Starlink improves connectivity for the Burke family on Strangways Station

Mrs Burke said she spoke to a number of people who were using the service prior to ordering Starlink just before Christmas.

"They were not necessarily in the Territory but also down in NSW and I'd only heard positive things about it," she said.

"Then I heard some Territorians were getting it and reactions were mixed, some liked it and others were saying video and voice calls weren't great.

"I thought for the price of it, if it does work it's worth a crack."

Starlink is a network of more than 3500 low Earth orbit satellites operated by SpaceX.

Given the satellites are closer to Earth it has a lower latency than other satellite services like the NBN's Sky Muster.

On its residential plans Starlink offers unlimited data and download speeds between 20Mbps and 100Mbps.

In contrast, a Sky Muster Plus plan is unmetered from midnight to 4pm and is capable of speed bursts of about 50Mbps.

It is only metered from 4pm to midnight for video and VPN use.

However, Starlink costs more per month and has an initial outlay cost for the equipment.

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The Burkes run Brahman cattle on their 800 square kilometre leased property, Strangways Station, about 90 kilometres from Mataranka along the Roper Highway.

Cattle are sent to Darwin for the live export market or trucked to abattoirs in Queensland, depending on price.

Since switching on the service a month ago the Burkes have been so happy with it they decided to buy Starlink RV for the contract mustering business they run in partnership with Jessica and Tim Corones.

Mrs Burke said attaching the portable Starlink RV service to the mustering camp's humpy will keep their crew of eight safer and more connected.

KD Rural musters cattle on stations across the Northern Territory and sometimes over the border into Western Australia.

"It will just make communicating with our crew so much easier, so if they've got any dramas they don't have to annoy the station or the farm for their WiFi, they can contact us from anywhere," Mrs Burke said.

"It will be great for safety, great for communicating with them for food orders, payroll and invoicing."

Mrs Burke said the addition of Starlink RV may also help to attract staff.

"However, we don't want it to take away from the camp feel being in the middle of nowhere and chatting around the campfire at night, so there will be limits on it," she said.

"But I think it will be nice for the crew to be able to touch base with home and send photos of how they are going and what they are doing."

Last week the federal government and NBN Co announced up to 10,000 rural Australians would have access to a Sky Muster satellite plan trial.

The plan will be unmetered and provide speeds of up to 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload, about twice that of existing Sky Muster Plus plans.

NBN local head Chris Cusack said around 100,000 homes and businesses across regional and remote areas of Australia rely on the Sky Muster satellite service to meet their daily broadband internet needs.

"We are committed to bringing broadband solutions and digital connectivity to more homes and businesses in the satellite footprint to support innovation, productivity and growth in regional and remote areas of Australia," Mr Cusack said.

"Our satellite equipment is professionally installed, and we do not charge internet service providers for a standard installation or the standard satellite equipment.

"NBN also delivers customer support through on-ground Australian technical support teams."

There has been a modest decline in the active users on NBN's Sky Muster satellite products.

However, this could be a result of a combination of factors, including moving customers to fixed wireless services.

Rural and regional Australians are also able to connect to the internet via mobile-based services.

Australia's largest mobile network provider Telstra invests in building new base stations to improve mobile connectivity every year.

Telstra northern Queensland regional general manager Rachel Cliffe said Telstra understood the importance of connectivity in today's world.

"Providing connectivity in regional Australia is not just a Telstra responsibility - it's an issue that is shared between various levels of government and providers such as the government owned NBN, plus other privately owned mobile carriers like Optus and TPG/Vodaphone," Ms Cliffe said.

"Over the past seven years, we have invested around $4 billion in improving our mobile network in regional areas.

"We have over 11,000 mobile base stations in Australia covering more than 2.6 million square kilometres and the Telstra mobile network reaching 99.5 per cent of the Australian population."

Before making the switch to Starlink the Burkes were on a Sky Muster Plus plan through internet service provider, activ8me.

Mrs Burke said they have been really happy with their Starlink connection and found it worked well for WiFi calling.

A Sky Muster Plus plan is still being used for School of the Air lessons by the eldest two of their three children - Billy, Lizzie and Henry.

Mrs Burke opted to keep this plan running while she assessed the Starlink connection but now that she is satisfied, she will likely cut off the activ8me service.

"We've had quite a few storms in the last couple of weeks and it hasn't cut out once yet, whereas activ8 can cut out as soon as there's a bit of a build up," she said.

"We are very disadvantaged up here with the connectivity and I think it's great to have more competition."

Starlink and SpaceX were contacted for comment.