I got the same invite. Than i read up about it. Nearly 600 out of pocket, no guarantee it will always work, no info on data caps. Actually not much info about anything. All i can see is the same crap he pulls on teslas. Charges for updates. Changes options down the line. Desiding to have data caps and your stuck paying 100 a month.
I deleted my invite.
There is no guarantee ANY internet provider will "always work", as I have discovered the hard way: first with my dial up service (I maxed out at half speed on our 56K modem - on a good day, and it stopped working at all on a regular basis), then with "Wildblue" satellite (which was 3mbps download, but had such latency issues that a "live" conference was unwieldy, and stopped working when there were storms either in our neighborhood or at their ground station in Texas), and now our DSL: 7 down/1 up (that's the spec, and occasionally we actually get it - often it's half that, and it goes down completely when we get wet weather or it's windy out. It's unreliable enough that everyone in our neighborhood is on a first name basis with our phone company's service techs in our area. The central issue in the lack of reliability is a stretch of aging copper line in part of the 2.5 mile run from the end of the nearest fiber to our neighborhood. The are no spare good copper pairs in that line, and the ones we are using for our service are not in that good a shape either. The phone company will not invest in replacing that stretch of line for as few people as there are out here. I don't blame them - it's a big money loser for them.)
As for the price and the potential data caps: The Beta service has no caps (likely no need, since there are not many users yet).
IF it happens, no one uses a hard cap. It's more likely the speed will be throttled, either intentionally by Starlink, or simply by the fact that too many people are trying to use the same pipeline at the same time. If we get throttled to even 10% of their target speed once all the satellites are up, that's still far better than what we have now (Our DSL spec is 7/1, but it's not all that often we get that). It's worth it to me to upgrade from the only other viable option we have here (I don't consider Hughes Net "viable"). In fact, it's worth it to me to sign up for their Beta test and still pay for our DSL service until I see how it's working out, and they fill out their satellite network. As noted in my previous post, if fiber to the home ever gets here, I will most likely leave Starlink and switch to that, as it's likely less expensive (and possibly fast, though we currently have no need for faster speeds than what Starlink is offering)
As for Musk and his Teslas: I don't give a darn. I don't own one. As for charging for updates and changing options down the line, how is that any different from ANY car manufacturer? None of them give anything away for free, except in the case of recalls (which Tesla also does). We do own a Chevy Bolt electric vehicle (before someone throws a fit, don't worry we also own a 1951 Dodge M37 former Korean War military pickup. Our friends joke that I got it to offset my wife's reduction in our carbon footprint with her Bolt.) Personally, I like Tesla's option and upgrade package better than the Chevy's: When my Tesla owning friend sees a new option come out, in most cases he can get it for his car. Whether it's a major software upgrade or something else. On our Bolt, all we can get is minor software tweaks (which we pay for, unless it's a safety recall). When a major new feature comes out in their software, the only way for us to get it is to buy a new car.
Originally Posted by John_Mc
The cost was $499 for hardware, plus shipping & tax beings total to $581.94. Then $99/month for service.
That's a no-go.
I'm sure the price is an obstacle for some, and if you have other reliable high speed options, there is no need to pay Starlink's price. When you work from home for a company several states away, have two kids doing their schooling online several days per week (not to mention their recreational use), a wife who would occasionally like to use the internet as well, and no other high speed options, it's a bargain. It certainly beats driving down to the high-speed public WiFi in the local elementary school parking lot to do my business meetings via a laptop plugged in to an inverter for recharging from the car (and starting the car every once in a while to recharge the laptop and heat up the car).
If I get a year from this and then fiber comes to our neighborhood and I jump ship, I'll still consider it money well spent. If I can sell the Starlink gear to someone else who needs it, so much the better.
