SpaceX’s Starlink has launched a new Community Gateways program to deliver gigabit-speed and even 10 gigabit speed for internet connectivity to remote and underserved areas. It is for internet service providers (ISPs) and cost a $1.25 million upfront cost and $75,000 per month per gigabit per second. Ten gigabits per second would costs $750,000 per month. It is unclear if there is a scaling of the monthly fee based upon the gigabits per second. The Starlink community gateway page is not working.
I think this system will be useful for remote towns, remote military bases and navy ships (destroyers, aircraft carriers etc…)
SpaceX will build ground station facilities capable of handling up to 10Gbps broadband speeds. This approach ensures reliable, high-speed internet, akin to fiber-optic connectivity where traditional broadband infrastructure is impractical or expensive to install.
In September, 2023, SpaceX revealed it had built its first Community Gateway for residents of Unalaska, a town located on an island near Alaska. Local ISP OptimERA is now using the satellite connectivity from the gateway to bolster the broadband for most of its customers.
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Those numbers per month sound really wrong. For a decent internet connection 10,000 people would require the 750,000$ a month plan which is 750$ a month per user…
there is mixed reporting on the monthly pricing. The Starlink page is not working. I will update when the Starlink page and/or monthly pricing is confirmed.
Yeah, that’s the right math. 10 mb up/down is decent internet for a couple of video feeds.
10 Mb/user X 100 users = 1 Gb. 100 users for $75,000/mo. = $750/mo. per user.
Although, I have to believe that $750/mo./user would be reasonable in some scenarios. Direct communication over the internet is that important.
$750,000 / 10,000 users = $75 per month per user
Arithmetic matters. That also represents 10,000 simultaneous users each using at a maximum. In ordinary ISP use patterns, 10,000 users paying $75 per month would normally each get service of hundreds of MB per second because most would not be putting much demand on the system at any given time. This is high speed modern service allowing multiple high def video streams, gaming, video calls, downloads of GB files etc. It would be the same as fiber for 10,000 ISP customers. This would work for a military base, an Aircraft carrier with 5k crew + military use, etc.