The Starlink satellite internet map now covers the Philippines, according to an announcement on the Starlink Twitter page. In fact, the Starlink availability map already includes the Philippines as “active,” and interested individuals and businesses can learn more by visiting www.starlink.com/map.
To access the order form, simply enter your complete address. If your area does not appear in the form, verify and ensure that you have specified your city in the Philippines.
Each unit of the equipment costs ₱29,320, and customers are required to pay ₱2,700 per month. The enterprise kit, which is suitable for businesses, costs ₱201,600, with a monthly subscription starting at ₱28,000.
How to Order Starlink in the Philippines?
As of this writing, Starlink service orders in the Philippines are processed through the official Starlink website. If you’re interesting in availing the service, just follow these steps:
- To get started, go to the Starlink homepage.
- Next, enter your home city in the Philippines. Just type the correct information into the provided text field.
- On the next window, fill in your name, delivery address, contact number, and other necessary information.
After entering all the required information, click on the Place Order button.
The company will notify you when your order is ready for shipping, which may take two to four weeks, depending on availability and other factors.
Starlink Integrator Data Lake Inc’s head of sales and marketing, Jana Ang, explained that Starlink Philippines faced challenges due to the global chip shortage caused by the pandemic. This shortage has disrupted the supply chains and distribution of semiconductor chips, which are crucial components in various industries, especially telecommunications companies like Starlink.
While the current quarter mainly caters to businesses, Starlink is now available for individual consumers.
Starlink Philippines allocated about 10,000 units of the satellite-based technology for the country. The company has earth stations in Nueva Vizcaya, Quezon, and Pampanga, and plans to open a fourth earth station in Davao.
Starlink has tested its services in rural banks in Sultan Kudarat, improving the operations of their automated teller machines by maintaining their online access, which were often offline due to connectivity issues. Starlink Philippines is awaiting certifications from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to start rolling out its services.
How Starlink Satellite Internet Works?
For decades, satellite internet technology has been used to beam internet data through radio signals in space instead of cables. Ground stations transmit signals to orbiting satellites, which then relay the data back to Earth.
HughesNet is one of the main providers that relies on satellites located 22,000 miles above the planet. SpaceX’s system improves on this technology in two ways. First, they plan to use low-Earth orbiting satellites that circle the planet at only 300 miles above the surface, drastically improving internet speeds and reducing latency. Second, SpaceX aims to launch up to 40,000 satellites to provide global coverage without service dropouts.
Currently, Starlink delivers download speeds ranging from 50Mbps to 200Mbps and upload speeds of about 30Mbps, with latency at around 20 milliseconds, which is comparable to ground-based internet. However, some users report congestion issues and varying speeds.
As SpaceX launches more Starlink satellites into orbit, users can expect faster internet speeds. With over 2,500 active satellites as of July 2022, the company’s long-term goal is to operate thousands of satellites, providing download speeds of 1Gbps and eventually 10Gbps. Despite ongoing improvements, Starlink service is still a work in progress, with occasional short outages reported by users.