(Credit: PCMag/ Brian Westover)
Download speeds for Starlink customers in the US appear to have significantly improved over the past year, reaching 100Mbps on a consistent basis.
The findings come from Ookla’s Speedtest.net, which internet users—including Starlink customers—have been using for years to measure their broadband quality. On Tuesday, the company published a report tracking speed test scores for SpaceX’s satellite internet network, and found that speed and latency are on the rise.
For the US as a whole, the median download speed for Starlink reached 104Mbps in Q1, a new high for the satellite internet service. The improvement also stands out because Ookla’s data previously reported that Starlink speeds were stagnating in late 2022 amid congestion issues from a flood of new users.
(Credit: Ookla)“Users on Starlink’s network experienced median download speeds nearly double from 53.95Mbps in Q3 2022 to 104.71Mbps in Q1 2025,” Ookla said. “Median upload speeds also increased dramatically during the same period from 7.5Mbps in Q3 2022 and to 14.84Mbps in Q1 2025.” This suggests Starlink has successfully overcome congestion issues in the US, which were previously depressing the broadband quality.
SpaceX publishes its own reported speeds for Starlink on a state-by-state basis using real customer data, which shows the service offering broadband quality as high as 300Mbps in parts of the US. But the SpaceX data lists a range of speeds, from “the 20th to 80th percentile” during peak local hours.
In contrast, Ookla’s report offers a third-party source on Starlink speeds that focuses on median download, upload, and latency rates, says Ookla’s editorial director Sue Marek. “We think we’re testing real consumer experience."
Although a Starlink subscriber might use Speedtest.net when they’re facing speed troubles or congestion issues, many users also go to the site when setting up Starlink for the first time or for other use cases, Marek notes.
Like Starlink’s official speed data, the Ookla report also breaks down speeds on a state-by-state basis. The highest median download speed, at 136.93Mbps, was found in Maine while Alaska registered the lowest median download rate at 72.65Mbps.
(Credit: Ookla)While download speeds have been steadily rising, upload speeds are seeing a slower climb with the speeds hovering closer at 14 to 15Mbps. This also means Starlink as a whole still isn’t quite hitting the Federal Communications Commission’s minimum broadband speed metric of 100Mbps for downloads and 20Mbps for uploads.
“Only 17.4% of Starlink Speedtest users are able to get broadband speeds consistent with the FCC’s minimum requirement," Ookla notes. (In 2022, the FCC also rejected an $886 million subsidy to Starlink, partly over concerns it couldn’t provide the promised speeds by December 2025.)
(Credit: Ookla)Still, Marek notes that most Starlink subscribers are “seeing improvements,” based on the submitted Speedtest data. For example, on the latency front, Ookla’s data found that SpaceX has been successfully driving down the rate to 45 milliseconds, an improvement from 70ms in Q1 2023, which is also drastically better than rival satellite internet service Hughesnet.
“How much their speeds are increasing, that’s a really good sign,” Marek says. “They [SpaceX] have launched more satellites, so their network is getting more robust.”
(Credit: Ookla)We’ll be curious to see how Starlink speeds change over time, especially when SpaceX is offering free Starlink dishes to sign up more users in the US. To take the next leap, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk aims to launch new “V3” Starlink satellites designed to offer gigabit broadband. But the satellites need to deploy via the Starship vehicle, which remains in the testing phases.
Disclosure: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag’s parent company.