Hiring a satellite Internet connection can be an ideal option in certain situations, such as homes in isolated areas, in the countryside or in rural areas, where there is no access to fiber optics. However, the speed is limited. Now, StarLink has announced that it aims to offer speeds of up to 2 Gbps, which represents a major challenge. Could this mean a real alternative to fiber optics?
This is something that takes time, so we won’t see it right away. Now, it is certainly something that can change the use of satellite Internet. We are talking about how they intend to multiply by approximately 20 the speed they currently offer. They even beat most fiber optic rates.
StarLink wants to reach 2 Gbps
Currently, the plans they have available are between 50 and 100 Mbps download. Although it may be more than enough for most (watching a 4K streaming video requires 25 Mbps, for example), it falls short in certain cases. However, contracting fiber optics allows you to have, without much difficulty, rates between 600 Mbps and 1 Gbps.
Now, after saying that they plan to bring the speed to 2 Gbps, things change. But of course, to achieve this they have a long way to go. Currently, there are about 6,000 satellites in orbit that allow Internet to be brought to the different areas where StarLink is available. To reach that 2 Gbps speed, it is estimated that they would need to reach about 30,000. Therefore, the deployment must be very large.
So, could it replace fiber optics? Maybe sometimes yes, but we have to go back to what we have mentioned: it needs time to really reach those 2 Gbps. Therefore, at that time it is more than likely that contracting 10 Gbps fiber optic rates will be much more common than it is today. Furthermore, it is difficult for them to offer that speed everywhere via satellite.
In short, there will be cases in which it can perfectly replace the use of fiber optics, but others in which this is not viable or is not the best. In any case, we will have to wait a while and see to what extent StarLink can really offer 2 Gbps speed.
Availability
Regarding the availability of StarLink, we can say that it is increasingly present in more and more places. In fact, there are areas that are practically completely covered. You can see the map that we leave you below, available on the company’s website, where you see that in Europe there are few places where it is not yet available.
You should also keep in mind that there are different plans, with a difference in price. There is the Residential plan and also the Residential Lite. On their website, you will see that they do not show the speed of each of them. So? The difference is in how it works when there is greater demand, more saturation. Customers who contract the Residential plan, which is the most expensive, will have priority to connect.
Therefore, we can say that StarLink satellite Internet can be a very useful option in many cases. However, as much as saying that it can be a substitute for fiber optics, we believe that, at least today, it is not. If they reach the 2 Gbps they aim for, in the future, then things could change.
