Public beta tests for SpaceX’s satellite internet service started late last year for people in the US, Canada and the UK, and an FCC application (PDF) tells us a little bit about how things are going so far. CNBC points to the filing, which seeks to designate Starlink as an eligible telecommunications carrier, and notes that SpaceX reports that more than 10,000 people are already using the service.
Starlink is seeking a lead so that it can access the millions of dollars it has received from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to provide service in a number of states. The letter also notes that SpaceX already has more than 1,000 satellites in orbit (it launched a few more last night), and that its network shows that it can deliver connections in excess of 100/20 megabits per second. as well as less than 31 ms latency for 95 percent of the round-trip measurements.