In a weekly catch-up of comments on his columns, Star Tribune’s Evan Ramstad noted reactions to his recent column on rural broadband…

In the online comments section of my Oct. 22 column about rural broadband, the suggestion appeared again and again that people in parts of Minnesota without access to broadband could subscribe to the Starlink satellite service, which is offered by Elon Musk’s SpaceX venture.

That indeed is an option, though, as several commenters noted, not as reliable as optical fiber. Starlink dishes need what’s known as “line of sight” access to a satellite. Trees and hills can get in the way.