Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite-based internet service, has been suffering from variable speeds among beta testers, according to recent reports. The service isn’t widely available to the public yet and only recently began accepting pre-orders in the US, Canada, and the UK. Those who are using Starlink under its beta program, though, may not be consistently reaching the speeds they may have expected.
The brainchild of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Starlink’s internet service relies on more than 1,000 satellites floating in low-Earth orbit to provide reasonable internet speeds to customers in rural areas that have long struggled with their connections. The company has plans for its internet speeds to reach up to 10GBps somewhere down the road. Right now, however, users of the internet service aren’t getting anywhere close to those lightning-fast numbers.
Related: SpaceX’s New NASA Agreement Highlights How Quickly Starlink Is Evolving
According to PC Mag, data from Ookla Speedtest shows that the median download speeds among Starlink users since January 2021 have varied between 50Mbps and 80Mbps. PC Mag interviewed a number of beta testers, one of whom reported a downward swing of nearly 200 Mbps in a matter of hours. Starlink’s explanation for this drastic variation in internet speed arrived in an email to beta customers that pointed to preventive maintenance and bugs within the network, although the company said it rolled out fixes to correct the issues that users were experiencing.
The fact of the matter is, even if Starlink’s internet service has produced varying speeds for beta testers, its speeds are likely still far better than anything that rural customers are used to. Most have had to rely on DSL internet providers or similar entities who can only produce speeds that are often in the single digits. That’s not good enough to carry out modern functions like streaming video content in high definition.
Starlink, by comparison, has reportedly been able to reach speeds of more than 500Mbps for some users. That isn’t the standard, of course, but the point is clear. The service can deliver speeds that many rural communities will never have been able to enjoy. One of the interviewees that PC Mag spoke to went as far as to call the service “life-changing.”
At the end of the day, varying internet speeds are a valid concern for the average person considering making the switch to Starlink. For the rural communities with slow internet connections that Starlink is aimed at, though, the speeds they’ll be able to enjoy are monumentally better than what they’re likely to be used to. Starlink is in a position to revolutionize internet speeds for many people around the world. All that’s left to do is for it to iron out the variability and technical issues during the beta phase and then begin making the service more widely available.
Next: How Much Starlink Costs To Set Up & Per Month
Source: PC Mag
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