Starlink Public Beta Now Available: Elon Musk’s Satellite Internet Costs $99/Month

Elon Musk promised the Internet for Starlink before the end of 2020 and it has been. The satellite Internet service has started operating in its public beta, allowing interested parties to start using the service. Of course, with a monthly price of $99 + $499 installation kit.

Over the past few months, Starlink has been adding more and more satellites to its network, with batches generally of 60 at each SpaceX launch. During this time he has also been testing the service in a private and secret beta from which we were able to obtain details about its operation and appearance of the antennas.

Public beta, for $99 per month and with possible interruptions

Now is the time to open the beta to a wider audience, a phase that is beginning to apply now. For this, SpaceX has been contacting the interested parties to indicate the conditions of use. According to emails accessed by CNBC, it will cost $99 per month for public beta users. At this price we will have to add an initial cost of almost 500 dollars that corresponds to the hardware and installation kit of the antenna.

Each Starlink kit includes a satellite terminal, a small dish that points to the mesh of orbiting satellites, and a mounting tripod. There is also a router, which is connected by cable to the terminal. The router is designed to be placed indoors, where it allows devices to connect via Wi-Fi to access Internet service.

To all this is added an app for iOS and Android that helps in the installation and subsequent configuration of the system. The dish itself automatically adjusts and moves according to where you need to point for better coverage with Starlink satellites.

The service, as we already saw, has download speeds of up to 60 Mbps in the first tests. Later, Starlink itself boasted speeds of up to 100 Mbps and “super low latency.” These speeds and latency may vary according to Starlink advises:

“Expect to see data rates vary from 50 Mbs to 150 Mbs and latency from 20 ms to 40 ms over the next several months as we upgrade the Starlink system. There will also be short periods of no connectivity at all.”

At the moment the service in public beta is more focused on the United States and Canada. This is due to the simple fact that it is where Starlink has the best coverage right now in the absence of having all its satellites in orbit.