How Starlink’s Satellite Internet Stacks Up Against HughesNet, Viasat and Fixed Broadband

The satellite internet race is heating up, with more competitors serving more areas than even a quarter ago. An analysis of internet network performance for satellite providers across the globe based on Q2 2021 data from Speedtest Intelligence shows that:

• Starlink speeds beat satellite​-based competitors in the US, can’t top fixed broadband: Starlink was the only satellite internet provider in the United States with fixed-broadband-like latency figures, and median download speeds fast enough to handle most of the needs of modern online life at 97.23 Mbps during Q2 2021. No satellite internet providers were as fast as the 115.22 Mbps median download speed for all fixed broadband providers in the US during Q2 2021, but it beats digging twenty miles (or more) of trench to hook up to local infrastructure.
• Satellite internet speeds in the US are increasing, mostly: Satellite internet is newer and speeds fluctuate as technologies improve and as more users are added to sometimes crowded networks. Data from Speedtest Intelligence during Q1-Q2 2021 shows some of these struggles as median download speeds for both Starlink and HughesNet dipped in February and then rose again through the period only to dip again in June.
• Starlink performance varies at the county level, but not widely: While there was about a 100 Mbps range in performance between the county with the fastest median download speed and the county with the slowest median download speed, even the lower-end speeds are well above the FCC’s Baseline performance tier of at least a 25 Mbps download speed.