Musk’s satellite network Starlink has improved its network performance significantly compared to its competitors in the second quarter of 2021.
Musk’s Starlink satellite network is also in close competition with existing broadband providers in terms of speed.
Starlink is not only providing faster speeds than broadband providers, it is also well ahead of its competitors in terms of speed.
Starlink Excels at SpeedTest in Q2 2021
Based on the ‘Speedtest Intelligence’ results from Ookla, the network performance of Starlink was encouraging in Q2 2021, given the stage at which satellite internet is at right now.
Satellite internet allows remote locations on the planet to have access to the internet.Satellite internet is put in place to allow internet access to remote locations across the planet. This means there is often a trade-off between coverage and speed.
Musk’s Starlink network aims to bridge the gap between the two.Musk’s Starlink network aims to reduce the gap between the two. Because of its low earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude between 550-1200 km, the satellite network is closer to the Earth than its competitors, HughesNet and Viasat.
These satellite internet operators are located at considerably higher geosynchronous orbits, at about 35000 km away.
While this permits these network providers to serve much broader areas of the Earth’s surface, the network’s speed reduces considerably.
In response to Speedtest’s findings, in Q2 2021,
- Starlink’s median download speed jumped to 97.23 Mbps in Q1 2021, up from 65.72 Mbps in Q1 2020. Satellite internet company in the United States with fixed-broadband-like latency .
- After Starlink, HughesNet offers a median download speed of 19.73 Mbps, up from 15.07 Mbps in Q1 2021, followed by Viasat at 18.13 Mbps, up from 17.67 Mbps in Q1 2021.
- Starlink’s median upload speed increased from 13.77 Mbps in Q1 2021 to 13.89 Mbps in Q1 2022.
- This is much closer to traditional broadband’s upload speed of 17.18 Mbps in Q2 2021.
- HughesNet had a Q1 2021 upload of 2.43 Mbps, while Visat had 3.38 Mbps.
Starlink’s Latency Close to Broadband’s
Based on Ookla’s findings, Starlink appears to be catching up to traditional broadband providers in terms of performance.
In Q2 2021, Starlink was the only satellite internet provider with a median latency close to fixed broadband.
The latency was 45 ms, compared to the median of 14 ms provided by broadband providers.
For many typical applications including voice and video calling, gaming, and live streaming of content, a low latency connection is essential.
In spite of its inexperience, Starlink is fast approaching the median download speeds of fixed broadband providers in the U.S. (115.22 Mbps).
Starlink’s median download speed has exceeded the speed of its broadband counterpart in some countries, such as Canada and France.
In Q2 2021, Starlink’s median download speed in Canada was 86.92 Mbps compared to 84.24 Mbps for fixed broadband.
Starlink’s upload speed and latency are not as good as broadband’s, but many customers in remote areas would accept its services for at least having access to the internet.
Starlink in India
On June 30, Elon Musk informed Starlink that the company would receive global coverage by August 2021 during the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona.
However, it is expected to serve Indian customers by 2022.
Starlink sent pre-reservation invites for 2022 services in February 2021. Your place for the purchase of the Starlink equipment would be secured with a $99 deposit.
Starting in 2022, Starlink’s satellite internet service will cost about Rs 7,000 per month in India.