Starlink moves from private to public beta

Rei writes: According to an email sent out to the Starlink mailing list, Starlink is now moving from private, free, invite-only beta to a much larger, subscription-based public beta. Bandwidth estimates have risen to 50-150Mbps, while latency remains similar, at 20-40ms. This is expected to decrease to 16-19ms by summer of 2021. As it is a beta, the email cautions that "There will also be brief periods of no connectivity at all" as they enhance the system. Pricing involves an antenna purchase ($500) and a $99/mo subscription rate. There is no data cap. The beta currently only appears to be for the northern US and Canada, but SpaceX expects to quickly move further south; "near global coverage" is targeted at summer of 2021.