Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, tweeted Friday that Starlink's open beta phase for its satellite internet network will be completed next month. This is two months later than Musk's August date at Mobile World Congress when he said that the company's Starlink satellite internet network would be out of its open beta phase next month. He also stated that he expects the service to reach over 500,000 users in 12 months.
Starlink is a system that uses a constellation of approximately 12,000 satellites orbiting low-Earth orbits to beam continuous broadband internet service. The terminal is $499, and the service costs $99 per month. In October 2020, SpaceX opened its public beta testing. Musk stated in August that SpaceX had shipped 100,000 Starlink Terminals to 14 countries. The terminals include a Wi-Fi router and satellite dish. The beta will end and Starlink will be available to more countries. However, it is hard to predict when that 100,000 figure might rise to the half-million mark Musk predicted.
Starlinks internet service will be sold directly to rural customers in the world. It boasts 100Mbps download speeds and 20Mbps upload speeds. However, Starlink's service has received mixed reviews.
Also, Musk is known for being optimistic in setting deadlines for product releases. This is evident by the many Tesla customers who waited to get their so-called Full Self Driving software.
