Elon Musk-backed Starlink unveils new rectangular satellite dish, price remains unchanged

 The new satellite dish or user terminal, as the company puts it, is thinner, lighter, and rectangular as against the original circular model. The new kit also contains a WiFi-only router and is reportedly simpler than the original model.

 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Starlink has unveiled a new rectangular satellite dish or user terminal.
• The new rectangular dish is 12-inches wide and 19-inches long and weighs 9.2 pounds, which is a little over 4 Kgs.

The company has also launched a new range of brackets to mount the terminals permanently on buildings and roofs.

Elon Musk-backed SpaceX has updated its Starlink website with a new rectangular satellite dish. The new satellite dish or user terminal, as the company puts it, is thinner, lighter and rectangular as against the original circular model. The new kit also contains a WiFi-only router and is reportedly simpler than the original model. An Ethernet router will be available separately for wired connections. The new rectangular dish is 12-inches wide and 19-inches long and weighs 9.2 pounds, which is a little over 4 Kg. It is nearly half the weight of the original 16-pound dish. However, the price to buy the rectangular option appears unchanged. The buy-in cost was available for $499 for the kit and then $99 a month for coverage.

The user terminals connect to a network of more than 1400 satellites to deliver broadband internet. Starlink has noted that it aims to deliver download speeds of 200 Mbps and latency as low as 20 ms. The company has also launched a new range of brackets to mount the terminals permanently on buildings and roofs. Customers who have already purchased the original dish are not allowed to exchange it with the new model and each account is only limited to one terminal per subscription, Business Insider reported.