It’s been five months since SpaceX’s satellite internet system, Starlink, began serving its first users. So we’ve been wondering: Does the system continue to hold up?
According to data from Ookla Speedtest, the median download speeds for Starlink took a dive over the past two months —from 80Mbps down to 50Mbps— before climbing up again.
We know. The data from Ookla may cause plenty of debate in Starlink community circles. In recent weeks, more and more users have been posting Speedtest results showing the download speeds on Starlink have essentially doubled, reaching 200Mbps to even over 500Mbps.
So what gives? Well, the data from Ookla is focused on estimating the typical speeds a Starlink user will experience—not the fastest attainable download rates. Hence, the company looked at the median download speeds from anonymous Starlink subscribers who’ve used Speedtest.
Ookla didn’t say how many test results from unique Starlink users were analyzed, “but the sample count here well exceeds our brightline for statistical significance,” a company spokesperson told us.
Ookla also couldn’t say definitively why the median download speeds have been falling. But it’s no secret that the satellite internet system has been steadily serving more and more users, both in the US and across the globe. At the same time, Starlink is technically still in beta. Every month, SpaceX is launching new satellites and preparing firmware updates in an effort to improve speeds on the service.
What Users Are Saying: Speeds Can Change
To find out more, we reached out to 10 Starlink users, and asked them about their experiences with the satellite internet service. According to them, Starlink is indeed fast, but speeds can vary wildly throughout the day.
“The only thing consistent with Starlink service is the inconsistent speeds,” said an Idaho-based user named Tabitha, who preferred to keep her last name private. “I ran a speed test first thing this morning and saw 213Mbps down 9.72 up. A little over an hour later, I was at 94Mbps down/18 up. An hour after that I was at 36 down/6.8 up,” she told us in an email.
The vast range in speeds may explain the difference between Ookla’s median download speed data and the tests showing 200Mbps or higher that Starlink users routinely post on the internet.
SpaceX didn’t respond to a request for comment. But on Monday, the company sent out an email to Starlink customers that addressed the “outages” occurring on the service.
“Recently some beta users saw short but more frequent outages, particularly in the evening hours,” the company said. “This was caused by two main issues—preventive maintenance on various ground gateways, coupled with a network logic bug that intermittently caused some packet processing services to hang until they were reset. The good news is fixes were implemented and users should no longer see this particular issue.”
In Tabitha’s case, SpaceX later rolled out a firmware update that has helped improve Starlink’s connection speeds. “I was able to download a new game that was 42GB in a little over 30 minutes!” she later said.
Ken Bauer, another user based in Canada, has also encountered inconsistent download rates on Starlink. “There’s a lot of variability in the speeds. I can see the entire range, from 50 megabit all the way up to over 100 megabit in the span of five to ten minutes some days,” he told us in a chat on Reddit.
The other issue is how the Starlink internet service can sometimes cut out. “I’ve had some days where it seems like every 20 minutes it drops out for 10 to 15 seconds, but then other days where I can go for hours without seeing an interruption,” he added.
Nevertheless, Bauer said overall download speeds on Starlink have been steadily improving since he first received the equipment over a month ago. Last month, he posted an internet test result showing his Starlink service briefly soaring past 400Mbps.
SpaceX itself has warned users the service can cut out amid the ongoing beta. However, a user named John who is based in Michigan said the outages can sometimes drag down the service.
“Service interruptions are the big negative, but I think most people in the beta understand that this is where you have to have patience,” he told us. “I typically run about a dozen interruptions an hour, but I have had some hours higher than 60 plus interruptions, and some days with 600 plus interruptions. This makes ‘live’ internet really challenging,” he said.
“All in all, Starlink should be amazing, once we can stay on consistently,” according to John, who also preferred to keep his last name private.
To address the interruptions, SpaceX will roll out a new feature that’ll optimize a Starlink subscriber’s connection to the orbiting satellites, it said in its Monday email. “In the future, if communication with your assigned satellite is interrupted for any reason, your Starlink will seamlessly switch to a different satellite, resulting in far fewer network disruptions,” SpaceX explained.
“This feature will be available to most beta users in April and is expected to deliver one of our most notable reliability improvements to date,” the company added.
Others say the service drops are a small blemish on an otherwise outstanding internet service. “I have found Starlink to be life-changing, it is still in beta so any interruptions are not bothering me,” said Eddy Zawislak, a user based in British Columbia, Canada. Previously, his providers, Xplornet and Telus, were supplying speeds at a measly 250Kbps to 1Mbps. “I now have Starlink which is consistently 100Mbps plus, sometimes even hitting 350Mbps,” he said.
Indeed, one thing we noticed when talking with users is the consistent praise for Starlink and its ability to provide high-speed internet in areas where there previously was none. “Because I promoted Starlink to my neighbors, eight of the 12 homes now has Starlink, and everybody loves it despite the occasional drops in connection,” said Randy Dutton, who lives in Washington state.
“With a concentration of Starlink users in a two-mile area, I’ve found there was no loss in capabilities. In fact, Starlink recently did a software update and my service is faster than ever, with my last Speedtest being 203Mbps,” he added.
(Disclosure: Ookla is owned by PCMag parent company, Ziff Davis.)
