When visiting Starlink’s official website at https://www.starlink.com/, users are asked to enter their address to register for the service. It’s been confirmed that users from all provinces in Vietnam, including remote and border island areas, can now place their pre-orders.
After entering their address, users are directed to a page to fill in personal details like full name, phone number, and email, along with payment information using international cards such as VISA or Mastercard.
Starlink’s homepage clearly states that the satellite internet service will cover Vietnam in 2022. Orders will be fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis. This means Elon Musk’s “internet from the sky” is not yet widely available and is currently limited to a certain number of users.
Users across all provinces in Vietnam, including deep rural and border island areas, can place their pre-orders now.
Notably, Vietnamese users must pay a deposit of about 2.3 million VND (99 USD), which is refundable if they change their mind. This deposit also covers one month’s subscription to Starlink, excluding the 499 USD cost for the satellite dish and a WiFi router.
Starlink is SpaceX’s ambitious plan to provide high-speed internet anywhere in the world through a network of tens of thousands of low-earth orbit satellites.
Tests conducted in October 2020 in North America showed Starlink’s average download speed at around 42.8 Mbps, with upload speeds ranging from 4.5 Mbps to 17.7 Mbps. Most tests were done in Los Angeles, California, with some in Seattle, Washington. Speed tests also showed latency between 20ms and 94ms.
Besides the monthly subscription fee, users need to purchase the satellite dish and a WiFi router.
It’s important to note that Starlink’s satellite network is still being built, so speeds and latency are expected to improve over time. So far, SpaceX has launched over 1,300 satellites designed to operate at an altitude of 550 km. However, this is just a fraction of the 12,000 Starlink satellites planned for launch. SpaceX plans to invest 10 billion USD in the project. If successful, the satellite internet market could be worth 1 trillion USD.
