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Starlink now open for pre-orders.

  • 23-02-2021 12:52pm
    #1
    Marlow
    Registered Users Posts: 14,555 ✭✭✭✭


    Starlink is now open for pre-orders worldwide.

    Current tests in the american northern hemisphere show speeds of 130 Mbit/s down, 25 Mbit/s up at 34ms.

    Elon Musk stated himself, that it would double to approx 300 Mbit/s before the end of the year. Also, they will have global coverage by the end of the year. He also stated, that it's intended for low to medium density population areas.

    Pricing is 499 EUR + 60 odd EUR shipping for the equipment, 99 EUR/month. (99 EUR deposit to preorder)

    This will not compete with the likes of FTTH, DSL and fixed wireless broadband on pricing. But it will give professionals who need a backup or a faster connection a seriously usable option and it will bring FTTH speeds to rural areas, that have nothing else. World wide !! And it certainly blows all other satellite products out of the water. Especially in speed and latency.

    Link to Starlink: https://www.starlink.com/

    Link to the tweet discussing speeds and rollout: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1363763858121256963

    /M


«134567

Comments

  • #2
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,439 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    Seemingly coming to the Black Valley in Kerry. Kerry County Council doing a deal with SpaceX:

    https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2021/0223/1198738-spacex-and-co-kerry/


  • #3
    Marlow
    Registered Users Posts: 14,555 ✭✭✭✭Marlow


    bk wrote: »
    Seemingly coming to the Black Valley in Kerry. Kerry County Council doing a deal with SpaceX:

    I'm not to sure, if that's just Kerry CoCo trying to say they're doing something and pulling a publicity stunt.

    I mean .. Starlink was in Beta up until now. It's now out of Beta, which means testing has ended. And it's official, that world-wide coverage will be achieved by end of this year.

    /M


  • #4
    joe123
    Registered Users Posts: 6,521 ✭✭✭joe123


    Marlow wrote: »
    I'm not to sure, if that's just Kerry CoCo trying to say they're doing something and pulling a publicity stunt.

    I mean .. Starlink was in Beta up until now. It's now out of Beta, which means testing has ended. And it's official, that world-wide coverage will be achieved by end of this year.

    /M

    I'd have paid the 400 euro fee if the monthly cost was <50 a month. Just can't justify 99 euro a month. Assume this is geared more towards business' in severe remote locations.


  • #5
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 32,943 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    I read the headline about the Kerry trial but this is a non-runner is it's going to cost €99 per month (and that's excludingthe €500 For setup).

    I appreciate that it's expensive technology but that's simply too much for residential customers. Perhaps companies might take it up more though?


  • #6
    Harcrid
    Registered Users Posts: 1,302 ✭✭✭Harcrid


    It's not going to be for everyone, but if you work from home from a rural area like a lot of people these days then €99 is a price a lot of people would be willing to pay.


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  • #7
    Scuid Mhór
    Registered Users Posts: 2,326 ✭✭✭Scuid Mhór


    Will there be an IPO anytime soon?


  • #8
    unkel
    Registered Users Posts: 64,693 ✭✭✭✭unkel


    It's been available to order a good few weeks now. If there were no setup costs (or paid by Tesla) and the monthly bill was $49 instead of $99, I would have gone for it. As is, is not competing with currently available broadband options..... if you have them. Might suit someone in a broadband blackspot

    Goes to show how ludicrous the government subsidy of rural broadband is though. Please stop that nonsense now and let people just use Starlink if they want broadband.


  • #9
    Marlow
    Registered Users Posts: 14,555 ✭✭✭✭Marlow


    joe123 wrote: »
    I'd have paid the 400 euro fee if the monthly cost was <50 a month. Just can't justify 99 euro a month. Assume this is geared more towards business' in severe remote locations.
    NIMAN wrote: »
    I read the headline about the Kerry trial but this is a non-runner is it's going to cost €99 per month (and that's excludingthe €500 For setup).

    I appreciate that it's expensive technology but that's simply too much for residential customers. Perhaps companies might take it up more though?

    It is geared towards end-users that have no other options and professionals and businesses, that need it as an essential backup or connection.

    In honesty, compared to all other Vsat solutions, it's the most cost effective solution. If your job depends on it, you'd pay the price. I guarantee you that.

    If you just want it for leasure, then it's an expensive product, yes.
    Scuid Mhór wrote: »
    Will there be an IPO anytime soon?

    Rumors are some time this year. They will break Starlink out into a seperate company first, as Elon has made it clear, that he has no interest in bringing SpaceX public. At least not yet.

    /M


  • #10
    cruizer101
    Registered Users Posts: 3,205 ✭✭✭cruizer101


    The pandemic has fast forwarded working from home significantly. So you could find there will be many people able to work from home now and so would consider moving away from cities. If you can save 100k on a house by moving down the country €99 a month becomes a lot more insignificant.

    Considering the cost of the NBP you would think below a certain population density it would be fair more efficient and economical to use starlink.


  • #11
    F00t13f4n
    Registered Users Posts: 683 ✭✭✭F00t13f4n


    There is at least one other satellite internet provider already operating in Ireland - an ad for konnectme.ie appeared on my Facebook feed last week.

    I have no idea how good / bad they are, but they seem to be more realistic in their pricing anyway.


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  • #12
    NSAman
    Registered Users Posts: 3,386 ✭✭✭NSAman


    I got the notification a few days ago about it being available to me.

    Only problem, later this year from only line of sight internet 18mb down 4mb up, we are now getting fibre installed in our area. The local electric company are a co-op. They will be offering up to 2gb fibre at $55 - $199 a month.

    Without this advancement I would absolutely have signed up.


  • #13
    joe123
    Registered Users Posts: 6,521 ✭✭✭joe123


    unkel wrote: »
    It's been available to order a good few weeks now. If there were no setup costs (or paid by Tesla) and the monthly bill was $49 instead of $99, I would have gone for it. As is, is not competing with currently available broadband options..... if you have them. Might suit someone in a broadband blackspot

    Goes to show how ludicrous the government subsidy of rural broadband is though. Please stop that nonsense now and let people just use Starlink if they want broadband.

    Oh Jesus could not disagree more with you here. Your post just comes across as completely ignorant and the "sure I'm alright Jack".

    The NBP is going to be one of the most important pieces of infrastructure once its finally built out and has ample opportunity for upgrading as time passes.

    Starlink simply does not compete in any shape with Fibre to the home.


  • #14
    Marlow
    Registered Users Posts: 14,555 ✭✭✭✭Marlow


    F00t13f4n wrote: »
    There is at least one other satellite internet provider already operating in Ireland - an ad for konnectme.ie appeared on my Facebook feed last week.

    I have no idea how good / bad they are, but they seem to be more realistic in their pricing anyway.

    That's the service Digiweb sells. It has a very low cap. https://digiweb.ie/konnect/

    Price is from 30 to 70 EUR/month and cap goes from 20 GB to 120 GB/month. After that you get heavily throttled. And trust me .. 120 GB is nothing these days. It wasn't enough before the pandemic.

    Also ping times will be 500-2000 ms, because those satelites are going to be in a higher orbit. And that makes them useless for streaming, VoIP, Video conferencing and any realtime stuff.

    Starlink satellites are in VLEO, so they are much nearer to earth. They are only about 340km from earth, which is the reason for the low ping times.

    /M


  • #15
    Del2005
    Registered Users Posts: 18,853 ✭✭✭✭Del2005


    joe123 wrote: »
    Oh Jesus could not disagree more with you here. Your post just comes across as completely ignorant and the "sure I'm alright Jack".

    The NBP is going to be one of the most important pieces of infrastructure once its finally built out and has ample opportunity for upgrading as time passes.

    Starlink simply does not compete in any shape with Fibre to the home.

    A piece of infrastructure that we are paying €3bn + for and won't even own!


  • #16
    nullObjects
    Registered Users Posts: 1,297 ✭✭✭nullObjects


    I wonder if the 99 euro per month is because they need to price it at that to pay for their costs or if they've priced it at that to try to intentionally slow down uptake. If the monthly cost was a little lower in a couple of years or so I'd definitely sign up


  • #17
    joe123
    Registered Users Posts: 6,521 ✭✭✭joe123


    nullObjects wrote: »
    I wonder if the 99 euro per month is because they need to price it at that to pay for their costs or if they've priced it at that to try to intentionally slow down uptake. If the monthly cost was a little lower in a couple of years or so I'd definitely sign up

    Would suspect its a bit of both.

    On the initial home page it states availability is limited to a number of users per coverage area.

    99 euro really is a price tag aimed at business use cases rather than your every day user. For those of us working from home needing improved broadband, it would have been a great stop gap before Fibre, but its just not cost effective for someone like me. While I need much better speeds than what I'm currently getting, it's just not cost effective at 100 euro a month on broadband that could still experience large drop offs at times.

    One user who was in the beta reported some great speeds of 70+ but also had some speed tests coming in below 15Mb. And thats with a limited number on the system, although Musk did mention improved speeds later in the year.

    By the time(If) Starlink ever do drop their pricing to make it more enticing to the everyday consumer/ those working from home, for Ireland at least, we may already see a large increase in FTTH through the NBP here in Ireland.

    NBP's target is 90% coverage within the next 3-4 years for FTTH meaning speeds of 1000mb for ~30 euro a month.


  • #18
    richie123
    Registered Users Posts: 790 ✭✭✭richie123


    joe123 wrote: »
    Oh Jesus could not disagree more with you here. Your post just comes across as completely ignorant and the "sure I'm alright Jack".

    The NBP is going to be one of the most important pieces of infrastructure once its finally built out and has ample opportunity for upgrading as time passes.

    Starlink simply does not compete in any shape with Fibre to the home.

    Thats rubbish.
    Government need to cop on get with the times and do a deal with spacex.
    A hell of a lot cheaper than the current madness of the NBP plan.its irrelevant now times have moved on.
    Explain how it won't compete with fibre in the long term ?


  • #19
    unkel
    Registered Users Posts: 64,693 ✭✭✭✭unkel


    cruizer101 wrote: »
    The pandemic has fast forwarded working from home significantly. So you could find there will be many people able to work from home now and so would consider moving away from cities. If you can save 100k on a house by moving down the country €99 a month becomes a lot more insignificant.

    Indeed and if you've saved €100k or €200k on your house you might well fork out the €80 per month for Starlink without having to rely on the tax payer to give you even more subsidies

    Between decent quality broadband available everywhere and people structurally working from home, I can see houses in the Dublin commuter area go down and urban houses going up in value relative to each other too, so some extra fat in the wallet there for the people currently without broadband


  • #20
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,439 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    NIMAN wrote: »
    I read the headline about the Kerry trial but this is a non-runner is it's going to cost €99 per month (and that's excludingthe €500 For setup).

    I appreciate that it's expensive technology but that's simply too much for residential customers. Perhaps companies might take it up more though?

    Well if those in rural Ireland were paying the full real cost of the NBP and it wasn't being heavily subsidised by the government and thus people in urban Ireland, then the NBP would cost more then that.
    nullObjects wrote: »
    I wonder if the 99 euro per month is because they need to price it at that to pay for their costs or if they've priced it at that to try to intentionally slow down uptake. If the monthly cost was a little lower in a couple of years or so I'd definitely sign up

    I suspect the price will come down in time.
    joe123 wrote:
    NBP's target is 90% coverage within the next 3-4 years for FTTH meaning speeds of 1000mb for ~30 euro a month.

    €30 !! No chance, maybe an introductory offer, but normal price will be in the region of €60 to €70 per month.

    Of course if the NBP is outside your home, then that will be the way to go. But it will be up to 7 years before the NBP is complete. Even if your area is only 3 or 4 years away, it would still make sense to use this Starlink service until then, if you are currently stuck on something like 2mb/s or even worse on crappy geo sat broadband.

    Even then, there will still be distant areas not served by NBP FTTH. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the NBP partners with Starlink to serve those homes.

    BTW as an aside, I have to laugh at people complaining about €99 per month. I remember being delighted getting 0.5mb/s ADSL for €120 per month when broadband was first launched by Eircom more then 20 years ago :D

    It was a big reduction from the €300 per month dial up internet, per minute phone bills! How far we have come :)


  • #21
    joe123
    Registered Users Posts: 6,521 ✭✭✭joe123


    richie123 wrote: »
    Thats rubbish.
    Government need to cop on get with the times and do a deal with spacex.
    A hell of a lot cheaper than the current madness of the NBP plan.its irrelevant now times have moved on.
    Explain how it won't compete with fibre in the long term ?

    Heres a decent starting point if you want to learn more about the differences. https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin//showthread.php?t=2058078616
    unkel wrote: »
    Indeed and if you've saved €100k or €200k on your house you might well fork out the €80 per month for Starlink without having to rely on the tax payer to give you even more subsidies

    Between decent quality broadband available everywhere and people structurally working from home, I can see houses in the Dublin commuter area go down and urban houses going up in value relative to each other too, so some extra fat in the wallet there for the people currently without broadband

    There a folks in Dublin still stuck on DSL never mind those of us who are in towns outside of Dublin. And why begrudge anyone living rural either. Not to mention family homes within the family for a generation, but because people like you think "no its not fair, move to the city" they have to pay more. If someone doesnt want to live in a city then fair play.

    Anyways dont want to de-rail the thread, link above if you want to vent.

    Fact is FTTH is the gold standard and its bloody brilliant the NBP is finally happening.


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  • #22
    joe123
    Registered Users Posts: 6,521 ✭✭✭joe123


    bk wrote: »
    Well if those in rural Ireland were paying the full real cost of the NBP and it wasn't being heavily subsidised by the government and thus people in urban Ireland, then the NBP would cost more then that.



    I suspect the price will come down in time.



    €30 !! No chance, maybe an introductory offer, but normal price will be in the region of €60 to €70 per month.

    Of course if the NBP is outside your home, then that will be the way to go. But it will be up to 7 years before the NBP is complete. Even if your area is only 3 or 4 years away, it would still make sense to use this Starlink service until then, if you are currently stuck on something like 2mb/s or even worse on crappy geo sat broadband.

    Even then, there will still be distant areas not served by NBP FTTH. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the NBP partners with Starlink to serve those homes.

    BTW as an aside, I have to laugh at people complaining about €99 per month. I remember being delighted getting 0.5mb/s ADSL for €120 per month when broadband was first launched by Eircom more then 20 years ago :D

    It was a big reduction from the €300 per month dial up internet, per minute phone bills! How far we have come :)

    My bad, introductory offers aside, ~30 euro a month for the 500Mb package. ~55 for 1Gig.

    And Im agreeing, Starlink would make a great stop gap, not denying that. I've already said that a few times. Fact is, not everyone would even be able to afford 99 a month.


  • #23
    unkel
    Registered Users Posts: 64,693 ✭✭✭✭unkel


    joe123 wrote: »
    And why begrudge anyone living rural either.

    I don't. I'd love to live rural myself with an acre or two of land and peace & quiet instead of living in a crampy estate in Dublin. But if you chose to live somewhere nice where you can buy a cheap house, don't come crying to the government holding your hand up

    Can't have your cake and eat it...


  • #24
    Marlow
    Registered Users Posts: 14,555 ✭✭✭✭Marlow


    joe123 wrote: »
    One user who was in the beta reported some great speeds of 70+ but also had some speed tests coming in below 15Mb. And thats with a limited number on the system, although Musk did mention improved speeds later in the year.

    During the Beta, the inter-connect between the satellites was not working yet. So all communication from every single satellite was to groundstation only. Plus only with one ground station.

    The way it works going forward is multiple ground stations global and traffic can travel at faster than light between satellites (light in a vacuum, which space is, is faster than light in a fibre optic cable).

    So a lot of that has been sorted by now. The increase of speed by the end of year is probably due to more ground stations being operational, so they don't shove all the data down the same downlink and fibre on the ground.

    Speedtests, I've seen recently, are pretty consistent around the 150 Mbit/s mark .. unless your dish is covered in snow of course.

    /M


  • #25
    NewClareman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,436 ✭✭✭NewClareman


    bk wrote: »
    Seemingly coming to the Black Valley in Kerry. Kerry County Council doing a deal with SpaceX:

    https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2021/0223/1198738-spacex-and-co-kerry/

    I couldn't think of a better Use Case for Starlink, in this country. The Black Valley is a tough environment for traditional telecom solutions. I remember when a radio solution was deployed there for telephony.
    richie123 wrote: »
    Thats rubbish.
    Government need to cop on get with the times and do a deal with spacex.
    A hell of a lot cheaper than the current madness of the NBP plan.its irrelevant now times have moved on.
    I agree that Starlink is ideal for those remote sites where the cost of installing fibre is very high. Given the way the NBI bid process was structured, it doesn't qualify. We have no visibility of the actual contract signed, so no way of knowing whether it could still be used.
    nullObjects wrote: »
    I wonder if the 99 euro per month is because they need to price it at that to pay for their costs or if they've priced it at that to try to intentionally slow down uptake. If the monthly cost was a little lower in a couple of years or so I'd definitely sign up

    SpaceX have outsourced the production of their dish and it is heavily subsidised at the current price. I posted the details on another thread but, if I remember correctly, the cost to SpaceX is about €2k per dish.


  • #26
    listermint
    Registered Users Posts: 33,570 ✭✭✭✭listermint


    unkel wrote: »
    Indeed and if you've saved €100k or €200k on your house you might well fork out the €80 per month for Starlink without having to rely on the tax payer to give you even more subsidies

    Between decent quality broadband available everywhere and people structurally working from home, I can see houses in the Dublin commuter area go down and urban houses going up in value relative to each other too, so some extra fat in the wallet there for the people currently without broadband

    Unkel you come across as fairly intelligent individual and your input on the likes of the EV forum etc is great .

    But I can't help thinking you've waded into a technology space you know nothing about and have indeed zero notion of the the reasons surrounding the need to put high speed fibre up and down the island.

    Il give you a hint it's got nothing to do with your I'm alright jack nonsense. It's got everything to do with this island keeping a competitive edge in a gig economy.

    We have to make these investments because we need to make this place at the fore front of being a place you want to live and work. We need to stimulate small and local businesses to be able to go online and maintain their presence.

    This is as important as electrical roll out was and of you can't see why then there is quite literally no point explaining it to you.

    And also if you wanted to move out of Dublin no one is stopping you but you.


    If it was up to people with your attitude to infrastructure we'd be in the dark ages and relying on private companies to cherry pick what houses they want to provide power to.


    Laughable, the entire attitude from start to finish and it's actually only seems to have its basis in some weird jealousy of people with fields next door to their house....weird.


  • #27
    pauly58
    Registered Users Posts: 225 ✭✭pauly58


    I am very sceptical that the NBP will ever come to full fruition, if it was that simple then surely the Germans, Dutch or the UK would have done it before now. I think the final cost will be much higher than that budgeted, they will ask for more money, the then current Government will refuse & it will all peter out with the final project unfinished.
    It was very unwise to give the contract to a single tender.


  • #28
    richie123
    Registered Users Posts: 790 ✭✭✭richie123


    joe123 wrote: »
    My bad, introductory offers aside, ~30 euro a month for the 500Mb package. ~55 for 1Gig.

    And Im agreeing, Starlink would make a great stop gap, not denying that. I've already said that a few times. Fact is, not everyone would even be able to afford 99 a month.

    Cost will come down as coverage increases and usage increases.
    Yes in built up areas I agree let the nbp plan continue as is but in rural backward out of the way areas where it could cost government as much as 10 k a household..starlink is the answer!it doesn't gave to be the fastest either just a decent connection.


  • #29
    richie123
    Registered Users Posts: 790 ✭✭✭richie123


    listermint wrote: »
    Unkel you come across as fairly intelligent individual and your input on the likes of the EV forum etc is great .

    But I can't help thinking you've waded into a technology space you know nothing about and have indeed zero notion of the the reasons surrounding the need to put high speed fibre up and down the island.

    Il give you a hint it's got nothing to do with your I'm alright jack nonsense. It's got everything to do with this island keeping a competitive edge in a gig economy.

    We have to make these investments because we need to make this place at the fore front of being a place you want to live and work. We need to stimulate small and local businesses to be able to go online and maintain their presence.

    This is as important as electrical roll out was and of you can't see why then there is quite literally no point explaining it to you.

    And also if you wanted to move out of Dublin no one is stopping you but you.


    If it was up to people with your attitude to infrastructure we'd be in the dark ages and relying on private companies to cherry pick what houses they want to provide power to.


    Laughable, the entire attitude from start to finish and it's actually only seems to have its basis in some weird jealousy of people with fields next door to their house....weird.

    You have one heck of a bee in your bonnet.
    This national broadband plan is a serious costly joke.
    I trust the government to do **** all in this country.
    The children's hospital is my prime example of that.

    We are going to blow 2 billion and more when the cost overruns are tallied up it'll more than likely blow 3 billion.


  • #30
    degsie
    Registered Users Posts: 8,727 ✭✭✭degsie


    Any chance getting back on topic boys and girls?


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  • #31
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭[Deleted User]


    richie123 wrote: »
    You have one heck of a bee in your bonnet.
    This national broadband plan is a serious costly joke.
    I trust the government to do **** all in this country.
    The children's hospital is my prime example of that.

    We are going to blow 2 billion and more when the cost overruns are tallied up it'll more than likely blow 3 billion.

    The NBP deal is done, it's signed off already and it's the right plan to bring fibre to the countryside. Anything else like 5g would be a band aid fix and a failure. This Starlink it's the only other tech that could compliment it for the most rural


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