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Published 19:34 IST, January 27th 2021

Starlink internet: Is the Starlink better than Nothing Beta program?

Elon Musk's Starlink better than nothing beta program has the main goal to cover Earth with up to 42,000 satellites for a very high-speed global broadband.

Reported by: Saurabh Sabat
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Starlink is a satellite internet constellation being constructed by SpaceX providing satellite Internet access. The constellation will consist of thousands of mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit, working in combination with ground transceivers. Here in this article, you will know all about the Starlink dish kit and the Starlink map.

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Starlink Internet

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The latest country which has given permission to approve Elon Musk's Starlink internet is the UK. Elon Musk's Starlink better than nothing beta program has the main goal to cover Earth with up to 42,000 satellites for creating a very high-speed global broadband service. Other regions like the Northern US, southern Canada and some parts of Europe are now also participating in Starlink's "Better Than Nothing Beta" test. The costing goes like this:

  • $99 a month
  • plus $499 for a kit with a tripod
  • A WiFi router
  • A terminal to connect to the Starlink satellites.

For the UK this will cost £439 for the kit and £89 subscription fee for 150 megabits per second (Mbps). The speed of Starlink is greater than other satellite internet providers in a by large numbers and it also decreases the latency significantly. Users can expect that the quality of the connection is going to be something comparable with a cable but not as good as fibre. Current Starlink latency is around 39 milliseconds

Starlink's Better Than Nothing Beta Program

  • Better Than Nothing Beta can be considered as a great opportunity to become an early user of the Starlink network. The Starlink website mentions that the users can make out from the title that the company is not trying to give very high initial expectations.
  • Expect to see data speeds vary from 50Mb/s to 150Mb/s and latency from 20ms to 40ms over the next several months as we enhance the Starlink system. There will also be brief periods of no connectivity at all.
  • As the company launch more satellites, installs more ground stations and improve their networking software, data speed, latency and uptime will improve dramatically. For latency, the company expects to achieve 16ms to 19ms by summer 2021.

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Updated 19:34 IST, January 27th 2021

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