Accordingly, when accessing the Starlink homepage at https://www.starlink.com/, users are required to fill in their address information to register for the service. According to reports, users in all provinces of Vietnam, including remote areas and border islands, can pre-register.
After entering their address, users will be redirected to a personal information page, including full name, phone number, and email, along with a payment section using international cards such as VISA and Mastercard.
Starlink’s homepage also clearly states that this satellite internet service will cover Vietnam by 2022. Orders will be fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis. This indicates that Elon Musk’s ‘sky’ internet service is not yet widely available, but limited to a certain number of participants.
Users in all provinces of Vietnam, including remote areas and border islands, can pre-register.
Notably, Vietnamese users will have to pay approximately 2.3 million VND (99 USD) as a deposit, which may be refundable if they change their mind. This is also the amount users must pay for one month of subscription to Starlink, not including the 499 USD fee to purchase a satellite dish and a WIFI router.
Starlink is an ambitious plan by SpaceX to provide high-speed internet access everywhere in the world, through a system of tens of thousands of satellites operating in low Earth orbit.
Test results in October 2020 in North America showed that Starlink could achieve an average download speed of about 42.8 Mbps. Meanwhile, upload speeds ranged from 4.5 Mbps to 17.7 Mbps. Most of these tests were conducted in Los Angeles, California, while some others were in Seattle, Washington. Additionally, Speed Test trials also indicated that Starlink’s network latency ranged from 20ms to 94ms.
Besides the monthly subscription fee, users must also purchase a satellite dish and a WIFI router.
It is also important to note that Starlink’s satellite network is still under construction, so speeds and latencies may improve over time. As of now, SpaceX has launched over 1300 satellites, designed to operate in low orbit at an altitude of 550 km. However, this number is still just a small part of the total 12,000 Starlink satellites that SpaceX plans to launch into space in the future. SpaceX is expected to invest 10 billion USD in this project. However, if Starlink is successful, the satellite internet market could reach a value of 1 trillion USD.