SpaceX’s Starlink satellite broadband project seems to have thrown down a pretty definitive gauntlet; one that should cause furrowed brows from rural ISPs, as well as approval from the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). However, the $500 upfront equipment fee does leave a bit of a sour taste in the mouth. But for many consumers, getting even a tenth of that top-end 120Mbps throughput is impossible, not for love nor money (although one early user claimed a 174Mbps connection). In the rural areas that Starlink is targeting, not even dial up is guaranteed, and often, what these consumers can get access to ends up being multiple times the cost of the equivalent broadband package in the nearest city. Not…