SpaceX CEO Elon Musk maintains an extremely close relationship with Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr.

Under Carr’s leadership, Musk’s rocket company has effectively been given carte blanche in its efforts to roll out its orbital Starlink broadband service to more Americans, a glaring conflict of interest that could have profound implications for society.

That’s despite concerns over thousands or even millions of satellites cluttering our planet’s already extremely busy orbit and the environmentally damaging rocket launches that send them up.

And the space-based network is already starting to experience some major strains — as some experts have long predicted. It’s a lesson some Starlink customers are finding out the hard way. As TechDirt‘s Karl Bode highlighted, SpaceX is now charging some users so-called “demand surcharges” of up to $1,500, simply because their address is within a high demand area.

“Starlink is too congested to handle meaningful load at scale so they’re quietly hitting people with $750-$1500 ‘demand surcharges,’” Bode wrote in a recent post on Bluesky. Even worse, those who are trying to contest these charges are facing a “black hole,” since SpaceX doesn’t “invest in customer service.”

The development highlights some considerable shortcomings that satellite-based internet has over physical broadband infrastructure back on the ground, including fiber.

Efforts to ensure fiber internet access, particularly in rural America, continue to fall flat — or be defunded altogether — as SpaceX is awarded government contract after government contract.

Just this week, the FCC announced it was looking to accelerate approvals for next-generation satellite broadband launches, another major regulatory win for SpaceX.

Meanwhile, fuming Starlink customers are taking to social media to vent their frustrations.

“I have been charged 1,500 dollars demand surcharge for simply verifying my address that I have subscribe to three years ago,”

users could be stuck paying exorbitant fees to get connected.

The congestion charge was quietly added back in 2024, starting out as a one-time $100 fee, depending on location. By June 2025, that number grew to up to $1,000 in parts of the country

moving from a high-demand to a non-high-demand area will not incur any additional charges. The other way around, however, will result in a surcharge, “based on current network capacity.”

“Pricing, availability, and surcharge amounts are subject to change based on network capacity and regional demand,” the page reads

Meanwhile, monthly rates are starting to creep up as well, making it an even more bitter pill to swallow.

“I can complain about Starlink raising their prices, but it’s the only genuine option we have,”

“I can complain about Starlink raising their prices, but it’s the only genuine option we have,” former Nebraska state senator and Republican Julie Slama told the Washington Post last month. “Once they have rural customers on their service with no meaningful alternatives, they’re free to raise prices at will.”

Broadband Cronyism
Elon Musk’s Conflicts of Interest With the Trump Administration Regulating SpaceX Are So Profound That They Have Grim Implications for Society
Elon Musk holds incredible sway over the federal government.
https://futurism.com/space/elon-musk-conflict-of-interest-spacex-implications?fbclid=IwVERDUAS4J0dleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR7gPFab6gfClM_qxxtOOCP5Hg5Qr4rWIJkgDckxA1sgzp-vLjZrJkUse20URQ_aem_Kn6fxL5yOcZp7O6OHvjG5A

Amazon has enough satellites to launch its Starlink competitor
Early adopters of Amazon Leo should temper expectations
https://www.theverge.com/science/960563/amazon-leo-service-tipping-point

https://www.ft.com/content/42af0f15-3aa9-49b7-b429-4a39540af03e

5G RedCapin on määrä tuoda viidennen sukupolven yhteydet aiempaa kevyempiin, edullisempiin ja vähemmän virtaa kuluttaviin laitteisiin. Käytännön laitekehityksessä tämä ei kuitenkaan tee testauksesta yksinkertaista. Anritsu on päivittänyt SmartStudio NR- ja SmartStudio NR IP Performance -ohjelmistonsa tukemaan RedCap-laitteiden sovellustason suorituskykytestausta.

RedCap eli Reduced Capability on 5G:n kevennetty versio laitteille, joissa ei tarvita täyden 5G-modeemin suorituskykyä. Kohteita ovat esimerkiksi IoT-laitteet, puettavat tuotteet, kevyemmät CPE-päätelaitteet sekä uudet fyysisen tekoälyn sovellukset. Näissä ratkaisevaa ei ole pelkkä huippunopeus, vaan virrankulutus, yhteyden vakaus, kustannus ja toiminta erilaisissa verkkotilanteissa.

Anritsun mukaan juuri tämä tekee RedCap-testauksesta aiempaa vaativampaa.