Technology

Step-by-Step Guide: How to Connect to Elon Musk’s Starlink Internet

The billionaire CEO of SpaceX is sending satellites into space, and he promises to provide high-speed internet for many people. Nowadays, many people are asking about how to connect to Elon Musk Internet? Whenever Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur, comes to our minds, instantly we think about Tesla, his electric car company, his investment in space exploration SpaceX, or his attempt to grad the leadership of Twitter. Perhaps many people know him as the wealthiest person in the world.

Starlink may be unfamiliar to you, which is the audacity of Elon Musk to provide internet connection for all people around the world through advanced and private satellites. After the developments of SpaceX and $885.5 million assurance in funds from the Federal Communications Commission in late 2020, Starlink increased its speed in 2021.

After three years of launching the Elon Musk satellite, it exceeded 1000 satellites in space. Starlink has up to 2000 usable satellites revolving overhead, and now it provides some services in 32 countries that one of the countries is Ukraine. Elon Musk said there were internet terminals after the invasion of Russia to Ukraine. Based on a Washington Post reporter, this action cost American taxpayers about three million dollars.

Members of the scientific community expressed concerns about the effects of Starlink satellites on the view of the night sky. At the same time, other competitors of Starlink, such as Viasat, HughesNet, and Amazon’s Project Kuiper, focused on the speed of Starlink, and this caused some observations and attempts applied to slow its pace down.

Today, with up to 10000 users and $99 preorders in many countries, requests for Starlink internet are growing very fast. The best way to know about the availability of Starlink in your area is just you need to enter your address on the Starlink website. Therefore, the website will give you an estimated availability date. It is also possible for you to pay a deposit of about $110–$500 to preserve your place on the waitlist.

What is Starlink?

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Starlink is part of SpaceX. Also, it is the name of the spaceflight growing network or constellation of orbital satellites. In 2015, the improvement of the network started, and the first satellite was sent to space in 2018. The years after, SpaceX settled thousands of Starlink satellites in the constellation, and the recent one happened on April 21 and handed over 53 satellites in the low level of earth orbit. This number reached the satellites to 2388, and up to 2000 of them are in running parts of the constellation.

Is It Possible to Connect to Satellites’ Internet at Home?

Yes. Just the same as other satellite internet providers such as HughesNet or Viasat, Starlink is going to sell the accessibility of the internet, especially to those people who are living in rural areas or people who do not have access to high-speed internet. The Starlink website asserts that this internet is suitable for those areas where connecting to the internet is a challenge, and Starlink can provide the internet to inaccessible areas. The only thing you need to do is assign a satellite dish at home to receive the signals.

This company recommends some options for rooftops, yards, and inside of the home. Even there is an application for both Android and IOS which uses completed reality to aid the customers in choosing the best setting for the receivers. The service of Starlink is now available in some areas of the US and Canada, and this service has up to 100000 terminals sent to the customers. Therefore, Starlink wishes to cover the whole planet.

How to Connect to Satellites’ Internet at Home?

There are five steps to that Starlink revealed to provide satellite internet from home.

  1. Choose an open space

For having a fast Starlink internet, 100 degrees of clear sky is needed to connect to the satellites easily.

  • Open the box of it and follow the instructions

Whenever you open the gray box, you can see a paper with three drawings which are the instructions. Take out the instructions, and you will find a Starlink kit set with the trestle on top of the terminal adjacent to the router and 100 feet of black cable.  The terminal weighs around 10 pounds.

  • Construct the kit

Place the trestle on the ground and connect the rod to the trestle. You can see that the router is already linked to the terminal and cable. On the other hand, if you wish to connect it to the roof safely, you can purchase a “Volcano Roof Mount” or a “Pipe Adapter” from the website of Starlink. Dan Ventrudo said it was so easy to do because everything was ready. 

  • Turn on Starlink

Connect the end of the cable to the power source to activate Starlink. You can see two lights on the power piece, and the terminal will move up into a sloping position. Gary Konkol said that the running process of the terminal was so easy and uncomplicated.

  • Download the application of Starlink

Enter the Apple Store and download the Starlink application. Click on the Start Setup, and it will ask you whether all the kit is connected to the electricity. Choose Open Wifi Settings and connect to the Starlink network. Set your WiFi with a name and password; then, connect to the Starlink network on the WiFi setting on your phone. To check the terminal connections, go back to the application. Finally, it will crook to equal with any of the 1241 Starlink satellites, which takes a few minutes.

How Fast Is the Internet Service of Starlink?

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Based on the analysis of the Ookla site, the internet speed-tracking site, during the fourth quarter of 2021, Starlink presents speeds of the download was more than 100Mbps in 15 different countries last year. In the United States, the average pace is about 105Mbpm, and the average speed of upload is about 12Mbpm which is five and six times better than Viasat and HughesNet. Just the overall average of the whole wireless internet is less.

Starlink website claims that the users can hope for data speeds between 50 to 150 megabits every second and a delay of 20 to 40 milliseconds in many settings by next following months. By launching more satellites, installing many ground stations, and developing networking software, data speed, latency, and uptime will grow significantly.

Elon Musk tweeted last year that by the end of 2021, he expected the speed of the service reaches to 300Mbps. In 2022, the evaluation of these claims is difficult because the speed is based on time and location. John Kim registered CNET for the service of hid home last year, and newly, he started to test it in different locations. He reported a download speed of about 78Mbps and a delay of about 36ms at home.

Which countries is Starlink available?

Unlike the promise of the company to cover the whole world with this internet until fall, now Starlink is limited to particular regions in particular countries. However, by joining more satellites to the constellation, the map cover will develop significantly.

As Elon Musk said, the list of countries with this service of low-orbit satellites includes Canada, the US, the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, Australia, and New Zealand. The agreement of Starlink preorder considers requesting the service for other countries such as Italy, Poland, Spain, and Chile.

Starlink needs at least 10000 satellites to cover all over the world. However, SpaceX showed that they want about 42000 satellites in the constellation. Currently, at best, they have passed only 20 percent of the way. Elon Musk is still optimistic about the timeline of Starlink. In one of his interviews in 2021, he asserted that by starting August, it was available all the globe except in North and South Poles.

Shotwell expressed that Starlink service will be available all over the world by this fall. She added that they settled 1800 satellites successfully, and if all those satellites reach operational orbit, we will have a persistent world coverage. A Twitter user asked Elon Musk in September about the time of finishing the Starlink beta phase, and he responded the following month.

As stated by FCC, when Starlink started up its beta, it was available for 0.08 percent of Americans in December 2020. At that stage, 100 percent of customers accessed to download speed of 100Mbps and upload speed of more than 10Mbps. Future FCC gave us a good look at the growing amount of the service during 2021.

Is Starlink Trustable?

Earlier reports of Fast Company and CNBC illustrated that the earlier customers were satisfied with the service. However, the company alerts about short periods of no connectivity during beta. DownDetector.com detects the disconnections of services which provides a list of four disruptions in 2021 which happened in January, February, and April, and the recent one occurred on May 6. DownDetector did not report in 2021 for HughesNet and ViaSat. Starlink users from Arizona to Alberta, Canada, reported a disconnection of May on Reddit.

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What Are the Problems of Starlink Satellites?

There are some concerns about the multiplication of private satellites in space and some debates in astronomical meetings about the effect of low-orbiting satellites on the night sky. In 2019, after the settlement of the first satellites, the International Astronomical Union warned about the unpredictable outcomes for observations of stars and the protection of nocturnal wildlife. This statement stated that they did not understand the effect of thousands of invisible satellites on the night sky, and despite the positive intentions, these satellites may threaten them.

After that, Starlink started to test new designs to decrease the brightness and visibility of the satellites. At the beginning of 2020, the company tested a satellite named DarkSat, which has a particular and nonreflective coverage. Later on, in June 2020, the company sent a satellite called VisorSat with a sunshade visor into space. In August, Starlink sent other satellites equipped with these sunshade visors.

Shotwell asserted that they wanted to ensure that little kids could look through their telescopes to watch the sky, and they did the right thing. Although it is interesting for them to see a Starlink, they should watch Saturn and the moon and do not want to be interrupted. The website of the company stated that the Starlink teams have worked with precedent astronomers around the globe to understand the observations and engineering better for reducing the brightness.

Best Providers of Satellite Internet in 2022

If you are living in a low-population area, the only way to get connected to the internet is through satellite internet. It is not recent that many rural areas in America do not have access to the internet. Many people believe that America has to do something with the infrastructure of its internet.

The infrastructure package of Joe Biden involves money to help fill the digital divide. Meanwhile, satellite internet is available for people in rural areas of 50 states of America. It is not the same as fiber or cable connections. When the internet connection is vital, the broadband satellite plays a significant role.

To answer the question of the best satellite internet providers, we can say that there are not a lot of choices. But, looking through the comparison between these satellite internet providers can help to know more about them.

The Comparisons of Satellite Internet Providers

 HughesNetStarlinkViasat
Max speeds25Mbps download, 3Mbps upload50-500Mbps download,10-40Mbps upload12-100Mbps download,3Mbps upload
Lowest monthly cost$45-$130$110$70-$200
Regular monthly rate$65-$160$110-$500$100-$300
Contract2 yearsNone2 years
Monthly equipment costs$15 or $450 one-time purchase$599 one-time purchase (or $2,500 for Premium)$13 or $299 one-time purchase
Data allowance15-100GBUnlimited40-150GB

HughesNet

How to Connect to Hughesnet

It is the best satellite internet provider for speed reliability. HughesNet receives powerful privilege for its stability of download speed. Although the speed of the internet can be different from location to location, HughesNet provides maximum download speed for all areas. Moreover, in 2018, a report from the Federal Communications Commission stated that HughesNet has the best performance among other providers in providing download speed even 150 percent more than the advertised speed.

Although HughesNet does not have any data limits, the speed might reduce by about one to three megabits per second after passing the data allowance of the month. HughesNet came in J.D. Power’s 2021 US Residential Internet Service Provider Satisfaction Study in a short time and last finished in the South region for customer satisfaction.

Plans and Prices of HughesNet Satellite Internet

 HughesNet Gen5HughesNet Gen5HughesNet Gen5HughesNet Gen5
Max speeds25Mbps download, 3Mbps upload25Mbps download, 3Mbps upload25Mbps download, 3Mbps upload25Mbps download, 3Mbps upload
Starting monthly cost$40$50$80$130
Regular monthly rate$60$70$100$150
Contract2 years2 years2 years2 years
Data allowance10GB20GB30GB50GB

Viasat

How to Connect to viasat Internet

It is the best internet provider for the versatility of plans. It will allow you to choose an internet plan which matches your needs. These plans are some slower and some faster than you find in HughesNet. The packages have data about more than 150GB, but like HughesNet, if you overuse your data allowance, you may find your data out of prioritized.

Viasat strayed about equipment last year. Before that, the Viasat had not allowed the users to buy equipment. When you consider Hughes charges which include installation costs of about $450, and the Starlink devices about $599, it might seem like a reward. But, it means that you cannot avoid the extra expenses of equipment; about $13 every month. Currently, you can purchase the equipment from Viasat for about $299, which is definitely cheaper than competitors.

Plans and Prices of Viasat Satellite Internet

 Unlimited Bronze 12Unlimited Silver 25Unlimited Gold 50Unlimited Platinum 100
Max speeds12Mbps download, 3Mbps upload25Mbps download, 3Mbps upload50Mbps download, 3Mbps upload100Mbps download, 3Mbps upload
Starting monthly cost$70$100$150$200
Regular monthly rate$100$150$200$300
Contract2 years2 years2 years2 years
Data allowance40GB60GB100GB150GB

Starlink

Starlink has the best potential among internet providers. Elon Musk has made significant progress in SpaceX’s Starlink. But this provider is still at the beginning of the way. Currently, it has 145000 active users, and also there is a waiting list; but the early results are really encouraging. The download speed of Starlink is about 250Mbps, which is higher than the speed of HughesNet and Viasat. It has also a latency between 20-40 milliseconds compared to the typical range is about 450-70ms for HughesNet and Viasat.

Starlink with two internet plans, Starlink and Starlink Premium, and keep it simple. They announced that the Premium version will be available in the summer of 2022, and it will provide different satellite dishes and the equipment for the higher speed, but it will have a heavier price. Although it is more expensive, it does not need a two-year contract, and it will provide unlimited data. Whenever you consider the upload speed, it is a development with satellite internets. These features are growing day by day and surpass other rivals.

Plans and Prices of Starlink Satellite Internet

PlanMax speedsStarting monthly costRegular monthly rateContractData allowance
Starlink250Mbps download, 20Mbps upload$110$110NoneUnlimited
Starlink Premium500Mbps download, 40Mbps upload$500$500NoneUnlimited

15000 Starlink Terminals Have Been Sent to Ukraine

The service of internet satellites is helping the people of Ukraine to stay connected during their war with Russia. In one of the short video presentations of Elon Musk, he revealed that Starlink terminals are in a large outdoor area. The text of the slides in this post mentioned that 15000 Starlinks were sent to Ukraine, which was reported by the Financial Times earlier. It has about 150000 daily users in Ukraine.

Conclusion

All you need to know about satellite internet providers were presented. In your opinion, which satellite internet is the best among the providers? When do you think Starlink will be viral and usable for everyone?

2 Comments

    1. Starlink, a satellite internet service and a division of Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX, is currently in beta testing. But some users can sign up to pre-order an internet service that aims to provide “high-speed broadband internet with low latency” around the world.

      Here’s how to register:

      Go to the Starlink website

      .
      Enter your email address and address to find your service area.
      See when Starlink expects it to provide services in your area.
      Make a $99 prepayment, which will be deducted from the $99 monthly fee, $499 equipment cost, and shipping.

      The website informs that the number of available seats is limited and that seats will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis for pre-orders.

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