Elon Musk's satellite internet experiment Starlink is ??? ?? ????still in the primordial stages of development, but apparently people are already using it.
That's the claim in SpaceX's latest FCC filing anyway. According to SpaceX, the user count in the United States and elsewhere totals more than 10,000 right now. That's obviously not a massive number, but considering Starlink's service offering is still in beta and the company is still actively launching satellites into space, it's a start.
What's perhaps even more interesting are the claims SpaceX makes about Starlink's performance. The filing says most Starlink customers can expect internet download speeds of at least 100Mbps with fewer than 31 milliseconds of latency. That download speed number is key, as it would put Starlink's service well above the average speed users get in several states.
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This particular filing was made with the intent of Starlink getting "Eligible Telecommunications Carrier" status from the FCC. If that were to happen, the service could roll out to users in places like New York and Tennessee. As it stands right now, it's only available in select areas, mostly around the U.S. and Canada. It costs $99 per month on top of a $499 fee for the equipment required to get Starlink internet running in your home.
As with anything involving SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, it's probably best to take claims about Starlink's performance with a grain of salt until it's more widely available. It's still too early to say definitively whether or not satellite internet will solve accessibility problems in rural areas. It would sure be nice if it did, though.