US SpaceX Starlink users are getting 100 to 203 Mbps on downlink and around 15 to 33 Mbps on uplink. Latency varies between 20 to 45 milliseconds.
There is a startup purchase cost for a Starlink terminal. The terminal costs $499.
There about about 800-900 Starlink satellites currently and a full northern hemisphere deployment will be with about 4200 satellites and this could mostly be deployed by the end of 2021. There will then be an expansion to 12000 satellites for global coverage.
Performance downlink, uplink and latency should all improve with the wider satellite deployments.
SpaceX Starlink will be competitive for any area that does not have the best fiber. Starlink will be a valid alternative for internet cable and DSL services. Starlink will have limitations on the number of customers in some areas. This level of service will enable SpaceX Starlink to capture large segments of the internet consumer and business markets.
Starlink will have nearly complete global coverage which will make them dominant in rural areas and for mobile applications (ships, planes, trains, trucks, etc…). They will also be very competitive in smaller urban and suburban areas as the system is built out.
SOURCES- SpaceX, Techspot
Written by Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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15 mins south of the San Francisco Bay area, tech capital of the world, stuck with 10mbit down < 1 mbit up dsl. Way to rub it in, europe.
I can get 500 Mbit for 10 bucks here on fiber (in Europe), or at a more expensive provider 2000 Mbit (yes, 2 Gbit) for 20 bucks. Obviously with no upfront costs.
This service won't be really popular here, maybe in special usecases.
I can’t wait to tell my cable company to shove it….
I can see how they'd not be able to afford Manhattanites buying them in Montana, and then going home. But they'd have to be at least a bit relaxed about location, they were bragging about how it would work in a moving vehicle.
Maybe a roaming mode that gave you lower priority than fixed installations, and stopped working altogether in areas with more than a certain concentration of subscribers.
Outside of rural areas there will have to be some kind of cap or throttling as there is only so much throughput per satellite.
Apparently Starlink are geo-locking the terminals, likely to dissuade people from signing up in one are to move to another. They need to manage their capacity carefully.
This looks very promising. If the full system can achieve 100 Mbps up and down, 20 ms, $100/mo, and no data caps, then it will be used by far more than just rural people. I have decent fiber, but I would switch.
I do wonder about data caps. I haven’t heard whether it will be unlimited data or not.
Yep. They don't see the satellites as something that needs to be launched by some date and be done with it, but as a continuously improving, growing infrastructure.
That comes from having a launcher company in-house, but also from a plan.
The capabilities of each satellite will also grow including inter-satellite laser links. It’s an advantage of short working lifespan and SpaceX’s growing launch capability that every aspect of the system will improve iteratively. SpaceX will continuously mass produce and launch new generations.
Depending on the monthly charge, I might drop my current cable internet in favor of Starlink. Honestly, the 70Mbps I'm getting with it is more than adequate, but the portability would be welcome, and I wouldn't mind my money heading SpaceX's way.
I have a friend out in the country who's very eager, though, as the best he can get is DSL.
Under-promise and over-deliver. Good way to impress and earn customer loyalty.
Let's hope these speeds are maintained after the beta release.
The satellite constellation is just taking off, and the capabilities will certainly grow with more satellites, but so will the amount of end users.