SpaceX Plans To Double Starlink's Speed Later This Year

Featured Image Source: Starlink Dish Illustration by @ErcXspace via Twitter

SpaceX’s Starlink is already beaming satellite internet connection to customers living in regions of the United States and abroad. With approximately 1,205 satellites in orbit SpaceX is offering beta service to a limited amount of customers until it launches more satellites. The company started to accept preorders via Starlink.com early February. The founder of SpaceX Elon Musk said “most of Earth” will have broadband coverage “by end of year, all by next year, then it’s about densifying coverage,” he said last month. SpaceX would require around 1,440 satellites in orbit to offer ‘moderate’ near-global coverage, according to company officials. To achieve it, the company needs to launch over 235 satellites. They are on track to increase the constellation’s size with scheduled deployments of at least 120 satellites per month over the course of two Falcon 9 launches. 

SpaceX says that during the Starlink beta service users will experience data speeds varying from 50Mb/s to 150Mb/s (megabits per second) and latency from 20ms to 40ms (milliseconds). “Speed will double to ~300Mb/s & latency will drop to ~20ms [milliseconds] later this year,” Musk said. Latency is the amount of delay it takes for data to travel to and from its destination. The internet speed will increase gradually as more satellites are launched to low Earth orbit. SpaceX told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that long-term it plans to increase SpaceX’s download speeds to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) which is significantly faster. 

Some of the U.S. states where Starlink has active users are: Washington state, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Maine, and Vermont. SpaceX also uses Starlink broadband service at their headquarters in California. The $99-per-month Starlink service is expected to be available across the U.S. before this year ends. SpaceX received FCC approval to operate 1 million Starlink dish user terminals and is requesting the FCC to increase the number to 5 million due to ‘extraordinary demand.’ The Starlink dish and equipment to connect to the network is priced at $499 USD.

Starlink is also serving Canada and some regions in Europe, including a rural community in United Kingdom. The company recently received approval to operate Starlink in France and targets to offer broadband service in Greece by April. SpaceX is pending regulatory approvals for Starlink's satellite internet in several countries that are expected to have coverage until mid-to-late 2021.

Featured Image Source: Starlink Dish Illustration by @ErcXspace via Twitter

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