Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink plan delivers internet better than 95 per cent of the US

A plan to provide super fast internet all around the world is starting to get into the public’s hands, and they’re nerding out over the early results.

Elon Musk’s plan to deliver high-speed satellite internet all around the world appears to be delivering on its promise.

Early beta tests have returned positive results, with select US internet users seeing speeds higher than 95 per cent of other netizens in the country.

Elon Musk has tweeted to say thousands more people will be invited to join the beta this week.

Several thousand more Starlink beta participation invitations going out this week

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2020

RELATED: ‘Unacceptable’ problem telcos won’t fix

RELATED: New price tag for ‘inferior’ NBN

The SpaceX Starlink internet plans to create a constellation of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to provide internet virtually anywhere.

Current methods for delivering satellite internet, like the kind used as part of the national broadband network, rely on geostationary satellites, that are further away from Earth so they stay in orbit over the area they’re designed to service.

The LEO satellites, by contrast, are not fixed to a single location, and while they will orbit around the Earth, your connection will switch between the satellites to keep you online.

That’s created one problem for early beta testers.

The internet often drops out for a few seconds at a time every couple of minutes as orbiting satellites go in and out of range, but as more satellites are sent into orbit this will become less of a problem.

Falcon 9 rocket launches 58 Starlink satellites into orbit. Picture: SpaceX

RELATED: Elon Musk wouldn't get virus vaccine

SpaceX told beta participants to expect occasional dropouts and to receive speeds between 50Mbps and 150Mbps.

The NBN plan that offers maximum speeds of 50Mbps is the most popular in Australia so this is by no means a slow connection, and given the company has called this the “Better Than Nothing Beta”, it looks like the speeds will only go significantly up from here.

LEO-based satellite internet from Starlink and others as well as 5G wireless technology are increasingly becoming a viable competitor for the NBN.

The satellites could prove useful in delivering internet in rural and regional areas while 5G technology is more useful in built-up areas as a strong connection requires being within a few hundred metres of the cell site.

The service is not yet cheap however.

Participants in the Starlink beta, currently restricted to the US, are paying $US499 ($A708) for the equipment to join the beta, plus $US99 per month ($A140).

A Reddit user claiming to be in rural Montana posted the result of their speed test.

Another test near Seattle returned speeds faster than 95 per cent of the US.

“Starlink will forever change the game,” wrote one Reddit user, who said their alternative in rural Montana was to pay for slower internet by the gigabyte.

“There are always people responding to these posts about how it costs $10 more than their ISP or complaints that it’s not gigabit,” another wrote.

“This service is faster than the vast majority of Americans have today, with a cost that is on the same order of magnitude, and will be available most everywhere, with exceptions for large cities and density issues. This is a game changer,” they added.