🛰 This is how Starlink works in England – a users review

Musk has launched Starlink under the titel "Better Than Nothing Program", and Louis Anslow is one of the few that has already gotten his hands on Starlink. He is currently seeing out the pandemic at his parent’s farm in rural England and gave us the opportunity to get an insight into his experience of Starlink.

As we have previously reported, Starlink is currently running a beta-test. SpaceX has stated that Starlink will be available in more and more countries, starting this year, and you can now order the service on their webpage and see when it will be available in your location.

But how does it truly work? Does it live up to the expectations? We asked Louis Anslow what he thinks!

For someone who knows nothing about Starlink, how would you describe the service? What are the main differences compared to your previous internet providers?
Anslow: Starlink provides high speed internet anywhere on earth, it is off grid- you could be living in an igloo in the Antarctic and you'd have the same speed as living in a developed city.

What benefits have you experienced using Starlink compared to other internet providers?
Anslow: My internet speed went from 5MBPS to 100/200MBPS.

How fast (download/upload speed) is the internet service, and does it live up to the expectations? Is the connection stable?
Anslow: At first it would cut out for a few seconds every 20 mins, only noticeable if on a call. More satellites have gone up since and these cut outs have stopped. It is faster than I expected and is much much better than the 'better than nothing beta' name suggests.

How does the set-up work?
Anslow: Just like regular internet. Pop your dish outside, plug router in and bingo. I have a great shot of it outside:

In today’s market, do you think that Starlink is prizeworthy (what do you currently pay)?
Anslow: I currently pay $100 a month. Very worth it if you can't get fast regular internet. Also if you want internet free from control and censorship by an authoritarian state.

Based on your experience, do you believe that Starlink will be one of the major internet providers in the future?
Anslow: Like Tesla, I think Starlink will lead many other companies to do the same thing. Not clear if Starlink in its current form will be able to have enough capacity to become a major provider.

Better internet than promised and an easy set-up makes Louis Anslows overal impression optimistic. In an interview with Via Satellite, Gwynne Shotwell, coo and president of SpaceX said:

One of the reasons why SpaceX is successful is we still have these giant goals in front of us.

And while some goals already seems to be reached, there is a bright future for Starlink ahead. And as more Starlink satellites are launched into orbit the connection and reach improves- creating the internet of the future.  

Image: SpaceX