SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter that his company's satellite internet service, Starlink , will offer speeds of close to 300 Mbps sometime in 2021. That's about twice the speed currently being advertised . If true, it would be a major leap forward in internet speeds. Elon Musk's satellite internet aims to bring high-speed internet to areas around the world that have struggled to get access until now.
Musk 's tweet came in response to a customer who posted the results of his home speed test with a new Starlink installation.
According to SpaceX's CEO, latency , which is the amount of time it takes for an internet signal to travel to space and back, will drop to about 20ms this year. That promise falls in line with the company 's strategy of launching its satellites into low orbit, which reduces the distance those signals have to travel. Of course, that strategy has drawn some backlash, with astronomers concerned about obstructions to night sky visibility, something SpaceX is trying to fix with changes to its satellite designs.
Elon Musk also responded to another user who asked for a satellite internet coverage map, telling him that Starlink will cover “most of the Earth by the end of the year, and the entire Earth by next year”He also said that the process is all about “density” and noted that satellite internet is best suited for areas with low to medium population density.
Starlink now has more than 10,000 customers and includes a growing network of more than 1,200 satellites in low Earth orbit that can deliver a signal to homes equipped with a receiver. The service is accepting pre-orders for customers in parts of Canada, the United Kingdom , and the northwestern United States, as well as other select regions.
The scope of this coverage is expected to increase as SpaceX continues to launch new satellites.
Source: CNET
