Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Non-Starlink Alternatives to T-Mobile?

It is heartening to see how much of the rest of the world is responding to the actions of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.  Several boycotts of goods made in the United States have sprung up, and these are growing.  Unfortunately, some of us may find that we are still beholden to the Trump administration and to Elon Musk, due to hidden dependencies in existing products and services.

Musk owns SpaceX which operates a fleet of Starlink communication satellites.  I just found out today that T-Mobile has teamed with Starlink to increase its phone coverage.  This is distasteful to me as I am a T-Mobile customer.  Does anyone know of a cellular or Internet service provider who has not partnered with Starlink?  If so, please let us all know.  In any case, I may wind up canceling one of my Internet access plans with T-Mobile in the very near future.  One thing to note: T-Mobile was acquired by Deutsche Telekom in 2001, so perhaps economic boycott pressure can be applied to other holdings of Deutsche Telekom as well.

Oh, and here's a message to Mr. Trump: you don't get to tell people that it's illegal for them to refuse to spend money on a particular product.  I can't see you sending your jackbooted cop thugs into people's houses to force them to buy a Tesla - especially when those people live in other countries.  You should be more careful when you run your mouth.

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