Starlink

[Jchonline]

A bona fide business doesn't have 500,000 waiting customers.

Every year when Apple releases new devices (iPads, iPhones, laptops, etc) they have millions of waiting customers. Sometimes the wait is a few months.

Ford had people that pre-ordered Broncos waiting over a year.

Perhaps you want to recant the statement?

Starlink is an amazing new technology that has the ability to change internet service across the world. If it sucked, there would be no one waiting…like for Hughesnet. It sure has been a game changer for me.

 

[Jchonline]

Agree ... Starlink has lost much credibility. Many folks will decline to become customers until Starlink becomes a bona fide business reality. That may require several years.

Starlink Disappoints Pre-Order Customers by Pushing Back Delivery Times

Do you have access yet?

 

[BigBlue1]

A bona fide business doesn't have 500,000 waiting customers.

Sounds like a pretty darn good business to have to me.

Do you honestly think if they had the ability to bring on more customers they would turn down that $99/mo from those 500,000 customers? It's perfectly sound business plan to me to ease into their offering in a way that allows them more control over how it evolves and in order to keep the quality of the product high. Especially when there are suppliers and logistics that are out of their control. Do you see any other company or government entity launching as many satellites as SpaceX? Is there a model for how they could do that better/faster? Do they control the chip supply needed for their electronics?

I get that it is very frustrating for folks who want the service. I was in that position for 5 years (wanting an ISP capable of more than 5 Mb/s without data caps). I was very fortunate to get into Starlink when I did. And I can tell you that it is a great product. I haven't had a noticed outage in months now. It works well and I'm OK with the company's roll-out plans to keep it that way.

I'm not a business guy but I've been in IT for my whole career and when you have limited infrastructure the worst thing you can do is to overwhelm it with volume. For many reasons. SpaceX is doing things right given the realities of their infrastructure.

Rob

 

[Fixastuff]

A bona fide business doesn't have 500,000 waiting customers.

Lol. You wouldn't be mad if they didn't have a product you wanted! As a business I'd rather have 500,000 waiting customers than 0..

 

[Citydude]

Wow, I guess I didn't realize how fortunate I was to get Starlink last fall.

I can understand the frustration some have with the wait times. I've been waiting 2 years for a water well to be drilled.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Sounds like a pretty darn good business to have to me.

Do you honestly think if they had the ability to bring on more customers they would turn down that $99/mo from those 500,000 customers? It's perfectly sound business plan to me to ease into their offering in a way that allows them more control over how it evolves and in order to keep the quality of the product high. Especially when there are suppliers and logistics that are out of their control. Do you see any other company or government entity launching as many satellites as SpaceX? Is there a model for how they could do that better/faster? Do they control the chip supply needed for their electronics?

I get that it is very frustrating for folks who want the service. I was in that position for 5 years (wanting an ISP capable of more than 5 Mb/s without data caps). I was very fortunate to get into Starlink when I did. And I can tell you that it is a great product. I haven't had a noticed outage in months now. It works well and I'm OK with the company's roll-out plans to keep it that way.

I'm not a business guy but I've been in IT for my whole career and when you have limited infrastructure the worst thing you can do is to overwhelm it with volume. For many reasons. SpaceX is doing things right given the realities of their infrastructure.

Rob

I completely agree. My email says mid 2022. I'd rather wait to get the service than be disappointed with the performance while taking performance away from other customers. From posts I've read in the past about other satellite internet, performance has suffered after adding too many users too fast.

 

[plowhog]

That's why so many are upset about the wait.

The part that bothers me is the lack of communication. To me there is no excuse for that. It is so, so easy to communicate. But it was not done.

Starlink accepted deposits. They provided implied delivery dates. People make decisions and take actions based on that. In my case, I stuck with a video provider I would have dropped had I known Starlink was years away, not months. I anticipated streaming through Starlink by now. Now, I feel foolish for making that choice.

By now, I would have already trenched the ground and installed power and signal conduit to an appropriate Starlink dishy location. I guess I was lucky since I got delayed from doing this by other maintenance that arose.

In my opinion, Starlink had an obligation to inform its customers once it knew it could not come anywhere close to the implied dates they provided. They didn't do that. I believe Starlink knew long before sending out the recent email that the millions of implied dates they had given to customer prospects were invalid. But nothing was done.

The company brags about their resources, massive demand, and ability to shoot rockets into orbit. But with all those resources, they can't communicate reasonably and effectively to their customers and prospects? That is what bothers me.

 

[Hilbilly]

I totally agree that Starlink is doing a terrible job of communicating with their customers. Someone once told me that I am not a customer yet because I have not taken delivery. I disagree! I believe that once a company takes my order and a deposit, I become a customer. Someone else compared Ford and other companies that take deposits, to Starlink. I see the main difference being, that you can communicate with those other companies after they take your deposit. Starlinks attitude seems to be, give me your money and leave me alone! There is no way to get in touch with them after they take your money, until you receive the dish.

I am sure that once I get the dish, I will be very happy. I am also one of the luckier ones, since according to the latest info on my account, I will still be getting service within the latter part of the year (December), as I was originally told. But that still needs to take place.

 

[rekees4300]

Do you have access yet?

Nope nothing but crickets from Starlink. When I said "bona fide business reality" I mean their development phase has ended and customers orders are filled immediately.

 

[Jchonline]

Nope nothing but crickets from Starlink. When I said "bona fide business reality" I mean their development phase has ended and customers orders are filled immediately.

If you did, you would not be complaining. It may just be latitude in Indiana…the closer to the equator the harder it is for them to ensure continuous coverage.

They took a few months off from launching satellites to focus on Space station launches. I think they just picked up again. Chip shortages are also causing dishy manufacturing issues.

So far, it has been amazing (compared to what we had previously).