Theresa Gaffney
If you ever dreamed of playing esports from a satellite internet connection, your time may be coming. Starlink, a “satellite constellation network” under development by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is reporting considerable improvement in network latency. The Low Earth Orbiting satellites will reportedly deliver “below 20 milliseconds” connectivity, making it possible to play online games without delay.
Starlink connectivity details
In a Q&A session at the Satellite 2020 conference, Musk stated that the Starlink connection “will be a pretty good experience because it’ll be very low latency… so somebody could play a fast-response video game at a competitive level.” Seeing how Musk is a fan of playing Overwatch in his spare time, this is a relevant metric to measure against for the company.
With latency around 20ms, Starlink’s internet connection would be roughly comparable to broadband connections. For instance, a cable modem normally registers between 5 and 40 ms, and a DSL modem between 10 to 70ms. The latency figures go up considerably for cellular devices, and down drastically to near 0 for T1 connections. Starlink would serve as a bridge between these connectivity options for households across the world.
The history of Starlink
The project began development in 2015, aimed at providing global internet access via satellites interlinked in a low orbit constellation. While access to the internet has steadily increased over the years, an estimated half of the world’s population still lacks reliable connection. If Starlink succeeds in its goal, hard-to-reach populations in remote or rural areas, for example, would be the first to benefit. Higher density areas would still likely see higher performance from fiber internet options.
As it stands, SpaceX plans to deliver Starlink internet to North America first. Before you plan to play your competitive titles remotely, you’ll have to wait for public services to be offered. No firm dates are available, but the company plans to launch enough satellites this year to make coverage possible.
Loading…