Skip to main content

SpaceX’s Starlink internet service now has more than 10,000 users

SpaceX’s satellite-based Starlink internet service currently has more than 10,000 users, the company revealed this week.

Elon Musk-led SpaceX invited people to sign up for a public beta of its internet-from-space service in October 2020, pricing it at $99 a month. Those selected also have to pay a $499 one-off payment for the Starlink Kit containing the necessary components to connect to the Starlink satellites. While the company is obviously controlling the customer numbers, increasing confidence in the project — and an expanding satellite constellation —is allowing SpaceX to offer the service to more and more people.

Recommended Videos

In a recent filing to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) picked up by CNBC, California-based SpaceX said: “Starlink’s performance is not theoretical or experimental … [and] is rapidly accelerating in real time as part of its public beta program.”

The company said in the filing that trials have demonstrated the system in its present form is “meeting and exceeding 100/20 megabits per second throughput to individual users,” which the company earlier pointed out is “fast enough to stream multiple HD movies at once and still have bandwidth to spare.”

Since deploying its first batch of Starlink satellites in May 2019, SpaceX has steadily expanded the constellation to around 1,000 satellites via regular rocket launches, and plans to deploy around 4,000 by 2024. The company’s latest Starlink mission, which deployed another 60 satellites, took place earlier today, with the next one scheduled for Sunday, February 7.

SpaceX’s long-term goal is to blanket Earth in broadband connectivity, beaming affordable and reliable internet for all, including communities in remote areas that currently have little or no access to decent internet services.

The company learned last December that it’s to receive $900 million in federal funding to help it bring its internet service to rural homes and businesses in the U.S. The FCC announced a total of $9.2 billion in subsidies for 180 companies as part of a Phase I funding round to improve internet services nationwide, with an additional $11.2 billion to be distributed in the next phase.

SpaceX’s Starlink initiative hasn’t been completely smooth sailing. Shortly after its first satellite deployment in 2019, astronomers began to raise concerns about how sunlight reflecting off the satellites could potentially disrupt the work of the stargazing community. SpaceX has signaled its eagerness to find a solution and has been trying out different designs for the satellites, such as fitting them with visors aimed at reducing the bright glare.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
SpaceX suggests potential cause of huge Starship explosion
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft explodes at Starbase.

SpaceX has offered an update on the massive explosion which destroyed the Starship spacecraft on a test stand on Wednesday.

The dramatic explosion took place at SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas, during preparations for the Starship rocket’s 10th test flight, which was expected to take place in the coming weeks. No one was reported killed or injured in the incident.

Read more
SpaceX reveals new target date for private crewed launch to ISS
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket waits to launch the Ax-4 mission to the space station.

SpaceX, partnering with NASA and Axiom Space, is aiming to blast a four-person crew to orbit at 3:42 a.m. ET on Sunday, June 22.

The private Ax-4 mission was supposed to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) from Florida's Kennedy Space Center on June 10, but inclement weather in the ascent corridor forced the mission team to call off the effort. A plan to launch 24 hours later was also ditched following the discovery of a liquid oxygen leak on the rocket.

Read more
Watch SpaceX blast a Starship engine ahead of 10th flight
SpaceX tests one of its Starship rocket engines ahead of the 10th flight test.

SpaceX has just shared a short video showing a test firing of one of its six Starship engines in preparation for the rocket’s 10th flight test.

“Single-engine static fire demonstrating an in-space burn complete as Starship prepares for our tenth flight test,” the Elon Musk-led company said in a comment accompanying the video, which was posted on X on Tuesday.

Read more