Starlink Expand UK Availability of Ultrafast LEO Satellite Broadband
Consumers in the north of Scotland who have been waiting to adopt SpaceX’s popular Starlink service, which offers ultrafast latency and internet speeds via a mega constellation of broadband satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), may be pleased to learn that ISP has just expanded its availability to cover the highlands and Orkney.
The Starlink network currently has around 2,600 LEOs in orbit and their initial plan is to deploy a total of 4,425 by 2024. Customers in the UK usually pay from £89 per month, plus £55 for shipping and £529 for the kit (dish, router etc.). But for that you can expect unlimited usage, fast latency times of 20-40ms, downloads of c. 50-200Mbps and uploads of c.10-20Mbps (speeds may change as the network grows).
However, while conducting one of our usual checks today, we noticed that the £55 shipping fee for the UK had been reduced to £0. We’re currently unsure whether this is a mistake, a change in Starlink’s ordering process (i.e. it might be added later) or possibly a special offer. But that’s not the biggest change.
A number of ISPreview.co.uk’s readers (special credit to David at HighNet) have spotted that the Coverage Map for Starlink‘s service has suddenly been expanded to include most of the Scottish Highlands, although sadly it stopped just short of extending across the Shetland Isles. But that will no doubt come as Starlink works to improve its polar coverage.
We’ve included the old March 2022 coverage map below for comparison, when much of the highlands were not yet covered. The new coverage map (pictured – top) has adopted a light blue colour to show its current availability, and we’ve confirmed that it’s now possible to order the service in the new areas.
Starlink’s Old March 2022 Coverage Map
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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Just checked myself and it’s definitely free, maybe down to lower volume shipped and lost here as in the US they seem to be lost frequently.
This is an interesting one as based on the satellite maps online, there is still next to no polar satellites that’d cover Northern Scotland. One of the sites (starlink.sx) goes as far as to make it look like you’d still connect to the South of England, meaning you would have to have literally zero obstructions south of your property.
£89 per month?!? And £529 on top for the equipment… Not a chance! I’ll be waiting for Openreach to offer me FTTP in my area and enjoy 900 mbps speeds with 3 ms ping. Still for under the cost of Starlink
This is more for people who can’t get FTTP etc.
lol its took em 5 years to get 30% coverage ,,, ued probly be best waiting for virgin media to lay a cable to your house LOL ,,,,dont forgot it is mobile aswell so u can take it on holiday with u 🙂 and all u need is a generator and your online off grid 🙂
Satellite broadband is nothing new, nor is paying extortionate fees for the equipment and the monthly connection fee. The same people who took satellite broadband all those years ago are likely to be the same people looking at Starlink today. Those that aren’t covered by FTTP or by 4G/5G. The difference though is that Starlink approximates a “normal” home broadband connection.
If you were really in the market for it, you’d know it and you’d see you’ve got little other option at the moment. Although that looks like it’s subject to change. I don’t need Starlink so I don’t pay for it. If I live in a place where I can’t get 5G or 4G or had to put up with 2-8mbit DSL then yeah I’d probably pay for Starlink.
We got startlink a couple months ago, because I am DONE waiting for classic ADSL to get replaced, and with 4G with an antenna getting 6mb. there are no plans for our areas with third party networks or with openreach, exhauasted all options with government, companies, openreach, uso, community projects. we’re literally not on the roadmap, nothing will change even with the 2025 goals.
So far, loving starlink! mostly a solid 300mb down, 20 up and a VERY stable 20ms latency.. upfront costs are painful, monthly cost reaonable when you consider our 4g and DSL line combined were about £50 a month. we had one 5 minute drop out during a thunderstorm, otherwise it’s been amazing.
Hi Alec,
We live in rural Devon and are using a 4G dish on a 30ft mast that gets about 20mb/s generally but is intermittent. 3 x teenagers always on line! Would you recommend starlink over 4G?
I received my Starlink kit about a month ago now, yes £89/month is more than I really wanted to pay but at the moment it’s my only option for anything better than 22 Mbps download/ 4Mpbs Up (VDSL Connection) that is reliable too.
I have tried Vodaphone & O2 but both their 4G speeds are less than 10Mbps where I live. Three only have 3G coverage and EE 4G speeds are around 40-60 Mbps but their service here is intermittent and often drops and can take few days to become active again. None of these mobile network options are a reliable alternative to VDSL & there are no Virgin Cable options locally.
As for FTTP, unless OR suddenly changes their mind, my area is not in scope this side of the ‘end of 2025’ date that’s being promised for many areas. I did look into paying for FTTPoD but the costs were going to be in excess of £16,000 so that wasn’t a realistic option either.
As for Starlink, their speeds have been averaging 150Mbps and pings around 30-50ms for me and I can online game without problems.
At the end of the day everyone’s perspective of what is good/poor value are subjective but for me, at least for the time being, I am grateful for the Starlink option despite their hefty costs.
The price has gone down, I paid £460 one off charge free shipping and £75 per month. havent installed it yet as going into a property in western scotland which is remote and without a “normal” broadband offering. Added benefit is that you can upgrade and pay £20 extra per month and then take it with you anywhere else in the world.
Literally yesterday got my order confirmed paid £0 shipping. Due to arrive in 6 days.
I live 1-2 miles from two towns in the Highlands and have adsl speed of 1mb and 4g vodaphone that is intermittent ranging from 0.1mb to 12mb randomly.
Openreach has no firm plan for my property and continues to push back dates with r100 plans seemingly fictitious and 2025 being earliest possible.
Starlink might be the network life line I need. Unless the hills are too high for me to get good signal/uptime. Fingers crossed.
Hope you have a good experience with Starlink, JR, when it turns up.
One thing I would recommend, if you haven’t already done so, is order the additional Ethernet adaptor and then use your own router. I found the supplied Starlink router to be below par, it works but is very limited and the Wi-Fi range is quite poor too, in fact the 5Ghz range didn’t extend beyond the room the router was in.
Poor Shetland…