The wait for a Starlink dish can be painfully long. But SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is signaling that some users could receive their units in the coming months, citing a rise in antenna production.
Musk mentioned the production increase after introducing a new Premium Starlink dish, which he described as a “high performance antenna.” The Premium service launches in Q2 for an eye-popping $500 per month, plus another $2,500 for a larger dish.
Naturally, you might be wondering about the standard Starlink service, which only goes for $99 per month, plus $499 for the current dish. Over 750,000 people across the globe have already placed pre-orders for the service in the hopes it’ll offer them high-speed broadband. In some good news, Musk tweeted that “SpaceX standard antenna production rises rapidly this year, so those with orders shouldn’t have to wait long.”
On the downside, Musk added that the increased antenna production won’t provide much relief for prospective customers already living in areas packed with Starlink users. “Note, Starlink can only support a limited number of users in an area, so best to order early,” Musk said.
In October, SpaceX began notifying users that the ongoing chip shortage was preventing deliveries of Starlink dishes to users. In some cases, the company also pushed back order dates to “late 2022, early 2023″ for new sign-ups.
The delays have caused widespread disappointment among many Starlink pre-order customers, who’ve waitied for nine months or longer for the satellite internet service. “Starlink Premium [is] apparently more important than filling year-long pre-orders,” one customer told us this week.
To serve more users, SpaceX needs to not only produce more dishes, but also launch more Starlink satellites into orbit. The company has plans to one day operate over 30,000 Starlink satellites across the planet. But it’ll take SpaceX years to construct the satellite constellation.
In the meantime, Musk said in another tweet that SpaceX plans on rolling out Starlink to users based in Northern Canada and other “high latitudes” later this summer.
