Scientific American
(Editor’s Note (9/12/21): The video in this story incorrectly says that the FCC is asking companies to return money granted through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. The FCC has not yet distributed money in this program. It is asking companies to review their winning bids and offering them an opportunity to withdraw their funding requests from places that already have service or where significant questions of waste have been raised. The text of this article was edited after posting to reflect these corrections.)
Elon Musk said of his space Internet venture: “Starlink will effectively reach the 3-4 percent hardest to reach customers, or people who have no connectivity.” And even though the product is still being tested, they’ve found political backers in Washington DC, where interest in expanding broadband is at an all time high.
In this documentary, we take a hard look at that promise, and at the state of broadband access across the United States today.
This project was supported by a generous grant from Economic Hardship Reporting Project.