In our review of Starlink, we were impressed with the new satellite Internet service that is being launched by technology billionaire and Tesla founder Elon Musk. Although it is still in its early stages, Starlink may well change the Internet for billions of people around the world. SpaceX has launched 1,325 Starlink satellites to date. His most recent mission helped expand coverage in the UK. NASA and SpaceX also reached an information sharing agreement to prevent orbital collisions.
Pre-orders are already underway for this new satellite Internet service, which promises to provide broadband speeds of up to 300 Mbps to anyone in the world, regardless of where they are. Whether it’s a rural farm in Iowa or the small island nation of Tuvalu, customers are reporting a huge improvement in Internet speed, already changing their ability to broadcast and go to school online.
Shortly after Starlink’s pre-orders, Elon Musk was able to raise the valuation of SpaceX shares to $ 74 billion, an increase of 60% over August 2020. This shows investor confidence in Musk’s satellite mega-constellation. SpaceX continues to launch more satellites – albeit with some delays – and the service is already reaching the northern United States, Canada and parts of Europe. We now have an even better indication of how the implementation is going, thanks to a new coverage map courtesy of PCMag.
But what is Starlink? Below you will find a summary of this project that aims to get everyone in the world to connect to the high speed internet.
Latest news from Starlink (updated March 19)
Starlink release date
Beta testing and pre-orders have already started for Starlink. Unfortunately, they are limited to people based on geolocation and order of arrival. Starlink engineers are likely to be able to test not only users in major cities, but also in more rural areas of the United States and the world.
Based on a document with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Starlink confirmed that it had more than 10,000 customers as part of its Better Than Nothing beta test. SpaceX, Elon Musk’s commercial rocket company, will be the vehicle that will place the Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). SpaceX has already received a $ 856 million grant from the United States government to help bring broadband access to rural America.
Given the size of the US, it rarely makes financial sense for Internet companies to install cable or fiber lines. Since Starlink is wireless, it offers a solution to this puzzle. At the time of publication, 24% of rural Americans say that broadband access remains a major problem.
SpaceX has already launched more than 1,000 Starlink satellites. Although it is a great achievement, for this constellation of Internet via satellite to be fully operational, a total of 12,000 satellites will be needed. Starlink is currently manufacturing 120 satellites per month.
In addition to pre-orders and beta testing, according to another FCC document, Starlink states “in its current release cadence, SpaceX predicts that before the end of 2020 it will begin offering commercial service in the northern United States and southern Canada, and then it will rapidly expand to almost global coverage of the populated world in 2021. “
As long as things go according to plan, Starlink should be up and running this year. Although, according to the pre-order website Starlink, coverage will not be available until mid-2021 for some addresses.
Starlink availability and coverage
As for availability, Starlink is prioritizing “high latitudes”, that is, areas in the northern part of the Earth, such as Canada and the upper parts of the United States. Ultimately, the goal will be to connect Starlink to all parts of the globe. On a tweet, Musk clarified that Starlink will hit cities like Seattle first and “be closer and closer to the equator”.
Thanks to a report by PC Mag, the publication partnered with the Ookla speed test platform to see exactly where Starlink is being used the most.
Since Starlink is a satellite Internet, coverage can vary from second to second. With just over a thousand satellites in orbit, some parts of the world will have better coverage depending on when the internet constellation is passing. There are some coverage maps available online that show where the satellites orbit and, from this post, there appear to be satellite arrangements around the northwestern United States, as well as clusters near New Zealand and Australia.
Interestingly, in the United States, there are customers in major cities who want to give Starlink a try. It is curious that these customers also have access to traditional ISPs, which can offer higher internet speed. Maybe these users are big fans of Elon Musk, or maybe they really don’t like the major internet providers.
Below is an analysis of the speeds of various counties.
Starlink Price
Starlink orders currently cost $ 99 a month. But the service will require an initial hardware fee of $ 499. This includes the small satellite dish that can be installed in a home or business, as well as a router and power supply. There is also a $ 50 shipping and handling fee.
For those who wish to place an order in advance, all that is required is a refundable deposit of $ 99. Order fulfillment can take up to six months or more.
What users are saying
The response to Starlink’s Internet service has been extremely positive for the few customers who receive the service. Go to the Starlink subreddit and you will find users posting images of their new satellites, with accompanying speed tests. In Missouri, users report download speeds of 150 Mbps. Another user in Idaho uploaded 72 hours of test results and found that the speeds averaged 71 Mbps.
A user in the UK saw a huge leap in Internet speed after installing Starlink. Aaron Wilkes of Kent, went from 1 Mbps to 175 Mbps. Although Wilkes is paying more for Starlink, he feels the price is worth it.
“The ability to download content so quickly compared to our standard BT line is incredible,” said Wilkes in an interview with the PA news agency.
The mega-popular YouTube channel Linus Tech Tips also managed to acquire a Starlink satellite system. They were able to stream four 4K videos at the same time and successfully played a game of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with few problems.
And director Jesse Senko, who lives in rural Ontario, Canada, detailed how Starlink has massively updated its workflow in the video below.
Starlink specifications
Unlike other satellite internet providers, Starlink’s LEO satellites promise to offer low latency broadband speeds, no matter where you are. While Starlink was initially exhibiting speeds of 1 Gbps, it has since increased that target to 10 Gbps. To put this into context, users would be able to download a 4K movie in less than 30 seconds. Starlink would be of great benefit to people living in rural parts of the world.
Starlink’s latency is surprisingly low, considering its satellite internet. The first beta tests show that Starlink averages 34 milliseconds. Although this may not be as fast as fiber, which can reach 17 ms, any latency below 40 ms is solid for most applications. Certain types of online games, especially shooting and fighting games, benefit most from low latency. But sports games or MOBAs will work well on Starlink.
Because of this, it is not surprising that OneWeb (half owned by the UK government), the Amazon Kuiper Project, Boeing, Telesat and the Russian and Chinese governments are all planning satellite Internet constellations.
Still, making a project of this magnitude literally take off and making it profitable is a monumental task. While the Russian and Chinese governments can bear most of the costs, companies like Starlink and Amazon take significant risks. Previous satellite Internet constellations have failed.
There is also a lot of interest in knowing when a Starlink IPO would go live. In a tweet, Musk replied that an IPO is planned, but it would happen after SpaceX had a more predictable cash flow. For Musk and Starlink, the goal now is not to go bankrupt.
Starlink on your Tesla?
It appears that SpaceX has made a request to the Federal Communications Commission to bring the Starlink satellite internet service to jets and ships. In a letter to the FCC by the director of satellite policy at SpaceX, acquired by CNBC, David Goldman states: “This application would serve the public interest by authorizing a new class of ground components for the SpaceX satellite system that will expand the range of features broadband available for moving vehicles in the United States and for moving ships and aircraft worldwide. “
The company would take care of installing the vehicle through “qualified installers” and cited the need for quality Internet “while on the move”.
There is a question of internet access that varies between countries. Some countries, such as China, have a tightly controlled Internet infrastructure. Sites that can be seen in the U.S. are probably not in China. But this is satellite internet, which means it can be accessed from anywhere. It appears that Starlink will follow the rules of the country you are in, “whichever is more restrictive”.
All of this is academic now, however. Due to the size of the Starlink satellite terminal, it is currently not possible in cars. Elon Musk stated this in a tweet.
Do not connect Tesla cars to Starlink, as our terminal is too big. This is for aircraft, ships, large trucks and RVs.March 8, 2021
Outlook Starlink
Given that broadband companies are unrivaled in many cases, Starlink and other satellite Internet constellations are a welcome injection of competition. Most importantly, the service allows regions to connect at broadband speeds where previously there were no options.
For example, the Hoh Tribe, a Native American tribe located in western Washington state along the Pacific coast, said that Starlink was like being “catapulted into the 21st century”. According to the Newsweek article, the Hoh Tribe tweeted that faster internet speeds helped with remote learning and access to health.
The wireless nature of Starlink allows it to enter anywhere in the world, subverting the need for cables. In doing so, rural areas that remain neglected can now be connected at broadband speeds. The $ 99 cost is still too high for many parts of the globe, but as Starlink will have competition from other companies, prices are likely to drop over time.
Elon Musk hopes to complete the Internet constellation Starlink in 2022.