T-Mobile users can try Starlink-enabled phone service for free during beta

arstechnica.com

5 points·mfiguiere··3 comments

As much as I believe this is good for emergencies, it makes it harder and harder to be in a place where there is no connectivity.

Since being outdoors has gotten more popular(!) the amount of noise has gone up disproportionally. People playing music on speakers, people not respecting noise signs (e.g. the Zion traverse, where there are owls nesting), people disrespectful of nature...

And now, you're going to be 100 miles from civilization, on a hike and somebody close to you is on the phone trying to sell Amway...

Or my good old explanation about why I didn't pick up the phone during PTO: No reception.

Its much more scalable to enforce your own boundaries rather than rely on the defaults provided by technical limitations.

I don't think I'd ever purposefully want to be 100 miles from civilization without connectivity. That sounds absolutely terrifying unless you're with a large group.

Campgrounds out of range are OK, as long as you're completely sure your boss is OK with you being unreachable, but being on foot with no way to call for help would be terrifying for most people, it's actually pretty amazing that some people feel more relaxed in a situation like that than the do at the office.

People making a racket and disturbing the owls seems like a pretty big problem though, especially when more people might be willing to go to these places now that there's cell service.

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