Here's your first look at Project Kuiper's low-cost customer terminals

 

Here's your first look at Project Kuiper's low-cost customer terminals

Amazon is working to bridge the digital divide by providing fast, affordable broadband access to tens of millions of people worldwide through a new low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network. The network, called Project Kuiper, will allow people living in areas that are unserved or underserved by traditional communications technologies to take full advantage of the internet. The project aims to open up limitless opportunities for education, business, and community growth. To use the service, customers will install an outdoor antenna—called a customer terminal—to communicate with satellites overhead. Such equipment historically has been too large, too complex, and too expensive for most households. That's why the Kuiper team started with the goal of making the terminals smaller, affordable, and more capable. Here's a quick look at the terminals, all of which are powered by an innovative Amazon-designed chip. The standard customer terminal is less than 11 inches square and 1 inch thick, weighs less than 5 pounds, and delivers speeds up to 400 megabits per second (Mbps). An ultra-compact version—7 inches square—will weigh just 1 pound and offers speeds of up to 100 Mbps at a lower price. A high-bandwidth version designed for enterprise, government, and telecommunications applications will measure 19 inches by 30 inches, and deliver speeds up to 1 gigabit per second.