Business Insider reports…

Elon Musk’s SpaceX released a faster version of its Starlink satellite internet service. It comes with a $2,500 kit and costs 5 times the standard service.

Some details…

The website said users of the premium version could expect download speeds of 150 to 500 Megabits per second, compared with maximum speeds of 150 Mbps available to standard-service customers.

A standard subscription to the network is $99 a month, but Starlink Premium will cost $500 a month, the order page said.

The deposit for the premium service is $500, compared with $100 for the standard Starlink service.

It’s an interesting proposition. After reading hundreds of comments from rural broadband users, I learned that people are very frustrated with their options (in some areas). They are very hopeful for Starlink to be the answer but at the time of the surveys, Starlink was still in beta most people who mentioned it were on a waiting list.

The costs will likely be a barrier for most people but that perhaps this is an opportunity for SpaceX to field test (and presumably prove) the speeds they have been reporting. But at this cost at least in many rural areas, the customer base will likely not interfere with speeds – so it feels like a padded test.