600 per terminal] does not capture all considerations [we’re talking a government contract here, after all].

The outlet, Broadband Breakfast, said Maine is possibly the first state in the nation to provide free Starlink satellites to unserved residents. Starlink terminals currently cost around $600. Maine will not cover Starlink’s monthly $120 service charge that comes with unlimited data.

So why would Connecticut choose to pay Verizon $1.8 million, $12,162 per household, to provided high-speed internet service that could be obtained from Starlink at a total cost of just $88,800? Reached for comment by FWIW, Greenwich’s representatives in Hartford, Khanna, Meskers, and Arzeno (would probably) respond: “who’s paying our salaries, Verizon or Musk? Besides — Musk’s politics? We hate that guy!”

Meskers tried to distance himself from his colleagues, insisting, “I not a crook, I’m just stupid”. Embrace the power of “and”.