When it comes to providing internet access in every corner of the world, satellite internet seems the obvious solution. And Elon Musk’s Starlink is leading the way as the fastest satellite internet service provider in the US, rivaling the speed of broadband companies.
According to Ookla, a popular internet speed testing company, Starlink’s performance has skyrocketed since the first quarter. Specifically, the Musk-owned ISP offered a median download speed of 97.23 Mbps in Q2 2021, up from 65.72 Mbps in Q1 2021.
Starlink offered a median download speed of 97.23 Mbps in Q2 2021.
Starlink-SpaceX-Satellite-Internet
When it comes to providing internet access in every corner of the world, satellite internet seems the obvious solution. And Elon Musk’s Starlink is leading the way as the fastest satellite internet provider in the US, rivaling the speeds of broadband companies.
According to Ookla, a popular internet speed testing company, Starlink’s performance has skyrocketed since the first quarter. Specifically, the Musk-owned ISP offered a median download speed of 97.23 Mbps in Q2 2021, up from 65.72 Mbps in Q1 2021.
Starlink puts itself ahead of the competition
Taking this into account, only satellite ISPs HughesNet and ViaSat were able to achieve average download speeds of 19.73 Mbps and 18.13 Mbps respectively. While this is an improvement on their Q1 results of 15.07 Mbps and 17.67 Mbps, they are still well behind Starlink.
Starlink’s speeds lag behind broadband services
Starlink is increasingly seen as a potential competitor to fixed broadband operators. According to a report by Ookla, Musk’s internet service is a promising second among broadband services, with a median download speed of 115.22 Mbps. In addition, the satellite internet service is gradually catching up with the 14 ms latency of broadband.
An important factor in Starlink’s fast performance is that its satellites operate in low earth orbit (550-1200 km). This contrasts with the higher orbits of its competitors (up to 35 000 km above Earth). The higher the altitude of a satellite network, the greater its coverage, but at the expense of speed.
SpaceX’s Internet service is part of the trade-off between coverage and speed, with a greater emphasis on the latter. As a result, Starlink has relatively higher speeds than other satellite ISPs. According to
, these speeds are also faster than broadband competitors in some countries, including Canada and France.
However, Starlink’s speeds and latency sometimes fluctuate. In the same report, the speed-testing company notes that Starlink’s performance in the US temporarily declined in February and June. This drop is attributed to more users subscribing to the service and changing weather conditions.
Satellite internet is still a new technology that has evolved in recent years. It is our best chance to bring the most remote places under the blanket of the World Wide Web. Starlink, a leader in this field, is likely to play a key role in how technology develops over the decade.
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