A “critical” internet outage is reportedly “ongoing” for Elon Musk’s satellite company, Starlink, in England. The warning was issued at 6:56am on 18 February by Fing Internet Alert, as it claimed the issue started at 12:50am, with London impacted. It was not clarified what the source of the problem might be.
The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) estimates there are around 27,000 homes and businesses in the UK which rely on satellite broadband.
A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center to deliver another batch of broadband internet spacecraft into orbit on 18 January this year. The 49 Starlink satellites on this mission bring the total number of satellites launched by Musk’s company to 2,042, according to astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.
SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk stated in a tweet on 15 January that there were 1,469 satellites active, with 272 moving to operational orbits to provide low-cost, high-speed internet access. SpaceX currently has FCC approval to deploy 4,408 satellites to low Earth orbit at an altitude of around 550 kilometres.
To date, it has launched more than half of them, with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) yet to approve plans for a larger, second-generation constellation. Elon Musk began rolling out its internet service to customers in 2021.
Starlink costs $99 (£73) a month, plus (£366) $499 for a kit with a tripod, a WiFi router, and a terminal to connect to the Starlink satellites. Currently, Starlink, which originated in 2015, is offering their “Better Than Nothing Beta” service, in a hint to customers that they’re still launching satellites and occasional outages are inevitable.
Starlink has informed customers to expect periodic interruptions in connectivity, occurring because the constellation isn't fully built out yet. When there’s a gap between satellites, outages may happen. The beta test is available to customers in the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Portugal, Denmark, Austria, France, Netherlands, Chile, Ireland, Belgium and Switzerland.