Recently, Reddit posted the results of some of Starlink’s speed tests, showing that connection speed still basically meets the needs of the majority of internet users. The good thing is the latency of the network, moreover, this project has just been deployed in the early stages.
The test results show that Starlink can achieve an average download speed of around 42.8 Mbps, and the upload speed ranges from 4.5 Mbps to 17.7 Mbps. Most of these tests were carried out in Los Angeles, California, Seattle, Washington. In addition, Speed Test tests also show that Starlink’s network latency ranges from 20ms to 94ms seconds.
Thus, Starlink’s actual internet speed is still far behind SpaceX’s goal of providing internet access speeds of 1 Gbps. However, many Reddit users still claim that Starlink’s 15 Mbps download speed is still significantly faster than the internet packet speed they are using. In the United States, the Internet infrastructure in rural areas often lags far behind that of large cities due to geographic characteristics. The average internet access speed in this area is only 7 Mbps or less.
The good news is that Starlink’s latency ranges from 30 to 50ms (milliseconds) with the lowest being 20ms and the highest 94ms, much better than the normal 600ms to 2000ms of older satellite networks. And while Starlink’s latency didn’t meet Musk’s goal of less than 20ms, it’s still well below the 100ms threshold set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
In this regard, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said, “We aim to reduce latency to less than 20ms, so people can play online games that require a quick response.” SpaceX’s satellites have a low orbit, just 540 km to 570 km from Earth, so Starlink Internet has much lower latency than geostationary satellites (about 35,000 km from Earth).
Currently, SpaceX begins performing pre-beta testing of the Starlink service starting in the summer of this year. CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that Starlink will begin providing satellite internet services in the northern United States and southern Canada by the end of this year and will grow rapidly globally in 2021.
Notably, Starlink has now also invited users to join Starlink’s beta service, which is expected to roll out in the near future. Currently, it is not known how much users must spend to use the service.
Elon Musk currently has 597 satellites (out of a total of 12,000) in orbit and is in the initial testing phase as planned.
If the information disclosed above is correct, the outlook for Project Starlink is truly excellent. Of course, opinions will be divided regarding connection speed, but the project is still in the early stages of implementation and the above metrics can be significantly improved over time.
