SpaceX Preps New Starlink Dishes, Including One for Gigabit Speeds
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SpaceX is developing a new dish meant to offer gigabit internet to customers, a big boost from current download speeds, which are closer to 200Mbps. The dish was mentioned in a webinar for Starlink resellers, according to a person who watched the presentation.
It appears customers will need to buy the new dish to access gigabit speeds. SpaceX will also need to roll out its planned upgrade for the Starlink constellation, which will involve a broader range of radio spectrum for the satellite internet system.
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The company is still awaiting FCC clearance for the upgrades, but the proposed enhancements promise to boost Starlink's speeds to rival ground-based fiber networks. It's possible SpaceX will release the gigabit dish later this year, but that depends on whether the company's Starship vehicle can successfully deploy third-generation Starlink satellites.
'Next generation, we'll have smaller beams, more capacity per beam, lower latency,' SpaceX's President Gwynne Shotwell in November, adding that the resulting Starlink speeds will reach as high as 2 gigabits.
SpaceX may market the gigabit product to business customers before consumers, following its of offering its most services to enterprises.
In the meantime, SpaceX's webinar also mentioned releasing a refreshed flat for enterprise buyers. The company has already discounted the existing flat high-performance dish from $2,499 to $1,499 — a sign it's trying to clear out inventory.
The other notable news is that SpaceX is preparing another device model to follow the dish, which currently costs $499 in the US.
SpaceX didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. But satellite experts have told us they expect customers will need a new dish to access gigabit speeds since the current Starlink hardware isn't built to support the additional radio bands needed to drive the gigabit speeds.
However, SpaceX's planned upgrades for the Starlink network could still deliver speed improvements to users on existing dishes.
'Starlink is also asking the FCC for permission to relax the power limits applicable to their existing Ku-band links and allow the satellites to operate at lower altitudes and lower elevation angles,' satellite industry analyst Tim Farrar told us in October. 'So the throughput for existing Ku-band dishes would improve, and it could be more feasible to aggregate multiple terminals and get gigabit downlink speeds that way.'
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