The median download speeds for Starlink — SpaceX’s satellite internet network — are starting to rival the speeds you’d get from land-based broadband providers, according to Ookla, the company behind Speedtest.
On Wednesday, Ookla published a report looking at Starlink internet speeds in Q2 by analyzing Speedtest scores from its users, and Starlink was surprisingly fast in Canada.
Starlink is already far exceeding the median download speeds for fixed broadband providers. Ookla noticed this trend in Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, and the UK:
Data from Q2 2021 shows that Starlink’s median download speed exceeded that of fixed broadband in Canada (86.92 Mbps vs. 84.24 Mbps), making Starlink a reasonable alternative to fixed broadband in Canada. Starlink’s median upload speed was slower than fixed broadband (13.63 Mbps vs. 17.76 Mbps). Latency on Starlink was much higher (55 ms vs. 12 ms), but many customers in remote areas would gladly accept a latency in that range in exchange for having access to internet service.
Starlink analyzed performance in 8 provinces in Canada during Q2 2021, and it’s median download speed was faster than fixed broadband in Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Saskatchewan. Download speeds were comparable between Starlink and overall fixed broadband in Alberta and Ontario, while fixed broadband was faster in British Columbia.
That said, it’s important to note Starlink isn’t flawless. The service, which is technically still in beta, can sometimes suffer from brief outages. Nevertheless, the data from Ookla shows SpaceX is making progress to boost the broadband quality over the network, which is now serving 90,000 users across 12 countries.
SpaceX is taking orders for Starlink at the company’s official website. The service costs $99 USD per month, and $499 one-time fee for the equipment. Unfortunately, Starlink remains limited in its availability.
