The French will pay less than everyone else for Elon Musk’s internet plan

news hardware The French will pay less than everyone else for Elon Musk’s internet plan

Published on 04/08/2022 at 16:40

While access to Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite internet service provider, is known for its very high prices, it is becoming more affordable in France thanks to a very significant price drop.

Sending satellites into space is expensive, very expensive. And to make it profitable to deploy the hundreds of satellites that enable Starlink to operate, Elon Musk’s company has taken to the habit of sending its customers hefty bills if they so wishaccess the internet from anywhere in the world.

In early July, we learned that the Starlink Maritime subscription would cost $5000 a month. Incredibly high price, which aims to equip luxury yachts with the company’s technology. Which most techies find cool, but probably by the owners of a leisure boat that probably costs tens of millions of euros.

The French will pay less than everyone else for Elon Musk's internet plan

Nevertheless Starlink isn’t just for billionaires excited for the network to post mid-ocean photos to Instagram. The company’s technology can also connect isolated homes anywhere in the world. Where 5G antennas and fiber optic cables can’t get through, Starlink is there. And that can also affect France.

Starlink price drop in France, and not just a little

In order to use a satellite connection to Starlink, an official connection pack must be installed, which previously cost 705 euros in France. From now on, this price drops to 684 eurosand it includes the first month of subscription. This, previously set at 99 euros, increases to 50 euros.

It should be noted that the cost of the package, including in particular the satellite antenna to be installed on the roof of his house, amounted to 499 euros until March 2022. At this point, if Starlink puts in a little effort, the price is still high. However, it quickly pays for itself with a monthly subscription, the price of which is halved.

Will Starlink become competitive in France?

If using Starlink to access the Internet has a little “hype” and a futuristic side that cannot be neglected, The investment is still substantial. Dish acquisition and installation is an inevitable constraint, and the monthly subscription cost remains higher than most traditional fiber subscriptions.

If it is not installed in a place where no other network passes, such as in the mountains, it is likely that there are cheaper alternatives. So, before jumping straight into what Starlink has to offer, it makes sense to check which other operators can offer a competitive deal. For information, Starlink promises a throughput of between 50 and 150 megabits per second.

The fact that Starlink decides to lower its prices in France is perhaps also a sign of a complicated market for this operator. Still, the French proposal remains significantly lower than elsewhere: in the US, the monthly subscription still costs $99.