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The Starlink service from SpaceX, which offers ultrafast broadband speeds to the UK and globally via a massive constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), appears to have expanded the availability of their Grok-based AI chatbot to support customers on their website. The service was already added for users of their App a few months ago.
The chatbot can be accessed from the “Contact Support” link on the checkout page of the website, which then requires you to enter a few personal details (name, email etc.). After that you’ll be sent an email that includes a link, which opens a page with the new AI “Chat powered by Grok” support service.
In theory, this should make it easier for customers to get answers to their technical queries without needing to manually search through the service’s mass of technical and legal documents, although we did find that it typically took between c.14-16 seconds to return a response to even basic queries. But take note that the chatbot is restricted to only being able to answer questions about Starlink’s current service (i.e. it won’t respond to queries about unrelated topics).
On the other hand, consumer sentiment toward the use of AI chatbots tends to be quite mixed, with many viewing it as being more of a negative (i.e. a way of reducing the number of actual humans that are available to provide support). On the other hand, if such systems do end up making it quicker and easier for customers to get their issues resolved, then that would still be a positive change.
Starlink currently has around 9,500 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (c.6,000 are v2 / GEN2 variants) – mostly at altitudes of between c.340-525km. Residential customers in the UK usually pay from £55 a month for the ‘Residential Lite’ unlimited data plan (kit price may vary due to different offers), which promises downloads of up to 250Mbps (175Mbps average) and uploads of c.15-35Mbps. Faster packages exist at greater cost, while cheaper, albeit more restrictive (data capped), options also exist for roaming users (e.g. £50 per month for 50 GigaBytes of data).