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Comment by lgg | Hacker News Reader

Agreed, but I don't understand the cost structure at all. Basic Starlink service in the US is $110 a month, and all these quotes are for service fees in Ukraine are on the order of $2500-$4500 a month. I totally get that deploying into another country (and a war zone at that) may have some structurally higher costs due to currency conversions and extra support, but 20-40x seems absurd.

I would love to have some explain to me why I am wrong, but this seems like war profiteering to me.

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how about 20-40x for 20-40x the traffic? streaming Netflix all day long isn't the same thing, bandwidth-wise as supporting an entire military base. Comcast gets to charge different rates for home vs business, it seems military traffic which runs at a higher priority than business class should be straightforwards to charge more for. We can disagree over the exact price to charge but the different QOS seems justified.

Where did you get 20-40x the traffic? When their business class dish has basically two dishes built in, and you get, basically double the bandwidth. Unless they are setting up arrays of these things, nobody is getting much more bandwidth than a home user. Otherwise that would mean each site has effectively 20 terminals, and each terminal would cost $2500/mo.

And who in Ukraine are they competing with for bandwidth? Did they start selling terminals to civilians too?

The only way I can see justifying the price, is because ground stations are required nearby, as there is no sat to sat communication yet. Getting internet to a ground station in a war zone might be expensive and dangerous.

There are multiple tiers to Starlink (residential, RV, boat, plane, …). I don’t think Ukraine gets the most basic plan with limited bandwidth and meant for stationary dishes.

If I understood correctly some are used as a backbone for their internet infrastructure and some on the field on moving vehicles. The $110 plan wouldn’t cover those use cases.

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