One of the big questions about Amazon’s new home Internet service has been the cost. The Amazon CEO says he expects the new Internet service to offer a low price that will help it reach the 400 to 500 million households still without Internet.
Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy was interviewed by CNBC’s Jim Cramer last month. In that interview, Andy Jassy said, “I think we can charge a low price and still make good margins where it’s a good business for us. I actually am very bullish about that business.”
Recent leaks revealed that the kits to get started with Amazon’s new Internet service can be built for over $200, which is less expensive than Starlink’s charges.
According to Bloomberg, a standard satellite dish from Amazon will cost under $400 to manufacture. This will help Amazon undercut the $599.99 cost that SpaceX charges for its standard Starlink kit. The standard satellite dish from Amazon promises speeds of up to 400 Mbps down.
There is an even smaller satellite dish that Amazon is promising will offer speeds up to 100 Mbps, but the exact manufacturing costs of that model are unknown.
For some time now, Amazon has said they want to offer a cheaper satellite Internet option. Having kits that cost under $400 to manufacture will allow them to sell the kits for significantly less money than the $599.99 Starlink charges. Companies often sell starter kits at or near cost to get as many customers to sign up for the monthly fees. Sadly, we do not know the cost Amazon plans to charge for monthly service.
Amazon is promoting some impressive speeds for satellite-based Internet. The following three Internet speed options will be available to Amazon Internet customers:
Standard This standard version will come with an 11″ square antenna that will offer speeds up to 400 Mbps down. This will be perfect for most households.
Pro If you need a lot of speed, Amazon has an 11″ by 30″ pro antenna that can offer speeds up to 1 Gbps. This will be perfect for companies or large households.
Portable If speed is not important and you want something you can easily travel with, look into Amazon’s ultra-portable version that is 7″ square and offers speeds up to 100 Mbps.
These speeds are considerably faster than older satellite Internet services and, with the pro version, are significantly faster than SpaceX’s Starlink average speeds right now. The question now is what the speeds will be like once the service is in public use.
Amazon hopes to start limited testing in late 2024 and to slowly roll out the service in 2025. Like the Starlink rollout, look for the service to be offered in limited areas at first as Amazon moves to offer service in more areas.
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