Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin
Deere Announces Strategic Partnership with SpaceX to Expand Rural Connectivity (deere.com)
2 points by rmason on Jan 19, 2024 | hide | past | favorite | 4 comments


Unfortunately Deere has a well-deserved reputation for profiteering on the backs of the farming community. They're infamous for not allowing farmers to repair their own tractors, and then mandating that repairs are performed by expensive and slow dealerships, thus meaning a small-time farmer is screwed if his tractor malfunctions during a time-critical part of the season such as planting or harvest. I can just imagine some of the schemes Musk and Deere have cooked up.


This is a masterstroke on behalf of SpaceX. Farmers are at the Deere dealership on almost a weekly basis. But with Starlink in stock they can now just pick one up.

If they run into any problems they can call the dealership who can answer all their questions. This will lead to a major expansion of high speed Internet in the country.

Rural people have been waiting since the nineties for fiber, the government has spent billions and yet they have never seen it.


So dealerships were a good idea after all.

> Rural people have been waiting since the nineties for fiber, the government has spent billions and yet they have never seen it.

Verizon have seen every cent of those billions (twice and counting)


Biden Admin just "announced we're investing another $82M to connect 16,000 additional homes and businesses to high-speed internet across North Carolina."

That's $5,125 per connection! Some phone company makes another bundle.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: