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Words: Else KennedyProducer: Simone Kealy
Rural Aussies flock to Elon Musk’s new internet service
Thousands of rural and regional Australians have signed up to “game-changing” internet service provider Starlink, which is offering speeds and data that farming businesses have never before had access to.
But experts say there's a catch
When the pandemic forced farmer and healthcare worker Tristia Lakey to start working from home, she found she had traded in a long work day and commute for longer hours hovering over a tenuous internet connection.
Tristia used the only internet connection available to her – the NBN, spending long minutes waiting for files to open or save and rebooting each time her connection dropped out.
At the start of 2022, her husband, John Lakey, heard about Starlink, designed by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX, which promised faster speeds, unlimited data and lower latency.
Not only could the Lakeys stream movies, video chat and work from home without a hiccup, they realised they could do work on the farm that used to be out of reach.
However, despite thousands connecting to Starlink, the company is notoriously hard to contact, so users share tips and solutions to technical problems in online forums.
The business model is “you order online, we ship to your door, you do your own thing, and contact us if it’s not working for you,” Regional Tech Hub manager Trent Geddes says.
But if you do need to contact them, it isn’t straightforward. Starlink doesn’t have a phone number customers can call for support. 
To report an outage or make a complaint, customers need to lodge a ticket via the company’s app.
Finley resident Greg Norris, who spent about $1100 on a Starlink kit, shipping, and his first months’ account fee, plugged his new system in when it arrived in late March, but found he couldn’t make it work.
After lodging three tickets without a response, Norris shared his experience in an online forum. He was contacted by advocacy group Better Internet for Rural Regional and Remote Australians, which contacted Starlink on his behalf.
The company has provided a refund of Norris’ first month’s bill and committed to replacing the faulty unit, but he needs to wait for it to arrive from the US.
Some customers have reported similar delays, yet others say the company has been remarkably responsive.
There’s mixed results in whether an offshore support can adequately support an end user, especially in a rural, regional or remote area… Most of your other companies that provide services in Australia have an arm in the country
“
- Trent Geddes, Regional Tech Hub manager   
The cost of the service – $139 a month plus set-up costs – is significant compared to NBN’s SkyMuster, which starts at $34.95 a month with free installation.
But Geddes says the change Starlink is ushering into Australia is a positive one.“It’s beneficial for everyone who is outside of a major regional centre,” he said.
																																								

Original URL: https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/web-stories/free/the-weekly-times/rural-australian-customers-flock-to-elon-musks-new-internet-service