Elon Musk’s SpaceX currently is offering its Starlink satellite internet in beta for everyone, if they sign up over at Starlink.com.
The satellite internet service is currently available in beta in the U.S., Canada and the UK. We’ve already heard from Canadians in rural areas how Starlink internet has become a game-changer, but now we’re seeing even faster download speeds, as promised by Musk.
One Starlink internet user in Nelson, British Columbia, shared a screenshot of their Speedtest.net test on Starlink (via Reddit), revealing a whopping 392 Mbps download speed. User ‘unholyfather’ said the test was performed on the stock Starlink wireless router.
“My Telus smarthub was getting 2 to 3 Mbps LMFAO,” exclaimed the Starlink user.
Many chimed in to say they were impressed with the speed test result, with some acknowledging the Starlink internet speed was faster than their cable internet connection.
“Yeah, I knew this would be better than our hurting rural connection, but most people I know in town here are getting slower speeds from their wired connections. There’s going to be a mass exodus from the Big 3 (Canadian telecoms),” added user ‘unholyfather’.
Starlink low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations hover 550 km above the planet, at a much lower distance compared to traditional satellite internet. The low orbit allows for faster connections never seen before for satellite internet.
Starlink internet pricing in Canada requires a hardware kit at $649 CAD (satellite dish and router), while the monthly service cost is $129 CAD per month.
The Canadian government recently invested $600 million into Ottawa-based Telesat for satellite internet for rural areas. Telesat’s LEO constellation, named Lightspeed, will comprise of 298 satellites offering a commercial broadband internet service, unlike direct-to-consumers like Starlink. Telesat says Lightspeed will start beta testing in the second half of 2023. So far, Telesat only has one satellite in space, whereas SpaceX Starlink currently has 1,141 in orbit.
