SpaceX has completely removed the waitlist for Starlink in the US, meaning any interested customer can subscribe for access to the satellite internet system without delay.
The company credits the achievement to improved capacity provided by the newest Starlink satellites. "Deployment of our second generation Starlink satellites, which have 4x more capacity than the first gen, enable us to connect even more people no matter where they live," Starlink tweeted. "Starlink is now available across the United States.”
Since its initial launch, access to SpaceX’s satellite internet system has been limited across parts of the US due to high demand. Consumers interested in paying for the residential Starlink tier had to wait weeks or months for access. Meanwhile, existing subscribers had to deal with network congestion issues, which can slow down speeds.
But over the past year, SpaceX has been steadily expanding capacity to Starlink by launching hundreds of additional satellites to power the space-based internet network. The progress has been also chipping away at access restrictions across the US.
On Monday, the last remaining holdouts for the waitlist, mainly based in the southeastern US, were finally lifted. This occurred days after SpaceX launched another batch of 22 Starlink satellites into orbit. In total, SpaceX now has 4,845 Starlink satellites circling the planet, according to astronomer Jonathan McDowell.
But while the waitlist has been lifted, some subscribers in the US and even Starlink itself continue to report slower-than-expected speeds. The good news is that SpaceX’s second-gen satellites not only feature more capacity, but also promise to beam faster internet to users on the ground. In addition, SpaceX is preparing to sell next-generation dish hardware, which might feature even better performance.