A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the company's latest batch of Starlink internet satellites from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center as seen from Cocoa Beach, Fla., Saturday, March 23, 2024.
“It’s not even the talk of the town anymore,” said Chevak resident Earl Atchak, who was one of the first in his roughly thousand-person Western Alaska village to switch to Starlink from the state’s largest internet provider, GCI, in November 2022. “There’s just a few people that don’t have them.” Additionally, he said that quicker internet speeds have assisted in local search and rescue operations on his village crew. The majority of local Starlink users are mostly getting speeds over 100 megabits per second, the company says, about four times faster than what rural telecom providers are offering in the same locations.
“Restoring competition to rural Alaska is essential,” Williams said. “This is space-based broadband coming in and filling the gaps broken fiber promises .” Online, a community of more than 15,000 Alaskans has formed the Alaska Starlink Users Facebook group. There, they ask questions and share tips. Teachers ask if they are able to travel to the village with their terminals, fishermen wonder how to mount terminals onto their boat’s hull, and regional folks ask others about connection lapses. Users also rely on their fellow Alaskans to fill the role of a customer support tech, a role Starlink lacks in real time.
They’re not alone. Since late 2021, Nome’s Alaska Native corporation, Kawerak, has been using federal grant money to support students of all ages in the Bering Strait region. The project pays for laptops, internet and other necessary equipment for middle school, high school, college and adult learners age 50 and above to pursue educational goals without leaving their communities.
In addition to pursuing economic goals, Ivanoff said she’s having fun using a search engine to learn whatever she wants to know. Bonni Burnell has a homestead in the Alaska Range 90 miles from the nearest road. Prior to using Starlink, she and her family had to travel more than 100 miles to Fairbanks to file taxes and apply for their Permanent Fund dividends in person.“It’s saved us money, time, worry — everything.”Additionally, she uses Wi-Fi calling to speak with family — a previously impossible task — and to stay connected with national news.