This means we will not really use satellite comms instead of fibre. That said there is definitely applications that benefit from optical satellite comms.
sure - people won't be able to watch netflix, but basic things like credit card processing, sending emails, getting emergency alerts out, ordering an uber, etc. would all work fine with a 99% reduction in bandwidth.
To cripple a countries infrastructure, you need to cut 100%. And satellite links mean you can no longer do that.
you had better hope people stop using modern webmails then, have you seen how insanely huge those pages are? we'd have to sit for HOURS to download them at dialup speeds
You could do a lot of damage with a few %, targeted in the right places, such as the so-called operational nets (as opposed to their business/IT nets) used by organisations that run critical national infrastructure. E.g. those that monitor / control power distribution.
While it may not entirely grind to a halt, taking out part of the capacity can still cause a lot of problems.
My MacBook doesnt know to not try for an Xcode update because a fiber link got cut somewhere.
I feel like everything would get congested and stay that way for a very long time.
Most users never until you put them in a situation where their performance is dependent of those factors, like gaming.