Starlink in India | The real truth

Starlink, a satellite internet service launched by Elon Musk attracted many people in India recently. Rumors were spreading across the internet, media, blogs, etc about the 99$ registration cost. But no one is talking about the deeper terms and conditions of the Starlink registration process. Should we pay our hard-earned money in such haste and hype? The answer is explained in this blog!

So lets get started!!!!!

Starlink Website Terms

As soon as you hit Starlink‘s official website, It will show that the service will be available in 2022 and you have to pay only 99$ for the registration. Now, as soon as you enter your card details and proceed with the payment process, you will find a small link at the bottom of the page. It states, “Starlink Deposit Terms.”

As soon as you open the Starlink website you have to add your address, which supports many locations all over India.

We try to dive deep into the terms and conditions of any other brand whether it is Jio, Airtel, VI. We are again going to follow the same. After reading the complete terms and conditions. Below are 5 important points that you need to focus upon before registering.

Deposit Terms

The amount required for registration seems to be 99 bucks but that is not the case. The 99$ which we pay is not enough to buy the service. This is only an advanced. The one-time setup cost for Starlink is 500$ including the 99$ you have initially paid. The advance 99$ does not have any tax included in it. The 500$ cost was calculated during the Beta testing stage which is subject to future changes during the commercial stage.

So many people had this confusion that the 500$ fee is not correct. But actually, everyone has to pay 500$ in the end. The 99$ initial fees which you pay reserve you an early seat on the booking list. This means that you will get your Starlink kit before your neighbour Sharma-Ji. This is the only difference between early registration and late registration.

Refund

The money which you are paying for this Starlink registration is completely safe and secure. For example, if your mind changes over Starlink and you need to get your money back then you will get your money without any squabble. You only need to write a mail to them and you will get back your 99$.

Availability

Starlink’s official site says that they have predicted the date of 2022 for the launch of Starlink in India. But this date is very skeptical and can dynamically change.

It won’t take time for them to change 2022 to 2023. So you should not take a guarantee that the Starlink service will be available to you by 2022. It does not make sense to pre-register for this service so early(approx 2 years before).

Order Placement

Another point that the Starlink terms highlight is that of the order placement. On the successful deployment of this service, all the pre-registered users will receive an e-mail. This email will contain an “Offer letter” which will have all the details of your Starlink purchase. The letter will contain the amount that you will have to pay excluding the 99$. It can be 100$, 500$ or even 1000$ dollars(Only Elon bhau knows how much). It will also contain guides and monthly costs which you have to pay for the Starlink service.

Acknowledgment

The most important point is of Acknowledgement. This portion tells us that the money which we are depositing for Starlink (99$) does not collect in an escrow account. This money will not be fetching any interest in the course of time

5 Reasons to not buy Starlink

No Fixed Time

The biggest drawback of the Starlink Purchase is the absence of a fixed schedule. The company is only dependent on the year and does not even specify the quarter. You should not invest your 99$ in a service that does not even have a fixed date to launch. There is no sense to waste your 99$ before around 2 years for the service to be launched. Till that time local players like Airtel can also launch a similar service at a very low price! Who knows? So it is advisable to keep your money with yourself.

Speed

Starlink was initially promoting very high speeds in its network. But the actual ground reality is very much different. The beta testers are only able to catch a 100MBPS speed (Download) only and the latency is still a 30ms. The upload speeds are worse ranging from 20 to 30 MBPS

Cost and Connectivity

Another point that I would like to add is a mixture of cost and connectivity.

If you are paying the 99$ initially, you agree to pay the same amount every month to use this service. But for many people, this won’t is a major issue. The target audience of Starlink is people who have no access to the internet. Those people who don’t have a fiber network in their areas also are the target of Starlink company. People living in inaccessible areas are the target audience of Starlink. Anyone who does not have any connection with the internet will be ready to pay a hefty sum to experience the internet.

People were also thinking that they will be able to take Starlink with them on their trips. But later Starlink also confirmed that you will no be able to travel with Starlink.

There is a particular satellite that hovers over your area and provides you with the network. If you go outside the range of this satellite then you won’t be able to connect to the internet.

No Local Support

One of the biggest drawbacks of Starlink is that there is no local support for Starlink. Although it comes with an installation guide and manuals if anybody is not able to connect to the network then there is no local technician which can help the person. There is no local support on a vast level which is kinda concerning.

Dependent on Weather

In the end, Starlink works like a dish satellite which is highly dependent on weather conditions. In any case of bad weather, the network will get interrupted and you will not be able to get proper speeds in contrast to a fiber network.

Many YouTubers and bloggers are promoting this service with fancy titles such as STARLINK IN INDIA-NOW AVAILABLE because they are getting benefits from this. But from a general consumers view, there is basically no point in buying the Starlink service after so many drawbacks when things are not clear.

We will suggest you wait as many other/better options will be available by the end of the year. Airtel is also coming up with their one web service. Airtel being an Indian company will give a better and cheaper alternative to Starlink. Besides this, Amazon is also coming up with their project Kuiper which is similar to Starlink. BSNL has also joined this line.

You should NOT SPEND your money on this STARLINK in INDIA service until more clarity on availability and cost.
All this information is fetched from Starlink’s official website at the time of writing this article and it may change from time to time.

So That’s all, Thanks for spending your valuable time in reading this article

Stay Safe! Stay Saracstic!