Depending on the size of the award, they'll have to launch more satellites to be qualified. IIRC, BEAD has language on oversubscription, capacity, etc.
I forget the math, but if they won say 130k locations, they'd need a minimum of 7 birds over the state at all times to be able to throw enough bits. That translates to hundreds or thousands of satellites, once you figure all of the orbital planes needed to serve an area consistently. -- Mike Hammett ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Hohhof" <[email protected]> To: "AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 15, 2025 11:44:11 AM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] T-Mobile 5G and Fiber Home Internet They are doing dynamic pricing for sure. Website now says “$65/mo for your first year in select areas”. I didn’t drill down to see if that’s for the Lite service that was $80 or standard residential that was $120. It’s still not clear to me what they do when they get BEAD money for certain locations. I’ve seen it explained they may reserve capacity (sounds like another priority level) or discount monthly service for X many years or provide free hardware and/or installation. But I don’t think they’re going to launch more satellites. Does kind of sound like money for nothing (to quote Dire Straits, in which case do they also get chicks for free?) And if the reserve capacity for BEAD locations, wouldn’t that mean other people get less? From: AF <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Robert Sent: Friday, August 15, 2025 11:08 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] T-Mobile 5G and Fiber Home Internet 500G limit is what they got, not sure of the plan, but I believe it was basic residential. They talked to someone at starlink that told them they could upgrade to the 1T plan but it was another $50/month. That broke their bank... On 8/15/25 9:04 AM, Ken Hohhof wrote: What Starlink plan charges for overusage? I thought it was all prioritization, lower priority plans could be slowed down, but monthly price stays the same? From: AF <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Robert Sent: Friday, August 15, 2025 10:33 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] T-Mobile 5G and Fiber Home Internet SpaceX has reached a limit somewhere.. They are resorting to pricing games and now putting in caps that they never had before... Either that or the cell phone greed gene is kicking in. I wonder if they recently hired any cell phone execs that brought the greed with them. We are seeing ex customers come crawling back after getting $600 overage bills... On 8/15/25 7:07 AM, Josh Luthman wrote: But they got $3M to do nothing in VA. $76M in TN https://broadbandbreakfast.com/amazon-and-spacex-undercut-competition-in-tennessee-bead-bidding/ On Fri, Aug 15, 2025 at 9:57 AM Ken Hohhof < [email protected] > wrote: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/08/starlink-tries-to-block-virginias-plan-to-bring-fiber-internet-to-residents/ From: AF < [email protected] > On Behalf Of Josh Luthman Sent: Friday, August 15, 2025 8:53 AM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group < [email protected] > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] T-Mobile 5G and Fiber Home Internet The real winner is SpaceX. 0 additional work for big fat checks. On Thu, Aug 14, 2025 at 5:05 PM Mike Hammett < [email protected] > wrote: T-Mobile and\or their affiliates won big in Louisiana. Well, still subject to official award. -- Mike Hammett ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chuck" < [email protected] > To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2025 3:54:22 PM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] T-Mobile 5G and Fiber Home Internet Who has been winning BEAD? Sent from my iPhone > On Aug 14, 2025, at 2:27 PM, Mike Hammett < [email protected] > wrote: > > And Lumos. > And US Internet. > And they've been winning BEAD money. > And using SiFi. > And... > > > > > -- > Mike Hammett > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Josh Luthman" < [email protected] > > To: "AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group" < [email protected] > > Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2025 11:35:57 AM > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] T-Mobile 5G and Fiber Home Internet > > > > Tmobile owns Metronet now. So they'll check the location for Metronet fiber. > That's the best lifespan of customer. If they can't get it with fiber, then > get cheap internet with 5G. > > Yes, Tmobile sold all of their wireline to Cogent and then bought Metronet > fiber. > > > On Thu, Aug 14, 2025 at 11:45 AM Ken Hohhof < [email protected] > wrote: > > > > > > > > Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but T-Mobile seems to be treating FWA > and fiber as two flavors of the same service. > > > > This might just let them use the same tools for qualification, signup, etc. > Or it might mean they view FWA as a precursor to fiber rollout. Sign up home > Internet customers using 5G, then where you have concentrations of customers, > roll out fiber? That way you avoid running out of celltower capacity, and you > capture the customers and keep them away from competitors. > > > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
