As SpaceX’s Starlink gets close to reaching global coverage around September, the satellite internet service’s users are reporting impressive speeds around the world – and particularly in the U.S. and Canada.
A new report from Ookla Speedtest examined second-quarter data from users across the world and found that Starlink generally outperforms fixed broadband speeds across Canada. In addition, the report details Starlink’s varying performance between provinces, though it says it doesn’t vary widely.
The report’s data depicts a median Starlink speed of 86.92 Mbps across Canada, besting a median fixed broadband speed of 84.24 Mbps. Starlink’s median upload speed was slightly slower than the country’s median fixed broadband speed, at just 13.63 Mbps compared to broadband’s 17.76 Mbps.
In addition, Starlink had much higher levels of latency than fixed broadband, at a median of 55 ms compared to just 12 ms for broadband. Still, the service largely represents benefit to rural and remote regions where broadband connectivity is scarce, despite the extra lag.
In the U.S., Starlink saw a median download speed of 97.23 Mbps in Q2, up from just 65.72 Mbps in the year’s first quarter. In comparison with HughesNet and Viasat, rivaling satellite internet companies, Starlink dominated – with HughesNet and Viasat achieving median download speeds of just 19.73 Mbps and 18.13 Mbps, respectively.
Still, Starlink couldn’t quite beat fixed broadband median speeds, which landed 115.22 Mbps, though the service still represents huge improvements for rural and remote customers in the U.S. – and the data shows that Starlink’s speeds are steadily improving.
