From words to deeds: Starlink is ready to launch in the US, but there are already examples of use outside the country

We are discussing the latest news of the project and the company’s plans, which became known thanks to the text of a document sent by SpaceX to the FCC.

Unsplash / Jon Tyson
Unsplash / Jon Tyson

Situation

Last year, the Federal Communications Commission [Federal Communications Commission, FCC] took into account the arguments from explanatory note SpaceX management and allowed the company to qualify for state support on an equal basis with other Internet providers. The funds were allocated for the development of network infrastructure in the “American village” – areas where there are no broadband communication lines, or alternatives to a single telecom company.

From 8.3 billion Starlink got 885.5 million dollars. The rest of the funds FCC distributed among 180 providers. Moreover, some of them were not ready for the satellite Internet communication project to be among the leaders in terms of funding, and tried to question the capabilities of SpaceX.

The company’s response was not long in coming – just a few weeks later, it announced the test results in Montana in the northwestern United States. There managed fix the downstream at 210 Mbps. Prior to that – during a test in New York – it was at 209 Mbps, which is in any case more than the average supply in the satellite communications market. Therefore, Starlink’s capabilities are now being compared exclusively with conventional broadband.

Development

The first to receive an invitation to a beta test in Europe were a small sample of potential customers in the UK. Starlink Team contacted with them in December last year and said that within the next few months, one should not expect high and stable connection rates. Downstream should be in the range of 50-150 Mbit / s, plus – periods of complete lack of communication cannot be ruled out until the company deploys an additional group of satellites and expands its ground infrastructure.

Anyway, the residents of the country were offered a set of equipment called the Starlink Kit with a dish and a router for 439 pounds and in monthly payments of 89 pounds. In the US, the cost of setup and access was set at $ 499 and $ 99, respectively.

Unsplash / Joshua Rawson-Harris
Unsplash / Joshua Rawson-Harris

In the USA, only 5% of the Internet audience uses satellite Internet. However, Starlink’s capabilities allow it to compete with classic Internet providers, therefore, by the transition to a new type of communication, ready nearly half of Americans are over 18.

Future

Petition company to the FCC revealed that Starlink now boasts ten thousand users who can no longer be called testers. They are considered full-fledged customers. Plus – the document is about expanding the scope of the company’s services: it would like to be more active in regions where there is not enough broadband communication lines, and asks the commission for appropriate permission. Moreover, Starlink going to provide voice call services there, and also supply uninterruptible power supplies to connect to the network in a situation of complete power outages in a particular region of the country.

According to Ars Technica, SpaceX can engage third-party contractors to these tasks in order to offer the audience the best possible service.


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