Elon's Starlink Internet Service

CFerguson wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:
The most recent info from the beta testers for the Starlink service.
Hardware costs to be a beta tester $499.
Monthly service $99/month.
No information thus far on end user experience or expectations for the service. Lots of speculation and hopes but few actual experiences. It's also still unknown how many users are using the few satellites currently in orbit (yes, I call less than 100 few) and how additional users or satellites will effect the experience and the cost.
I have great hopes for Starlink. I just don't have any hopes that this will be anything usable by us common folks in the next few years.
Point of interest, however, is that if the service was $99/month and you still had to pay for a streaming service to watch TV you would still be better off with DISH or DirecTV plus a stand alone internet service.

You've missed a few reports or arent reading the right sites. Reports I've seen are that even when covered with icicles and snow and in blizzard conditions, Better Than Nothing Beta (Starlink's words, not mine!)works without a hiccup. Rave reviews all around. The only downside so far is that the beta units are intentionally geofenced, meaning that they are only allowed to work in the beta/home area.

Traditional Satellite is dying. Maybe not in 2020, but very very soon. At 60 new laser sats per Falcon9 launch, you'll have a front row seat in 2021 to watch the expansion of Starlink. And my God, i dont even know how many Starlink sats Elon will be able to stuff into a Starship when he gets those things flying! (you might want to recount those currently orbital sats, eh).

btw, if you havent been following Starlinks plans, those laser comms between sats all but eliminates the need for all those ground stations someone may have said were necessary. Pricing? lol. You do know this is a BETA, right? Look up Economic Scaling. It amazes me that the beta is this cheap! FWC understands. Capitalism Rules. Elon will prob price it far enough under to dominate the market, yet make lots of profit.

The future is coming but you can still hang on to your landline and tube tv if you want.

Your "future" is getting much more expensive if you really think Elon's Internet is going to reduce costs of Internet, phone or even streaming viseo services..

THIS NEWS FLASH is a telling story of the latest streaming service HULU of INCREASING their LIVE TV streaming service to $65 per month..

"Hulu with Live TV increasing its price to $65 a month

It’s now the same as YouTube TV
By Julia Alexander Nov 16, 2020, 3:25pm EST

Hulu with Live TV is the latest virtual TV bundle to get a price hike — this time to $64.99 a month.

Hulu with Live TV currently costs $54.99 a month, marking a $10 monthly increase for current customers, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It’s also on par with YouTube TV, a competing virtual live TV bundle. The price change will go into effect on December 18th and affect both new and current customers. Hulu last increased the monthly cost of its virtual TV provider last year when the company told subscribers they would go from paying $44.99 to $54.99 on December 18th, 2019.

While these types of packages were originally meant to help cord-cutters who still wanted access to some live programming (like news and sports) but didn’t want to pay big cable fees, prices have been increasing across the board. As content gets more expensive for companies to license, and as they try to find more channels to offer consumers, the monthly costs also increase. Oh, the irony.

Still, Hulu with Live TV is growing. The service has more than 4 million customers, which is approximately 1 million more than YouTube TV. The bundle has seen a 40 percent increase in subscribers over the last year. Recently, Disney CEO Bob Chapek spoke to how important Disney’s entire streaming ecosystem (that includes Disney Plus, ESPN Plus, and Hulu’s regular streaming service) are to the company’s future.

While YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV represent some of the more costly options (up there with AT&T’s AT&T TV Now), they also come with some of the highest channel offerings. Competitors like Sling TV have monthly plans for $30, but the content offering isn’t as strong."

Eventually, EVERY streaming service WILL increase over time and the "limited free" versions will slowly go away or get on the "pay to watch bandwagon"..

So far, Starlink speed and latency is dismal compared to my current cable Internet provider and my price is the same as Starlink Beta and I didn't have to buy the $500 receiving station.