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Post by Mike Harding on Nov 15, 2024 14:52:28 GMT 10
The Starlink Mini receiver has just been reduced in price to A$600 in Harvey Norman, JB etc. Monthly subscription for 50GB is A$80, think I'm going to buy one. NB. The monthly subscription may be turned on or off as you desire.
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Post by peter57 on Nov 15, 2024 19:23:05 GMT 10
I don't understand. I'm with Telstra and get 200GB for $100.00 p/m.
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Post by Mike Harding on Nov 15, 2024 20:05:34 GMT 10
Starlink is a network of satellites in low earth orbit which provide high speed internet access to any location on the planet (or will when it's finished). It currently provides high speed internet to *all* of the Australian landmass. Telstra, I think, only covers about 5% of the landmass.
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Post by yobarr on Nov 16, 2024 10:51:28 GMT 10
Starlink is a network of satellites in low earth orbit which provide high speed internet access to any location on the planet (or will when it's finished). It currently provides high speed internet to *all* of the Australian landmass. Telstra, I think, only covers about 5% of the landmass. Looks interesting Mike, and certainly something I'll consider. However, I'd need a heap more data allowance so I will have to learn more. How does the phone service work? Cheers |
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Post by Mike Harding on Nov 16, 2024 11:28:06 GMT 10
It's the way of the future for much internet service away from cities right across the planet in my opinion.
You can have an unlimited account, ie. no download limit, but it will cost about A$170 per month but do you *really* need more than 50GB a month? I don't stream video but I do a lot of surfing and downloading of spoken word audio and I use about 12GB a month.
Phone use is by setting your handset to "VoWiFi" then instead of your calls going via the cellular network the travel over the internet, incoming calls and SMS work fine too.
In a nutshell: you buy a box (Starlink Mini) which receives data from the satellites and retransmits it as a normal WiFi signal. For me its main advantage is that I can travel *anywhere* and have high speed internet access.
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nobodyhere
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Post by nobodyhere on Nov 16, 2024 11:46:32 GMT 10
Could you please keep us informed on your power consumption?
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Post by Mike Harding on Nov 16, 2024 12:01:18 GMT 10
Indeed nobodhere, I will.
I looked into this in some depth as the earlier Starlink boxes, intended for home use, were very power hungry - about 1kWh/24h iirc. See my previous Starlink posts.
The Starlink Mini, which is designed for portable use, appears to use about 500Wh/24h which I can tolerate although I'll probably switch it off overnight.
I suspect much of this power consumption is due to frequent transmission by the Mini to negotiate network access with the satellites (it's a mesh network) as they, or it, move. Hopefully as software improves into the future this network overhead will be reduced and power consumption will fall but for the moment the above numbers apply.
Of course one could simply switch it on and off as required in which case power consumption would be negligible but I like 24h access.
Supply voltage is (see specs.) 12V to 45V. The word is it can be a bit wobbly (technical term:) ) at 12V unless you have good supply cable. I'll run it at 24V.
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Post by Mike Harding on Nov 20, 2024 20:24:29 GMT 10
Who's got the fastest internet now then!? :)  |
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Post by north200 on Nov 21, 2024 9:26:07 GMT 10
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Post by Mike Harding on Nov 21, 2024 12:23:40 GMT 10
The Starlink Mini is fairly new to the market (a few months) and its Oz price has just dropped from A$800 to A$600, I doubt it will drop any further for 12 months or more, indeed I'd not be surprised if it rose in price again.
Starlink use country specific pricing; it's no good charging US$600 for the unit in a country where the weekly wage is US$150. The units are also geo-locked and have a clause that if you "activate" it outside the country of purchase there is a substantial additional fee.
To be fair to Elon; a worldwide system pretty much has to work this way in order to provide a price sensible global product.
Given the price people routinely pay for mobile phone handsets I consider A$600 to be reasonable and likewise the A$80 per month for 50GB.
The price will drop of course but I think it will be three years or more before we see a Starlink Mini kit at less than A$400.
The US$200 South American price mentioned in the article is probably about as low as they can go. I'd guess the kit leaves the factory at something like US$75 so with taxes, transport and some profit US$200 is probably about the baseline. However, the kit is no good without a monthly account and that is where they'll make some money in the Global South countries. In The West we're rich enough to be hit with both the kit price and the service price - I'm not complaining.
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