Re:Demand for Starlink in Zimbabwe is overwhelming capacity
by lurking_swe on Tuesday December 17, 2024 @04:35PM
(#42445537)
this blew my mind:
“The worse wat $650/month for 8Mbps”
insane.
Re:Demand for Starlink in Zimbabwe is overwhelming capacity
by fwip on Tuesday December 17, 2024 @04:57PM
(#42445752)
Are those prices in USD, or a local currency? (Apologies for not knowing which local currency to ask about; it seems that Zimbabwe changed currency recently and no longer uses the Zimbabwean Dollar?)
Re:Demand for Starlink in Zimbabwe is overwhelming capacity
by oblio on Tuesday December 17, 2024 @05:12PM
(#42445924)
I'm guessing the local currency as Zimbabwe's GDP per capita is $2,005, so salaries have to be lower. I doubt anyone could afford to pay 30% of their yearly income on an internet connection :-)
Re:Demand for Starlink in Zimbabwe is overwhelming capacity
by IncreasePosts on Tuesday December 17, 2024 @05:21PM
(#42446026)
No, it is definitely USD. $650 ZWD would be like $2USD. I doubt OP is complaining about that.
Re:Demand for Starlink in Zimbabwe is overwhelming capacity
by loeg on Tuesday December 17, 2024 @05:20PM
(#42446012)
So like, 67% of Zimbabweans don't have internet (2022).
Re:Demand for Starlink in Zimbabwe is overwhelming capacity
by kuduebrahim on Tuesday December 17, 2024 @08:04PM
(#42447181)
Botswana just as bad but I think slowly getting better
At home I've got fibre which is about as good as Starlink offers for $100. It used to be 20Mbps and it went up to 75Mbps max late last year when it looked like starlink would enter and they're gonna do 300MBps soon. It seems local ISPs are trying to do better offering more bandwidth though it's still expensive and heavily abuses "up to" marketing. Like, there's no reason that ISP can't offer 20MBps for $30.
It's not the easiest country to do business, there are a lot of exchange rate shenanigans and ISPs seem addicted to rent seeking. Heck, getting Starlink approved seemed to be a huge mission that surprised the execs working on it.
Funny bit is that I messed up ordering the kit at work so it's in my name meaning I can technically buy the kit off of them and they can get on a business plan without a waiting list or using the overpriced "authorized providers".
[1]: https://im.farai.xyz/the-classics/blog/zim-internet-sucks/