The Starlink Exit Plan: How SpaceX’s Satellites Are Bringing Remote Workers to the Wilderness
With a satellite internet hookup and a clear view of the sky, that cabin in the woods can become a second office.
The promise of Starlink is simple: You, city dweller, dream of holing up in a cabin, sailing the high seas or vagabonding across the country in an RV. But you’re still going to need an internet connection. Enter Starlink, the satellite internet provider operated by SpaceX that will beam high-speed internet down to you whether you’re living in the Australian Outback or just camping out of your Subaru Outback.
But when you’re talking about a company run by Elon Musk, promises don’t always equal results. So what’s Starlink like to use? Is it really a life-changer? And are there any reasonable alternatives? To find out, I spoke with Starlink users spread around the globe, from Oakland, Calif., to Auckland, New Zealand.
Starlink relies on a mesh network of small satellites hurtling through low Earth orbit. The current count is somewhere north of 3,500 satellites, a huge number when you consider that there are only about 10,000 satellites in orbit, according to the United Nations. Yes, over one-third of the world’s active satellites belong to Starlink, and it’s launching more clusters all the time, with an ultimate goal of sending up 12,000 satellites.