High-speed internet via Starlink, a low-orbit satellite constellation system that delivers broadband, is now available all across Alaska, said Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX Exploration Technologies Corp, also known as SpaceX.
The coverage map for Alaska has been expanding this fall, and Musk announced Monday on Twitter that all northern latitude areas, including all of Alaska, can now get high-speed internet. The system is ideal for rural and geographically isolated areas where internet connectivity is either undependable or nonexistent, the company says. The Starlink map above was recently updated to include areas where service is active.
Starlink uses thousands of small satellites, rather than just a couple of large satellites. The satellites circle the planet 300 miles above the surface, and they can communicate with each other via laser, reducing their dependency on ground stations.
High-speed, low-latency broadband internet can be had for $110 per month, and requires a one-time hardware cost of $599. To request service, enter your address on Starlink’s website to check for service availability in their area. If the service isn’t available in their area, Starlink will provide an approximate date of when it will arrive.
Dozens of communities in Alaska don’t have high-speed internet, even in places like Nikiski, on the Kenai Peninsula road system, where the internet is patchy. Starlink will allow people to watch movies and play video games. Businesses will have an easier time uploading and downloading data.
Starlink provides internet connectivity to over 500,000 customers in 40 countries.
Finally. Now if GCI doesn’t up their game, I can ditch them without a second thought.
Bob, you tacitly pointed out the most important thing needed to enhance the lives of millions in the middle and lower socioeconomic classes–free market competition. We need it in our dysfunctional public education system; wherein the only practical possibility is described in one word: vouchers.
I would hold it for just a bit longer. Starlink is for some reason launching the service here a bit prematurely, there is still very sparse satellite coverage. They need a few more launches up and time for the satellites to get in position. By summer it should be pretty decent in Alaska, but there are going to be some unhappy early adopters here. It will get there though — at some point in 2023 it will definitely be good enough to be ditching traditional ISPs.
I can vouch for that. I’m on a facebook group for Alaskan Starlink users, and there are quite a few that are unhappy with the service. Some of it CAN be attributed to poor user installation… a clear view of the sky means a clear view of the sky, not just a hole in the canopy where you can see sunlight coming through… but by and large, there seems to be holes in coverage where you will get no service for 5 or 10 minutes at a time, it amounts to 75-85% of the daw with 200+ Mbps and 15-25% of the day with zero… Summer should see better performance and this time next year? Look out!
I like Elon’s style…..that alone is almost enough to win me over as a customer.
Awesome.
So, how do I get it, what the money… Allat…
Oops, you got it all.
I am gonna see it in a minute.
Nope, no answers there.
When i had first heard . Elon’s project thru nativenews i thought Divine intervention to re-introduce the Word of God into rural alaska by internet, since the churches are being too slow and too cliquee.
Here’s where the Starlink satellites are currently in real time ‘https://satellitemap.space/’ I’m not sure how they are providing satellite service when there are precious few satellites ever going over anywhere in Alaska.
That site is notoriously bad, doesn’t show all the satellites. A better one is starlink.sx (though it is cpu intensive, doesn’t work well on phones). However you are absolutely correct, the coverage in Alaska is really sparse. They need a few more polar launches (which ARE scheduled in the next couple months), and time for the satellites to get in position, before service will be reliable. Probably pretty good by summer, but meanwhile I think it’s going to be disappointing for early adopters up here.
although I don’t see many starlink satellites up here yet, maybe this map is not updated? would think that would be problematic if you are down in mountain valley….
‘https://satellitemap.space
looking forward to the day i can work$/camp anywhere up here!!!
That site doesn’t update very often. There are more satellites then it shows. However it’s still not going to be great coverage in Alaska for awhile.
Why do native communities need internet? I thought they were decolonizing?
How else can they instantly communicate with the radical leftist extremist hive mind?
Hipsters aren’t indigenous to Seattle. ?
Well this 3rd world internet we have now is getting competition.
I put my address in and not available for my address yet but sure can’t wait!
GCI wants to charge me more since I am at 80% use. Yah but if I could get internet 100% of the time it would be worth paying more. I think they deliberately provide faulty service to get you to pay for the maximum.
Hurry up Starlink!
I’m down with Elon. He had me after his stand on free speech. Plus he is a very funny fellow. I’m going to look into his service.
Free speech is protected by the 1st-Amendment which does not apply to private platforms on the internet: ie, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc.
It does if the platform owner says it does. Freedom of thought and expression are what all other “freedoms” depend on. If you had a minority view on any important topic, you likely would defend it.
There are some monstrous projects in the wings intended to bring internet access to western AK villages. The money spent on them will have been largely wasted and it will have been your dollars and your gov’t at work.
Heard from my nephew it works in Tununak Alaska on the coast. I am skeptical, but hopeful it will pan out.
“There are some monstrous projects in the wings intended to bring internet access to western AK villages………..”
Maybe a focus on clean water, septic, and affordable energy for villages might be a better investment than entertainment?
So grateful for affordable internet in the Alaskan Bush!!! Viasat and GCI have been overcharging by 100$ for years! Thank you Elon Musk!!!
We have waited two year, for Starlink on the list.looking forward to say goodby to AT&T and Dish network. For 15 years AT&T has but lied to us about service.And The Dish Network is now $ 165 for same old bull. Thanks Starlink
Finally getting my starlink kit after making a deposit over a year ago. I do have fixed wireless internet here, but it is expensive and tends to really struggle, particularly during the summer tourist season. Maybe I’ll run both for a bit and dual WAN it until I see how reliable starlink is.
They need more satellites. Coverage is not going to be good at first with Starlink. By summer it should be pretty decent though. Running dual WAN for now is a smart idea.
Good for the Bush. One thing I hate about traveling to western Alaska is the lack of connectivity.
I go to get away, but still want to be able to reach family if necessary.
Elon put up a bunch of cheap satelites in an unregulated airspace. I anticipate a bunch of whining when Elon has a monopoly and jacks up prices to bail out Twitter and preserve the fortune needed to colonize Mars
That’s weird you specifically mention Nikiski, my family were one of the first to homestead out there and only the Huhndorfs lived further out north on the Spur at the time. Are you a North Roader?
Gci ripped me off for years. I’d almost, (almost) move back up there to get musk just so I could tell gci to shove it.
Only prob is, StarLink only works to -20
That’s what they’ve rated the dish too. But they are using it in Antarctica at -50.
Thank God for faux global warming, now non of the hipster “techno-natives” can complain about cold weather related service outages .
Not everyone has $599 to splur for a one-time hardware. That’s expensive, especially for Alaskans.
Oh?
Why isn’t the eastern part of the United States covered yet? Weird
Hauled my starlink up on the icy second story roof thanksgiving day, have no real obstructions and the service is terrible, there are too few satellites to be constantly connected but it works for services that buffered video like YouTube, I played some interactive games (squad) and latencies and packet loss are not better than mta (i get 120/50 for ~200 a month) This is in Chugiak. When it is connected and latencies are around 40 ms i can get 200/20 speeds but its only momentary in the bands. To me, having a internet connection means zero packet loss and a constant latency. If you don’t use interactive services (gaming, voice or video communication, real time data transfers) then is it better than nothing but not better than dsl.
The problem i have with mta is that i can only get the speeds advertised to the test servers, they can not consistently deliver data into the rest of the internet. I though starlink used satellite intercommunication for backhaul and i would get better peering and latencies to global servers. Turns out starlink is just (intermittently) connecting me to anchorage and Fairbanks then back down the same pipes mta uses.
Also of note is the same plan i have in Chugiak, gets a gigabit in eagle river. Not that it matters, mta cant deliver the data to Seattle.
The outdoor equipment 800 dollar thingy is rated to …….-20……….
110 a month…..no way
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