Figure: The zone in which beta testing of the Starlink service will be conducted.
On June 14, 2020 on the website www.starlink.com “registration for beta testing” began.
Applications were accepted from everyone, so I honestly indicated my Russian index 101000, my email xxxx.ru and received a message that I was also counted
from: Starlink
Thank you for your interest in Starlink!
Starlink is designed to deliver high speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable. Private beta testing is expected to begin later this summer, followed by public beta testing, starting with higher latitudes.
If you provided us with your zip code, you will be notified via email if beta testing opportunities become available in your area. In the meantime, we will continue to share with you updates about general service availability and upcoming Starlink launches.
On July 1, 2020, the rules for conducting beta testing of
Starlink Beta Services Terms ( Effective as of July 1, 2020) were published on the closed part of the site.
Thank you for volunteering to participate in SpaceX's Starlink Beta Program (“Beta Program”). Below you will find important rules for your participation. SpaceX will provide you with a "Starlink Kit" (the Starlink dish, wifi router, power supply and mounts) and internet services. By accepting Starlink internet services and the Starlink Kit ("Starlink Services"), you agree to be bound by and comply with these terms and conditions under the Beta Program .
Confidentiality and No Social Media
You are being provided early access to the Starlink Services. The Starlink Services and details like internet speeds, uptime, coverage, and other performance specifications are confidential and proprietary to SpaceX. You may NOT discuss your participation in the Beta Program online or with those outside of your household, unless they are SpaceX employees.
You must not share anything on social media about the Starlink Services or the Beta Program. This applies not only to public forums, but also to private accounts and restricted groups. Do not provide access or information about Starlink Services to the media or allow third-parties to take pictures of any part of the Starlink Kit.
Your Responsibility as a Beta Tester
You agree to dedicate an average of 30 minutes to 1 hour per day testing the Starlink Services and providing feedback on a periodic basis. Feedback requests from SpaceX will come in the form of surveys, phone calls, emails, and other means. Not participating can result in termination of your Beta Program participation and you must return your Starlink Kit.
Nominal Fee to Test Online Ordering Process
As part of the Beta Program's online ordering process, SpaceX will ask you to input your credit or debit card information and your card will be charged a small amount in order to test SpaceX's ordering and billing systems. For example, at the initial sign-up you will be charged approximately $ 3.00 total and thereafter, a reoccurring charge of approximately $ 2.00 per month during the duration of the Beta Program.
This nominal charge is NOT a fee for the Starlink Kit or internet services, but is exclusively being requested to allow SpaceX to test its ordering and billing systems. SpaceX is temporarily loaning you the Starlink Kit and providing the internet services free of charge.
If you do not want to provide your credit or debit card information, please do not participate in the Beta Program.
Starlink Kit
The Starlink Kit has not been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission and may not be offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained. The Starlink Kit is being provided to you for the purposes of evaluating performance and determining customer acceptability during the Kit's pre-production state.
Title to, and ownership of the equipment in the Starlink Kit remains with SpaceX. You may not loan, transfer, sell, give away, tamper with, or alter the Starlink Kit unless you obtain approval from SpaceX. Software copies installed on the Starlink Kit are made available for use as installed and never sold. SpaceX reserves all rights and interests to Starlink Services and its intellectual property provided to you.
If any equipment in the Starlink Kit is stolen, damaged, or compromised, please report it promptly to Customer Support by signing into your Starlink Account.
Installation
You are responsible for installing the Starlink Kit. Do not allow third-parties, or those not associated with SpaceX, to access or install the Starlink Kit unless you obtain approval form SpaceX. Do not install the Starlink Kit at your home if you do not have the authority to do so. It is your responsibility to ensure compliance with all applicable zoning, ordinances, covenants, conditions, restrictions, lease obligations and landlord / owner approvals related to the installation location. For example, if your apartment building or condo prohibits installs on its roof, or in common spaces, or only allows installs on private balconies, or does not allow penetrative installs (drilling holes through a roof or walls), you are responsible for understanding and following such rules. If you cannot install the Starlink Kit without breaking the rules,do not install it.
Use good judgment in installing the Starlink Services, and do not take unnecessary risks. If you cannot safely install the Starlink Kit, do not install it.
Except as arises from intentional misconduct or gross negligence, SpaceX shall not have any liability for any losses resulting from the Starlink Services, Starlink Kit or any installation, repair, or other associated services including, without limitation, damage to your property, or loss of software, data, or other information from your devices. Should use of the Starlink Services require any construction or alteration to your property, SpaceX is not obliged to restore your property to the same physical state as prior to delivery of Services. If you require a roof mount installation, you acknowledge the potential risks associated with this type of installation, including, without limitation, with respect to any warranty that applies to your roof or roof membrane.
Privacy
Please review SpaceX'sPrivacy Policy to understand how we treat personal information we collect from you. In addition to the information listed in our Privacy Policy, we will be collecting information through our survey questions, and certain data for the purpose of measuring performance, including the following:
A record of time when the dish is active and transmitting
Amount of data the dish uses per moment of time
Equipment link performance and network health
Equipment unit telemetry
Dish GPS orientation and obstruction telemetry
Usage and Network Monitoring
Do not conduct any illegal activities using the Starlink Services. This includes, downloading or storing any material that infringes on the intellectual property or copyrights of third-parties, such as downloading movies or music without paying for it. SpaceX may suspend or terminate your participation in the Beta Program if we believe you are participating in illegal behavior using Starlink Services. SpaceX may also suspend or terminate your participation in order to protect the network from security threats or to minimize congestion caused by the excessive use.
Termination of Beta Program and Starlink Kit Returns
At the end of Beta Program, or whenever SpaceX determines, your participation in the Beta Program will be terminated, Starlink Services will be shut off and you will be required to return the Starlink Kit to SpaceX, at SpaceX's shipping cost, following return instructions that will be provided to you.
To terminate your participation in the Beta Program at any time, please contact Customer Support by signing into your Starlink Account. SpaceX will provide you with instructions for returning the Starlink Kit, at SpaceX's cost.
Failure to return the Starlink Kit within 30 days of Beta Program termination or within 30 days from SpaceX's request for any reason, may result in your credit or debit card on file being charged an equipment fee.
Elon Musk tweeted on October 2, 2020 that public beta testing can be expected "very soon" in an area equivalent to Seattle.
On October 27, 2020, Space X is launching a public beta testing program under the slogan 'Better Than Nothing'. Those who signed up for beta testing begin to receive the following messages on their email.
Beta test participants are invited to redeem terminals at $ 499 (plus state tax and shipping costs) and a subscription fee of $ 99 per month without limiting traffic. The promised speed is in the range of 50-150 Mbit, with possible interruptions in communication. In 2021, a significant improvement in the quality of service is promised due to software updates and an increase in the number of satellites.
Here are the zones where public beta testing was conducted in the US on November 2
It can be compared to the map of gateway placement on the same date.
As for the service itself and tariff plans, there is very little information.
In 2019, in a letter from Space X, which was addressed to one of the village administrations, it was indicated that the speeds would be 100 Mbps from the network to the subscriber and 40 Mbps - from the subscriber to the network, and the target cost was $ 80 (according to the General Director Space X by Gwynnie Shotwell).
Now Starlink's competitors are satellite Internet providers, this volume is about 40-50 GB per month.
Below are the current tariff plans of the two main satellite Internet providers in the USA
HughesNet (approximately 800 thousand subscribers)
ViaSat (Trademark Exede), approximately 500..600 thousand subscribers
Let me remind you that Hughes and Viasat offer satellite terminals to their subscribers as part of a service, and not for a fee.
At the same time, those subscribers who use optics in the USA and have unlimited tariff plans consume 280 GB per month. Considering that at the beginning of operation the network will be empty, and demand is now estimated as high (in August, SpaceX informed about 700 thousand requests from those wishing to become beta testers), it is possible that after beta testing a certain premium package with a limit of 250-500 GB will be offered and a price of $ 150-200.
The first sign of the cost of StarLink service for legal entities appeared on October 21, 2020. A note has been published on the cooperation of the Ector County Schools in Texas and Space X. For 45 families of students (plus 90 more in the future) the program for 12 months will cost $ 300,000, which is equivalent to $ 185 per student (subscriber) per month. Assuming one-time installation costs of 300 USD per subscriber, the monthly fee will be 160 USD per month.
For those who will be a beta test participant, Space X announced that the cost of a terminal with a tripod base (for installation on the ground) will be $ 499, and the cost of service is $ 99 per month. Space X in this case offers unlimited traffic as much as the subscriber can download.
Space X also announced the release of an application for smartphones, which allows the subscriber to determine whether a given place is suitable for installing a subscriber terminal and see the main parameters of the service.
Here is one of the most balanced opinions on the quality of StarLink's service during the public beta stage:
Here are more detailed test results of the Starlink
Test Information
Test Time: Thu, 05 Nov 2020 21:41:57 GMT
Version: Cisco Webex Network Test v1.0
Browser: Chrome 86.0.4240.111 on Windows NT 10.0 64-bit
- Test Results
Result: Finished
App: Successful
Room System: Successful
Call: Successful
Network Connection: Wired (reported by user)
Public IPaddr: 143.131.3.4
TCP Connection Tests:
HTTPS port 443 to lqtservice-web.wbx2.com
HTTPS port 443 to uds.huron-dev .com
HTTPS port 443 to gds.huron-dev.com
HTTPS port 443 to idbroker.webex.com
HTTPS port 8443 to callcontrol.huron-dev.com
HTTPS port 5061 to lqtservice-web.wbx2.com
HTTPS port 5004 to lqtservice-web.wbx2.com
TCP Delay: 34.5 ms
TCP Download Speed: 160.89 Mbits / s
TCP Upload Speed: 21.93 Mbits / s
UDP Connection Tests:
UDP port 5004 to lqtservice-web.wbx2.com
UDP Delay: 33.50 ms
UDP Download LossRate: 0.00%
UDP Upload LossRate: 0.00%
UDP Download Jitter: 3.30 ms
UDP Upload Jitter: 1.41 ms
UDP Download Speed: 5.06 Mbits / s
UDP Upload Speed: 6.12 Mbits / s
Thus, the speed characteristics of the service completely suit subscribers, in contrast to the continuity of the service, which is obviously associated with a small number of satellites in orbit and, apparently, will be eliminated in the near future as the already launched satellites move to working orbits and new ones are launched. ... VPN services have also been confirmed to work smoothly. So far, it is impossible to conclude how seamless the transition is during the normal switching of the terminal from one satellite to the neighboring one and what is the time. There is information in the literature that FAR beam switching takes 100 milliseconds. What this parameter is for the StarLink terminal is still unknown.
Space X does not provide its subscribers with "white" or static IP addresses. The answer from their tech support was as follows:“We are running a CGNAT and they don't have static IP routing available within the NAT. So Starlink uses CGNAT, " and they are not going to provide static IP routing inside NAT.
According to Elon Musk's tweets, testing is expected to start in the "southern" states in January 2021
Based on the Tesla car sales model, it is unlikely that there are resellers in the United States: all applications will most likely be collected via the Internet at www.starlink.com , and contracts will be concluded there. and the equipment will be sent to the client by mail
This model, however, has a flaw: there is no guarantee that the subscriber will install and initiate the terminal, and the terminal may freeze. Perhaps the contract will include a condition that the subscriber is given a certain period, 30-45 days, to turn on the terminal or return it. This is a very important moment for the economics of the project and this sales model, since the cost of the first terminals will be much higher than their price for subscribers of $ 499, and SpaceX is highly desirable that the terminals begin to immediately generate income from services.
Previous materials:
- Everything about the Starlink Satellite Internet project. Part 1. Birth of the project
- Everything about the Starlink Satellite Internet project. Part 2. Starlink Network
- Everything about the Starlink Satellite Internet project. Part 3. Ground complex
- Everything about the Starlink Satellite Internet project. Part 4: Subscriber terminal
- Everything about the Starlink Satellite Internet project. Part 5: Starlink Bundle Status and Closed Beta