SpaceX Plans To Deliver 10Gbps Starlink Download Speeds In The Future
SpaceX is aiming for its Starlink internet service to deliver incredibly fast internet speeds in the future, along with lower latency as well.
SpaceX is aiming to make Starlink capable of delivering up to 10Gbps internet download speeds with latency that’s a lot lower than average. The company is also planning on improving its quality, reliability and availability, including ramping up the production and deployment of more Starlink satellites on a monthly basis. The Starlink beta program’s user base has been rapidly expanding, as has the number of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites that have been launched.
Starlink has nearly a thousand satellites floating in low Earth orbit. All of which are helping the company take a step closer to its goal of providing fast and reliable internet across the globe, even in parts where there’s barely any network coverage available. Early results of the Starlink beta’s internet speeds have already shown great promise, but SpaceX is hoping to deliver speeds that are even better than what most internet service providers currently offer.
Based on presentation slides shown in a Tweet by Michael Sheetz, SpaceX is planning on increasing Starlink’s current 100Mbps speed to an absurdly fast 10Gbps in the future. The company is also targeting for a less than 30ms latency as the standard for most Starlink users. Aside from improving Starlink’s performance and speed, SpaceX is also focused on efficiency, reliability and consistency in quality, with plans of generating and deploying 120 more satellites every month.
What Starlink’s Goals Mean (& How Far It Has Come)
Becoming a Starlink user doesn’t come cheap, as signing up for its beta program already costs more than $500, along with an additional $99 per month. That’s quite a steep price compared to other internet service providers such as Spectrum, Verizon or AT&T, which average at somewhere between $40 to $60 per month for about the same speed of up to 100Mbps. However, what Starlink is offering is quite unprecedented, from global network coverage to its goals of delivering 10Gbps speeds, which is basically 10 times more than what most ISPs are even capable of providing,
Last year, a Starlink beta tester was able to receive over 120Mbps, in a remote location with virtually zero reception. Other Starlink beta testers have also provided similar speed test results in the past, with performance comparable to broadband connections, and latency that’s almost fit for competitive gaming. Of course, the results weren’t always the best, and numerous beta testers have reported they weren’t always consistent either. While there’s certainly a lot of room for improvement, SpaceX’s plans provide users with a clearer idea of what the service might be capable of in the near future. With the goal of increasing speed, latency, reliability and availability, it might only be a matter of time before Starlink becomes capable of taking internet connections to even greater heights.