If your home broadband is enabled by Starlink, there’s news for you. Elon Musk’s satellite broadband service is reported to be down across the United States. In the late hours of Sunday, several users and down-tracking websites have reported service outage across the country, leaving subscribers out of internet connectivity.
The disruption, which seemed to primarily affect the southwestern US, was tracked on internet tracking platforms and confirmed by various subscribers. Starlink, unlike other Earth-based broadband systems, relies on a constellation of SpaceX satellites beaming internet signals to subscribers directly.
Starlink service down across US
The outage began early Sunday morning, with the bulk of the reports coming from Nevada, Arizona, and Utah. The DownDetector platform, which tracks service interruptions for a wide range of internet providers, indicated that the number of affected users surpassed 45,000 at the peak of the disruption. The issue varied for users, with 60 per cent reporting general internet connectivity problems, while a substantial 40 per cent faced a complete and total network blackout.
Starlink has yet to release an official statement explaining the cause of the outage. Hence, there’s no clarity on what caused the issue and how soon customers will get to access the internet service.
However, that didn’t stop Starlink subscribers and followers from posting wild memes on social media platforms. A major tech outage always leads to subscribers going wild with memes and jokes, and Starlink’s outage isn’t an exception.
Starlink subscribers go wild with memes
Starlink to expand to India soon
In other news, SpaceX Starlink has navigated through a series of complex regulatory hurdles and is moving closer to its highly anticipated commercial launch in India. Having recently secured a Unified License from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the satellite internet provider has agreed to strict security conditions, including a mandate to route all Indian user traffic through local earth station gateways.
The company is currently engaged in advanced talks with local telecom partners like Jio and Airtel, as well as data center providers, to establish the necessary terrestrial infrastructure. With groundwork for 17 ground stations already underway and the goal of beginning trial services soon, Starlink’s entry is expected to revolutionise the remote locations of the country.
