July 10, 2023, 2:16 pm | Read time: 4 minutes
For a little over two years, SpaceX subsidiary Starlink has been offering satellite internet access in Germany. Thousands of satellites are launched into space for this purpose. Nevertheless, the available bandwidth for Starlink users has decreased. Elon Musk’s company aims to counteract this.
Particularly for users in Canada and the U.S., Starlink’s two main markets, internet speeds have dropped. At the beginning of 2022, the average data rate for Starlink in the U.S. was 90.55 Mbps, as determined by speed test specialist Ookla. Six months later, it was only 62.53 Mbps. Canada also recorded declining values.
In Germany, Starlink also became slower for users. At the end of 2021, the satellite internet service still boasted an average download speed of 115.58 Mbps. Even fixed-line services with DSL, VDSL, cable internet, and fiber optics couldn’t compete. According to Ookla, the average download rate here was 65.86 Mbps. However, fixed-line was faster in uploads (22.4 Mbps vs. 15.17 Mbps).
Read also: How to surf the internet anonymously
Starlink Falls Below 100 Mbps
At the beginning of last year, the average download speed for Starlink users in Germany had already dropped to 114.52 Mbps. By summer 2022, it had fallen below the 100-Mbps mark at 94.68 Mbps. And in the fall, it was only 91.53 Mbps.
Why is Starlink getting slower? The satellites have a certain bandwidth capacity. If only one user needs this bandwidth, they can use the full capacity. However, if 100, 1,000, or even more users are online, they have to share the bandwidth–similar to a cell in a mobile network. So, if the number of customers increases while capacity remains the same, the bandwidth for each user decreases.
Read more: Starlink and Eutelsat Konnect–how good is internet from space?
More Satellites with Greater Capacity
According to Starlink, it now has 1.5 million customers worldwide. To provide everyone with sufficient bandwidth, the satellite network is constantly being expanded. Additionally, the SpaceX subsidiary plans to launch satellites with greater capacities.
The second generation of satellites (Gen 2) is larger and heavier, which is why they are not to be launched into space with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as before, but with the new Starship rocket. However, when Starship will be operational is uncertain. During the first orbital test flight at the end of April 2023, the rocket had to self-destruct shortly after launch due to significant issues.
Also interesting: Elon Musk sets negative Guinness World Record
Amazon Becomes an Internet Provider in Germany
Starlink Significantly Increases Satellite Internet Prices
Fair Use Policy and New Rates
Starlink is now trying another way to distribute the available bandwidth more fairly among users–and, of course, to make money. In the U.S. and Canada, there was initially a cap of 1 TB of data per month before download speeds were throttled. The 1-TB limit has since been removed, but Starlink still reserves the right–also in Germany–to reduce data rates if the measured data usage deviates too much from that of a typical private customer.
In early May, Starlink also introduced volume-based rates. Depending on the chosen plan, customers receive 1, 2, or 6 TB of monthly data. Their data is prioritized over that of standard users, resulting in higher transmission speeds.
However, these rates are aimed at professional users. Those who opt for the 1-TB plan must pay 214.00 euros per month. The 6 TB plan costs 1,261 euros. Additionally, there is a one-time charge of 2,802 euros for the hardware. In contrast, the 0.42 euros for each additional gigabyte consumed beyond the booked data volume seems like a bargain.
Slight Increase for Starlink Customers in Germany
Nevertheless, Starlink in Germany has managed to slightly increase the average data rate again. At the end of 2022, it was 94.37 Mbps in downloads, according to Ookla, back to the level of summer 2022. However, Starlink continues to struggle with data uploads. At the end of 2022, the upload rate was only 13.45 Mbps. A year earlier, it was nearly 2 Mbps higher. In contrast, the average upload rate in the German fixed network is 26.78 Mbps.
Starlink’s latency is also far from competitive. At the end of 2021, it was 14 milliseconds. In the fourth quarter of 2022, it rose to 63 milliseconds. Therefore, it is less suitable for applications like gaming and high-resolution video streaming. For comparison, in the fixed network, the transmission of a data packet takes an average of only 21 milliseconds. Even though Starlink leads in downloads compared to fixed-line providers, latency remains the major Achilles’ heel of satellite internet.