Last year we announced that we were excited to be bringing Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity, powered by Starlink, to our customers across Australia.
Today, after months of comprehensive testing – we're even more excited to say it’s here!
While many Aussies already have reliable home internet through our nbn plans, some of us live in more remote locations where a different connectivity solution is best.
This is where our Telstra Satellite Home Internet comes in – using innovative LEO satellites to provide high speed, low latency internet in even the most remote places. It will even provide you with a home phone connection.
Available to order starting today, our satellite home internet plan is available for $125/month and $599 upfront for the Starlink Standard kit.
It also includes unlimited data and estimated typical peak speeds of 50Mbps download and 10Mbps upload. Although these may be impacted by various other factors such as kit location, sky visibility from that location, and severe weather conditions.
And as a world first – you can even use it as your home phone.
Each Telstra Satellite Home Internet connection comes with a Telstra Smart Modem 3 included for use alongside a Starlink Standard Kit.
The award winning Telstra Smart Modem 3 is the same modem we supply with our nbn home internet services. This provides a home phone connection and if you live in an area with 4G mobile coverage, the Telstra Smart Modem 3 will also automatically swap to that connection if there’s an issue with your satellite connectivity.
Included in the Starlink Standard Kit is the Starlink phased array antenna plus all the cables you need to make it work together.
If you live in a bigger place that needs extended Wi-Fi coverage, the Telstra Smart Modem 3 works with our optional add-on Smart Wi Fi Boosters – and if you add these, we’ll guarantee you'll get wall-to-wall Wi-Fi, or you can cancel with no further charge.
Just like with other Telstra services, you can visit one of our stores for some help from a local if you need it or jump into the MyTelstra app to talk with an agent. With our 30-day service guarantee, you can also try out Telstra Satellite Home Internet with no risk. If it’s not up to your standards, simply return the hardware within 30 days and we’ll refund your first monthly fee plus any hardware repayment costs.
And compared to most traditional fixed home internet products, one of the best parts of our satellite home internet service is that you can plug it in and play right away without any professional help or installation if you don’t need it.
Our satellite home internet service is designed to be easy. You might need to play around with placement to get the optimal speeds and coverage – but getting connected takes just a few minutes.
For best performance, Starlink requires a clear view of the sky to actively track and communicate with the satellites overhead. It should be placed in a position that has the best line of sight to the sky – away from trees or any other tall buildings that might obstruct its field of view. Choose from quick set up or permanent install.
If you want to permanently install Starlink on your roof, we sell Starlink accessories including mounts and you can get a professional to install this for you. If you’ve never installed anything on a roof before – best to get a professional to do that part.
For a quick start– the same principles still apply around placing the Starlink phased array antenna away from tall objects that could get in the way of its line of sight.
Before you get it placed up, you just have a couple things you'll need to plug in:
1. Connect the Starlink dish with the Starlink modem via the long ethernet cable
2. Your Starlink modem to the power (which will also power the dish)
Telstra currently uses a mix of technologies to provide voice and broadband services in rural and remote Australia, including nbn fixed and fixed wireless broadband, our mobile network and older copper and radio networks.
The addition of Telstra LEO Satellite services will provide an additional connectivity option for eligible customers in rural and remote locations where distance and terrain make it difficult to provide quality connectivity with existing terrestrial networks.
One of the benefits of LEO satellites is that they are much closer to Earth than traditional geostationary satellites with multiple satellites that form part of a “constellation”, allowing them to send and receive signals much faster. As well as offering great data throughput, the proximity of these satellites reduces latency making them a great and more consistent option for services that need lower latency, like voice and video calls.
The latency, download speeds and general experience in most circumstances will be superior to copper-based ADSL and better suited for most modern connectivity needs. For many people in remote places, this will enable modern conveniences those of us in the city might take for granted these days – such as streaming movies or working from home.
We truly believe in improving connectivity for all Australians and look forward to also sharing more details around further work we're doing with LEO satellites later this year.
