Um. Holy shit. I hadn't seen this detail before, which eliminates my last question about Starlink's viability, which was ping rates: "...Even though the path taken by Starlink data is longer due to the hop into space, the vacuum speed of light is about 50% faster than in glass, more than making up for the difference over longer distances..."
I'm not a huge Musk guy, but I have to admit to being very intrigued by Starlink after reading this article. I would very much like to believe Elon's pronouncements that taking SpaceX public, or spinning off Starlink and taking it public, are antithetical to the company's long term goals.
I understand why people hate/love Musk, and I can argue either side of that coin. But, for me, he's a lunatic with big dreams, and every once in a while we need one of those to drag us Americans out of our comfortable doldrums and remember how fun and good it is to strive for Big Ideas and Big Goals. And shit... if he gets me $1/gig internet to my house, and sticks a knife in the heart of Comcast at the same time, I'm happy for him to be just as rich as he gets to be. Of course, he's a pretty shitty person and employer, and huge success won't make either of those things better... they'll only get worse. But hey... I used to laugh at Bill Cosby and Louis C.K. when they were just funny guys, and then they turned out to be total dicks, and used Limewire and MegaUpload before those guys turned out to be evil schmucks as well. So my track record isn't so good.
I'm sure Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Ford and Morgan were complete assholes, too. My problem with musk is less with musk per se, and more with how his fans see him and how wall street treats him. I definitely hate the game as much or more than the player. All that said, I want SpaceX to succeed, musk or not.