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SpaceX started to accept pre-orders of its Starlink internet service on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis via Starlink.com early February. SpaceX says it already has over 500,000 customers who pre-ordered the service. “To date, over half a million people have placed an order or put down a deposit for Starlink,” SpaceX operations engineer Siva Bharadvaj said during the Live broadcast of the most recent Starlink launch on May 4th. “With every launch, we get closer to connecting more people across the world,” he said. The aerospace company’s satellite constellation currently has about 1,560 satellites, out of over 4,400 that will provide high-speed internet worldwide. To date, SpaceX is providing its Starlink ‘Better Than Nothing Beta’ service to over 10,000 customers globally. Some which are located in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, among other regions. As more satellites are deployed to orbit, Starlink will be capable to expand broadband coverage.

SpaceX sent out e-mails this week to potential customers in Europe who signed up via Starlink.com. –“Starlink is now available in limited supply in France!” SpaceX announced. “Users can expect to see data speeds vary from 50Mb/s to 150Mb/s [megabits per second] over the next several months as we enhance the Starlink system. There will also be brief periods of no connectivity at all,” the company wrote in the e-mail, “As we launch more satellites, install more ground stations and improve our networking software, data speed, latency and uptime will improve dramatically.”

SpaceX founder Elon Musk said that “most likely, all of the initial 500k [Starlink beta users] will receive service,” he stated, “More of a challenge when we get into the several million user range.” He also said that the internet speed will “double to ~300Mb/s & latency will drop to ~20ms [milliseconds] later this year.” Regarding service pricing, Musk said it is the same cost globally. The Starlink Kit that includes a technologically advanced phased-array antenna dish, Wi-Fi router, and mounting/power equipment costs $499.USD. The monthly internet service fee is $99 USD. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said that the company has no plans to impose restrictive data caps, nor set varying price data plans for the Starlink internet service. –“I don’t think we’re going to do tiered pricing to consumers. We’re going to try to keep it as simple as possible and transparent as possible, so, right now there are no plans to tier for consumers,” Shotwell said.

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