Calls for symmetrical broadband speeds (the same speeds for uploads as downloads) have circulated in telecom policy circles for over a decade. Early support for broadband symmetry was largely ideological in nature, based on the belief that individuals could play a bigger role in generating content, and symmetry was necessary to put production on equal footing with consumption of content. Recent efforts to promote symmetrical networks, however, appear aimed at shaping a potential infrastructure subsidy program. Establishing an expectation of symmetry would set an unreasonably high bar for subsidies, meaning areas of the country with more than adequate broadband today would be eligible for subsidized overbuilding tomorrow.

Not everyone is thrilled with Starlink or SpaceX. Some reviews complain that the service is unreliable and can be slow. Astronomers are concerned that the thousands of satellites that Starlink and similar services plan to deploy will obscure their vision of the sky; others worry that the satellites will add to space that is already too crowded, and increase the risk of collisions. Rivals have accused SpaceX of overpromising Starlink’s capabilities to get nearly $1 billion in government subsidies from the Federal Communications Commission, money that was part of a program that has also been controversial. SpaceX was of the biggest beneficiaries of the FCC’s recent $9.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction, winning nearly $900 million to provide low latency internet service with “above baseline” speed (defined as 100 Mbps download and 20 upload) to roughly 640,000 locations across 35 states. “[Former FCC Chairman Ajit] Pai decided to go all-in on this,” said Harold Feld, senior vice president at the open internet advocacy group Public Knowledge. “When you don’t want to actually do anything in terms of regulating the existing incumbents, you bet on new technologies.”

There are also concerns that areas awarded to SpaceX now won’t get any investment in terrestrial internet, since the subsidy those providers say they need to make such connections cost-efficient isn’t there. That’s fine if the location is so remote that no terrestrial internet company was ever going to spend the money to connect it anyway. It might not be so fine if it means your home is now relying on Starlink to emerge from beta mode, work correctly, and be affordable, when a subsidy to a terrestrial provider would have gotten you connected much sooner.

More than 825 broadband providers are taking part in the Federal Communications Commission’s new Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) program. One of the participants is TruConnect, a mobile virtual network operator that uses T-Mobile’s network. “Lifeline has been a terrific solution,” for getting communications into the hands of those who need it but can’t afford it, said Matthew Johnson, co-CEO of TruConnect, who runs the company with his brother Nathan Johnson. But it was frustrating during Covid-19. Los Angeles-based TruConnect has been in the business for over 10 years, and “we kept telling anyone who would listen, Lifeline is a solution to these connectivity problems. Add more funding to the Lifeline program,” and companies could provide a better solution, he said. TruConnect bills itself as the fourth largest Lifeline company and fastest growing in the US, with more than 600,000 customers nationwide. The brothers built the company through a combination of internal growth and acquisitions, including Telscape Communications, Sage Telecom, and TruConnect Mobile. Currently, TruConnect provides most customers with a free mobile handset that includes a hotspot so that they can connect to the internet, make phone calls and send texts. Most of that is free to the consumer.