As for Tesla, the founder of the Starlink satellite constellation benefits from the support of a community of followers conquered by the service.
by Olivier Pinaud
Cyril Touchet is a happy motorist. Each year, this sales manager of a packaging machine company travels 40,000 kilometers behind the wheel of his Tesla. And for nothing in the world he would not change his electric car to a thermal model. “I have great driving comfort at a cost per kilometer significantly lower than that of a high -end sedan,” appreciates this owner of a long range.
Totally conquered, he has been in his fourth Tesla since her first purchase, in 2016. So, when Elon Musk, the inventor of this electric car, activated his Internet service by Satellite Starlink in France in May in May 2021, Mr. Touchet did not resist long. For the past few weeks, a branch pegged on a gable of his house, located in the Caen region, has brought him the debit he needs to teleworking, while allowing his two daughters to watch their videos on the Internet. “I had the fiber at home. But I could no longer have commercial practices of telecom operators. Starlink allowed me to free myself,” he said, still amazed by the simplicity of Installation and connection of the antenna.
Starlink (50 euros per month, in addition to the 480 euros for equipment) costs more than an optical fiber line. But Mr. Touchet does not hesitate to promote it around him, maintaining word of mouth, which explains part of Tesla’s commercial success and on which Elon Musk also has to make Starlink known.
“I told myself that this thing was going to be a hit”
Independent computer scientist, Alexis André installed his first antenna in 2021, for a restaurant in the Meudon Forest (Hauts-de-Seine) “too far from the fiber optic network and badly served by 4G”. “I had doubts about the flow, but it must be recognized that it is great.” Since then, he has connected Starlink to four other customers, including a Parisian hotel.
Having Starlink, like driving a Tesla, is also belonging to a community of pioneers, that of “Starlinkians”, at the forefront of the latest technological innovation. “I found revolutionary service, almost out of a science fiction book. I told myself that this thing was going to be a hit,” says Patrick Emin, host of Facebook Starlink France since its creation, in November 2020, even before the opening of the service to the public.
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