SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet system is expanding to the open seas.
The company on Thursday launched the Starlink Maritime service for US customers, which is designed for commercial ships, oil rigs, and luxury yachts. However, the new product is SpaceX’s most expensive Starlink offering at $5,000 per month.
Customers also have to pay a one-time $10,000 fee for the hardware, which includes two Starlink dishes for their boats. In return, users can expect download rates from 100Mbps up to 350Mbps.
“Starlink Maritime offers the ability to pause and un-pause service at any time, and is billed in one-month increments, allowing users to customize their service to their individual needs,” the company says.
On the downside, Starlink Maritime only offers a latency rate under 99 milliseconds, higher than the 20 to 40ms for the standard service. The other limitation is that Starlink Maritime only covers coastal waters. Broadband coverage for the high seas will only begin arriving in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, global high sea access is scheduled to launch in Q1 2023.
“Starlink Maritime is available for order in the US only right now. All other countries are pending regulatory approval or coverage,” the company’s support page adds.
The price for the service is certainly high. But according to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, it still represents a bargain, especially for commercial operators. "SpaceX was paying $150k/month for a much worse connection to our ships!" he wrote in a tweet.
Cruise line operator Royal Caribbean has been testing it on its ships; one blogger tried it on a Freedom of the Seas ship and found that it was a major upgrade over existing Voom Surf and Voom Surf & Stream internet packages.
Starlink Maritime comes weeks after the FCC approved the satellite internet system for use on moving cars, boats, and ships in the US. So it might not be long before similar Starlink access is made available to customers of Starlink's residential service, which costs $110 per month. The current Starlink dish for residential consumers doesn’t officially support for use on moving vehicles, though that hasn’t stopped some users from installing Starlink dishes on boats.