It’s a pretty cool slogan – “from Space to your place” – that’s how Telstra is positioning Satellite Internet services to those who had restricted options on how to get high-speed broadband at home, today Telstra launches their Starlink service – otherwise known as “Telstra Satellite Home Internet service – powered by Starlink”.
Most of us take for granted the ability to switch on fast NBN internet in our city homes, but in the bush it’s a whole different world. From NBN Sky Muster Satellite services to NBN Fixed Wireless there are options for everyone – but, they have their limitations.
Fixed Wireless is essentially a dedicated mobile connection to a very limited number of homes per tower. While Sky Muster is a Satellite far into space that allows anyone to get internet – anywhere you can see the sky. Problem is, it’s so far into space it takes a while for the data to transfer and therefore there are latency issues and speed restrictions.
When Elon Musk started launching little tiny satellites into low-earth-orbit he created Starlink, allowing anyone to buy a satellite dish and get much higher speed internet connections than via traditional Satellite services.
Today, there are well over 5,000 of Musk’s Satellites orbiting above us, and many satisfied customers.
Telstra’s announcement that their own Satellite service, using Starlink is available is a big win for the bush. And while of course any one of these customers could have ordered Starlink before now, the trust we have in Telstra makes it a much simpler thing for many people. There’s phone support, service with a smile and all that – while at Starlink you’d struggle to find someone to talk to. It’s all about self-service.
Telstra’s pricing is better than Starlink too:
While Starlink’s monthly cost is higher.
However, Telstra promise “typical peak period speeds of 50Mbps down and 10Mbps up. This could be throttling on the Starlink network, or it could be a case of under promise and over delivery. We’ll have to come back to you after some more exhaustive testing that we’ll be doing in regional Australia where this product will fill the most need.
Additionally, as a point of difference to Starlink – Telstra’s offer includes their Smart Modem and a phone line as part of the service.
This will also, one assumes, help Telstra meet it’s universal service obligations to Government also.
