Cyril Touchet is a happy motorist. Every year, this commercial manager of a packaging machine company travels 40,000 kilometers at the wheel of his Tesla. And for nothing in the world he would change his electric car for a thermal model. “I have great driving comfort for a cost per kilometer significantly lower than that of a top-of-the-range sedan”appreciates this owner of a Model Y Long Range.
Totally won over, this is his fourth Tesla since his first purchase in 2016. So when Elon Musk, the inventor of this electric car, activated his Starlink satellite Internet service in France in May 2021, M Touchet did not last long. For the past few weeks, an antenna pegged to a gable of his house, located in the Caen region, has provided him with the speed he needs to telecommute, while allowing his two daughters to watch their videos on the Internet. “I had fiber at home. But I was tired of the business practices of telecom operators. Starlink freed me from it”he congratulates himself, still amazed by the simplicity of installation and connection of the antenna.
Starlink (50 euros per month, in addition to the 480 euros for the hardware) costs more than a fiber optic 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 relies to make Starlink known.
“I thought this thing was going to be a hit”
Independent computer scientist, Alexis André installed his first antenna in 2021, for a restaurant in the forest of Meudon (Hauts-de-Seine) “too far from the fiber optic network and poorly served by 4G”. “I had doubts about the speed, but you have to admit that it’s great. » Since then, he has connected Starlink with four other clients, including a Parisian hotel.
Having Starlink, like driving a Tesla, also means belonging to a community of pioneers, that of “starlinkians”, at the forefront of the latest technological innovation. “I found the service revolutionary, almost straight out of a science fiction book. I thought this thing was going to be a hit”says Patrick Emin, host of the Facebook account Starlink France since its creation, in November 2020, even before the opening of the service to the public.
The public consultation required in April by the Council of State received 2,034 responses from individuals, many of whom praised a service “of public interest”. Never seen
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