You realize that the Ukrainians are spending $2500 / month per terminal, right?
This isn’t a cheap system. Yeah, focusing on America where we have subsidies for rural internet (Government to pay part of those costs) is for a damn good reason. I’m not sure who can afford this in practice.
It is said that the terminal costs $1,300. And I’d expect that the communications will be hundreds+ / month. There’s not actually a lot of people around the world who can afford that, but shoot. You can tell me which countries you think this is a good business idea for.
As I said earlier: Ukraine has crazy requirements where the Russians are conducting electronic warfare (and other… warfare…) where the costs are worth it. Anyone else? Because Viasat is right there at like $100/month. Unless you NEED a way to escape the Russian jamming of traditional satellites, why would you pay Starlink’s crazy high costs?
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/05/10/1051973/russia-hack-viasat-satellite-ukraine-invasion/
“Rural” includes oceans. So airplanes who are flying across oceans use Viasat right now, and its likely cheaper and more available than Starlink in practice thanks to the far fewer satellites that Viasat needs to launch and maintain. Yeah, 10 satellites are way, way cheaper than 40,000+ satellites. Who’d a thunk it?
I work on a ship and am in the Galapagos right now. Thr island is covered in Starlink terminals and they’ve changed the internet existence here. Posting this via public starlink WiFi. I have a friend in the Philippines, and same there, huge impact.
His point about your US centric point is valid.
Starlink has many issues network wise, but the price point is per country so it is still being well used around the world in rural existence.
You don’t understand today’s economy.
Companies today run below costs to trick you into thinking they are legitimate businesses.
You need to calculate the actual costs of launching 60,000 satellites every 5 years because this dumbass idea literally falls out of the sky because the orbit paths are so low.
Much like how Uber or MoviePass have fake business models with fake prices for years, Starlink has a fake price on the consumer facing side.
So how do we get closer to the real price? We look at the thousands of terminals or other large scale deployments of Starlink. Like Ukraine’s $2500 price point.
I understand that $100/month internet is gamechanging. However, it is also fake if it’s coming from Starlink, because we Americans can find companies for years to make a loss in 3rd world countries and fake our growth.
Adjust the stats closer to reality, and you see the immediate problems.
Hey you make some really good points and I appreciate your contribution to the discussion, but maybe dial it back 20% on the sass. You don’t need to make it personal by saying
You don’t understand today’s economy
Anyways, assuming that your assertions are accurate, what’s the angle for Musk? You’re implying Starlink will corner the market in certain areas with unrealistic price points, and then raise prices eventually? Or is there a more insidious corporate strategy I’m not recognizing?
What?! The Ukrainians pay for starlink service? I though Musk said he donated them and eat the service cost?
