Starlink cost him C$600 (US$486) to purchase hardware, and a high-priced C$150 monthly fee for a subscription. He said that Starlink provides "blindingly quick" upload speeds for streaming videos and movies.Don Joyce is a Nokia director who works from home at a remote lake house in Canada. He recently switched to satellite broadband service Starlink offered by Elon Musk's SpaceX.Starlink cost him C$600 (US$486) to purchase hardware, and a high-priced C$150 monthly fee for a subscription. He said that Starlink provides "blindingly quick" upload speeds for streaming videos and movies.However, the beta tester said that he experienced dropouts when calling Microsoft Teams or Zoom."If you live in a city with other options, it's not something I recommend. If you live in the country and have poor internet access, it is a good alternative.Elon Musk, a billionaire entrepreneur and founder of Tesla Inc, believes that the success of one his largest bets could come down to how many Joyces there are.Musk will discuss Starlink's progress Tuesday at the Mobile World Congress, a telecommunications conference where a large audience has a stake. People familiar with Starlink's plan stated that if the service succeeds, it will vastly increase the reach of broadband internet worldwide, connect Tesla cars, and provide a new platform to traders and other people with exotic internet needs.It must not follow the footsteps of satellite ventures like it.Musk stated last year that "not bankrupt would be a great step," That's our goal.SpaceX's Starlink division launched the "Better Than Nothing Beta" program in the United States last Oct., offering data speeds of up to 150 megabits per sec. Early reviews have been mixed. Some users are complaining about the sensitivity to weather, which has always been a problem with satellite internet.Recent heat waves have created new problems."I'm going to have to spray it using a gardenhose to restart my internet... That just feels wrong," Reddit user, who claimed he lived in Arizona, posted earlier this month. Along with an error message that said "Offline: Thermal Shutdown" and "Starlink Will Reconnect after Cooling Down".Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX president, stated in April that the company has "a lot to do to make this network reliable". Tuesday's statement by SpaceX did not provide an immediate comment.Starlink believes that service should improve by launching more satellites and other improvements. Starlink has launched more than 1,700 satellites weighing 260 kg so far and envisages more than 40,000.However, the economics are quite daunting. Musk stated that Starlink could still serve less than 5% internet users, and still generate $30 billion in annual revenue. Critics called this wishful thinking."Is there enough demand to support tens of thousands of subscribers at this price point?" Tim Farrar is president of TMF Associates. "In most areas of the world, if someone were to tell you that your broadband service would cost you 100 dollars per month, they'd be shocked."He stated that there may be wealthy people living in isolated areas but "not very many of them".Starlink will also have to be able to handle that demand, especially since more people use video streaming data. This would require significant additional spending on satellite upgrades and additions.RURAL SUBSIDIESThe Federal Communications Commission has allocated nearly $900 million to Starlink, a program that brings the internet to rural areas. This could help ease pricing pains.Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX's vice-president, stated that COVID-19 highlighted "access to quality Internet" around the world.Starlink claimed that it can reduce costs by designing its own satellites and terminals. According to a source familiar with the matter, Starlink has employed engineers from Qualcomm Inc, Broadcom Inc and other chipmakers to design its communications chips. This is similar to Tesla's approach.Starlink has reduced the terminal cost by more than half from $3,000 and expects to keep it in the range of a few hundred bucks within the next year, Shotwell stated in April.Musk last year tweeted that "Lowering Starlink Terminal Cost, which may seem rather pedestrian, is actually Our Most Tough Technical Challenge."Starlink also reaps the low-cost launch capabilities of SpaceX.Misha Leybovich (ex-Staylink sales director) said, "When you own parts of the stack you can do really technical sophisticated things at an affordable price."Nevertheless, there is fierce competition. Kuiper, Amazon.com Inc's subsidiary, has a competing project. OneWeb, a failed satellite operator that was rescued by India's Bharti Group and the British government, has also vowed to compete. Meanwhile, terrestrial telecom providers are in a race to offer high-speed 5G broadband services.High prices and rapid adoption of terrestrial broadband and wireless were major factors in the demise of previous low-Earth orbit satellite ventures. After billions in investments, Motorola-backed Iridium Communications Inc was forced to file for bankruptcy, while Teldesic, founded by Bill Gates, suffered a similar fate.SpaceX, Amazon, and a host of other companies have "created quite a racing that no one can absolutely determine whether there is a large enough market for it," Iridium chief executive Matthew J. Desch said to Reuters.
