Tuesday was a bad day for many users who’ve waited months to try out SpaceX’s Starlink system. That’s because the company began formally pushing delivery dates for numerous pre-orders into next year.
SpaceX sent a mass email to pre-order customers yesterday, apologizing for the delay. “Silicon shortages over the last 6 months have slowed our expected production rate and impacted our ability to fulfill many Starlink orders this year,” the company wrote in the message.
On the same day, SpaceX began updating the estimated delivery times for customers who have pre-ordered Starlink. Now numerous customers are reporting their delivery dates have shifted to sometime to 2022 when many had been told fulfillment would arrive in “mid to late 2021.”
The disappointment was evident on the Reddit forum devoted to Starlink, where numerous customers bemoaned the delivery delays. One user in Arizona even claimed their order date was being pushed to 2023.
Another customer told PCMag he’s been waiting to receive Starlink for nine months since placing his pre-order back in February. SpaceX has now told him his order won’t arrive until March.
“It is very disappointing and disconcerting that the company has kept so many of us waiting in the dark,” the customer told PCMag. “And when they finally decide to contact us it’s with a generic email that basically boiled down to ‘go check your account and see how much longer we are telling you to wait now.’”
The delay is particularly frustrating for users who pre-ordered Starlink months ago—the moment SpaceX notified them orders were open. They’ve had to wait while users based in other locations have received their orders and are happily posting photos of their dishes on social media.
“‘First come first serve’ is what some of us are upset about. The company lied to us,” claimed one user on Reddit. “I pre-ordered because I knew there was a huge demand and their production was slow. I expected it to take awhile. I did not expect them to ship to people who ordered yesterday before the people who ordered 9 months ago.”
Starlink can’t suddenly serve more users because its technology is heavily dependent on how many satellites SpaceX can operate in orbit. The company has already launched over 1,700 Starlink satellites, but to serve more users, especially in localities already full of Starlink users, SpaceX will need to launch thousands more, which will take time. (Last month, the company said over 750,000 people across the globe had placed pre-orders for the service.)
“We will be able to accommodate more users as we increase the number of satellites in orbit,” SpaceX told pre-order customers in yesterday’s email. Earlier this month, the company also introduced a second-generation Starlink dish, which SpaceX says it can manufacture at a much faster rate over the original model.
“We apologize for the delay and are working hard across our engineering, supply chain, and production teams to improve and streamline our product and factory to increase our production rate,” SpaceX added in the email. Nevertheless, the long wait for Starlink is causing at least a few customers to mull canceling their pre-orders.
“I’m honestly debating refunding my deposit. Late 2022 now? By then I’ll likely have moved,” wrote another user on Reddit. “It’s sad something so awesome has become what it is today.”
The good news from Tuesday’s email is that outside of the US, SpaceX says it plans on expanding Starlink to over 45 additional countries by the end of next year, pending regulatory approval. The same email notes “over 14 million people have inquired about Starlink service in their area.” To pre-order Starlink, you can go to the official website.
