Starlink was certainly a game changer for life around here. McMurdo is essentially a small town so many different jobs and routines to make everything go. Some stay inside all the time, some have to work outside a lot.

https://brr.fyi/ is a really good blog from a person nearing the end of a year long deployment who writes much more eloquently than I ever could if you want to read more.

Antarctica: A Year on Ice is an enjoyable film documentary from ~10 years ago.

A Big Dead Place by Nicholas Johnson is also worth a read from the early 2000s.

Here at McMurdo we've had 24/7 satellite internet for at least as long as I've been coming down (~10 years). Think roughly a ~30mbps connection shared with ~1000 people with business and science bandwidth prioritized over personal browsing. So starlink has been a game changer for sure.

At South Pole, I believe they don't yet have access to starlink. They also don't have 24 hour coverage for the few internet satellites they do get.

I don't work in IT so don't have direct access to more specific information, and obviously I can't speak for the many other stations scattered throughout the continent.