{"id":74743,"date":"2021-05-18T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=74743"},"modified":"2021-05-17T17:20:14","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T22:20:14","slug":"starlink-broadband-everywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/74743-starlink-broadband-everywhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Starlink: Broadband Everywhere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fans of the space industry know that just about every week, Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX<\/strong> launches another Falcon 9 rocket with 60 Starlink<\/strong> satellites on board. Starlink is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation of small satellites that are designed to bring broadband speed internet service to locations that currently don\u2019t have that service.\u00a0The Starlink company is a division of SpaceX.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Another<\/a>
Another 60 Starlink satellites being launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket in January, 2021. Image via SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Starlink is in its infancy. As of the time of publication in May 2021, the company has launched over 1,600 satellites of an FCC-approved constellation of over 12,000. Eventually, Starlink wants to have upwards of 42,000 satellites in orbit! The company has received well over 500,000 information requests from consumers so far and is rolling out an expanded beta program right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, I\u2019ll fill you in on the details of Starlink and whether or not the service could be right for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What\u2019s The Speed Of Starlink?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As of Q1 2021, Starlink users in the limited beta have been getting download speeds between 40 and 93 Mbps \u2013 not exactly what you\u2019d expect from a broadband provider. For example, my current internet service (Comcast\u2019s Xfinity) offers download speeds of about 330 Mbps and upload speeds around 12 Mbps. Note that it\u2019s impossible for me to get fiber internet in my neighborhood, so the best offering right now is from Xfinity.\u00a0That service costs me about the same per month as Starlink would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just to let you know \u2014 I received an offer to join the beta program, but the download and upload speeds just don’t seem that impressive\u2026yet. Once those numbers get into the 500 Mbps download range with equivalent upload speeds (like 15 Mbps), I\u2019ll reconsider\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One issue with current satellite internet providers like Viasat and HughesNet is the ridiculously long latency times in the range of 700ms or so. Landlines offer latency below 10ms. Starlink\u2019s current users are seeing latency times of 31 to 88 ms; not great, but much better than those other satellite providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of 2021, Starlink says its constellation of satellites will offer download speeds of around 300 Mbps. Eventual plans target 1Gbps and then 10 Gbps speeds, but that will take much fine-tuning and a lot<\/em> more satellites. Latency is also expected to drop into the 20ms range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The Starlink Constellation on May 14, 2021, with several “trains” of newly launched satellites<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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