What early users of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet think about the service, speed and more

Elon Musk’s SpaceX rolled out its Starlink early access program to the public six months ago, with the satellite internet service growing to more than 10,000 users in the first few months. CNBC spoke to more than 50 people who have been using Starlink. Those surveyed included households in Canada and 13 states: California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The majority of these Starlink users are in rural or remote areas, such as farmland or wilderness, with limited access to terrestrial broadband options — and a few with no access altogether. SpaceX launched the “Better than Nothing Beta” program for the public in October, and the majority of users CNBC surveyed received invitations to join between November and February. The service is priced at $99 a month in the U.S. under the beta, with a $499 upfront cost for the equipment customers need to connect to the satellites — plus taxes, shipping and any accessories needed to mount the antenna.

• Most users found the service’s monthly price of $99 to be fair, and often a discount to other satellite broadband services and terrestrial options.
• Users were largely impressed with quality of the equipment, especially the antenna. A handful of users were disappointed in the quality of SpaceX’s supplied Wi-Fi router, with several choosing to go with third-party router options.
• The installation process delivered the widest range of user opinions, as some — mostly those who have performed rooftop equipment installations before — found it a very easy process while others had to spend hours to get the antenna working.
• Users reported download speeds ranging between 60 Mbps and 150 Mbps — with some even reporting peak speeds near 200 Mbps. Latency also matched expectations, as most users reported latency of about 30 milliseconds — with some in the low 20 milliseconds.
• The biggest concern voiced by those surveyed centered around the possibility of SpaceX introducing data restrictions in the future. A few expect restrictions to be inevitable, and one user said they “will immediately be cancelling service without hesitation if there are any data caps.”