Still waiting for Starlink, even though you ordered it months or even over a year ago?
In some good news, SpaceX is starting to selectively offer some pre-order customers access to the Starlink satellite internet service. But internet speeds will be slower than normal.
On Monday night, the company began emailing some US customers about its new "Best Effort" service option, which is arriving for people living in areas already full of existing Starlink users.
“For those with urgent connectivity needs, we are offering a Best Effort service option,” according to the email, which was posted on Reddit and Facebook. “Best Effort enables typical internet activity with the understanding that Best Effort users will be deprioritized behind Residential users.”
The email notes that people may have to wait until “mid-2023” before SpaceX has enough capacity to offer them standard residential Starlink service, which can receive download speeds between 50Mbps and 200Mbps. So in the meantime, the company is offering the Best Effort tier to address the pre-order backlog.
The official Starlink support page has also been updated to mention the Best Effort tier. “Best Effort uses the same hardware as Residential and the monthly ($110) service charge is the same, but unlike Residential, Best Effort users will have the option to pause service.”
Pre-order users who subscribe for the Best Effort tier also won’t lose their spot in line for the standard residential Starlink plan. “If you would like to maintain your place in line, but no longer wish to use Best Effort service, we recommend to hold on to your Starlink hardware and pause service to not be charged. You can un-pause at any time, while waiting to be converted to Residential service. Cancelling your Best Effort service will cancel your place in line for Residential service,” the support page adds.
The company hasn’t said what kind of speeds users can expect from the new service tier. The email merely says: “During times of peak network congestion, Best Effort users will experience notably slower speeds than Residential users. Best effort users will be able to engage in typical internet activity like email, online shopping or streaming an SD movie, but they won’t be able to engage in activities like online gaming, video calls or streaming 4K and HD movies.”
The new tier arrives three months after SpaceX introduced another way for users to bypass the waitlist and receive the satellite internet service immediately. Starlink RV costs more at $135 per month, along with the $599 one-time hardware fee. Although this service option is designed for people who’d like to use Starlink on camping or road trips, it can also be used at a residence, so long as SpaceX provides active coverage to the area. The main drawback is that Starlink RV will supply downgraded internet speeds if the surrounding cell area is already full of Starlink users.
Starlink RV has also been creating worries that SpaceX has oversold capacity to the satellite internet network. In recent months, some users across the US have been reporting painfully slow speeds over Starlink, and suspect congestion is the likely culprit.
The new Best Effort tier also risks creating greater congestion. But in its defense, SpaceX said in the email: “Adding users before adding additional network capacity would result in delivery of a lesser service. However, we understand that some customers may have urgent connectivity needs with no other alternatives.”
One user on Reddit named Jacob told PCMag he placed an order for the Best Effort service option after placing a pre-order all the way back in February 2021. "Even with what I am getting now with my local ISP, only one person can be on at a time otherwise it’s constant buffering or unusable," the user said. "Starlink is supposed to change that. With this order, hopefully it will be better than what I currently have and should only improve as more sats are deployed."
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the company is working to increase Starlink’s network capacity by launching thousands of more satellites into orbit.