- Starlink is SpaceX’s broadband service that radiates internet from satellites launched into orbit.
- Since its launch in October, it has more than 10,000 users and operates in more than six countries.
- Here’s everything you need to know about Elon Musk’s Starlink.
- Visit the Insider Business Department for more stories.
Elon Musk is getting closer and closer to realizing his dream of creating super-fast internet around the world, radiating from satellites in orbit to Earth.
In the past two weeks, SpaceX’s Starlink Internet has reached more than 10,000 users worldwide, launching $ 99 pre-orders for the service to more countries and cities worldwide.
Starlink’s public beta test, known as ‘Better Than Nothing Beta’, was launched in October and was a big hit for those living in remote areas in the northern US, where it was first introduced.
What is the hype of Starlink?
SpaceX is building an extensive satellite internet network in space called Starlink.
In May 2019, the airline launched its first group of Starlink satellites into orbit. Now there are more than 1,000 working satellites prepared for the service. The goal is to have up to 42,000 satellites in orbit by mid-2027.
The satellites are tied to the top of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and blown into orbit, which typically releases 60 satellites per launch.
The goal is to create a fast broadband system generated by satellites that envelop the earth and provide internet to people, especially in rural areas without connection.
Spectators watch from Canaveral National Seashore a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with 60 Starlink satellite launches.
Paul Hennessy / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Starlink is not cheap
A subscription to the beta is currently $ 99 per month. It costs a further $ 499 for the Starlink kit, which includes a mounting stand, a WiFi router and a terminal to connect to the satellites.
On Monday, the company offered pre-orders of Starlink to other countries, so users can now make a $ 100 deposit to get their hands on the service as soon as it becomes available. The deposit is applied to the amount owed on the Starlink set.
Overall users pay $ 600 in advance for Starlink.
UK users pay £ 439 for the package and £ 89 for the subscription fee. Compared to other ISPs that charge £ 79 per month for speeds of up to 516 Mbps, it is not cheap.
On the SpaceX side, the company won $ 885 million in federal subsidies to expand Starlink in December, but small Internet service providers believe it should not be allowed because Musk’s firm uses ‘unproven’ technology.
A photo of SpaceX’s user terminal, or satellite dish, installed on a roof. The company’s founder, Elon Musk, called such devices ‘UFOs on a stick’ and designed them to connect to the Internet via a fleet of orbiting spacecraft.
Ashish Sharma / SpaceX
The fastest speed recorded so far is 215 Mbps
SpaceX told Starlink beta test subscribers in an email in October that they should expect speeds between 50 and 150 Mbps, with intermittent interruptions. But some users drive much higher.
A list compiled by the Starlink community of Reddit shows that the fastest download speed so far was 209.17 Mbps, recorded in New York. One person in Utah recorded their 215 Mbps speed test in December.
Starlink even achieves speeds of 175 Mbps in icy temperatures, strong winds and snow. Users were impressed with the heating of the terminal that it could melt snow or frost on it.
Snow melts at the Starlink terminal.
Anonymous
It can be pre-ordered in six countries
Starlink was initially active in parts of the northern United States, southern Canada and, more recently, in the United Kingdom.
On Monday, Starlink began opening pre-orders for other parts of the world.
People in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and parts of the US and Canada – where Starlink is not yet operating – confirmed on Twitter and Reddit that they could deposit a deposit until mid-2021 to get the internet service.
Read more: Here’s how many millions of users Starlink needs to break even if it loses $ 2,000 for every satellite dish it sells, according to experts.
According to a Teslarati report, more Starlink countries could go green this year, including Spain, Italy, India, Japan and the Caribbean.
Insider on Tuesday explained how to sign up for the service that works on a “first-come-first-served basis”.
A photo illustration of a satellite tracking app showing one of SpaceX’s Starlink Internet radiant spacecraft on a map of the earth.
Pavlo Gonchar / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
Starlink helped get rural communities online
In October next year, SpaceX agreed to provide Internet access to a rural school district in Texas via Starlink Internet. A total of 45 families will have access to the internet in the area, followed by another 90 families later.
Scott Muri, the district superintendent, told Insider he agrees to the deal because so many students’ families have ‘zero internet’ and there is no conventional way to get it.
In December, SpaceX Pikangikum connected First Nation, a remote 3,000-strong indigenous community in northwestern Ontario, to Starlink. Prior to the internet service, Pikangikum could not offer higher education or health care, and he struggled with high suicide rates. Now they have access to everything.
Dave Brown, CEO of FSET, the company that linked SpaceX and Pikangikum, said in an interview with Insider: “We have taken a community that was one of the most technologically disadvantaged in the world. They are now one of the most technologically advanced, but still remote, living where they are and not having to move. ‘
Have you recently set up Starlink? How do you find it? Contact this reporter via email: [email protected].