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Ongoing Starlink improvements should translate to better latency, says SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
On Sunday, Musk tweeted that Starlink had "achieved a new internal median latency record" of 28 milliseconds. This comes nearly seven months after Ookla put the median latency for US Starlink users closer to 60ms. SpaceX VP for Starlink Engineering Michael Nicolls credited the latency improvements to the company expanding the ground infrastructure for Starlink and refining the networking routing and software.
At face value, the 28ms achievement is only a small decrease from March, when SpaceX reported that the median latency for Starlink users in the US was at 33ms. Still, every millisecond can be crucial for cutting lag or the time it takes for data to be sent or received over an internet network.
The 28ms number is also significant when you compare the median latency rate for cell phone users in the US, which is currency at 29ms, according to Ookla's Speedtest data.
High latency can derail video calling or online gaming, so Musk has made it a priority for Starlink to push lag to under 20 milliseconds. To do so, the company has launched more satellites into orbit and built more ground “gateway” stations responsible for beaming the internet data into space.
PCMag’s testing of our own Starlink dish has shown the latency falling to about 30ms, down from about 38ms in January. (In contrast, traditional fixed internet users in the country usually receive latency rates at 13ms, according to Ookla’s data.)
Disclosure: Ookla is owned by PCMag parent company Ziff Davis.