Ookla 2026 Study Finds Starlink UK Broadband Speeds Poor vs Europe
Internet benchmarking firm Ookla, which operates the popular Speedtest.net broadband connection testing website and app, has published a new study that examines the performance of Starlink’s (SpaceX) LEO satellite broadband service across the world. Overall, performance in the UK has improved, but we continue to lag most of Europe.
Starlink currently has around 9,600 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (c.6,150 are v2 / GEN2 variants) – mostly at altitudes of between c.340-525km. Residential customers in the UK usually pay from £35 a month for the ‘Residential 100Mbps’ unlimited data plan (kit price may vary due to different offers), which also promises uploads of c.15-35Mbps and low latency connectivity. Faster packages exist at greater cost, while more restrictive (data capped) options also exist for roaming users (e.g. £50 per month for 100 GigaBytes of data).
According to Ookla’s new study, customers of Starlink’s service in the UK received an average median download speed of 106.63Mbps during Q3 2025 (up from 87.06Mbps almost a year ago). The only other European countries slower than this were Denmark 90.93Mbps, Albania 94.97Mbps and Bulgaria 38.3Mbps.
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By comparison, Ireland scored 155.23Mbps, France 132.01Mbps, Germany 123.68Mbps, Norway 142.68Mbps, Italy 138.12Mbps and Spain got 142.76Mbps. Not to mention the USA on 129.61Mbps, Canada 113.13Mbps and Japan with 108.67Mbps.
The performance of Starlink’s network does of course vary due to all sorts of complex factors, such as in terms of how much radio spectrum frequency they’re allowed to harness by regulators in each country, the capabilities of any nearby ground stations with Starlink kit, the consumers own choice of package (Starlink’s packages, prices and limitations vary between countries) and any localised issues of network congestion etc.
Ookla also notes that the United Kingdom is estimated to be Starlink’s 11th largest market, at least in terms of the total global test samples that the company has recorded (i.e. accounting for 3.5% of all global Starlink speed tests). By comparison, the USA tops the table on 22.5% and the next closest entry is Mexico on just 5.7%.
Sadly, the full report doesn’t include any further detail on the UK’s performance (uploads, latency etc.), but there are lots of figures for other countries to dig into if you’re feeling so inclined.
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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, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Not surprising really considering Ookla seems to be limited on Starlink.
Speedtest.net – 150mbps roughly
Any other well known speed test site – 250-450mbps.
It would be interesting to have a 4 way comparison between Starlink, Amazon Leo, OneWeb, and Inmarsat (bgan?)
So people can review their options if they think Starlink is not something they want to support going forward
Amazon hasn’t yet launched comparable direct to consumer services. OneWeb doesn’t sell direct to consumers, only businesses and gov etc. Inmarsat doesn’t do comparable consumer services either.
Given Starlink is oversubscribed in London area, could it be just higher oversubscription due to poorer cable options than in the rest of Europe?
Where is the evidence of “London… poorer cable options than in the rest of Europe?”
Aside from OR and AltNets there is VM Docsys Gigabit..
let me googel for you “internet speed by country”
I’m purposefully gimping Starlink in the UK as I have a serious dislike for Sir Beer Farmer
Remember when they said it was going to be gigabit, like 5 years ago hahahaha
It is now – if you pay for i t- Mr ” I want 1Gbps for £35 from Starlink” will have to wait another year – the V3’s can do 6Tbps each.
Website informs not available for business or residential until later this year. Remember some talk of a multiple gigabit product but no sign that’s available here.
It needed a bespoke build and cost millions to install and run as I recall so less something on the tariff list and more product to the press release.
Probably not available in the UK as cheaper almost everywhere if not everywhere in the UK to get dark fibre and/or 10 Gbit microwave installed.
Starlink is a great solution to basic broadband availability in some areas. It’s a shame that they don’t comply with the Ofcom General Conditions which are in place to protect consumers. Every other Telco in Britain has to have complaints procedures, alternative dispute resolution, one touch switching and so on. I’m amazed that Ofcom allows them any spectrum access when they don’t follow so many regulations.
I’ve no idea how they’re getting away with not doing OTS. I guess they consider it an additional service, and the end user happens to cancel the old one.
Love that people don’t understand non-terrestrial networking, beam density analysis and contention. UK is Starlink’s 6th biggest market per capita and way above anyone else in Europe. That is why the speeds are slightly below countries where they have sold 2 users per beam!
The UK is nowhere when it comes to FTTP connections and premises passed, compared to other EU countries. It’s no surprise therefore, that many in the UK are totally reliant on Starlink and it’s mercurial owner Musk, for the foreseeable future. We waited for many years, for an FTTP connection, living in a Rural area of Gloucestershire. We waited though, even the thought of subsidising, Musk appalled us…
UK is at 82.6% full fibre, just under 90% gigabit availability. Higher than Italy, Germany, Austria, you get the idea.
The UK was almost at the very bottom however after that late start has the fastest build rate anywhere in Europe. No nation is or has built faster.
We have made our way to mid-table obscurity in the EU39, a bit above actually, and are continuing to climb. We’ll be above 85% full fibre coverage by the end of the year.
I get owt from 100mbps to 450mbps – that’s decent enough.
Oolka always seems to throttle and never shows what th SL app does.
And it’s a worldwide shared resource – so hardly fair to say that.
The app tests between dish and ground station. No throttling to or from Ookla. Due to how the geolocation is set up it seems to often pick servers that aren’t ideal which might explain some of the difference in performance.
Why put even more money in Musk’s pocket, when he’s been on record for hating the UK? I’ll use a different company if I’m able.
As Mark clarified above, there currently isn’t an alternative consumer satellite service, only terrestrial services (5G/4G, FWA, FTTP, FTTC).
Eventually there will be (hopefully).
Commercial/charitable/governmental organisations do have alternatives, presumably at higher cost.
Starlink is essential for us in a rural area south of Bristol. We consistently achieve >200mb/s down and 25mb up and the reliability and experience has been far superior to any other ISP I’ve used in the last 20 years.
Copper broadband is unusable with only 0.2mb upload speed and 4/5g offerings are patchy and unreliable. Without Starlink, we wouldn’t really be able to use the internet!
No complaints from me, other than it’s more expensive than I’d like, but then there are no alternatives and it’s transformational in terms of how we are able to live and work…