Starlink cuts satellite dish price from $600 to $300 in excess-capacity areas

The $600 standard price was replaced with regional pricing of $500 or $300.

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[Jeff S]

You and I must have very different definitions of "camping."

Yes, camping does mean different things to different people, and that's ok. For most people, it at least usually means getting out of their house/apartment, and going to live in temporary housing somewhere, usually in nature.

For some folks that means an RV/Camper with beds, air conditioning, a shower, microwave, stove, TV and a laptop.

For some people that means a tent, sleeping bags, maybe a plastic bag "shower" they hang from a tree limb, and cooking over a fire.

For some people it's a sleeping bag in an open-air Adirondack or lean-to shelter permanently installed at the campsite.

It's all camping.

 

[Jeff S]

I am curious why some states have excess capacity. Upstate NY and Vermont have many remote areas. They seem to be states which should have reduced capacity.

I think it's mainly a marketing issue?

I mean Connecticut isn't really a low-density state, and yet it's on that list of states elligible for the discount. I think those are just states where Starlink has failed to convince many people to subscribe.

It could be that in states like Connecticut, their cable, fiber, and 5G options are so good that there's little reason to get Starlink? In some of the very rural states, maybe folks just don't care that much about Internet? Or maybe they have good municipal ISP?

It's a great question, "why", but I suspect the answer has little to do with population density.

Also, specifically regarding NY state - I suspect the answer why they aren't on the list is that, since this is being done state by state, that while a few small parts of NY state might have reduced usage, overall the state probably has lots of Starlink subscribers.

Not so much in NYC or the dense suburbs near it - Starink doesn't work well in the dense areas. But I suspect in much of the state with a lower density, places like the outskirts of Buffalo, Rochester, Ithaca, Binghamton, Albany, Syracuse - they probably have lots of subscribers.

 

[Jeff S]

It seems a shame they removed the automatic alignment from the newer dishes in order to save money.

They will probably still have that available, to buy, for more money, for mobile users.

If you are using it just at your house, having the motors is overkill - it will align once and then stay in that position for years. Although, perhaps, if say a strong gust of wind knocks it out of alignment, maybe the motors could just quickly and automatically re-align it (if they aren't damages by the wind that its) with almost no noticeable disruption to the users.

 

[Jeff S]

For those of us who live in a climate that has no rain six months of the year, camping can be as simple as a sleeping bag and a ground cloth.

True - although rain isn't the only reason one might use a tent - you might want a tent so you don't get spiders, scorpions, snakes, or other creatures/bugs crawling/flying into your sleeping bag with you, or a bird randomly pooping on you in the night.

I guess in a climate where you don't get rain six months of the year, you at least don't need to worry about mosquitos, since they require standing water for their eggs.