Featured Image Source: Dirty Tesla via YouTube & Twitter
A SpaceX Starlink user, who goes by the name ‘Dirty Tesla’ on YouTube and Twitter, shared that they received their Starlink Kit this week that includes the new rectangular dish antenna to connect to the satellite broadband network. The original phased-array antenna to access the internet is a circular dish, the company released the next-generation rectangular antenna design in November which enables it to increase their production rate in a cost-effective manner. Dirty Tesla resides in a rural region located in the U.S. State of Michigan. He made an unboxing video to share his initial thoughts of the new hardware and broadband service capabilities. He shared a close-up look of the new rectangle antenna and Wi-Fi router device, video linked below.
New Starlink Unboxing, Setup, Speed Test, and Initial Review | Rectangle Dishyhttps://t.co/rAU8UALjZN
— Dirty Tesla 🦃 (@DirtyTesla) November 26, 2021
The previous Wi-Fi router was a geometric shaped device, the new one looks like a small rectangle that features a graphic that SpaceX founder Elon Musk said is the "orbital transfer ellipse from Earth to Mars." The hardware is the same price as the original: $499 USD, plus a $99 per month internet subscription fee. Dirty Tesla shared they pre-ordered back in February and are excited to finally try-out the service. In the video review, he mentions that the rectangular antenna is half the weight of the round dish and a bit smaller. Technical details of both devices are listed in the graphic below. For more information visit SpaceX's official website Starlink.com.
Source: SpaceX
They demonstrated it is very easy to setup the Starlink network, simply login into the Starlink.com website to download the APP and plug it into an electricity outlet, the antenna automatically orients itself to find an optimal view of the sky to communicate with the internet-beaming satellites in Low Earth Orbit. To date, SpaceX operates around 1,844 satellites out of over 12,000 it plans to deploy.
Dirty Tesla conducted a set of speed tests comparing his previous internet provider, AT&T vs. the Starlink network. He included online speed test screenshots as part of their video. In the rural region he is situated in, AT&T provides internet download speeds of 14.6 Mbps (megabits per second), upload speed of 6.28 Mbps, with latency of 46ms (milliseconds). In comparison, Starlink provided internet service with download speeds of 244 Mbps, upload of 5.44 Mbps, with latency of 37ms. "...I am very impressed," he says, "[...] I am so excited, this is a huge upgrade. So, thank you to SpaceX … not that they sponsored this or anything," he jokes, "but this technology is a game changer. And to think anywhere in the world, you can plug it in and set it down … and then in a few minutes you're connected - yeah it's great!" he said in the video. You can watch his full initial review in his YouTube video, linked below.
Images Source: Dirty Tesla via YouTube and Twitter
About the Author
Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.
