1 Million and Counting
Musk on Sunday tweeted that over a million Starlink terminals have been manufactured, less than two years after SpaceX began taking preorders for the service by taking a $99 deposit.Starlink is a satellite internet constellation that provides connectivity in about 40 countries. It is active on all continents, including Antarctica.
Slowing Speeds a Concern?
A new report from speed testing site Ookla has unearthed an issue with the Starlink connection.Download speeds fell across Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S., dropping about 9–54 percent from the second quarter of 2021 to the second quarter of 2022, as signups for the service surged significantly.
Nevertheless, the median download speed in North America was at least 60 Mbps in the second quarter, which would allow at least one connected device to play streaming video, download games and do video chatting, the report added. The report also noted a slowdown in upload speeds but it said latency remained relatively flat.
Incidentally, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission last month canceled an $886 million funding it awarded to Starlink for expanding internet access in rural areas due to the high cost of the service and doubts over Starlink’s ability to deliver the promised speed.
