Get an internet satellite connection at a cut-price rate.
Since opening up to the public for pre-orders in February 2021, pioneering aerospace company SpaceX’s satellite-based internet service, known as Starlink, has gone from strength to strength. In providing connection via 5,000 low-orbit satellites to over 60 countries and a whopping 2 million subscribers, owner Elon Musk’s communication network is expected to continue strong growth, with predicted revenue of $30 billion by 2025.
It has even proved to be a valuable tactical and strategic asset to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in their continued fight to expel Russian aggression within their borders, with Elon Musk donating the Starlink service to the besieged nation free of charge, so kudos to him for that.
A standard Starlink set will cost you a cool $599 normally, but in the current economic climate, with a cost-of-living crisis, increased food prices, war in Europe, the lingering effects of the Covid pandemic, and utility bills rising exponentially, people’s budgets are feeling the squeeze like they haven’t in several generations. Not everyone has the disposable income to spend on a $600 internet connection, and that’s not even counting the $120 monthly subscription fee.
But as usual, Elon Musk, ever the innovator, has decided an alternative approach guaranteed to do great business that will also provide a Starlink set at a considerably reduced rate for those who’s budget doesn’t stretch far enough for a brand new Starlink set.
What the South African-born billionaire entrepreneur extraordinaire has devised is repurposing used Starlink sets and reselling them at a 50% knock-down price tag! Older, used sets will be thoroughly cleaned to remove any dirt, dust, or debris, malfunctioning or degraded components inside the set will be replaced as needed, and the newly-refurbished set will be put through a stringent series of test to ensure optimal operating functionality before re-entering the marketplace with a $299 purchase fee.
The offer on reduced rates for repurposed hardware from Starlink has already been rolled out in Australia where it has proved an overwhelming – not to mention highly profitable – success. This move mirrors a similar plan that Apple has been doing now for several years already and has proved to be a very successful revenue stream for the tech giant.
One of the number of benefits of purchasing repurposed older models rather than brand new ones is, first and most obvious, the greatly discounted price tag which is surely the single major selling point, secondly, with a repurposed set, you’re almost guaranteed better quality control, being that the set in question hasn’t been test just once but twice, ensuring any bugs or defects in the set have almost certainly been eliminated by the time you get your hands on the repurposed iteration.
SpaceX themselves have said that the resold units will have exactly the same functions, purpose, and quality of a brand new Starlink set.
Speculation about the new move, which is only available while stocks last, is a twofold plan for Starlink to a) clear out their inventory of older, second-hand sets, while b) simultaneously attracting a whole new set of customers into their customer ecosystem who ordinarily wouldn’t have entered the company’s orbit because of being priced out of doing so.
There has also been some controversy regarding used Starlink sets recently, with some customers complaining that when they ordered a brand new set, what they subsequently received was a used one, with some minor damage, dirt, and even the name of the previous owner still attached. SpaceX has strenuously denied these reports, stating that under no circumstances do they supply anything other than brand new sets to those who ordered them unless otherwise stated as part of the customer agreement. They have conceded, however, that some sets may have been compromised with dirt, dust, or very minor scuffing during the shipping phase of delivery.
Regardless of some minor hiccups, the new offer from Starlink should be a welcome development for those not ready to spend so much on their internet connection, however sophisticated or cutting edge it might be.
