SpaceX’s Starlink broadband satellite constellation has followed a steep growth trajectory. Barely 3 years after the launch of its first set of 60 satellites, Elon Musk’s space startup now has almost 2,700 Starlinks in orbit, connecting people some 350 miles below.
The service—which advertises download speeds of 50 to 200 Mbps and uploads of 10 to 20 Mbps, and touts its absence of data caps—was nearing 500,000 users worldwide in June, per a presentation that CEO Musk shared on Twitter. Among the more inspiring users: Ukrainians defending their country from Russian invaders, and rural Americans who would otherwise be bereft of broadband.
“It’s honestly life-changing for people like my family,” emails Christina Deese, a work-from-home office manager in Cusseta, Georgia, who had previously limped along with slower broadband from a geostationary satellite that had more stringent data caps. “I can now video conference with my team, my supervisors and participate in company remote functions, which I had to pass on before.”
But Starlink has also seemed to struggle with demand since exiting its public beta test. Users have spent months waiting for receiver hardware to ship and reported performance slowdowns. Meanwhile, Starlink has hiked prices—in March, raising its monthly rate from $99 to $110 and bumping its hardware charge from $499 to $599—also, moved to diversify its business by lining up a more lucrative customer base.
But while such clients as airlines and cruise lines may do more to cover capital costs in the billions of dollars, they also complicate SpaceX’s math as it tries to balance demand with satellite capacity. Which may lead to even more rural would-be customers waiting for a Starlink box to arrive.
Deese, for example, put down a $99 deposit for Starlink in June of 2021 but did not have a Starlink kit shipped until February.
Jack Mangold, a retiree in Collettsville, North Carolina, waited even longer, having placed an order in February of 2021 that shipped this past April. He says service has been reliable but not particularly fast, writing in an email that he’s only getting 25 to 50 Mbps downloads.
