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| Starlink Bypasses Satellite Internet Providers |
According to Ookla, the company behind Speedtest, the average download speed of Starlink (SpaceX's satellite Internet) is starting to compete with the speeds of terrestrial broadband providers.
If you live in a rural area, satellite internet is usually the only way to get online. But it is not always the fastest or most stable internet connection.
SpaceX's Starlink recently made inroads into the emerging satellite internet. Ookla released a report in the second quarter to check Starlink's internet speed by analyzing its users' speed test results.
In the US, Elon Musk's service averaged 97.2 Mbps download speed, up from 65.7 Mbps in the first quarter.
Starlink's average download speed is not far from Ookla's estimated 115.2Mbps average download speed for US landline broadband providers in the second quarter.
Depending on where you live in the US, a user's Starlink speed can exceed 115Mbps.
For example, the highest average download speed for Starlink was recorded in Morgan County, Alabama, at 168 Mbps. The slowest speed is 64.5 Mbps in Madison County, Indiana.
By the time the report was released, the service had identified 90,000 subscribers in 12 countries, of which 20,000 had increased in the last month alone.
Starlink outperforms its competitors in performance
The Ookla Starlink report compares HughesNet and Viasat, as well as fixed line broadband such as cable and DSL.
Tests show that Starlink performs much better than the other two satellite companies in upload and download tests. It ranks nearly as high as fixed-line broadband.
Ookla noted that SpaceX is the only provider whose average latency matches fixed broadband.
The shorter the response time, the better. If you are planning to engage in voice or video chatting, play games or go online, this is something you should consider. It does not matter where you are.
Elon Musk has long claimed that one of the main advantages of Starlink over the traditional satellite internet is its overall latency.
Starlink currently has about 1,730 low-level satellites in orbit. This means that it is closer to the Earth's surface than conventional satellites.
These satellites can provide this speed because it takes less time for the signal to come and go.
Ookla has run speed tests in other parts of the world including Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and New Zealand.
Starlink has the fastest download speed in France. It even exceeds the broadband of Germany's national fixed lines.