So yes. We finally got a live demo of Starlink working perfectly in Harare and the speeds are very good. 131Mbps download and 2.83Mbps upload (All VSAT has terrible upload speeds). What we have managed to gather is that our theory of how to get it working in Zimbabwe proved to be right.
How Starlink works
Starlink has a worldwide network of satellites hovering 550km above our heads and their service coverage is split into regions. Continental regions. Looking at the Starlink satellite coverage map, Africa has very good coverage with Zimbabwe having some 4 satellites passing over it in some instances. It’s good enough to get a signal that can give you over 100Mbps download speeds.
The Starlink kit itself is region locked. This means if you buy a kit from the USA, UK, Nigeria, or Rwanda, those kits will be made to work in the respective countries they are being sold. For them to work outside of the country they are being sold to, they need to first be set up in the country of origin. From there you need to activate roaming which will then allow the kit to work outside of the country of origin.
Getting it to work in Zim
The kit that was tested was bought in the UK, it was set up there and had global roaming activated before being shipped to Zimbabwe. Once it got here it was just a matter of connecting everything, setting up the wifi name, and allowing the kit to connect to a satellite. Basically, plug and play. The process is like so:
- Purchase Starlink Roaming from a country where Starlink is available (A country from the same continent is highly recommended)
- Select Regional roaming on the roaming option (Only if the country of origin is on the same continent as the destination country)
- Set it up in this country of origin and run any updates needed.
- In your account settings ensure roaming is active.
- Ship it to the destination country (In this case Zim)
- Set it up and run any updates.
The catch. Roaming is not cheap
We talked about regional and global roaming. Think about it as the roaming you are familiar with on your mobile devices. The ability to use your Zimbabwean mobile service provider in another country. So Regional Roaming refers to roaming on the same continent and Global Roaming means access to the service from anywhere in the world.
Roaming is however not cheap. Especially if you pick Global Roaming. The price for the kit is the same at around US$599. What differs is the monthly subscriptions for the service. Here is a table to show the cost of the kit and roaming for select regions.
| Country | Equipment cost | Standard subscription P/M | Regional roaming subscription P/M | Global roaming subscription P/M |
| Nigeria | US$583.49 | US$41.82 | US$52.52 | US$218.34 |
| Rwanda | US$515.45 | US$43.25 | US$52.99 | US$220.78 |
| UK | US$373.05* (US$572.01) | US$93.26 | US$105.70 | US$248.70 |
| USA | US$599 | US$120 | US$150 | US$200 |
*Currently there is a promotion in the UK where the equipment is discounted from the standard £460 to £300.
Looking at this table you will notice that subscriptions for Africa are a lot cheaper than those for the USA and the UK. I only included this selection of countries for purposes of comparison. Availability of Starlink is in a lot more countries than just these four but these are the ones most Zimbabweans will be interested in.
Roaming access lasts for 2 months
[UPDATE] Starlink’s roaming service will allow you to use outside of the country it was registered to for a maximum period of 2 months. After that, the kit will need to go back to its home country so that the roaming resets and you get another 2 months. So looks like at this moment this is not a permanent solution to accessing the service in Zimbabwe or other countries where the service is not yet available.
International Travel: Starlink can only be used within the same continent as the registered shipping address. If you use Starlink in a foreign country for more than two months, you will be required to move your account to your new location or purchase an additional Starlink to maintain service.
Starlink Website
US$53 for over 100Mbps of unlimited internet
If you are in Zimbabwe, the best place to get your kit is from Nigeria or Rwanda (Rwanda being the cheapest route). This is because we are in the same region meaning you will be able to enjoy the roughly US$53 monthly subscription under the Regional roaming package. US$53 for unlimited internet that has download speeds above 100Mbps. The cheapest unlimited internet package you can get in Zimbabwe right now is US$241 from Liquid Home (Z$ price converted to USD using the latest interbank rate) and its speeds are up to 20Mbps or 20% of Starlink speeds at best.
Choosing to get your kit from countries outside of Africa is going to make it a lot more expensive to use Starlink. You’ll be committing to the Global Roaming subscription which starts at US$200. If you are already paying this much for your unlimited fiber right now then it won’t be that big of a deal but if there is an option that is a quarter of the price for the same service then it’s a no-brainer. You just have to contend with the price of the kit and the shipping costs to get it to Zim.
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