Ookla Publishes Latest UK Starlink Satellite Broadband Speeds
Ookla, which runs the popular Speedtest.net service, has today revealed the latest Q3 2021 internet download, upload and latency speeds for UK customers on SpaceX’s new Starlink constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based ultrafast broadband satellites.
At present SpaceX has over 1,800 LEOs in orbit (1,775 are active) and their initial plan is to deploy 4,425 of them by 2024. Customers in the UK typically pay a hefty £89 a month for the service, plus £54 for shipping and £439 for the kit (dish, router etc.). But for that the service advertises unlimited usage, fast latency times of as low as 20ms, downloads of 100-200Mbps and uploads of c.20Mbps (such figures should improve as the network grows).
The latest Q3 2021 data from Ookla suggests that the service has seen a slight performance improvement over the previous Q2 results, albeit perhaps not the big leap that some were expecting given the company’s promises. Earlier this year there was some talk of download speeds doubling to around 300Mbps by the end of 2021 (here), but the latest average (median) speeds show that many UK users are still quite a long way off that goal.
Not that the speeds you do get are anything to sniff at, particularly if you live in a remote rural location (i.e. the target audience) where nothing else really comes close to Starlink’s speeds, provided you can afford the service. We’ve included the Q2 results below to compare with those from Q3.
Starlink’s UK Broadband Speeds
Q2 2021
Download 108.30Mbps
Upload 15.64Mbps
Latency 37ms (lower figures are faster)
Q3 2021
Download 111.66Mbps
Upload 16.02Mbps
Latency 37ms (lower figures are faster)
By comparison, the average (median) download speed for all UK fixed line broadband connections in Q3 was 53.16Mbps, while uploads returned 15.77Mbps and latency times were 15ms. However, those fixed line speeds are being dragged down by older and slower technologies, such as ADSL and FTTC (VDSL2), as well as the consumer’s own choice of package, thus this is not a particularly useful comparison.
Lest we forget that web-based speed testing like this can also easily be affected by all sorts of other issues, such as slow WiFi, limitations of the tester itself and home network congestion etc. Interestingly, the only other Starlink country to beat speeds in the UK was Australia, which saw the LEOs deliver 138.12Mbps download, 22.63Mbps upload and slightly slower latency times of 42ms.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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We are living in the future.
Remember the times where if you lived in the middle of nowhere, you would have to just deal with 1mbps download?
Well at least you have the option now to have high speed internet absolutely anywhere.
Amazing, well done Elon.
Not “absolutely anywhere” yet. Starlink is currently not even available to the whole of the UK. But it will be over time.
yeah. except 1) it’s not available everywhere in fact pretty far from everywhere. Entire countries with no coverage for example. 2) it often doesn’t work (ok, it’s beta, although the users are paying for that beta)
3) It can’t support more than about 30,000 users (at present). If you can stomach some cheesy narration Thunderf00t has broken down it’s issues accurately.
As a Starlink user I can say it’s incredible. Yes, it’s not perfect, but its very early in its life and miles better than anything I can otherwise get (ADSL/4G at 1mbps sucks!).
It’s sad to see people who are so terribly uninformed (a few in these comments!) and not ashamed to show it. They have no appreciation on what it offers those who have no other choice. If you don’t need Starlink or like the price, don’t get it.
Those of us who need it appreciate someone is actually trying to solve the problem even if it is an eccentric US billionaire. It’s more than I’ve seen anyone else do for us.
Anonymous, you need to listen to actual users, and not people who rant on YouTube with clickbait thumbnails…
Your point 2) is just plain wrong. I’ve had it since June and have had ONE five minute outage and that was in the middle of the night.
Notanonymous:
Thunderf00t is a scientist. Not a random person on YT. I would rather listen to him than shills online. If you don’t, fine.
The fact your system works, does not mean ALL of the users work without interruption ever. Try the starlink forum on reddit if you don’t believe me.
I’m so tired of Elon shills… like oh he made a perfect product that always works, farts unicorn dust and is the greatest thing ever. Criticism ?? Waaaaah. So no point 2 isn’t wrong. You just can’t handle criticism of your beloved conman.
I work I’m the oil and gas industry where satellite Internet can run in the 10s of thousands of pounds per month and shared fibre connections between rigs are few and far between. Starlink seems like a no brainer for offshore remote sites and shipping but oddly enough nobody seems to be talking about it, certainly in the sector I work in. I had a casual conversation with the telecoms guy the other week and he’d never even heard of starlink or anything similar.
horrible speeds super expensive price nonsense.
For you maybe, but for many this is a game changer offering speeds 2 orders of magnitude faster than available today. For rural locations without viable FTTC or FTTP, the service is ideal and not badly priced compared to £30/m for 3mbps!!!!
how can that be expensive when the alternative is a leaseline.?
Other see this as a game changer to enable living in s stunning rural environment.
I live in rural Essex. Essex county council is sponsoring the super fast programme but despite living just a few hundred yards from the university, I cannot get reliable BT broadband. Download 8mbps, but upload varies around 100kbps. I signed up to O2 4G just before lockdown. £47 a month. To start with I was getting 30 up and 40 down, but that has now dropped right back and in the afternoon webex is basically unusable, Neighbour got Starlink (I’d never heard of it) in October. Speeds are incredible. It’s expensive but at the moment I am paying £78 in total for unreliable services from two providers. Do I chance it?
Hi Anon,
Just watched that Thunderf00t on musk. Cool videos and shows the man for what he is. Full of hot air, smoke and mirrors. The channel tunnel did 1 mile in 2.5 months and must did 1 mile in 2 years kind of days a lot.
I did wonder why he decided to pull £5B out of Tesla.
it’s funny how he triggers Elon shills.
complaining that he moans, or repeats things etc. But people who are paid to kiss Elon backside like the shill Linus oh it’s fine to listen to them. An actual Scientist doctor with a PhD and published ? waaaah he’s wrong!!! he’s a liar!!! ..
Nope. But I know someone called Elon who is.
Hyperloop when ?
Full self driving when ?
Tunnel under LA driven by automated cars when ?
All promised years ago. None have arrived, just like the stupid Semi that won’t ever work unless we get batteries that are 10x lighter. But nah it’s going to be here in 2019, er I mean 2020, maybe 2022 ? hahaha. Vapourware salesman
He sells people hotair, and people defend him and then slam his detractors. Pretty obvious Elon fanbois have zero impartiality.
“He sells people hotair”…
He also sells electric cars from the world’s most valuable automotive company, when all prior attempts failed.
He also sells reusable launch vehicles from the only company in the world that produces orbital capable ones, when all prior attempts were pipe dreams.
What does Randy produce? A flood of foam, from her permanently aggrieved, Elon Musk (amongst many other bizarre things) obsessed, unhinged, mouth…
What does Randy sell? Nothing… Most people would run a mile if they saw the poor little fruitcake approaching… Bless her!
hmm who invented Tesla again ?
Was it Elon Musk ? Or was it Martin Eberhard.
OOhh yes, Elon sells re-usable rockets .. wow.. bet nobody had that idea before Elon .. cough cough DC-X cough cough. Oh the wonderful man that he is, how does he doe it all? maybe it’s the billions of dollars the tax payer in the US gives him. Maybe it’s the subsidies for battery plants that he doesn’t build.
Elon fanbois are unable to differentiate a physical working product that does what was promised, and some snakeoil PR.
Again, where’s FSD? Where’s the tunnels with automated cars? Where’s the semi? Where’s the “nuclear bomb proof” windows on the cybertruck hahahah
If you really wish to see what Felon is then just watch all these videos about him https://youtube.com/channel/UCgKWj1pn3_7hRSFIypunYog
Once you actually see them & put your crush to the side you’ll notice nothing other than someone desperate for power.
The companies which he works for are indeed great, but not because of him.
My collection of speed tests done via my mobile, range between 250-350mbps down, 10-25 up and pings around 35-45ms.
Compare this to my previous best of 3.2mbps down and 0.4mbps up via very long copper cables.
Yes it’s expensive. Yes it doesn’t cover the entire UK yet. Yes it consumes power. I knew all of this when I signed up. It has totally transformed my ability to do my full-remote design job.
My point is, when it’s your only other option, if you can afford it, it’s a very good option.
Satellite service in UK rural areas is also available through Anywhere Broadband (Eutelsat). I believe they have a sale on now as well.
It’s not a new idea (like most of Elon’s ideas)
We’ve had satellite broadband since the 90s.
The ONLY difference is that Starlink is LEO (well it has lasers, but they’re not being used). So when someone says that it’s new , it’s not. I knew people using it in early 2000.
The LEO part is why it has 40ms of latency and not 400ms+
LEO is nothing to do with lasers LOL.
Yes, satellite broadband has been available for decades, but the high orbit led to VERY high latency, making it unsuitable for VOIP, video conferencing and real+time gaming. It was also expensive, with incredibly low allowances. Prices have improved, but the fundamental technical limits of high orbit satellite broadband (there’s something called the speed of light that determines this) will not change, and capacity continues to impose limited allowances.
I’m no fan of Musk, but LEO satellite broadband is a great solution for remote locations unlikely to see decent wired solutions anytime soon, and Starlink currently has the most developed solution.
Satelite Internet is not a new idea. Agreed. However, this is a new way of providing it. Which Elon and others are doing, but Elon is a head of the game coupled possibly with a better PR machine. The LEO of the satelites has reduced the cost and increased the speed of the service. The service is sent ground station to ground station via the satelite in between. In time, with the use of the afore mentioned lasers to beam data, data could be carried around the world by being beam between satelites. I believe Starlink has disrupted the market by bringing in a mass appeal, reducing relative cost (to previous offerings) and faster speeds.
Not a fan of the man, but currently the two companies Tesla and SpaceX/Starlink are executing their businesses well. Perfect no, but which companies are.
Very clever leveraging of each others hard won experience.
In time, Starlink will work if they can get their Starship up and running, which would be some achievement. Hopefully bringing into play a lower cost tier.
I don’t think I could reasonably afford £89 + £493 compared to £24 for 40mbps but if the price lowers to say £50 a month at most I think I could maybe get it then.
I think it really depends on whether you need that extra speed.
So, a tier at £50 for 100Mbps?
If you are getting 40 Mbps, then are you on fixed line, then do you have options to go faster at an higher cost?
Interesting that this article sites a small improvement but PCMag says that Ookla has seen starlink speeds dropping not improving.
“Starlink’s Speeds Are Declining in US, Ookla Finds” is the headline.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/starlinks-speeds-are-declining-in-us-ookla-finds
Yeah, and this is UK speeds. UK have improved. US hace declined.
It seems the Starlink bashers here don’t actually use the system they are slagging off. I don’t either but I have customers who do as they have no viable alternative (there are many not spots in cities as well as rural) and it really is good. I’ve dealt with networking of all types for over 25 years so trust me, even if I don’t have a PhD I do have some idea what I’m talking about. It is a lot more reliable than my 80 meg BT ADSL line and usually quicker. It’s certainly a lot more reliable than 4G solutions (I use them myself at certain locations). It is a totally different beast from the satellite broadband I was using in Spain 10 years ago to provide a WISP service. If you are in a not spot it is an extremely viable solution, if you can afford the expense you’ll not do better. It’s going to to take 5G to do that, but as we’re not friends with China that’s going to be a while. Even then it will get rolled out to areas that don’t need it first.