SpaceX Starlink’s internet is blazing fast, but it’s expensive and has its interruptions

It’s the age of internet from space and SpaceX Starlink’s public beta test results are out. Those who were a part of the test had to buy Starlink’s ground equipment for $499 ( ₹37,096 approx) and pay an additional monthly fee of $99 ( ₹7,359 approx) for services. Tests so far have confirmed that the speeds are blazing fast, but there are some issues that need to be sorted.

According to reports, one of the users who was a part of the test posted on Reddit that he managed to stream at 1440p at 4K with zero buffering on YouTube.

“Latency averages about 34ms, I’m seeing some jitter increase when obstacles are in the path. It's on the roof with the ridgeline mount. I have a couple of trees in the way, but getting steady high speeds. Noticed a couple of interruptions, probably from satellite transitions, but almost 100% steady since initial setup. I actually uploaded this post using Starlink,” the user wrote.

Also Read: Musk's Starlink provides internet access to remote native American tribe

“As a few different people are looking for details on this, interruptions are about ten to fifteen seconds and seem to happen every few minutes. I haven't noticed enough repetition to determine, but I'm suspecting it may be when the satellite goes behind the few trees inside the obstruction area rather than satellite handoffs. The app claims Starlink has not been obstructed recently, though, so I'm uncertain,” the user added.

Starlink had sent invites to people who were a part of the beta program with some key points mentioned about the plan. According to one user on Reddit, the program was called ‘Better Than Nothing’ Beta and offered estimated speeds between 50mbps and 150mbps with estimated latency of 20ms to 40ms. And there were no data caps. 

One user on Reddit from rural Montana posted a screenshot that showed download speeds of 174mbps and upload speed of 33.4mbps. “Way out in rural Montana where our alternative is to pay by the gig. Starlink will forever change the game,” the user added.

By the initial looks of it, Starlink’s doing great, but it still has those interruptions to deal with.